Sri Lanka

I've been to Sri Lanka about five times with work and each trip I've noticed distinct changes to the country. The first couple of times I visited, Sri Lanka was coming to the end of its 27 year Civil War, which had my mum demanding hourly updates, but having never seen it before it was difficult to compare what Sri Lanka used to be like to what it was like by the time I visited. Sri Lanka was my first trip to a “developing country”, most of my travels until this point having been to Europe and the US, and it was quite the eye opener. I fell in love with the place almost immediately.

My advice to anyone travelling for holiday would be to fly into Colombo airport and then quickly get out again. Colombo is amazing. Not quite on the level of some cities in India I imagine, but the hustle and bustle can be quite a shock when you first get there (and even more of a shock once you come back again after some time at the beach or 'up country' in the hills and tea plantations).

The first thing you'll have to do when you reach the airport is pay a stranger to dump you into the back of his van and take you to where you need to go. Our office is in Colombo 3 district, which is about an hour drive. Addresses aren't very well recognised (as the guy in the van isn't an actual taxi driver) so I hang my head in shame as I tell them to drop me off at “McDonald's in Colombo 3”. This is the nearest landmark that isn't an expensive hotel (which would make the fare go up), but I do always feel the need to say “I don't eat McDonald's” as an afterthought. I don't think they ever believe me or particularly care though. At the time, the fare for this journey was about 2,500rps, but most drivers will start by quoting you at least double and then you work your way down from there. I've spent almost 30 minutes arguing over 20p before, which made me feel awful – I've been told to multiply the amount x10 in my head before agreeing to it to try and compare it to the UK equivalent of how much you'd overpay for something, but as £2 is also not that much money I usually always end up paying the higher amount at the end of the journey, but just feel like I've won something and taught a lesson about not trying to rip off tourists in future. I'm yet to discover if this has ever actually made a difference.

Also, there probably are more official driver services from the airport to the City, but I've never taken one and this always seems much more fun (although do be safe and don't tell my mum).

Since my last visit there's been a motorway built, but the majority of the roads are very badly maintained and the traffic moves very slowly. I think there probably are traffic accidents, but doubt that anyone notices as the average speed seems to be about 2 miles an hour. Apparently the motorway has revolutionised the efficiency of car journeys (it used to take about three hours to travel 25 miles – I'm not even kidding), but there were a lot of stray animal deaths in the early days. You can imagine they weren't used to cars being able to get up to 10 mph, let alone 70mph.

My first few trips to Colombo involved a lot of security check points. The area I stay in is not far from the President's living quarters, so the security was particularly high during the war (and I can now confirm that it's impossible to say that without sounding like Uncle Albert from the British sitcom, Only Fools and Horses). Typically they'd see that you were white and in my case, blonde and a feeble lady, and would wave you through, but the sight of a semi-automatic weapon will still put the heeby jeebies up you if you're not used to it. It also opens up the question about why terrorists wouldn't just force white, blonde women to do their dirty work for them, but I'd best not give anyone any ideas.

During my time in Sri Lanka towards the end of the war I saw a couple of air strikes (one of which I thought was a lightning storm until the search lights came out) and heard of a few bomb scares, but luckily I wasn't on the receiving end of any trouble. The advice at that time was, if you had no other choice but to go to the train station on a public bus or other overly populated places, to get out again as soon as you could. If you were to visit a shopping centre all bags/people would be searched. Again, I'd get waved through. Generally, at the time, you wouldn't see many tourists about the place unless you went to a larger hotel. The Galle Face Hotel is my favourite in Colombo, although the rates have massively increased since the war finished (first world problems etc.) and the Veranda Bar is a great place to work from of an evening, if the bustle gets too much.

They also have very amusing signs, which always make me smile.

Of course it wouldn't be a post about Sri Lanka if I didn't also mention the 2006 Tsunami. I, thankfully, wasn't there when it happened, but I did see the aftermath a couple of years later and was shocked by how some buildings, including schools, are still in ruin. In particular, the train from Galle to Colombo (where they tragically transported a lot of the women and children when the first wave hit) still lays on its side on the opposite side of the road as you go down to the beach. At the time, a lot of the villages didn't have phones so the communication was very poor and most people had no warning at all. It's a relief to see that this has now changed and that tsunami evacuation procedures are now in place, but it's a tragic way to learn and if you ever need some perspective on life this'll certainly give you a hard lesson.

