"Sri Lanka" Sri Lanka by anitpotter

sri lanka was not a holiday of my choosing but with my daughter getting married there que sera sera. the temperature is not one that suits me and the distance too far for me to just stay for 2 weeks which was all the time i could manage. my challenge was how to make this 'holiday' work for me as well as for the two of them

sri lanka is really cheap, at the time of going £1 = 180 rupees.

all food items in shops have a printed price on the label. get used to checking these when you arrive to get an idea of prices and when people are trying to overcharge you

a pint of beer 140rps

bus journeys cost 10-20 rupees for 5-10 miles, trains are equally cheap.

a 10rp bus journey cost me 400rps in a tuk tuk, 500 at night time

drivers can be negotiated, i paid between 6,500rps and 10,000 for a 6hr journey with all the weding gear i was carrying!

water 60rps/2 litres

street food items are around 25-40 rps, a full curry consists of around 5 dishes + rice and costs 300rps.

sim card 50rps

accomodation varied from 300rps for a shared room with my 2 travel companions for the night to 3000 for full air con, balcony in a popular tourist resort. howver the hotel where my dauhter was married was £100/night! generally everything is more expensive in tourist areas

i found sri lanka generally safe. the only thing that didnt feel ok as a solo female was being out at night in rural areas. it just isnt done. i did not use busses or trains in the dark, only tuk tuks. in tourist areas this will be fine but general expectations are that people are home in the evenings.

i 'invented' a husband and took a photo of 'him' in my phone. this was very useful many times. the only time i experienced a sexual approach was when i perhaps mistakenly wanted to thank a man and shook his hand. he scratched the palm of my hand, like a fingering gesture and then continued to try to persuade me to go places with him. howvere there were several tamil men i met and shook hands with without diffiuclty

people are freindly and helpful, yes, a litle hassly but much less so than morocco or egypt.

if you shout eppa loudly it means i dont want and can be useful. however i preferred to say estutti uncle/aunty/nangy/malli, eppa.

thanks little brother i dont want any. nangy with a hard g means little sister and malli little brother. this is sinhalese, i did not lean any tamil

i found the tamil people much more straight forward, less hassly or interested in me but equally friendly

stray dogs are everywhere but ignore you, generally they are treated badly and are afraid of people

• Pros:price, the hill country, smiles, most people speak some english, many speak it well
• Cons:temperature, humidity, power cuts, people are known to disappear usually politicains not tourists, corruption, buying water
• In a nutshell:Spend time in the hill country, its beautiful and cooler