Get to the good blogs already.

Alright here it is….

Having been in this country for 2-3 weeks now I feel like I know enough to post my top ten observations on this beautiful little island. Here we go.

1.  Smiling faces

Life is difficult for the locals.  It’s not easy to make a living.  However, the people seem genuinely happy.  In fact, it seems that everyone is smiling all the time.  When you meet someone on the street, more often than not, they will greet you with a smile and a hello.  This is a stark contrast from some of the other countries that I have visited but it is very refreshing.  To add to this, we have never felt unsafe once while in Sri Lanka.

2.  Good Education/Healthcare

Despite the many challenges that Sri Lanka is currently facing, the country has a lot going for it.  Healthcare is free and so is education.  Sri Lanka also boasts a literacy rate of 98.1% (one of the highest in Asia).  After High School (as we would call it) students are eligible to write National exams to qualify for free post secondary education.  However only a small percentage of students qualify which has made an extremely competitive environment between students (and parents).

3.  No One is Trying to Rip You Off

Sri Lanka is kind of like Toyota – there isn’t much room for bargaining.  When someone tells you a price, it is most likely a fair price.  In fact, numerous times we have been pleasantly surprised when someone quotes us a price that is far less than we expected to pay.  While many other Asian countries are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the tourists, the Sri Lankans seem quite happy to do a fair job for a fair price.  Which leads me to my next observation……

4.  Customer Service

Anything you need, your guesthouse will be happy to accommodate.  Need a tuk tuk ride to the next town?  They will arrange it.  Need advice on where to go next?  They will provide it.  Want to rent a motorbike?  They will call the shop for you.  Nothing is too much trouble which makes traveling a breeze.  However sometimes it’s a bit too much.  At times we feel like our guesthouse owners are waiting on us hand and foot which makes us feel guilty.

5.  Great Food

Sri Lankan food is delicious, although it can be very labour intensive to prepare. We took a cooking class here and were shocked to find out how much work goes into preparing a local rice and curry dish.  To make coconut milk from a coconut alone takes ages:

1. Peel coconut and break in half

2. Scrape the coconut meat from the coconut

Megan scraping the meat off a coconut. Note the stool she is sitting on in specially made for coconut scraping. The metal scraper is attached to the wooden stool.

3.  Add water to coconut meat and mix

4. Strain and squeeze the coconut meat through your hand until all the milk is separated

5. Repeat steps 3-5)

My favourite Sri Lankan foods so far are:

Roti

Roti is a thin bread filled with vegetables, meat, seafood, fruit, or just about anything else you can think of.

Kottu Roti is essentially the same thing although its diced into small pieces.  You can hear the sound of clanging metal throughout Sri Lanka from restaurants preparing Kottu Roti.

Sri Lankan Rice and Curry

Ordering Sri Lankan rice and curry usually gets you several curry dishes including:  Potato curry, pumpkin curry, dhal, meat curry, pompadom (crispy chip), and coconut sambol.

Devilled Dishes

Sweet and Spicy devilled dishes are made with almost any kind of meat you can find in Sri Lanka.

6.  Tuk Tuks

Tuk tuks are the preferred method of travel in Sri Lanka.  They act in the place of taxis.  The are cheap and efficient and offer a very pleasant ride.  When I say cheap I mean cheap.  The going rate for taking a tuk tuk is 50 rupees (50 Canadian cents) per km.  We just took a tuk tuk  35km to the next town today for 1600 rupees ($16).  If you are planning a trip to Sri Lanka plan on spending lots of time in a tuk tuk.

7.  Buddhism

Buddhism is more front and center in Sri Lanka compared to the other Buddhist countries I have been to.  A few examples:

We had one of our tuk tuk drivers stop at a temple to pray/donate money in the middle of our trip (we just chilled out in the back of the tuk tuk waiting for him to finish).

We’ve also seen our taxi driver fold his hands in prayer (while driving) while we passed a temple.

Once I killed a large spider in our guesthouse.  When I informed the owner she seemed dissapointed.    I was puzzled.  She explained to me that next time I should call her so she can come capture the spider and set it free outside.  I suppose if you believe in reincarnation you think twice about killing a bug – it could be one of your dead relatives!

We’re off to a cricket match!

The train to Ella squealed down the rusty tracks through “Lord of the Rings” type scenery.  The train was right full – meaning we had to find a place to stand.  So we decided to stake our claim right beside the open train car door to enjoy the scenery.  The cool breeze from the open door made the heat more bearable.

After 3 hours we arrived in Ella to find a man waiting near the train station to take us to our guesthouse.  Our new home was called Village View Inn and was run by a extremely hospitable and hard working young Sri Lankan couple.  Our room was spacious and clean with excellent views of the surrounding valley and waterfalls.

