Ceylon, it’s Been Good to Know Ya: 12 Unexpectedly Awesome Things About Sri Lanka
I’m a really lazy traveler if left to my own devices. I tend to plunk myself down in a particular town, find myself a particularly pleasing cafe and spend weeks just drinking coffee and watching the world go by. I’m much more suited to actually living in a place than just passing through it. I often feel like I’m missing half the story when I breeze through en route to somewhere else, ticking of a list of sights in a guide book.
I remain fully convinced that a significant proportion of my observations are either false, partially misinterpreted, or absurdly naive. It was only after at least a year and a half in both Turkey and China that I felt even remotely able to write publicly about them. I’m probably still wrong though.
The only reason why I’ve successfully circumnavigated the island of Sri Lanka is thanks to Doug, who is the master planner of all our major journeys. He has the momentum that actually gets me out of bed in the morning before ten.
We’ve seen a lot of this country in just three and a half weeks. What I want to present to you today is a list of the most unexpectedly awesome things that I came across during this whirlwind tour.
In no particular order, typed out carefully using a net cafe keyboard with most of the letters rubbed off, I give you the best of Sri Lanka as determined by someone who has no right to determine such things.
NOTE: I was only able to upload about half of the photos for this post as the internet is painfully slow here. Also, a cockroach just strolled up my pantleg and tried to investigate my knee. And I think someone with exhaust problems is idling outside the open door here and the room is filling with thick smoke. I’ll add the photos at a more amenable time. I think you will understand.
1. Yesterday morning we emerged from our guesthouse to find all of Galle shut firmly, including this internet cafe where I had planned to write a follow up post to my Kandy one. The shutters were locked tight. Even the corner shops were battened down at their hatches. Where was everyone? Ah, they were down by the sea shore, flying kites, eating ice cream, going to the Buddhist temple, strolling in large family groups. Why? Because it was the full moon, a.k.a Poya. The full moon is a holiday here! How awesome is that? I’m totally going to petition the Chinese government when we get back to Shanghai to make every full moon a bank holiday.
2. When we were in Nuwara Eliya, every morning at 5am we were greeted with a fantastic burst of frenzied drumming somewhere down in the valley, followed by some really quite lovely chanting. This was repeated again around 5 in the evening, in time for tea. After the Buddhist musical interlude we had the Muslim call to prayer. I’m a huge fan of meaningful ambient sounds.
3. On a somewhat opposing note, I was pleasantly surprised by the subtle subversion I came across- here in Galle, liquor licenses are apparently very hard to come by so many cafes and guesthouses will, for example, serve guests a lovely cold beer in a latte mug or do a grocery run for a bottle of Lion that doesn’t directly appear on any bill. After long hours of hiking, it’s a lovely thing.
4. I hate monkeys and monkeys hate me. We have a long, uncordial relationship that goes back a half decade to that time in Mumbai when I was mugged for my bottle of water and extends up through that time in Bali when I had a snarling simian wrapped around my leg, fangs bared, all the way to this past February when that monkey in Phnom Penh bit me and I had to go through $1500 worth of rabies shots. When I kept reading in my guidebook about all the different places in Sri Lanka where monkeys could be freely encountered, I decided I really ought to stay in bed. But no! Sri Lankan monkeys are civilized! They are courteous! They are polite! In Kandy, they walked above me on the power lines and I kept waiting for one to dive bomb me but they never did! In forests and rural roads, they left me alone. I thank them for their discretion.
5. In a lot of places I’ve visited, you really ought to steer clear of street animals- one of my friends in Shanghai got rabies from an injured street cat she tried to rescue and other people have been chased by rather miffed dogs down rural roads. Here? Pleasantly cordial dogs, usually girl-dogs with swinging nipples and a kind demeanor, trot alongside you and wag their tails amiably. Dignified cats sun themselves in scenic locations and present their ears and chins for petting. No anger, no insanity.
6. Need a second or third mother while you’re on the road so you can feel loved and comforted while far from home? Make eye contact with any Sri Lankan woman over the age of 40. Or hell, even under the age of 40. You’ll get a sweet smile and a wave and if you happen to spend more time around them, you’ll get hugs and kind words. I’ve been waved at and smiled at by dozens of old ladies here.
