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Sri Lanka is a country that has largely managed to escape tourism. Not because it is remote or an undesirable place to go, but because it has spent the best part of the last thirty years in a brutal civil war, and not to mention the devastation that the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami unleashed on the East coast. With the civil war coming to a violent end in 2009, and the towns beginning to rebuild and develop in the east, Sri Lanka is now a very appealing place to visit. It is an island teeming with wildlife, incredible food, big smiles, beautiful mountains, impossibly green tea plantations, great surf, and not to mention the cheap prices – a country that I was definitely looking forward to seeing.
My decision to come to Sri Lanka was actually because I had run out of time to go to India, and monsoon season was beginning there too, so I needed a new destination. I had always wanted to surf in Sri Lanka, and it turned out I would be getting there in time for the beginning of the surf season, and the weather on the east coast was supposed to be good. After
finding some cheap flights from SE Asia, it was an obvious choice – I hadn’t surfed in a year and a half and was desperate to get back in the water. I actually knew very little about what else Sri Lanka had to offer, but while reading the travel guide I had bought on the way to the airport I was beginning to wonder whether I actually wanted to surf or whether I wanted to travel – there seemed like there was so much to do!
I arrived in Colombo after three flights, and after getting the bus to the centre of town, I jumped straight on a train to Kandy, in the highlands of Sri Lanka. I was extremely tired, and didn’t enjoy being constantly hassled by tuk-tuk drivers and touts trying to get my business. In the end I gave up and went with one guy to a guesthouse which was actually quite nice. I thought he was the owner actually, and after I put my stuff in the room he asked me for 100 rupees so he could buy a beer. What a thing to ask for! Especially from the owner! But I was caught off
guard and it was less than a dollar so I just gave it to him – turned out he was just a guy getting commission for the guesthouse anyway. But throughout my time in Kandy I was asked so many times for 100 rupees so they could buy a beer – such a weird thing to ask, surely I’d be more likely to give them money if they asked for food?! And I wish I knew where they were buying their beer, everywhere else was four times that price! I immediately fell in love with the food in Sri Lanka – for my first meal I ordered rice and curry and was brought a huge plate of rice and no less than 5 different bowls of curry, and poppadoms – all for less than 2 dollars! The Sri Lankans really take pride in their food, and often spend hours every day preparing the spices and food to make sure it tastes incredible. Sometimes you have to order your food earlier on in the day to make sure they have enough time to cook it!
Kandy isn’t the most interesting of places in my opinion. I went to the local
tea museum one day, which I’d like to say was interesting but unfortunately I can’t…the best bit was the free cup of tea at the end! Although it was interesting to see all the old British equipment that they used – this area was where Thomas Lipton used to source his tea, cutting out the middleman to provide tea for the English at prices anyone could afford. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth (where supposedly one of Buddha’s teeth is held) was also worth a look around – it is a place where many people come on a pilgrimage, and so is full of Sri Lankans dressed all in white paying homage. I also decided to go for a walk around the forest one afternoon, unfortunately it rained the whole time and I somehow got covered in leeches, again! When will they leave me alone?! I actually managed to get lost in the forest and wandered straight into an army camp where they were firing off guns, much to their (and my) surprise!
While buying an umbrella in Kandy, I got chatting to the shop owner. He was really nice, and his brother lived in Cardiff, just down the
road from where I was at uni. So he started giving me loads of advice about what to buy in Sri Lanka, where I could buy the best things and how to tell if they were fake or not. Anyway, he then said he would accompany me to the local market to show me where it was. Well he not only took me there but took me inside, and showed me another one of his shops, and his friends’ shop. Normally I try not to buy things when I’m travelling as my backpack is so small, but I had a sample of some of the tea and it was so good I decided I would buy some and a whole pack of spices and just send it home. He also took me to his shop and showed me all the pashminas, and I realised that he might have some light trousers that I could wear while I was in Iran, which he did. Before I knew it, I’d spent 30 dollars in his shop, fully aware that I’d probably been conned the whole way. But I didn’t mind, as he was so friendly, and he had done it in such
a clever way I admired his salesmanship skills! And actually the prices were pretty cheap – I was more than willing to pay what I paid for them.
My next stop was Ella, a tiny little town south-east of Kandy. The train ride there has to be one of the most spectacular train rides in the world. It’s a slow train, with the doors held wide open, so you can hang right out of them – and get the best views! The train slowly ambles through tea plantations with more shades of green than you can imagine, full of Tamil women picking their daily quota; past small villages and tin shacks; around mountains shrouded in mist and past huge waterfalls. It is the kind of journey where your eyes are glued to the window, afraid to look away in case you miss something. It certainly makes the 6 hour journey a lot more interesting!
