Just to annoy them, we went back the next morning for a breakfast beer. Well, we were kicked out of the Adana after 11 and our train wasn't due until 13:40 so it was either sit on a crowded railway station or . . . "Surprise!", we said. "God, are they ever going to leave?", they thought. The trip to Hikkaduwa was more of the same. I fell through the gap between the carriage and the platform missing a step that was no longer there ("I bloody know! Mind the bloody gap!"). Spent the next hour wringing blood out of my shin. Nearly left Linda on board when I got off with the fighting bags 'cos the isle and doors were so rammed with people and suitcases she couldn't get past them with her backpack against the barbarian hordes pushing to get on. Might rethink my travel plans for the last leg.
In a bad mood I resolutely ignored offers of travel from the station tuk tuk drivers and made Linda walk the kilometer to the hotel in the heat, carrying the bags, because we'd spent two weeks at the Coral Sands four years ago and I knew it wasn't far (!). Nice reception, though, cold towel for washing the grime off and a cold drink. I thought for a minute they were going to usher us in to another, small room and hose is down "for the safety and convenience of our other customers", but happily we were led to a very pretty room with a balcony on the third floor. ("Third floor, again?", my knees mentally told me. "Why do you hate me?"). Anyway, here's a picture of our room for all the romantically inclined amongst you.