7. The food! Rice with curry and whatever: veggies, chicken, prawns… So much more than a Thali, folks! For a week at one point I was going to bed so stuffed that I could barely breathe because our evening meal had so many different dishes- okra here, aubergine there, a bit of pumpkin, some bitter gourd… If I go back home and discover I’ve gained 20kg, I wouldn’t be surprised. Oh, and Sri Lankan omelets make me very happy. Green chilis and fresh tomato and onion with your breakfast? Okay, thank you!
8. After nearly 3 years in Shanghai, I really appreciate greenery wherever I can find it. And Sri Lanka is green. Very, very green. I swear they must be fighting back the greenery at every turn as it tries to take over the island. There are big flowers and huge green succulents and trees bigger than they ought to be. The air (when there are no cars around belching rather thick exhaust) is sweet and my skin and lungs are happy.
9. We’ve traveled a lot in the last few years, particularly in Asia where we stand out like a sore thumb in most places (or rather– in all places). It gets exhausting feeling like a target- the staring, the unsolicited sales pitches, the hello-hellos, the following, the stalking, the price gouging, the long stretches of shops dedicated to selling you cheap tourist tat… I feel exhausted just thinking about it. Here, however, I don’t feel so segregated from the people who actually live here. I’m talked to like a human being most of the time. Only a few people have stalked me, marking me as a dollar bill rather than as a person. I’ve had intelligent conversations. I don’t feel pandered to. It’s a good feeling.
10. I love the fully decorated 3 wheelers. Seriously, I’ve seen some impressively pimped out tuk tuks here- fake flowers, a full stereo system in the back (where my luggage should have gone but obviously couldn’t), big and colourful laminated pictures of Buddha, of Mary, of Ganesh or Krishna, photos of pretty places, photos of loved ones, bells, tinsel…
11. Quite simply, the Sinhalese script. Quite possibly the prettiest writing script I’ve seen and I’ve seen a lot. It looks like spiral sea shells lined up in a row.
12. The Sri Lankan internet community. Seriously. This one was a big surprise as I had no idea it was so active until I woke up one morning to find that my Badass post had gone viral. After that explosion of page views and flurry of comments, I was able to connect with a dozen amazing people all over the country who gave advice and ideas for the rest of our trip.
Hi Marry Anne,
Was nice to see your posts, especially your love to Galle, ma home town 🙂
Happy to help you out on some tips ! Bon Voyage !
Galle is wonderful- quite possibly the loveliest town we’ve ever stayed in. I wish this could be my home town too…
Oooh, now I want to go to Sri Lanka! And, yeah, that script is gorgeous!
we will teach you 🙂
hey, nice writing! Glad that you enjoyed the country and its own pecularities. It is eye opening to see our culture from a out sider point of view..made me realize how amazing our own day today lives are. Ok, here after, I’m not complaining 🙂
when are you leaving country by the way? have a nice time.Enjoy!!
SL internet community? talk about that!! we have nice people doing nice stuff in the Sri Lankan virtual communities, do peek in, you are warmly welcomed 😀
We fly out verrrry early on the 19th, after 28 days here. It will be weird to be back in Shanghai again.
Oh and thanks for commenting! Stop by anytime!
Great post! I hope to make it to Sri Lanka one day. 🙂
Good post! Visit Sri Lanka again. 🙂
I’m spending my last day in Sri Lanka now after 4 weeks being here. Lovely place with lovely people.totally agree with u about all the green
The greenness makes me very happy!
Wow. Cool write ups. Doug must be a really great traveler too cz he has covered pretty awesome places.. from Kandy perahara to Trinco.. Sigiriya.. bumpy bus rides.. spicy dishes.. Galle.. Nuwara Eliya. Where did u go to see wildlife? Sinharaja? Any sanctuaries on the agenda?
Enjoy, Have a safe journey!
Doug is a much better planner than I am- we both research a place but his skill is to actually trace a viable route and then to actually follow through with that plan, even when my motivation and energies wane! I’m not so good at covering a lot of ground quickly.
It’s been a great trip though and we’ve seen a lot. No wildlife sanctuaries, though we went to that forest in Kandy that is kind of a sanctuary. We need to be careful after that bus injury so long hikes in the wild are out of the question this time. I hope we can come back!
Thanks a lot for writing this about my country!
