Our mini van dropped at a few guest houses which were either full or too exspensive. We ended up staying at French Garden - which was right on the beach. Our rooms were pretty basic but the location was amazing. Beautiful clear blue water and a large beach with lots of seating amongst the palm trees. Perfect.

We went snorkelling in the afternoon with our new American friend- Lauren. The snorkelling was pretty average - the coral reefs were mostly dead but it was just below the famous Hindu temple in Tricomalee. After exploring there with a guide we went to another location - better reef and more fish - we saw some eels and puffer fish. Sadly, no turtles or sharks. A nice afternoon out.

We had dinner at the guest house - painfully slow - but we got to choose our own fresh fish from that days catch and it was grillied beautifully. Uppuveli was the first time on the trip that we had been around so many other tourists - the guesthouse had a hostel feel and n the evening 20 or so of us toursits from UK, USA, France, some expats and local got together for a chilled out evening/night/morning of Lion Beer and Arrack (spelling? Local Liquor distilled from coconuts). We headed back at 4ish, some stayed up until sunrise.

The next day we spent lounging around the beach and swimming. We hung out with an American couple Stephanie and Tim from San Francisco. We went for a walk along the beach front and came across a wonderful Hindu temple and some really friendly locals.

That evening we headed into town with the American couple to have some Masala Dosa at the local place in Trincomalee. Amazingly spiced and a great change from the standard Sri Lanka rice and curry option. We also spent some time wondering about the city at night to look for some more Arrack. It turned out that it was election day so that was a ban on selling any alcohol - all wine shops were close and even tourist guesthouses, restaurants and hotels could not sell 'anything'. However when we got back one of the guys working there managed to get hold of a large bottle that we shared between us, the American couple and an amazing Dutch family of 6 who were celebrating the youngest daughters 15th birthday (she didn't have any booze though). This family have been backpacking and travelling around Sri Lanka for 6 weeks in total and were just... cool. We were all in awe. The guys from the guesthouse brought out a cake, baloons, drums, guitar and fireworks to celebrate. Had a brilliant evening listening to the Sri Lankan's singing and chatting. We ended the night sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in and called it a night gone 2am - in attempt to get up the next day to head down towards Batticaloa (east coast) to the beaches at Kalkudah.