Tourist season part 1: Sri Lanka

Okay time for a more light hearted post after the last two serious posts! I had a conversation with an old friend from Singapore who was thinking of taking a long holiday at the end of the year for about ten days - the last week of December into the first week of January. He said, "I want to get out of Singapore, have the trip of a life time. Where do you think I should go?" I thought, woah - where do I begin? You only have two weeks, so it's probably a good idea to spend that time exploring one (or at most two) countries, rather than try to do six or seven countries in ten days. So this article is really for him - here are my suggestions of ten countries for him.

Well my friend has never been to Sri Lanka...

I am going to do one country at a time and I know some of you are going to go "ooh you snob, where are the ASEAN countries?" I am deliberately leaving them out for two reasons: firstly, most of my readers are in Singapore so they would probably know more about the ASEAN countries than I do and secondly, my friend wants this trip to be about 10 days and yes he wants to go somewhere a bit further. But I am going to start with an Asian destination: the beautiful island of Sri Lanka. It was such an unforgettable holiday!

Sri Lanka is such an amazing destination.

First impressions: I visited Sri Lanka in 2009 and it blew me away. I spent about two weeks travelling around the island, using public transport (buses & trains) and mingled with the locals. What struck me about Sri Lanka was how my experience developed day by day and how I discovered something new everyday. I remember the drive from Colombo airport into town, thinking, "yeah this reminds me of Malaysia in the 1980s" - but the adventure really only began the moment we left the comforts of the capital city for the North and the interior. Woah, never mind Malaysia in the 1980s, we're well and truly stepping back in time here to the 1930s in the interior!

Getting there: There are plenty of flights connecting Colombo to destinations in other parts of Asia and you can fly there directly from as far away as London, Helsinki, Moscow, Paris and Rome. I love the fact that I don't need a visa to enter the country (unlike say neighbouring India, which charges an arm and a leg even for a tourist visa). Colombo airport is pretty modern and efficient. There are very few internal flights in Sri Lanka as the country is too small - though some chartered flights run between Colombo and Jaffna. You have to use rail or bus to get around the country.

The Interior: So beautiful yet so inaccessible!

Transport: Now Sri Lanka is not that big as a country, but trying to get from place to place was such a challenge. You have two choices: take a local bus or try the trains - both options are remarkably ridiculously cheap! The roads in the capital were excellent but the moment you left Colombo, oh dear, they were of questionable quality - mini buses packed with commuters would serve around tuk-tuks, bullock-drawn carts and elephants. You can always charter your own taxi: tuk-tuks are cheapest but if it is raining, you are probably better off paying more for a decent car. You should not rent a car in Sri Lanka - it's just too risky given the chaotic nature of the traffic there. Just get a taxi or get a car with a driver instead - that's what most tourists and expatriates do.

The trains, good grief, were so old some of them were actually left behind by the British colonials. I remember the train to Galle that had the words "Made in Birmingham" on it. In Sri Lanka, the journeys were as memorable as the destinations. You can't be in a hurry and it is always a good excuse to chat to the locals. Many do speak some English anyway - I remember asking a young couple on the bus, "So when will we get to Dambulla?" She shook her head in a typical Sri Lankan way and smiled. "Depending," she replied. I decided not to look at my watch and instead engage them in conversation all the way to Dambulla.

Parts of Sri Lanka reminded me of Malaysia in the early 1980s.

Attractions: Despite being a small island that was hard to get around, Sri Lanka still has an extremely diverse range of attractions to offer: despite the amount of time I had there, I simply didn't get to see all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites there. This island has so much culture and history packed into an area called "The Cultural Triangle" - one can spend weeks, even months exploring everything in that triangle. Then there's the central highlands in Nuwara Eliya, where you can enjoy the cooler weather, visit tea plantations and go hiking up Adam's Peak and then there are the beaches in the south which have such beautiful golden sand.

Weather: For such a small country, you can experience a huge range of weather - but this has got to be qualified. For most of the island, the weather is tropical, ie. bloody hot in the day, up to 35 degrees whilst at night it drops no lower than 25 degrees (exactly the same as in Singapore) and it is like that all year round for most of the country. There are extremes in the interior though, it can easily exceed 40 degrees in the interior as it bakes during the dry season and it the very highest parts of the highlands, it can fall to -2.7 degrees in winter and a little snow may fall! Indeed, the central highlands are very popular with the tourists and locals alike as the fresher, cooler weather is such a welcome escape from the heat in the lowlands.

At Lovers Leap Waterfall in the Central Highlands

One thing you have to be aware of is the Monsoon patterns - there are two distinct wet seasons: April - June and September - November. You do NOT want to visit Sri Lanka during the wet season as it would be utterly miserable. Many of the best attractions are all outdoors and you do not want to be climbing Sigiriya in the pouring rain with an umbrella. With heavy rains come floods and landslides which will disrupt your travel plans. Rain will fall throughout the year, but the best time to go is January and February: that is the driest part of the year.