And yeah, as deeps have already said, it is always nice to see the outsider point of view of things which is the norm to us. 😀
My pleasure. When we were researching our trip we didn’t find much info that wasn’t just tourism copy ( ie escorted tours and expensive resorts). Not much out there for independent travelers who like to do it on their own like we do. It’s a pity because it’s a remarkably easy place to get around in!
Great post, gave me a sense of pride being a Sri Lankan 🙂 You should come back, cos from what I understand, you’ve just seen only the tip of this iceberg 😉 There’s SO MUCH more, and having lived here all my life for more than a quarter of a century, I am yet to discovered more than 60% of this rock.
Hope to see you hopping around the isle sometimes soon, do holla on twitter when you do (http://twitter.com/yasirnasir).
Cheers!
Yasir.
There is so much to see here! Our trip is 28 days ( it’s around day 24 now) and we’ve gone from Colombo to Kandy to Dambulla, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Nilaveli, Kandy again, Nuwara Eliya ( including Horton’s plain), and now here in Galle… And we will be back in Colombo on Thursday before we fly out! There is so much to see here and I know we missed a lot. We would need a long time ( and a lot more money!) to do this country justice.
*thumbs up* nice blogpost… Would luv to see pics of the pimped up tuk tuks 😉
Thanks! I’ll see if any of the photos turned out- unfortunately many are blurry because, well, it’s hard to take a photo in a moving tuktuk! The one with the massive stereo system turned out blurry!
Oooh, new one for the list…
Girl, you know it’s true!
I agree with you, traveling slower is so much nicer! a lot of people think 3 and a half weeks is a long tour, though, haha. Anyhow, it looks like you’ve had a great time in your whirlwind tour!
I do better with slower travel (like, months and months…) but we only have 28 days here due to time off from work being only a month for Doug. Every year we choose a country and explore it for a month- Indonesia, Burma, Sri Lanka… It’s fascinating but I know I’m not getting the full picture in such a short space of time.
ha ha sorry about the net cafe and the cockroach 🙂 Bad time and bad place. Gud to see you’ve written a lot about my country. Wish you visited far east also for sandy beaches. It would have been a different experience.
Killing strays in Sri Lanka is prohibited instead they are sterilised and left back again in Street.
all in all datz a sweet post.
Does Trincomalee count as far east coast? We were there (and Nilaveli) for 5 days about ten days ago. Lots of beach time there. Lovely!
Awesome post, glad to see that you loved the strays xD the dogs in the streets are very friendly almost all the time 🙂 Do write more posts about Sri Lanka 😀
They’re the best strays I’ve ever met, to be honest. Very polite and friendly. Oh, and I’ll try to do at least one more post about Sri Lanka…
Wow! Nice to know foreigners have such a positive attitude towards our country. I’m so happy that u wrote this post.. Yeah our country is small but there is tons of places to look at and visit.. Hope u’l visit again.
You have a lovely country- I hope the world comes to realize this.
awsome post…… glad u like kandy (its my home town ) n my country. sri lanka is very famous for its hospitality, and again it has been proven…
thank you for writing such a positve post, and please do visit here again… 🙂
Thank you! I look forward to going back soon…
Great post! I hope to make it to Sri Lanka one day
Thanks. I heartily recommend SL- lovely country.
This post has gone viral alright…i also bumped into this 😀 great post, hope you have a wonderful stay…
Aw, thanks! SL is now one of my favourite places in the world.
Hi Mar Anne,
I’m a travel agent in Sri Lanka, but I’m not hear to advertise myself, because you’ve done it so wonderfully than I thought I ever could. Its heartwarming to hear foreigners come and talk about us to make us feel proud. Its people like who make a difference to an entire nation by simply writing an article like this.. Did you visit the 7 natural hot wells in Trinco, each well has a different heat. You should visit Yala to see wildlife at its best. Then you can watch Whales and Dolphins in the East. April is an awesome time to visit Nuwara Eliya because half of Colombo is their and its the festive season. You should be in Kandy during the Kandy Perehara which is a colorful sight. As for what I can see, you’ve covered so much of Sri Lanka in so little time, we’ll be honored to have tourists like you to our country.
