Suba aluth aurudak veva

That's Sinhalese for Happy New Year. A phrase that thousands of drunken party people repeated enthusiastically as they staggered around Hikkaduwa beach on New Years Eve.

We ordered another round of Arrack Sours, to the clashing beats of consecutive sound systems and watched a several kilometer long thrilling display of highly unsafe fireworks (they guy next to us took a misfired screamer right to the stomach). As a good sport, he laughed it off and toasted in the new year. Wow, dude. That's the spirit.

Hours later we continued, with a large happy crowd of Lee and Leah's wedding guests, to Mambo, another beach bar, to drink some more Lion beers. Eventually we ended up where we had started our evening, at a famous roadside Roti place, and enjoyed some scrumptious banana chocolate pancakes. All in all, a very pleasant and memorable evening to welcome the new year.