Ella is surrounded by mountains and tea plantations, and a great place to relax and do a bit of hiking. Our guesthouse had a beautiful view across to Ella Rock from the balcony, and we decided to go and try and climb to the
top. To get there, you have to walk along the railway tracks for a little while, past little houses and school kids on their way to school with their mums. And what a change from the hassles of Kandy – these were the Sri Lankan smiles I’d been hoping for. Everyone you go past is just beaming and will say hello, and the kids all wave and giggle. Walking along the train tracks was quite a novelty as well - this is a working train line and so you have to make sure you listen out for the hooting train making its’ approach in time to get out the way! After turning off the tracks you have to try and find your way along the maze of different pathways, and ignore the locals telling you a thousand different ways to go! After eventually finding the top, the views are amazing. Ella is close to the edge of the highlands, and so from one direction you can see where the mountains stop and the plains begin, stretching off into the horizon. In the other direction are the mountains and tea plantations. Quite a view! We ended up taking a different way
back down, somehow ending up at the back of someone’s little shack where there was a man with a load of cornets…well I haven’t had a cornet in so long was I was ecstatic that we’d found some at the top of a mountain in Sri Lanka! I guess it’s something the British brought with them when they colonised Sri Lanka?! On the way back down we stopped at a little café on the train tracks for a spot of afternoon tea and biscuits – I was beginning to feel like I was at home! Although it was obviously wrong of the British to take over and colonise countries, I do like the British influence in Sri Lanka. The post boxes, cricket (which they want to talk about non-stop!), tea, and just the feel of the place is all quite charming. The local people don’t seem to think that colonisation by the British was such a bad thing, as they actually put in a lot of infrastructure that is still working today. While I was in Ella I also walked up to Little Adam’s Peak (the smaller version of Adam’s Peak – where supposedly the footprint of Adam from the
Bible can be seen) which was a much easier walk and actually somehow had even better views than Ella Rock. The kind people at our guesthouse also gave us a cooking lesson one evening - their curry and rice involved nine different curries, and the chef showed us how to make all of them. They are all surprisingly simple and quick to make, as long as everything is prepared in advance and you have all the necessary spices!
From Ella I caught a local bus to my intended destination, Arugam Bay. This was a knackered old bus, full of locals and no spare seats. So I was hanging on for dear life round the corners, before a kind Sri Lankan guy forced me to take his seat. It was some kind of holiday, so every few kilometres there were crowds of people waving yellow flags by the side of the road. At each place they were giving out free food and drink, and so our bus stopped every so often and allowed them on to distribute it round the bus. It was great – they had the biggest smiles and were clearly enjoying the party and sharing their food
– and I was enjoying all the freebies! The bus didn’t actually go the full way to Arugam Bay, so a couple of us hopped in a tuk-tuk for the remaining hour or so. The journey was great – looking out the window you could see wild elephants and buffalo roaming round the fields.
Arugam Bay is a tiny little surfer town that was severely damaged in the 2004 tsunami, where around 500 people lost their lives, and many more lost everything they had. The town has made a remarkable recovery, with many guesthouses and restaurants that have been rebuilt. When we arrived I went to check out the main surf spot, and was over the moon to discover shoulder-high righthand waves just reeling down the point, with some rides over 200 metres! You should have seen the smile on my face – after not surfing for 18 months, seeing waves like that made my month! I spent a bit of time making sure I found a suitable board, and then headed straight out for a surf – fully expecting to be so rusty as to barely be able to surf. But it all came flooding back to me,
and every surf was better than the last. It helped that the surf was flawless, and that I’d found a good board, but I was loving it! Add to that great weather, and I was one happy boy. I knew all my plans for exploring the rest of Sri Lanka would have to be put on hold for another visit, as if the surf was good there was no way that I was going to leave! I checked out some other spots such as Elephant Rock (where I walked straight through a lagoon that I later discovered was infested with crocodiles – the local guy I told was horrified!), and another good spot called Whiskey Point.
Pretty much all I did was surf here, but I did try and get out and do some other things. One afternoon I was so tired from surfing, so I rented a bicycle and cycled down to Panama, where I’d heard it was possible to see elephants and crocodiles. I didn’t see either of them, but the amount of other wildlife I saw on the way was staggering. Turtles (which you also see in the water when you’re surfing), trees full of parrots,
monkeys, the most colourful birds, and peacocks to name a few. They are all ridiculously camera shy, and every time I reached for my camera, they would suddenly disappear. I also cycled through a small village close to Arugam, where the picture was very different. You could see the ruins of so many buildings, and the place seems to only just be being rebuilt. Nevertheless, all the kids came running up to me wanting their photos taken. I also walked through the back streets of Pottuville (about ten minutes north of Arugam), and I felt like the Pied Piper! I had hundreds of school kids following me through the streets with cries of ‘What’s your name?’, ‘How old are you?’, and ‘Give me 20 rupees!’. Everyone I passed said hello and wanted to talk, people were peering shyly from behind their windows and doors. It is funny how you can walk just a little bit out of a tourist destination, and suddenly you become the tourist attraction! It was nice to see a real local village as opposed to Arugam which is totally set up for tourism – and of course being the centre of attention once again, which you
know how much I love!
