Sri Lanka

The vacation was planned on a very short notice, spending only a day or two on deciding where to go, what to do and what to cover. Most of this was done through Trip Advisor, AirBnB, Google (Hotels/Flights) and AI. I used Claude to start of and get a draft Itinerary going which gave me an idea of what to cover and see. I then used Trip Advisor, AirBnB Experiences, Google, Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen's blog) to finalize.

I arrived at Negombo and headed straight towards Colombo. We spent a few hours there and headed to Bentota, spending the night near the beach. After Bentota, we covered Hikkaduwa, Galle, Mirissa, Ella, Kandy and Sigiriya. Mostly the western and southern parts of Sri Lanka. We hired a private car for the entire trip so it was easier to travel to all these places.

Sri Lanka is beautiful country and it reminds me a lot like Kerala. Coconut trees, nature, similar weather and similar looking people. There are of course differences between the two states and cultures. To start off and perhaps the most obvious observation was the low population density. There are fewer people in Sri Lanka. With a population of 2.22 Crores, its around 1.5% the size of India. So it was a lot empty than Kerala or other parts of India. I liked that. It was also less chaotic and traffic was better. There was hardly any honking with traffic rules were being followed. I also did not see any reckless driving, lane changing, jumping of red lights (there were fewer than 5 red lights I saw on the entire trip).

It seemed like the women there were more safer and free. I saw many women working and walking about by themselves post sunset. They weren't dressed too modestly, wearing skirts or dresses rather than saris or salwar's that is more prominent here in India. It did seem to be safer and as a tourist I did not feel unsafe at all. Comparing it to US and Europe, where there were moments in my travel I felt a little uneasy for my safety, in Sri Lanka, I did not. Although I did less compared to other places and it was more of a family trip. Browsing a bit about crime in Sri Lanka shows that its not as safe as it appeared to me and like any other country it has its issues. Yet as a traveler I felt safe.

People there were also more respectful, civil and courteous to us as tourists. There were instances where they would charge us more but that's about it. There was no aggression or cleverness towards us. I also found them civil and courteous to each other. When my driver talked to others they seemed courteous and helpful. They also appeared to be mild mannered but their faces showed hardship that comes from poverty and economic problems. It was hard for me to imagine how this country was in a civil war. I hardly noticed any aggression in their behavior. But I suspect its more to do with the region I visited. The south and west was not the center of the civil war and it was the LTTE in the north and east that did most of the damage. As I went further north up to Sigiriya I did notice the slight change in the crowd and mildness that I saw down south. The service was slightly better down south but compared to India the service overall is not so good. You have to constantly call waiters and they don't give as much as attention as you would get here.

There is economic hardship the country is going through. 2022 saw the President resign and protests over the mismanagement of the country. Inflation is a big issue and the cost of living is making it hard for ordinary Sri Lankan's to live. Our driver did bring up the cost of living and how its hard for his family of 5 to live. He makes around 20k INR in a month and the expenses are quite high. I expected to spend less on food as its known to be a cheap foreign country to travel, however the food there is slightly more expensive. We visited all kinds of restaurants and eateries, from a 5 star to an ordinary family restaurant and everywhere we noticed the relatively high prices of food. At the five star, it cost us ~INR 2000 per person and at the family restaurant around ~INR 700 per person. The five star was on par and perhaps lesser than India but the cheap family restaurant was more. In fact in all our meals there was nothing less than ~INR 600 per person. At one beach hotel, I was charged 1500 for a beer and a seer fish dish. Shouldn't sea food be cheaper there? While its not too expensive, I anticipated it to be lesser. Cocktails were less expensive for some reason, it was around ~INR 350-400 at a major hotspot in Ella.

As we are on inflation, another aspect of the trip that I found inflated were the reviews on Google Maps and Trip Advisor. A lot of the reviews are very high showing 5/4.5 stars for most of the activities and places. But this is not accurate and additional star is probably given due to their hospitality. Sri Lankan people interacting with tourists are hospitable, accommodating and try their best to give you a good experience. They also try to get you to review them and due to their smiles or perhaps out of pity or perhaps the exotic location, they get a higher rating than expected. So if you find yourself seeing a high rating, drop it by 1 or 0.5 stars.

There were a lot of foreign tourists from all around the world. I saw travelers from Russia, UK, Australia, Japan, Italy, Spain, German, Portugal. It appeared there were less tourists from US and China as I hardly head these accents. Many more Europeans than I was expecting. Most of the places we visited, there were only a handful of brown or local tourists.

