The continuation of the Exner experience at The Spice Trail during lockdown...
One thing to note about this wonderful family is that both parents are medical doctors. On a particularly big early season swell, all the local boys were out enjoying the empty lineups. Sadly for one of our friends, he had a big wipeout and was knocked out by either his board or hitting the reef. When he surfaced his eyes rolled back and he slumped on his board. The quick thinking of all the boys put him on a longboard and paddlem him immediately to shore over the shallow reef. It was fate that the Exners happened to be taking a walk at that time and noticed the commotion. Upon seeing the injured surfer, Robert Exner quickly jumped into action to help clear out his airway and buy the injured surfer precious moments of air that allowed him to be transported to hospital. If you have surfed main point you know there are no roads there, so the boys had to load him onto a beach bed and carry the bed over the beach and reef to the road and then into a jeep where they rushed him to hospital. The doctors there confirmed that the timely actions of everyone invovled indeed saved the life of our friend.
So a BIG THANK YOU to the Exner family from the Arugam Bay community!
Ok now onto part 2.
What’s a memorable experience you had at Spice Trail?
There were many memorable moments that we had at the Spice Trail. Surely beeing the only guests at a hotel and getting to know all the staff almost like friends will always be memorable. For our children many exciting things happened during this time. The younger of the two started walking (and later running) and celebrated his first birthday there. The older learned how to swim at the hotel pool and picked up a lot of English words (and a bit of Sinhalese) during the everyday conversations with the staff. Both kids got to search for easter eggs around at the hotel. We also celebrated our wedding anneversary. However what made all this memorable was the fact that the staff celebrated with us and surprised us with special decoration or a free dinner.
What’s a memorable experience you had in Arugam Bay?
Arugam Bay is a beautiful place with great surroundings around like elephant- and crocodile rock, peanut farm beach and much more. The vibration even in times of lockdown was tranquil and friendly.
The most memorable moments were these when our kids were playing, "surfing“ and talking to the local kids as well as we were invited to spend time with amazingly friendly, generous and inviting people there.
Any personal feedback you want to give us? Or messages for the staff?
We cannot thank EVERYBODY at the Spice Trail enough for having us stay in such uncertain times and making our stay not just safe but a true vacation with lots of beautiful memories and friendships. We were treated rather as freinds than as customers with great friendlyness and generousity. Thank you!
See you again some day for sure!
Read Part 1 here.
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