The last time I visited the beach was almost non-existant and the tide very high, but I was told not to worry (and this was a year or two ago so they were right). 

 

(The above picture is of a bar. The sea used to be the dance floor. We moved in once our feet started to get wet). 

This memorial statue (Peraliya Buddha) took my breath away the first time I saw it. There are many temples and sculptures in Sri Lanka, but this one is about 50ft tall, faces out to sea and gives you a real sense of telling the waves to settle down and to not even think about doing it again. I hope it works.

During the week I obviously work (and sleep) in the office, but at weekends I try to escape either to the beach (I've always gone West down to Hikkaduwa as during the conflict the roads to the East were blocked) or up country to the beautiful, lush countryside such as Hatton or Kandy. I have a friend who owns a hotel in Hikkaduwa, called SunBeach Hotel, and it's a wonderful place to stay. The upstairs rooms are very clean, big and you can hear the ocean constantly. Fortunately, in Hikka the shape of the sea bed meant that the tsunami almost completely missed the village, whereas half a mile to the left and right were completely devastated. The hotel (and locals) did suffer damage though and I've had a few late night drinks with my friend who owns the hotel about her experience of the day it happened.

Up country you can climb Adam's Peak (Sri Pada - a really pointy mountain) overnight with the idea of seeing a sunrise, but if you do it in rainy season (I can relay this first hand) you'll need to take waterproofs, eucalyptus for the leeches which will either get to your feet or your trainers and prepare to not see “Adam's footprint” as the key to the safe it's locked behind will be in Colombo. The time I climbed Adam's Peak I went with a colleague and neither of us had any water or waterproofs, but we stayed at the Green House and the elderly owners, who were lovely, helped us out. Our guide didn't turn up (this can be quite typical sometimes) so we decided to take the trip solo, which is very easy as the climb is all steps... Around 5,000 of the little monkeys. We had about 200mls of water, which showed very poor foresight, but luckily took the risk on a “spring” and managed to top up near the summit. When we reached the top (which was like being engulfed in a massive cloud) there were a few monks who took us in, gave us some tea and stared at us like we were mental. We climbed down shortly afterwards (you try being barefoot in a temple in a freezing cold cloud) and the next morning I had a rather amusing moment by myself in a hotel when I stepped out of bed and promptly fell over. I couldn't walk for about a week.

(The above picture is of the shadow that the Peak makes during sunrise. I told you it was pointy).

For advice on getting around in Sri Lanka try this site here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/sri-lanka

A lot of the time, however, you can ask the locals and generally I feel that “winging it” is the best way to see any country, as long as you adjust your tolerance levels and don't mind slumming it a bit.

If you do go, definitely get the train when you can and although you'll be offered “First Class” (which costs a tiny amount and means you get a seat in a carriage that has a fan), I would either buy the ticket and donate it to someone (good to keep Karma on your side) or get a Third Class ticket and hang out the doors like the locals do. You'll have an amazing experience and see some great views – especially at night when the fireflies come out to play. Just make sure you hold on tight and I'd advise not doing this if it's a “Poya” holiday (these are once a month, every full moon) as you'll find yourself on a train with thousands of people, stood on one leg, which gets tiresome after four hours especially if you're on your way back from climbing Adam's Peak and have jelly legs already.

If you're brave enough and like a thrill, I'd also recommend taking a bus somewhere for a short journey. They're lethal, the tyres are usually bare and I've never been convinced that the brakes work as well as they should do. There's a strong chance that you'll find yourself in hysterics whilst trying to hold on, not bash into other people and closing your eyes as the bus overtakes the traffic in front on a blind corner with another bus coming the other way. You can imagine how much the Sri Lankan commuters love this.

Overall, Sri Lanka is a very beautiful country that's gone through a whole world of changes over the past 30 years and continues to change as it now gets back to “normality”. My last visit saw less guns, more tourists and an ice cream shop in Colombo, which I never thought I'd ever see.

Lastly, I feel I must put a disclaimer in here as a lot of the stuff I've recommended is slightly dangerous and I doubt you'd be advised to do it from a Tour Operator. So, do it if you're not afraid of a little adrenaline, but I'm not responsible for any actions taken as a result of the above post, or injury or death (or the inability to walk after climbing 5,000 steps).