There were a lot less foreign brands and companies. I spotted a few KFCs and Pizza Huts in the cities but they were only a handful and for the most part there were only local brands and companies. I spotted more Indian brands like Bata, Airtel, relative to other MNCs. Is it because foreign investment in Sri Lanka is not attractive to investors or do they they have regulations in place to stop this? As per Claude, its the the former. Economic growth is visibly lower in the country. While its GDP per capita is higher compared to India, it looks poorer than India. The infrastructure is ok but not as high as India. Compare the two airports and you will notice the difference. Roads are better though and our car rides were comfortable without any potholes. Public transportation while existing seemed to be less prominent with more people using autos and vehicles for transportation. Construction and Architecture is not great. Some of the hotels and homes had doors that wouldn't close, taps that would be too close to the basin, water heaters that worked only with a hand shower. The bathroom shower panel were strangely same everywhere we went. Is it only one company with one model that makes it for all of Sri Lanka? Also did you know you can hire an auto (tuk tuk) and drive it around yourself. I saw a few white tourists drive around that and it was amusing.

In terms of Sri Lankan culture, I found the music melodic and light. Sufi style. Not a lot of rap or beats. I liked it. We mostly heard it on our drives through Spotify playlists. The food is similar to South Indian Cuisine but with differences. The food had more raw chilies and less dynamism (a lot less complexity). The Kottu Rotti and idiyappam (Sting hoppers) are local dishes that is recommended by everyone. They are good but it did not stand out. My favorite food was the Tuna Steak my mom ordered at The Bungalow at Galle. A second favorite and my mom's favourite was pineapple fried rice with cashew and chicken ordered at Fire Plate near Kandy. But what really stood out for me was the Ceylon Tea. We had a cup for breakfast at an AirBnB in Kandy and it was amazing. I am not a tea drinker but having that I wanted to become one. On my way back I got a lot of Ceylon tea but so far nothing matched that cup. I forgot to click a picture and I couldn't find it at a supermarket or the airport before leaving. It was from Labookellie Tea estate and this is the closest link I could find. Ravana is also depicted as a strong muscular noble man and not a 10 headed demon as is so common here in India. There were a few places named after him.

Favorite Hotel - Hotel Sigiriya. Shanora Beach was a close second. All of our stays were at good places at reasonable prices. We spent around INR 15-20k per person for a six night stay which included a combination of hotels, AirBnBs and Homestays. Overall the stay was relatively cheaper. Staying at the beach is amazing and if you plan to go I highly recommend it.

In our trip, I tried to focus more on Beaches, Wildlife and Hikes. The beaches and hikes were great and the wildlife was amazing except for the Yala National Park Safari. The Safari's there was overrated as we spend hours driving around and not seeing much. If I could do it again, I would skip the safari. The Bentota water safari was good though and you can cover that. In the Bentota water safari, I held a 4 month old Crocodile. This happened as the guide stopped at some guy's house who had this Crocodile with him. We had to pay him 500 LKR. While holding a crocodile and clicking pictures was fun, I wonder if it was the right thing to do as later I felt I incentivized him to continue breeding crocs to click pictures. Turtle snorkeling and Elephants are also worth it. But In my view the beaches at Sri Lanka and Sigiriya fort are the best attractions Sri Lanka has to offer. If I do go back, I would spend more time at the beaches at Sri Lanka.

My favourite activity was surfing at Dewata Beach near Galle. It was my first time and I enjoyed it. I did good for a first time and managed to ride a few waves right till the beach shore. I also found the Pidurangala Rock and Sigiriya hike really worth it. The views are amazing. Its so beautiful to see trees all around from top. Unlike other hikes where you can see few roads, buildings, the view from the top is mostly nature and wildlife. The breeze at the top is strong, the views amazing, the sounds of animals can be heard. In many ways, that part of the country felt untouched by humans and it pleased me. I was extremely proud of my mother who managed to complete both Little Adam's Peak hike and Sigiriya rock hike. This is in spite of more than 3 people who warned us how hard the climb was, the fact that she is 55+ and has some health problems.

The most intriguing part of the trip was the rock paintings at Sigiriya. Considering it was painted in the 5th Century, I was so curious to know the motivations of the artists, why and how they did it. They seemed proud of it. We weren't allowed to click photos and it was on route to the exit. Yet 3 km at the entrance of Pidurangala Rock, tourists are asked to cover themselves to not expose shoulders and legs.

Overall, I would rate this holiday a 4 out of 5 and one must go at least once to Sri Lanka.