Sri Lanka – Colombo, Galle, Kandy

Sri Lanka – a jewel of an island that deserves more attention. Great food, amazing sights and generous people.

Hello again. I’m really looking forward to sharing with you some information about Sri Lanka. I spent two weeks there and could easily have added another. It is one of the places to which I’d gladly return, and was definitely a highlight of my Asia adventure. It is a spectacular island, with great beaches, colonial towns, stunning ruins and breathtaking vistas at every turn. Broadly speaking, it’s something like a less hectic, better English-speaking, significantly cleaner version of India, with amazing topographical diversity in a very small island.

One issue you may ask about is the long-running, now ended war against the Tamil Tigers. It ended three years ago but tourism has still not fully recovered. Now I should say upfront that I did not visit the north, site of the fiercest fighting. Rail links have not yet been established and there is so much to see in the other areas that I didn’t have time. There are reports that redevelopment there has lagged, and there are continuing questions about wartime actions on both sides, but I didn’t have direct access to any of that. I did make it to the east coast, where there was fighting as well, and it remains a very undeveloped, poor area.

One advantage of getting around the island is that it has a pretty good road system, orderly traffic flows, surprisingly little honking and the best tuk-tuks in all of Asia. They are mostly Indian models, Bajaj, but in much better condition, and with decent shock absorbers. I hired a tuk-tuk to take me around and we made it up the mountains and out to the beach – I highly recommend it, and will happily pass along the contact info for my driver, who will pick you up at the airport. This is his trusty three-wheeler when we were up in the mountains.

Now please don’t allow my enthusiasm to paint an overly idyllic image of the place. It is still very poor, with a developing, but still very much in need of improvement infrastructure. One night in Galle the power went out for about an hour. And though significantly cleaner than India, and much cleaner than most of SE Asia, you will see an occasional odd site — I saw a rat scurrying through the bottles at a bar in Kandy. But there is also an energy and beauty to the landscape that is amazing. The people are open and friendly. Even it’s new currency literally leaps with color!

My first stop – almost everyone’s first stop – was the capital, Colombo. Again, low expectations led to great enjoyment. Though most Sri Lankans have a distaste for the speed and energy of Colombo, i found it a very navigable city with a nice core of colonial buildings. This was the view from my hotel room.

Let me explain that I was using points, and through some glitch in the system, it allowed me to book the penthouse suite for an absolute pittance. Often, penthouse merely means “high up”, but this was a three bedroom, two and a half bath, full kitchen, dining and living rooms extravaganza! Insane. Even stranger is that since there are only four suites on each floor, you don’t expect to meet your neighbors. But as this was a mixed commercial/residential tower, my next door neighbor turned out to be the Embassy of Iraq.

Colombo itself has some nice buildings in the Fort area, though much of that is also closed as a high security area. The Pettah area is the old market district and it remains lively. Again, not an essential destination per se, but fine for spending a day, and it also had some excellent handicrafts shopping – including some modern takes that I found irresistible. (And no, the red/white patterning you see in both pics is not the same building – it’s seen on several in town).

From there I made my way to Galle, with its famed fort and incredible lighthouse. Many trains in Sri Lanka offer a first class tourist car, but the Galle line does not. But I thought it would be better than the bus. Well, I thought I’d seen crowded, but this was intense. Mass pushing and shoving to even get on a half hour before departure, and a sea of bodies once we left. Of course as we proceeded down the line things got even more crowded. Arriving in Galle was a blessing.

I was there during a three-day Buddhist holiday, so things were very laid back. There’s not all that much to do anyway in Galle, but wander around on the walls of the fort, stroll the quaint streets and imagine life in centuries past.

Then on to Kandy, former capital and important religious site. And importantly, somewhat cooler than Colombo. The trip up was excellent – a bracingly air conditioned luxury train with waiters, for the grand price of $7 — a huge upgrade from the cattle car from Galle. The landscape is amazing at times, and was my first indication that this small island packs a wallop.

Kandy itself has a very important pilgrimage site, the Temple of the Tooth Relic. But i’ll admit that it’s wonders were hard to discern. It is encased inside a large shrine and the visuals for the non-Buddhist are limited to seeing the faithful pray and give offerings, but it’s rude to photograph that. Still, the surrounding temples are lively and the city itself is a laid-back counterpoint to Colombo.