I had a great time in Arugam - surfing, some much needed relaxing, BBQs and drinking with the locals. It was nice to stay in one place for a while, after moving around so much the past couple of months. Going to be a while again before I surf again, but hopefully not a year and a half!
I returned to Colombo for a couple of days to get a few things sorted for my upcoming trip to Iran, and to explore the city a bit. After arriving at 3.30 in the morning, I stumbled around the city trying to kill a bit of time before I could check in at a hotel somewhere. The military and police presence in Colombo is quite staggering. Considering everything is back to normal here after the war, and that the Tamil Tigers have been completely wiped out, the number of guns on the street is unbelievable. There are AK47's everywhere! It was similar over on the East coast too, but not quite to the extent as in Colombo. It's a little bit offputting to be honest, I'm not sure if it makes me feel any safer
as it's almost as if they are expecting something to happen!
Whilst trying to exchange some money, I got chatting to an old Sri Lankan guy who turned out to be the harbourmaster. He helped me get the money sorted, and we chatted for a bit and he offered to show me the docks and get a drink in the Seamen's House. He was an interesting guy to chat to, as he had served in the Royal Navy back in the day when the Brits were in Sri Lanka. His family also own a tea plantation in Kandy, and he very kindly offered to send a load of tea back to my home address. Well, my scam radar was beginning to go off a little bit, but then I'd actually approached this guy and he did seem to be a big shot in the harbour. Still, it's always difficult to know who to trust in the big cities like Colombo. Well, eventually he told me that I'd have to pay the shipping charges, but it was only 3 dollars or so, so I thought even if it was a scam then I wasn't being scammed out of much money.
Although I was thinking that if I ended up paying for the beers then it was probably most likely that this tea was never going to arrive - and of course I ended up paying for the beers, so we'll see whether this tea turns up! Everyone is so friendly in Sri Lanka, it's difficult to know who is being genuine and who is trying to get money out of you, particularly in the big cities. I'm still not sure whether I was taken for a ride a couple of times, but if they were scams then I don't mind, I applaud them - the stories and way they pull them off are incredibly elaborate and clever, so fair enough - and I never ended up parting with more money than I was willing to pay anyway.
I wasn't massively taken with Colombo, it wasn't quite as charming as I'd hoped it would be - although I am sure this will change in the next 10 years or so as there seems to be a lot of development going on. I did like the hustle and bustle of the place though, especially around Pettah market. I've never been to
Some Local Kids
They chased after me asking for their photo to be taken!India, but from the descriptions it seems like Colombo is a slightly more tame version of an Indian city.
Some funny things I noticed in Sri Lanka...
• instead of our nod for yes and shake of the head for no, they have many different head waggles. They could mean any number of different things, and I have no idea what they are - it normally resulted in questions being answered with them waggling their heads and with me nodding or shaking my head and both of us looking confused
• the men wear skirts (OK they are sarongs really and actually look quite practical in the heat - although I'm not brave enough to try and wear one!)
• they drink tea when it's hot - one guy asked me with a genuine look of confusion why tourists drink so much water. When I replied that it's because it's hot and we sweat, he replied 'But water is cold!', with both of us waggling our heads in different ways. I think the idea is that drinking a hot drink makes you sweat more, and sweating cools you down. Makes sense, but give me
an ice cold can of coke any day!
• I saw this a few times - in restaurants mostly - to get attention they sometimes kind of blow kisses at the waiters. I've heard of them doing this in Burma as well actually.
Anyway, I'll leave it there. Sri Lanka really is a wonderful country - I think it's a great country to visit if you want a bit of adventure but without the hassles and difficulties that you might find somewhere like India. It is an amazingly varied country, with something for everyone. Mountains, beaches, bustling cities, really remote and untouched areas, amazing food, extremely friendly people, wildlife, and a rich and diverse culture. I was disappointed that I didn't have longer here, I enjoyed the surf so much that I ran out of time to explore the country more. But I will be back to dig a bit deeper next time for sure!
So the next stop is the place I've been most excited about - Iran. I can't wait!
Hope you are all well at home!
Love Ross x
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Stephanie and Andras
Stephanie
Very glad you didn't get eaten by a lagoon crocodile as I thoroughly enjoyed your recount in this blog. If you found the prices fair and the shopping experience enjoyable, no use stressing over the possibility of a scam, I say. Will look forward to your tales from Iran! Safe travels.