Tissa - can we never leave?

According to both the LP and the rough guide, Tissa is nothing more than a convenient place from which to explore the nearby areas of Kirinda, Kataragama and Yala National Park. We had also heard similar stories from some travellers we had given a ride to, so we originally hadn't planned on even staying at all. But by the time we arrived, we were simply too tired to carry on to the coastal village of Kirinda, and so decided to stop for just one night...

FIVE nights later and we begrudgingly decided we had to move on or we would simply stay forever...

Tissa is such a perfectly cute town. Picture a simple 3 street town, with only the bare necessities, situated around Picture a beautiful lake full of wildlife - birds, bats - with huge old trees and lotus flowers along it's edges, which is in turn surrounded by rice fields with stupas and temples dating back 1500years dotting the area, and a simple 3 street town with only the bare necessities and you have Tissa. 

We stayed at a wonderful guesthouse called "Elephant Camp" with one of the nicest people I have ever had the privilege to meet. Meeting Jaya was worth the visit to Sri Lanka in itself. I can't speak highly enough of him, his wife and staff members. They welcomed us like family, shared stories, experiences, hidden temples and dinner with us, accompanied us to the hospital and spent a sleepless night worried about Gypsy's spots, shared laughs and relief over a beer with us to celebrate the solving of the mystery spots, and shed tears as we left. I truly hope our paths cross again during this trip, or even, this life. 

Putting aside the loving guesthouse and perfect beauty of Tissa, everyone was right when they said it was the perfect place to explore the area.
We visited the coastal town of Kirinda first. The drive down was amazing! We went via the museum in Yala National Park (we are too cheap to do an actual safari!) and it was wonderful being able to show Gypsy life sized elephants, models of tusks, different birds and their eggs, crocodiles, and most of all, a taxidermy Leopard!! 

After "quenching our environment thrust", we continued to head south to Kirinda. We were originally planning to stay in Kirinda, but I'm glad we didn't... It's cute enough, but apart from the big Buddha, there really isn't anything to see or even do there. We struggled to find even 1 restaurant to get food at. That being said, we did go for a lovely drive through the surrounding countryside, through some adorable villages that made the trip down totally worthwhile.

The beauty and diversity of Sri Lanka, never ceases to surprise us.