I arrived at Sri Lanka’s basic international airport at midnight.That day I had caught a Thai movie in Bangkok. My companion was a deaf gay man, and his choice of movie was about a group of lady boys (in Thai – kathoey). Interesting.
With no pre-arranged accommodation I booked myself into the Colombo YMCA in the early hours of the morning. My lodgings were a bed in a dorm on a balcony overlooking Fort, a suburb of the capital Colombo.
I headed out into the city the next day after waking late and taking breakfast in the YMCA cafeteria. I wanted to find some better accommodation. Sri Lanka is unique in that people operate guest houses out of their own homes. So the next night I ended up staying with a well-to-do (you can’t exactly open up your home if you are poor and live in a small room) Sri Lanka family. The son was a flight engineer on his way to work in New Zealand, so that night we ended up having drinks and chatting.
Being a previous English colony, it seems most people speak English in Sri Lanka, which makes it a lot easier for the traveller.
Wandering through the markets in Pettah, I found that everyone wanted my attention:
“Hello, sir, what country?”
“New Zealand”
“Do you like cricket?”
“Uhh, yes, of course!”
All the while shaking their head from side to side (a trait I recognised from New Zealand Sri Lankans) in apparent agreement.
With so many offers of friendship, which was at first flattering and later annoying, I settled on one particular group of guys from the market. The next day we hung out at the beach – Mt Lavina.
A pity Galle wasn’t as nice as the train ride to it. I stayed in Galle (watch out for the touts!) and made a day trip to Unawatuna, but staying in Unawatuna with a day trip to Galle would have been better. The places to stay in Unawatuna are much nicer than Galle.
Unawatuna earns the honour of being the most beautiful beach I have seen. I recommend renting a mask and snorkel and taking two logs of wood called a catamaran out to the rocks to look at the coral. I didn’t but its a good idea!
In Galle I was invited to a local school to talk about computers. So I spoke to the kids about that great thing called the Internet.
The bus service is really good, I was able to go pretty much wherever I wanted when I wanted.
From Galle I went to Deniyaya. The drive from the beach into the hill country and tea plantations was beautiful. I stayed with Palitha (mentioned in the Lonely Planet) a very funny easy-going guide who took me into the Sinharaja rain forest. The idea of a “rain forest” sounded cool, but it was pretty much the same as “the bush” in New Zealand. Exceptions: locals would drive motorbikes up and down the walking track, snakes and damn leeches. Palitha knew everything about the forest and pointed out hidden creatures of the jungle I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
Next to Ella. A beautiful place with nice walks and views, particularly from Ella Rock. You can make a nice day-trip to the nearby Badulla by train. A little down the line, Haputale is also a nice place to stay and do much the same -walks & views.
By train to Hatton, and up Adam’s Peak at 4am in the morning. 2 hours up and you’re just in time for sunrise. At the top of the mountain there is an indent in a rock that looks like a very big footprint. Is it the Buddha’s or Adam’s?
Frequent/surprising English words used by Sri Lankans:
“….. and all”
“shit”
“fellows”
“cricket”
