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Published: November 1st 2012
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Sri Lanka; Our last minute adventure! We chose to travel to Sri Lanka without knowing much about the country at all...we thought it would be fun to explore a different part of Asia and to discover a whole new culture.
Despite having no real expectations of Sri Lanka we were still surprised when we arrived! We spent a few days on the outskirts of the capital city, Colombo in a place called Dehiwala. We soon discovered that we were pretty much the only white people in the whole suburb and its surroundings! We were stared at constantly and due to the lack of tourism it was often hard to get around...! At one point we attempted to get a local bus into the city centre, but soon had to give up! The destinations of the buses are all written in Sri Lankan, no one around us seemed to speak any English and often the buses do not stop for people to get on at all..you just have to jump on when they are passing!!
We resorted to getting tuk-tuks for most of our short-mid length journeys. The tuk-tuk drivers often tried to rip us off and they drove like
Dehiwala
Some of the shacks on the beachfront in Dehiwala lunatics! We were sat so low down that the fumes from all of the exhausts were right in our faces...and the seats were so uncomfortable! Every now and again I had to close my eyes whilst we undertook buses or beeped constantly whilst weaving in and out of the traffic!
We enjoyed exploring Colombo; there was a nice green area (Galle face green) overlooking the sea. There were lots of Sri Lankan families having picnics, flying kites or playing ball games on it.
We were absolutely amazed by the food in Sri Lanka! It was so delicious (despite often being VERY spicy!) and really cheap!..(about 2pounds for a dinner for 2 with leftovers and drinks!) It was nice to stay in Dehiwala- an area with no tourists because the food we got was the same as what the locals were eating...it wasn't Westernised at all. We once got some noodles and rice dishes from the back of a tuk-tuk! There are motorbikes with side carts that drive around selling food whilst playing music (like an ice cream van!) There are hundreds of stalls alongside the roads and little bakery type shops.
After a few days in the
capital we decided to head inland, to the mountains of Kandy, where the climate is cooler. We got a train for about 5hours...we had to squeeze up to locals and I ended up sharing a seat with a child. The train was packed...there were people standing in the aisles and at times there were 4 or 5 people sharing 2 seats! Sri Lankans seem to have no problem getting up close to others, even if they do not know one another! They share food, newspapers, seats, even reading glasses! We were the only white people on the train and judging by the looks we got, it was not common for tourists to ride on trains with the locals! Some trains have first class carriages...we booked 2nd class tickets but think we may have accidentally sat in third class!
Kandy was so beautiful. There's a huge lake in the centre of the town which is surrounded by mountains and greenery. We stayed in about 3 different guest houses...one of which was a homestay with some lovely locals. We stayed in one of the two spare rooms whilst the couple who owned the place stayed in a small room with their
Colombo-Kandy
Some of the views we had on the train to Kandy grown up son. They ate in there, slept in there and watched TV together.
Whilst staying in Kandy we went to a traditional dance show which was very interesting!! Some of the dances had performers in elaborate hand painted masks..and all of the unusual music was performed on stage. At the end of the show we watched men walk over fire and a man set him arms alight!!
We took a day trip to a place called Dambulla...where we visited some cave temples. There were 5 caves up a huge cliff side, filled with Buddha statues carved into the cave walls. We bought some beautiful hand carved moon stone Buddhas.
We also went to an elephant orphanage for the day which was really good! I got to bottle feed a young elephant and we both fed fruit to a pregnant elephant. We had to place the fruit on it's tongue which was such a funny, bizarre feeling!! We watched them bathe each other and roam around the huge land of the orphanage. We also saw a TINY elephant that was no bigger than a labrador!!! It was so cute and fluffy.
We spent a little under
Kandy
View from our hotel a week in Kandy before heading back to the capital to watch the twenty20 cricket! When we booked our flights to Sri Lanka we had no idea the world twenty20 cricket was being held there during our stay...we booked several match tickets for about a dollar each!! We saw India vs. England first....it was an amazing atmosphere. Everyone was shouting and cheering; there were dancers, loud music, food, beer, banners and some more English tourists!! Despite England losing we really enjoyed our first cricket match.
On the way home we were followed by some Sri Lankans who found it funny to shout at us and swear at us...the group were teenagers and they weren't particularly threatening, it was just quite unnerving being in a street filled with Sri Lankans and Indians who were more than happy to show us how pleased they were that England had lost! We soon got a tuk-tuk and that was all forgotten about! We stayed in another suburb of Colombo this time, called Mount Lavinia. The guesthouse that we stayed at was another homestay. The family who ran the place were so lovely and welcoming...and they had a HUGE adorable great dane who followed
Kandy
Our favourite restaurant. Amazing food, lovely staff, & SO cheap!!! me everywhere! At one point he even managed to open our bedroom door to come and say hi!!
We travelled down South to a place called Unawatuna. It is near a town called Galle, which is famous for it's fortified old town. We stayed in a hostel right on the beach which should have been beautiful, but the night we arrived there was a massive storm!! The sea was so rough and the beach was eerily dark because all the restaurants had to shut. We ended up running to a restaurant/hotel opposite our hostel to order a take away. They sat us in their office whilst they cooked us some food...we then ate it in bed!!
The next day was thankfully sunny and we could explore nearby Galle and Unawatuna. By now we were experts at travelling by public buses and it only cost about 30p to travel the 20 minutes into Galle. The old town was so quiet and peaceful..we had a little explore but it was soon too hot to walk around so we headed back to the beach! The surf was quite big and we both got taken out a few times! All along Unawatuna
beach are restaurants, hotels and cafes. At night the restaurants put chairs and tables on the beach and light flames by the sea. The beach looked like a much less touristy Koh Phi-Phi in Thailand. It was really pretty and we enjoyed testing out all the restaurants! The curries were good, but seem to have been westernised a bit (not so spicy or flavourful) which was a shame...we still loved ordering Sri Lankan rice and curry though....where you are given about 5 or 6 different small dishes or dahl, curry, sagaloo, chutneys...papadoms, rice, naan...SO delicious!
We saw another two games of twenty20 cricket in Colombo which was good fun. We did so much in Sri Lanka, and had such an amazing time. It was so different to anywhere we had ever been before....so many new experiences, new food, new people, new cultures etc! We are so glad we went there, it was even more fun because we didn't have any expectations! The Country itself is beautiful...such contrasting landscapes! After three weeks in Sri Lanka we were greatful for western luxuries in Thailand...like mini marts or air conditioning! but still wish we could go back and see more of the
Dambulla
cave temple country.
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