Food: The food was pretty average: rice with curry or prata with curry. I couldn't bear to look at curry by the time I left Sri Lanka - in the capital, sure you have a much bigger range of food to choose from but in the smaller towns, the options were far more limited. However, it will always be very cheap. I loved the local tea and this crispy 'dosai' like rice pancake they call 'rice hoppers'. If you are familiar with Southern Indian food, then everything you come across in Sri Lanka will be quite familiar. If in doubt, just look at what the locals and eating and eat what they eat - you can't go wrong. The usual warnings about street food apply: as long as something is hot and well cooked (say a freshly fried vegetable pakora), then yeah you're alright - but something like sliced mangos would be dodgy: you should always wash and peel your own fruits. Never drink the tap water.

Street market in Kandy

Prices: Accommodation was very cheap though you get what you pay for - don't always go for the cheaper options as they will be very basic, catering for locals. Public transport is dirt cheap. When shopping, always bargain - it can get tiresome after a while when you know you are just going through the motions and the guy will eventually drop his price... There are always luxury resorts and expensive restaurants in and around Colombo for those of you who prefer to pamper yourselves but Sri Lanka is well and truly a budget destination. The same principle applies for food - you can pay as little as like £1.50 / S$3 for a full meal in a modest local joint for rice & curry, but you can also pay like £50 / S$100 a head in some of Colombo's top restaurants.

Language: Sinhala (or Sinhalese) is the main language though Tamil is spoken both in the north of the country as well as in the central Highlands. I did study Sinhala and Tamil before I went and I didn't really need it in the end as many of the locals spoke some English - some were totally fluent whilst others spoke a form of Sri Lankan English ('Sringlish') which may be hard to understand, but within a few days you'll get used to it. However, the locals do appreciate it even if you do make the effort to speak just a few words of the local language and it could make a big difference when you're trying to bargain whilst shopping. I would always lie that my brother-in-law is from Colombo and I have been to Sri Lanka many times - that's why I speak a bit of Sinhala/Tamil so don't try to cheat me, give me a fair price. It works!

English rating: This is when I rate the ability of locals to speak English out of 5 stars - with 5 being UK, USA, Canada, Australia standard. Sri Lanka gets 3.5 out of 5 stars - everyone tends to speak some English and it is easy enough to get around without speaking Sinhala or Tamil.

I made a valiant effort with Sinhala when I was there!

Beware: Creepy crawlies - everything from snakes to mosquitoes are everywhere, even in Colombo. Such is the dilemma, you should really cover up to prevent the insects from getting to your skin, but damn it is so hot there. Insect repellent is a must - always re-apply every few hours. You are also expected to remove your shoes when entering any temple complex as a sign of respect, watch where you are walking: beware of snakes, scorpions, spiders and other nasty creatures which may bite/sting your bare feet.

Safety: Actually, I felt remarkably safe in Sri Lanka, even when I was on public transport. I would always make friends, speak to the locals so I would never feel like, "oh no I am the only foreigner in this place". Despite the fact that I did have a lot of cash on me as a tourist and I was travelling through some really poor countryside areas, I never felt unsafe. A lot of common sense does apply though, be careful with things like your mobile phones, wallet, money and camera for pick pockets can strike in crowded places. Thankfully, their long civil war ended in 2009 and all parts of the country are now safe to visit.

At the top of Sigiriya 

Comparisons: If you have enjoyed other Asian cultural destinations like Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Luang Prabang in Laos then Sri Lanka definitely have enough cultural interest to keep you enthralled for the time you're there. Be prepared to deal with the very poor transport infrastructure though, you may be better off heading to a more developed country like Vietnam or Thailand if you are not prepared to rough it out in Sri Lanka. Like I said, facilities can be really basic once you venture out of the capital Colombo, but boy it is worth the effort and you will be rewarded with such unique experiences.

Do I need a guide: No you don't - facilities & infrastructure may not be great, but it is tourist friendly enough and the fact that most people speak some English makes things a lot easier for tourists. You do need to do some homework and planning before you arrive in Sri Lanka - getting around the interior can be confusing and you need to decide in advanced where you want to go, where you want to stay etc. Otherwise, you can be misled by seemingly 'helpful' locals who may suggest, "You don't want to go there, they will close early today, come let me take you somewhere else instead." And that "somewhere else" may turn out to be his uncle's gift shop or restaurant.

Kandy Lake

You do need to be flexible and think on your feet though - when we were in Dambulla, we had non-stop heavy rain and had to decide, "okay, we'll get a very early night and set off super early tomorrow and hope that it will be drier tomorrow." Being on your own without a guide allows you to change your plans just like that, but a guided tour is less flexible. Places like Polonowura are huge and the historical sites are rather scattered - so you will need to get a driver in a tuk-tuk who will drive you around - so for things like that, yes you're effectively engaging a private guide for a few hours.

I hope you've liked my piece on Sri Lanka - the next destination in the series in the UK, my adopted country. Quite a different kind of holiday from Sri Lanka, that's for sure! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a question below.

On a beach in Unawatuna