Notes on Sri Lanka
August 24th, 2011Mayke and I travelled to Sri Lanka as our honeymoon.
(click on the photo for all photo’s)
Things I loved most:
- Palagama Beach resort on Kalpitiya peninsula, bare foot luxury at $75 per night for a wonderful cabin (probably cheaper if you book direct) in a region that is still very unspoilt (used to be a bit unsafe there in not too recent history). The first ten or so photo’s (after the fish market) are taken at Palagama Beach.
- Yala Nature reserve, camping in a tented camp hosted by Leopard Safaris. Quite expensive but definitely the most fabulous way of enjoying the nature reserve (all the nature photo’s I took there)
- Tea country. Book a train ride from Colombo or Kandy up into the hills to Ella or Nuwara Eliya, stay a couple of days there (we stayed in a tea pickers bungalow, old english style, but there are plenty of options I think)
We didn’t go North (Jaffna) nor did we go to the northern East coast (Trincomalee). The beaches are supposed to be excellent there. If it wasn’t my honeymoon I would have gone up North, apparently not very touristic yet but all the more beautiful for it. Sri Lankans are all going up North as they haven’t been able to for about a quarter of a century.
South coast (around Galle) is really nice but more touristic. Expect to be hassled a couple of times (nothing to fear but you have to be alert). The simple reason is that this place has been open to tourism far longer than other parts of Sri Lanka so some touts have learnt the tricks of tricking tourists out of their money. Same goes for Colombo, be slightly more alert than elsewhere in Sri Lanka. By the way, it’s nothing compared to the hassle you can expect in e.g. Delhi.
Some general tips and observations:
Sri Lanka has 2 main monsoon seasons, one from one side and one from the other. Both last about half a year. This means that for one half of the year one side of the island offers a better beach experience, for the other half of the year the other side of the island. The differences are really quite noteworthy: in the calm season (when the monsoon blows on the other side) the seas are calm and blue, you can go snorkling diving and whale or dolphin spotting. In the other half the sea is rough, you don’t generally want to go swimming in it due to strong currents and there’s little chance of spotting anything. If you like surfing then that’s an advantage. You’ll have to research which side is good when you’re there, or if you can’t find out I know someone in Sri Lanka who can advise on this.
Sri Lanka is really a buddhist country. The main “tourist attractions” are the old buddhist civilizations from about 300 AD to 1200 AD. The center of all this is Anuradhapura, Kandy and Polonaruwa (“cultural triangle”) If you’re interested in archeological sites (some quite perfect) and buddhist stupas and rock carvings then spend lots of time here, otherwise just go there for a few days to get an impression and spend the rest of your 2 weeks exploring the country as it exists today. Sri Lanka today is to my mind much more interesting than the remnants of the past, although I don’t want to belittle the impressive remnants.
Sri Lanka is really the island of smiling people. This is no cliché but simple fact. People like to catch your eye and exchange smiles. Which is great!
Public transport is probably all right but I can’t tell you out of experience. If you’re interested I can recommend a great driver/guide who is extremenly knowledgeable on everything Sri Lankan and drives very calmly.
If you’re looking for a great place to unwind for a couple of days I can recommend the Beach Hut near to Galle, which sleeps 2 (intimate) adults (+ kids if necessary), comes with a phenomenal cook and a houseboy and a nightwatchman. See my photo’s near the end. It’s owned by an English couple who’ve really got an eye for style. When they’re not in it themselves its rented out. Again, if you’re interested I’ll give you contact details.
If you want a top top top notch hotel in Colombo go for Tintagel or if you want old colonial grandeur go for Galle Face (which has a lively sea side terrace in the late afternoon and evening). All in all I didn’t find Colombo worth staying for longer than one or two days.
