So we went and came back and it's an amazing place to visit. Amazing. We went on elephant safaris, visited a sea turtle rescue, saw all kinds of monkeys, lizards, bats, birds, and other animals. We travelled up the coast, all throughout the interior, visited a tea plantation, many different Buddhist temples and saw the Sri Maha Bodhi tree that was grown from a cutting that the Buddha attained enlightenment under. We also toured one of the best Batic factories in the world, went to a wood carving factory with amazing carvers, met tsunami survivors and heard their stories and visited a beautiful orphanage for severely disabled children. Overall, the landscape is super green at this time of year with the end of the rainy season coming. It was usually around 40deg and clear during the day and rainy at night. The people of Sri Lanka - like everywhere I've travelled to in the world - were incredibly friendly and always eager to help us out if we needed it. I'm really looking forward to my next trip there. The botanical gardens in Kandy was amazing!
The hotels we stayed at were amazing. Mount Lavinia has some of the best food I've ever eaten. The Cinnamon Lodge in Habarana is like a tropical botanical garden and our room was astounding for the price. Kandalama has one of the best built set-ups I've ever seen. We also stayed a night at the Citadel in Kandy and ate lunch the next day in Kitilgula.
A few things:
I was quite surprised at how clean it was. I was last there in the 80's and it was a remarkable difference. It seems there is a concerted effort to clean up the country and there was very little garbage to found driving around.
The roads were spectacular and put Ontario's roads to shame. It reminded me of the roads in West Virginia or North Carolina, but you just couldn't go as fast because of the crazy drivers and cows and whatnot. While the traffic at times was pretty thick and rules of the road are seldom practiced or enforced, the quality of pavement and the tight twisties all throughout the interior were incredible. Combining the breathtaking scenery and beautiful quality of pavement makes for a wonderful riding vacation. Note: you better be confident on your bike, because in the cities, passive riders/drivers will get pushed around a lot. You will get cut off WAY more than you ever could dream in Canada, but as long as you accept the way or riding over there it can be an awesome experience. It's not the place for knee dragging because there are just too many unknown hazards to be pushing a bike that hard. Many times we would come around a sharp bend to have cows crossing the road or dogs sleeping in the middle of the lane or a bus/truck heading straight at you in your lane as they are passing a slower moving vehicle.
Motorcycle rentals could be had really cheap in the beach/surf/tourist town of Hikkaduwa. While I didn't have time to ride while out there, I inquired and they were charging $7day which included unlimited mileage and insurance. That was for a Honda 250xr that appeared to be in pretty good shape. Prices quoted to me stayed at the same rate/day if I wanted to take the bike for a week or more.
Like most developing countries, gear and protection is an afterthought and helmets have only been legislated for about 10 years or less. Many people have the helmets hung from their arms as they ride. Families ride on the bikes with often the parent wearing a helmet and the children with nothing. Gas prices there were more expensive than here with the price equating to around $1.50/litre. Emissions tests are non-existant, so the fumes can get really toxic from the big buses and trucks.
Most of the bikes are smaller than 250cc and the entire time I was there I saw two 400cc bikes and even a 600cc Honda Shadow cruiser. The baby Yamaha FZ bikes are amazing little machines and I wish we had them here.
Now for some pics:
Re-inforced ankle protection.
Hey look Rosey Toes opened a new shop!
On our safari, we saw a mother elephant whose baby elephant that got hit by a safari truck at night and now the mother has it out for the trucks and chases them every time she sees one.
So many cute monkeys everywhere.
These things are crazy. They remind me of big rototillers with a wooden seat and they are all over the country roads. They only go about 20-30 km/hr and drive on all the roads, so they create bad traffic situations when buses and trucks want to overtake them on one lane roads and they fully come into your lane around blind corners to do so.
3-wheelers or TukTuk's are everywhere. We used one as a primary mode of transport for a few days and they are lots of fun. The only thing I didn't like about them is that the nasty exhaust fumes get into the vehicle because they have no side doors/windows.
City Workers - they're the same everywhere.
The Bajaj Pulsar. By for the most common bike in Sri Lanka and they go as high as the 220cc model. There's some really nice ones there that look a lot like the sv650's.
Wider rear tires were very rare, so the few bikes that did have them really stood out.
Riding 2-up is the norm. Police did it everywhere. Seems like practicality or necessity trumps homophobia in everywhere but North America.
The Yamaha FZ
In fact, riding 4-up is also the norm.
. Btw nice write up Shane..enjoyed reading and looking over the pics. Glad you had a good time.