Hello, and thank you for your kind and thoughtful comment! I had a wonderful time in Sri Lanka and really wish I could have stayed longer. We had exactly 4 weeks, and it felt like I was just getting started.. We went to Trinco… but I didn’t know about the hot wells (that would have been wonderful). We missed the whales and dolphins in the east, but we loved Galle, Nuwara Eliya and all of the ancient sites around Kandy. We were there for the Esala Perahara, which was stunning. There were so many things we wanted to see but couldn’t. Next time…
i know this is quite late but just wanted to say that im glad you enjoyed SL. and how unfortunate about the injury and the bus ride. hope Doug has recovered and doing well. one more thing, you’ve missed out on a lot by not checking out the wildlife sanctuaries and parks. i know your stay was no where near long enough for that. but just thought id say that. the wildlife sanctuaries are pretty awesome there.
Thanks! We had planned to go to the wildlife parks but after the accident (his spine was fractured in 3 places and he had to wear a brace and was told to minimize walking) we had to radically change our plans. Thus, we finished with Nuwara Eliya and Galle, with lots of rest time. I’d love to go back and see more. Lovely country!
Thank you for visit sri lanka as well as this precious article. visit sri lanka again.
MaryAnne, I am a Sri Lankan. I loved reading your account. You write awfully well! You should Do your own Travel Magazine if not be a regular contributor and that surely will do good for tourism!Vajira Silva,Colombo,SriLanka
Thank you! I hope to have the chance to return to SL and to write more.
I GO THERE IN JANUARY ! thanks for this, from France !
Excellent! Enjoy your holiday- Sri Lanka is amazing!
MaryAnne, thank you for this. I am contemplating a long & daunting trip to Sri Lanka from the west coast of Canada. It will cost me an arm and a leg to get there and the better part of 30 hours. So reading your posts was just what I needed! Look forward to more!
Sri Lanka is definitely worth the long journey! I’d go back without hesitation! Enjoy!
Ayubowan! (may you have a long life)
I got goosebumps reading this! I’ve never read something so pretty about home 🙂 I’m so very glad you had a wonderful time – no doubt 😉 Please do tell if you’ll visit again – I can give you some tips. I’ve done a lot of road trips 🙂
With much love from Sri Lanka!
Thank you! I loved my month in SL and hope to return again someday. It’s an amazing country!
Dear Mary Anne
Thank you for your words with special tastes. Jaya!
Maryanne .
I am a Sri lankan who has lived for 23 years overseas . and after a long lapse of almost 8 years I visited . Your observations are spot on . I totally see your point of view . like that one on Sri Lankan women . I was on a bus from when I saw this . it is so natural and so amazing at the same time . I can assure it never happens anywhere else in the world . I am almost a local and at the same time almost a tourist . but I know no matter what my passport says Ill be nothing other than a Sri Lankan . Not because of the amazing beauty of this land but because of the amazing beauty of the hearts .. 😉
My first memory from Sri Lanka was at the airport after our very long journey (via Xiamen, China and Bangkok, where our flight was delayed about 9 hours), where I arrived at the immigration counter to find posters everywhere saying something like ‘Your Motherland welcomes you back home’. I’m not Sri Lankan, but I felt included in that welcome, a very different feeling from when, for example, I fly home to Vancouver and I’m treated with suspicion or indifference from my own country’s border officials. It was a wonderful start to the month’s visit to your gorgeous country. It took a lot of willpower to actually leave and go back to gritty, grey Shanghai. So much human warmth.
I am happy to hear that you found my country beautiful.
Just some warnings: Not all the monkeys are polite. Don’t attempt to feed them. Monkeys tend to be aggressive here as well. Particularly I recall seeing warnings in Heritance Kandalama Hotel balcony doors mentioning to keep them shut to avoid monkeys stealing your stuff.
Cats are always cute and polite here. If you make friends with them they will even come and lean at you, and sometimes ask for food by scratching you softly.
Be careful with dogs. Not all the dogs are nice. If you go to the animal bites section in the general hospital you will notice lots of people waiting for the treatment for dog bites. Dog bites are not uncommon here. Stray dogs indeed tend to be a threat to some villages. This is because some people raise these animals and when the animals get old, they abandon them.
These warnings are just some friendly pointers, so that you will be more careful, and enjoy your stay in Sri Lanka.
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Thanks for the tips! I tend to be very very careful around wild animals as a general rule (because they are wild…) but was genuinely impressed by how well behaved the SL ones were compared with those in other countries I’ve visited.