Final Thoughts on Sri Lanka

Well I’ve officially left Sri Lanka, a truly wonderful country filled with really kind, friendly, hospitable people. I arrived in Krabi, Thailand and made my way over to Tonsai Beach, basically a climbers paradise. I’ll post more about my time here soon but I wanted to wrap up the Sri Lankan portion of my trip. Here are some takeaways:

Lots of stray dogs. Whether they’re begging for food or chasing you while you’re riding a bike, they’re always around.

Cutest stray dog ever. Not cute enough to get any of my rice and curry though.

The sidewalks are a disaster. Or nonexistent. They are made of small concrete blocks laid two feet above a sewer. About 25% of them have fallen into the sewer, are broken or are missing. Another 25% are loose and on the verge of breaking or falling into the sewer. It seems like in order to avoid being the straw that broke the camels back, most locals walk in the street and trust the crazed buses and tuk-tuks not to run them over.

…yikes

People are friendly—like friendlier-than-anywhere-I’ve-been-before friendly. Everyone young or old smiles at you when you make eye contact. People trying to sell you on a taxi ride will gladly explain how to catch a bus. Children are always waving and saying hello.

The head shaking thing is great but I really don’t know what it means. It’s when you shake your head side to side, bringing your ears closer to your shoulders. People here do it for pretty much any reason and in every interaction. It seems to mean yes, maybe, thank you, and even more complex things like when the woman next to me on the bus saw that the conductor didn’t give me change for my 50 (that’s like 5 cents!)

There are relatively few tourists and I expect it to get super popular in the next decade.

I’ve never really felt unsafe in other countries other than South Africa and the Congo. But Sri Lanka is next level safe. Granted there was a bombing in 2019, but there was never once an instant where I thought anyone wished me harm in any way.

The food is great but good luck being on a keto diet here. I decided to go vegetarian for most of this trip to help avoid getting the dreaded “Delhi Belly” or “Thailand Tummy”, and in this part of Asia that is pretty easily done. Rice and curry is the iconic lunch meal and consists of 6 or so different curries which are all delicious and often spicy. Roti is the common bread here, similar to naan in India and chapatis in Africa. You can get roti as is, filled with veggies or chopped up and fried with veggies (kottu). Samosas filled with egg or meat are on every corner and there is fresh juice, smoothies and lassis everywhere. It’s fun to eat like this but I have to be honest-I miss my food from back home. I eat a giant salad every day, and my diet is really clean. It’s pretty hard to do that out here. Beside the fact that a salad out here is generally viewed as a sure bet for food poisoning, the meals aren’t particularly healthy or nutritious. Lots of fried things, huge portions of rice or bread with a pretty small amount of veggies. I love the rice and curry that is served out here but I found out (the hard way) that you shouldn’t eat it for dinner as it usually gets prepared for lunch and is therefore sitting out all day when you order it for dinner. After getting a little sick off of it I lost my taste for it.

A pretty great breakfast spread

Yes I was dining alone and yes both plates were for me.

They make a mean dolphin kottu here but the mercury can give you heartburn.

Stuff is CHEAP! Dorm bed for $4, fancy lakeside treehouse for $20, dinner for $1-2, train ticket across the country for $3, three hour bus rides for $0.60. You know it’s cheap when you land in Thailand and everything seems really expensive.

Maybe more will come to me but for now that’s it. I’m finishing my post-lunch siesta and ready for an afternoon of climbing!