Everyone I’ve spoken to rave about how wonderful Sri Lanka is. It’s not that I didn’t have a great time, and enjoyed many of the things I did and saw, but I didn’t find it extraordinary. As one friend put it, looking at my pictures, there was nothing stunning, or totally awesome, or different from many other places. Nothing that took my breath away. I get the appeal. It is small, easyish to get around, has a great diversity of landscapes, history, wildlife, culture, beaches. But none of them are spectacular.
Want to see animals, Africa is the place to go, lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes. Sri Lanka has elephants, I loved seeing them, they are different to African elephants. If you haven’t been to Africa then it would be exciting. The safaris I went on were a bit ordinary though. Chasing a leopard that you don’t see.... Hours on bumpy dusty roads and all else you see is deer, peacocks and a few other random animals. Admittedly my safari was great because I saw a Sloth Bear, which I am told is rare.
Beaches, as I explain in another post, really aren’t that great.
Spice and tea plantations, lovely, but they are in lots of places in the world. Temples, well, temples are everywhere. Yes I loved the temple of the sacred tooth and Dumbulla cave temple. They were a bit different, but to be honest, as a well travelled person, I saw lots of huge cave temples with 1000’s of Buddha’s in Myanmar.
The scenery was lovely, but again, not stunning, the train ride, supposedly one of the best in the world, was lovely. Was it really special or one of the best I’ve been on? No. I didn’t go to the historic sites, but heard they are similar to other bigger and better places I have been to. I didn’t go to the North, and maybe that is a bit different.
This sounds such a negative post. It isn’t meant that way. If you are not so well travelled in other parts of the world, I can see why people love Sri Lanka, there is everything, in a small easy to get around Island that is reasonably cheap. Am I glad I went? Absolutely. I always love to see places for myself so I can form my own opinion and when people talk about Sri Lanka I can now picture it. There were standout moments. I was fascinated by the fish market at Negombo, the markets in Colombo, Galle fortress old city, the fruit markets, Lion Rock was great, Dambulla cave temple, yeah I did love the elephants. Learning about the culture and some of the food. Would I recommend it? Yes, as I am sure most people will love it. It just isn’t one of my highlight places.
About the food, it is like Thailand, in that all the food is very very spicy. Sri Lankan ‘a little bit spicy’ is not Western a little bit spicy. It always came out really hot. Even food that is not supposed to be spicy would be slathered in black pepper, making it hot in another way! I was so looking forward to a spaghetti Bolognese after all the curries and it was so hot from all the pepper. Take note and be aware!
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