The amount of home cooked food served to us at night was nearly double as much as Megan and I could eat! (without exaggerating).

10 different types of Curry’s for dinner!

One of the interesting moments of our stay was when a mongoose decided to make an appearance near our guesthouse.

Mongoose

This prompted our guesthouse owner to tell us about the time a mongoose and snake got in a fight on the roof of the guesthouse in the middle of the night.  The fight was creating such a racket that none of the guests could sleep.  After 4 hours of listening to this go on our guesthouse owner lit a torch and went to the roof to break the fight up.  I could picture this comical scene in my mind as he was telling it.  If you’ve never seen it before, try youtubing snake vs mongoose.

After a hike to Little Adams Peak in the pouring rain we took a bus to the South Coast town of Tangelle.

Here we decided to shell out some cash and do a Safari in one of Sri Lankas many National Parks.  We were pleasantly surprised.  Around every corner was a different kind of wildlife.

Red Faced Monkeys

Crocodile

Spotted Deer

3′ Iguana

Indian Thicknee

Male Peacock

Chestnut Headed Bee Eater

Grey Headed Fish Eagle

Green Bee Eater

Asian Elephant

Parrot (not sure which type)

At one point the male elephant walked so close to our jeep that Megan started to get a little nervous.

At about this point Megan nervously yelled at the jeep driver:  “Time to go!”

The Safari surpassed our expectations.  It was far better than either of us expected actually.  Our next stop is the beach town of Mirissa where we will be heading out to watch some Blue Whales.  We’re tucked in the back room of some stuffy, sweltering local printing business writing this blog.   Flies are buzzing around our heads and a super creepy doll sitting next to us.   I think it’s time to get some fresh air before we go a little kooky.

We arrived from our long 3 hour bus ride through the winding hills to find smiling faces waiting for us at “Spring Garden” Guesthouse in Nuwara Eliya (a city of 25,000).  The guesthouse was a short 10 minute walk to the town center.  Our hosts, Wasanthe and Dhalip warmly greeted us and checked us into our room aptly named “The Eagles Nest”.  Contrary to our last room, this room was amazing and the views from our balcony were stunning.

View from the “Eagles Nest”

Hills of lush, rolling Green tea fields surrounded the very picturesque town of Nuwara Eliya, which was set in the middle of the sprawling valley.  For US$35/night we considered it a steal of a deal.

As a bonus, Nuwara Eliya is set at the highest altitude of any town in Sri Lanka which means the night are cool and refreshing.  It was a welcomed change from the sweltering weather of the previous towns where you feel like you are slowly being cremated throughout the day.  It was cold enough that when we grabbed some late night thin crust pizza from downtown we forgot our sweaters and nearly froze our royal rastafarian nay nays off.

The next day we headed out to check out the tea fields and the accompanying waterfalls that zig zag through the rocks high above the fields.  We were joined by Sara, a Swiss freelance writer who we became friends with over the following days.

The day ended with a humongous curry meal at our guesthouse that was enough to feed an army.  To be honest, the portions here are huge and every meal is too much food for us to finish which leaves me feeling a bit guilty.  Not sure why.

Brown rice, dhal, pompadom (crispy chip), chicken curry, curried beans, eggplant, and potato curry, and I can’t remember what the dish on the bottom is.

As a side note, we do not order all these dishes.  This is what comes when you order a Sri Lankan curry dinner for two.  The cost for all of this was about $11.50.

The following day we awoke at 4:30AM and did the Horton Plains 9km nature hike which was not difficult but extremely expensive ($27 each for park entrance fee).  It was nice but somewhat underwhelming for both of us.

The highlight of my day came later in the day.  We happened to stumble upon a tiny, local eatery called “Devon Food City” which was buzzing with locals and drew me in like a magnet.  All eyes were fixed on us as we sat down at a table (I don’t think this place has seen many tourists).

I pointed at some food that looked appetizing and hit a gold mine.  They served a delicious dish called “Devilled Chicken” which was incredible.  The single best dish I have tried since being here.  I felt a bit guilty pulling out my camera in such a restaurant so I’ve attached a picture of what devilled chicken looks like.

The perfect amount of sweet and spicy fall off the bone chicken.  The whole meal: rice, one piece devilled chicken, one piece curried chicken, a large bottled water, and a 7up for Meg costed a grand total of $4.60.  Finding this type of hole-in-the-wall restaurant makes my day.

We finished the evening by visiting a local market….

And playing cards and Carrom with our new found friends from the guesthouse.

Megan and Sara playing cards at the local pub.

