I spent three unforgettable weeks in Sri Lanka. It was the first time in my life that I went to a country which is kind of different from the European ones. At the beginning I was shocked by many things, but then got used to them.
Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with nice people, spectacular nature, impressive mountains, great beaches and fantastic weather.
Srilankan people are very nice, open and hospitable. I had an opportunity to be in many Srilankan houses as my husband's family live there and they were all very nice and hospitable.
As I look different from the local people I aroused their interest so obviously they were looking at me with a shy, curious look. There was nothing wrong with it and I think that Polish people should learn from them how to look and not to stare or give a killing look as unfortunately we are the best at it.
In Sri Lanka people lead simple life and they look really happy. I found there many things which we had in Poland during communism when life was not easy and we did not have many things so we had to find a way to cope somehow to survive.
Travelling across Sri Lanka is another interesting matter. There are too many vehicles and not enough roads which means that travelling takes a lot of time and sometimes it is even shocking how much time it takes to get from point A to point B when both points are so close from each other. The surface of the roads is not bad at all, but with so many vehicles on the roads it is just hard to overtake. If you decide to overtake there are more vehicles in front of you so driving is really tiring. However, the way they overtake may be crazy, but there is one good thing about it as they give space to the vehicle which overtakes and do not accelerate, which would be rare in my country.
It looks like buses rule the roads, especially the red ones which belong to the government. They simply dislike when someone tries to overtake them and will not make your life easy. Apart from the buses, there are a lot of three wheelers, motorcycles and cars, which are usually new and expensive. In Sri Lanka if you do not have a permit to buy a car, you need to pay 200% tax so do not ask me how people mange to do it as I still have not figured it out how they can afford a car.
There is a highway in Sri Lanka, but the new sections of it are still being built. It is a toll highway which is cheap for foreigners and obviously saves a lot of time.
If you travel across Sri Lanka you will experience beeping. It is so irritating as they beep all the time. I noticed that it is a kind of language they use, especially when they overtake they always beep, but sometimes it is like a never ending beeping which only made me aggressive.
The buses are very old and it is better if I do not know what condition they are in. Apart from the driver, there is another man who collects money, encourages people to get on and maybe hurry them up when they get off. They shout in their own language so obviously I did not understand what they were saying. Just one important thing to remember if you use them, stop being polite by letting other people get on the bus first. You know what they say: "When in Rome, do as Romans do" so squeeze as quickly as you can because the driver does not care about the safety of the passengers and it is common that the bus moves before you mange to get on or get out of the bus. Srilankan people know how to deal with it, but it may be very dangerous to us so be careful. In general I would say that "safety" does not exist there. If you want to cross the street, there are zebra crossings, but no traffic lights which means that you have to try to cross the road in front of the speeding vehicles which is quite scary.
Sunday seems to be a normal day with open shops till late. People do go to churches or temples, children have religion classes, but that's it. As you know there are many different religions in Sri Lanka like Buddism, Islam, Hinduism and Christianity.
When it comes to food, rice is the main ingredient. Apart from it, there is a lot of different food served on separate bowls which people choose to eat. A lot of Srilankan people eat with their right hand, but do not panic as they have cutlery in the restaurants. There are a lot of different fruit and vegetables which we cannot get in Europe.
I was very lucky as my mother-in-law cooked for us, but if you have to eat out, be careful as there are lots of places which do not look safe to eat in. Just be careful.
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| Mango |
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| Jackfruit |
In Sri Lanka there are two main languages: Sinhala and Tamil and only then English. As you probably know Sri Lanka used to be a British colony and at that time Srilankan children were taught in English. That is why older generation can easily speak English. However, I was kind of shocked that young generation does not know English too well. I think that it is great that they have got their own native languages, but it is always good when you can speak English.
Sri Lanka is famous for great weather, but it does not mean that it is always warm and the sun shines all the time there. There are monsoons in Sri Lanka which means a lot of rain. If there is monsoon in the east and north of Sri Lanka it is better to avoid beaches in that parts of the country at that time, but use the beaches in the west and south coast instead. And if the monsoon is present in the south and and west coast, the beaches in the north and east are safe.
That's all from me about Sri Lanka. Hopefully my posts and photos will encourage you to visit this beautiful island on the Indian Ocean.