With much sadness, we departed from Nuwara Eliya and pushed deeper into the highlands with a 3 hour train ride to the small backpacker town of Ella.  After purchasing our 2nd class “standing room only” tickets for the train we really weren’t sure what to expect but it turned out to be a memorable journey.  I’ll save that for the next blog……

Off we sped in the back of our taxi cab from the Colombo airport through walls of thick, honking traffic swerving in and out of lanes with little regard.

Train to Fort Station.  That’s the top of Megan’s head close to the camera.

Dipping our feet into the Indian Ocean for the first time before it starts to rain.

Meg’s reaction after seeing our room.

String hoppers and Dhal for breakfast.  Mmmmmmmmmm….

Sigiriya

The 1.5 hour walk to the top was packed with people.  Mostly locals but also many tourists.  The entrance fee to this Unesco Heritage Site was $45 Canadian each!!!  Ouch!

On the way back home we stopped at another heritage site – The cave temples at Dambulla.  Here humungous caves have been turned into a Buddhist temple filled with monuments, statues, and cave paintings.   It was absolutely outstanding.  Both of us really enjoyed it.

We witnessed many local people coming into the temple to pray and burn incense.  Unfortunately, we have no pictures of inside the massive caverns because they ask that tourists do not take pictures inside their places of worship.  Pretty understandable.

But (unbelievably) that didn’t stop an arrogant French couple from snapping picture after picture without any regard for the local people praying beside them.

We returned to our guesthouse late in the evening and said our goodbyes to our fantastic guide Raj.

Raj and I

Raj presented me with a gift after finding out that I wanted to try the local tobacco.  It’s called betel.

The local tobacco product.  The green leaf below my hand is called betel, the orange chunks are called Areca nut, the pink plastic contains lime, and the brown stuff is tobacco.

Raj instructed me to take the betel leaf and wrap a small chunk of areca nut, tobacco, and lime inside of it.  Then insert it into my cheek and chew it slowly.  Before long it was all over my teeth.

Needless to say I looked like a real rookie.  Perhaps this local tobacco is an acquired taste…..

Sri Lanka has so far been amazing.  We have now just arrived in a town called Nuwara Eliya and it is stunning.  Our accommodations are cheap, the room is fantastic, and life here is getting better by the day.

“What made you want to go to Sri Lanka?!” I can hear you asking.

I’ve been asked this question dozens of times since we booked our tickets a couple of weeks ago.  People are puzzled at the choice.  Most people don’t even know where it is on a map.  The truth is that Sri Lanka offers many attractive activities for backpackers (which I will get into).  But first, I’d like to educate you on the basics of the country:

• Sri Lanka (formerly called “Ceylon”) is located just South of India.  It is an island the size of Ireland located in the Indian Ocean.

• It is a former British colony – meaning that English is widely spoken.

APRIL 12TH 1954 COMMONWEALTH ROYAL TOUR (CEYLON)

• Sri Lanka went through a 20+ year civil war that ended in 2009.  Estimations are that 80-100,000 people perished in the war.  The war ended in 2009 and since that time there have been no acts of terrorism.

• Sri Lankans are friendly people.  They love tea, cricket, and spicy food.  The vast majority of the population is Buddhist.

So this is all great but why would we want to travel there?

• Hiking

Since our trip to Nepal in 2014 we have rekindled our love of hiking.  It just so happens that Sri Lanka offers many amazing hiking opportunities.

From the hike to the ancient palace on top of Sigirya rock……….

to the tea plantations of Central Sri Lanka.

• Whale Watching

Sri Lanka is one of the premier places in the world to watch Blue Whales and Sperm Whales.  Best times to watch are from November to April so we should have very good chances of spotting a Blue Whale.

Mirissa, Sri Lanka

• Beaches

Being an island, Sri Lanka has a plethora of beaches to choose from.  Although we aren’t huge beach fans, a couple days to unwind on a beach never hurt anyone.

Tangalle, Sri Lanka

And last but not least………

• The Food

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As another blogger wrote: “Sri Lanka is worth the trip for the food alone”.

The variety of food in Sri Lanka is stunning.  Being an island, seafood is fresh and readily available and because of the diverse climate within the country, the variety and fruits and vegetables is endless.  If your diving into the culture of a country you can’t miss the food.  Food is a large part of what gives a country its cultural identity.  I’ll do a blog or two on just the food!

But the most important aspect of visiting any country is 

THE PEOPLE

Seriously.  The people have the ability to make or break your experience in any country you visit.  When people ask me “why did you come to our country?”, I respond with the same answer: “I came here to meet you”.  Because as funny as it sounds, it’s the truth.

We leave on Monday, Feb 15th, 2016.

Looking forward to making more blog posts once we arrive. We are very excited to see what this new adventure will bring us!