Sri Lanka: My first time

My 3 weeks trip to and around Sri Lanka in February 2022 was a first time in many aspects. My first time travelling so far without my family, my first time in Asia besides Western Turkey, my first time bag packing and the first time in South East Asia. We call them first times because they are usually not "only times". I hope this will be the case, because this trip has inspired me to do something similar many more times in my life.

I have always enjoyed travelling and I have been lucky to experience many parts of the world as a child, thanks to the trips with my family. However, these trips have mostly been to countries that are fairly similar to mine. I had always had the desire to discover those places I knew were so different. This desire became stronger after I moved to Denmark. Here I discovered that many young students like myself had interrupted their studies in several occasion to go on long and meaningful trips to remote places of our globe. I knew I wanted to do the same at some point. While I was doing my 5 months thesis, I decided to plan a trip to Asia. This would serve me as a motivation to work hard during the last sprint of my Masters. The original plan was Vietnam, but Covid-19 made it impossible. I posted a story on Instagram, and Beth and Ricard decided to join me on my Sri Lankan adventure. The 3 of us had never been together before we met at the airport, so this was also going to be an exciting adventure in itself.

I chose Sri Lanka because I have something for islands. You can cross them, from West to East and from North to South. You can surround them, one way or the other. Sri Lanka seemed like a melting pot. Somewhere which is geographically and culturally between South East Asia and India. It was a great choice. Sri Lanka turned out to be a hidden gem in the Indian Ocean. Home of welcoming people, stunning landscapes and mix of religions and ethnicities. In the following lines, I will try to summarize the highlights of the trip.

We started the route in Colombo, the capital city. I did not want to be in a country for 3 weeks and not experience the place where most people live. It was not relaxing, nor impressive. But it was a great introduction to the real Sri Lanka. We got familiar with the currency, with the accent, the smells and flavours, and the humid heat that felt like fresh air compared to freezing Copenhagen in February. We realised really quickly that it was not dangerous at all to walk, to talk to people or to take any random transport. After 24 hours in Colombo, I felt relieved and excited to see more.

We took a cab to Kandy, the "cultural capital" of Sri Lanka. There was not a single moment during the 4 hour drive when one could not spot a shop, a mechanic, a restaurant, a bar or any kind of commerce. Either  the population and  the activity were concentrated along the main road, or Sri Lanka was more populated than I thought. It turned out to be the first option. There are only 22 million people in Sri Lanka, you can Google its size and play around with Google Maps if you haven't yet. The first night in Kandy was a spoiler of the rest of the trip. The best thing we did was to stay mainly in home stays. These are places where one can eat and rest, and also chat with the locals and other fellow bag packers. A very nice local man received us with food at 11 PM. Locals, not only those working in tourism, were extremely nice during the whole trip. I realised this quite quickly but it did not hit me until I first landed back in Europe three weeks later. The guy that served me the croissant in Frankfurt Airport would seem like the least friendly person in Sri Lanka, but then I fairly judged him and realised he is just a standard European worker at 7 AM.

Back to Kandy, this town that lays in a valley and close to a beautiful lake, is a must see. Its sacred Buddhist temples and Museum were a perfect introduction to a very important part of Sri Lankan culture. I also enjoyed walking around the forests that surround this town, as well as the views from the bars located on top of the hills. In one of these walks, we met two English girls that we would meet again in some days. That is a great thing about travelling. Meeting people from all parts of the world, and intensively sharing new experiences. God, that sounds so cliché. 

We continued our trip by driving north, to more or less the central point of the island. Close to Sigiriya, we spent 2 nights. I loved this place. The town and the road were just a tiny point, if you compared them to the forest, the jungle, and the two magnificent ancient rocks where some old kings had build their fortresses. Sigiriya is famous for Sigiriya rock but what I enjoyed the most was walking under the rain, sleeping while hearing the birds sing and just watching some landscapes that were new to my eyes. One never gets tired to the feeling of "first times". 

We visited some astonishing Buddhist temples on our way back to Kandy. But do not be fooled: Sri Lanka is not a Buddhist nation. It is a country where Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims live in peace (most of the time). It is also a multi-ethnic and multilinguistic nation, like many of the other Asian states. The majority group Sinhala tend to be Buddhists and the largest minority group is the Tamil, that are usually Hindu and tend to live in the mountain areas and in the North, close to India. The country has experienced turbulent times in the past, like the 25 years civil war that ended in the 21st century. Tensions still exist but they cannot be compared to those that generated the conflict during the 20th century. However, you may have recently read that Sri Lanka is not free of political turmoil. 2022 has been a very agitated year, with protests against the rising prizes of fuels deriving into serious riots and a state crisis. Luckily for us, the worst part of the crisis started briefly after we left. But we could already tell how there were problems with electricity supply and inflation, while we were there.

Back to the trip (I easily fall into talking about politics or demography), our next destination was Hill County. We took the famous train from Kandy and we marched through the tea fields for hours until we reached a small town close to Adams Peak. This was for me the highlight of the trip. We decided to reach the summit before sunset, even if we did not have much time. The view from the top was astonishing but walking down during a full moon day, and watching thousands of locals climb at night was an unforgettable experience. It was apparently a Holy Day, because the moon was shinning at full capacity. And locals were carrying their old and sick people to the top of the mountain, where one could pray in a Buddhist temple at 2200 m. If I ever disappear, I would recommend looking for me at the hotel at the feet of this magnificent peak. 

We barely stopped. We changed accommodation or location almost every day. At this point, we were getting used to many things. It went really quick, but I felt like I had been in the country for months. We continued our trip through the centre of the island by visiting Nuwara Eliya, Ella, the tea factories, the colonial towns and the breath-taking nature. Before, heading to the south coast we stopped at Udawalawe National Park for a Safari. I was very excited to see elephants and was very relieved by the fact that we rarely saw them being used for trade or "fun". I saw many more free elephants in one day, than slave elephants during the rest of the trip. During these days, Ricard, Beth and myself got to know each other a lot more. We used the cab trips or any time of the day to share our most intimate stories, fears and dreams. They were part of why this trip was so special. 

The last week of the trip was very different from the rest of it. It was less based on culture, religion, traditional food, nature, walking and getting to know a country. And a bit more based on partying, sunbathing, "surfing" and meeting a lot of people (mostly tourists like us). It was the plan to mix the two styles of traveling. I wanted to relax after my thesis, and I felt like I needed both moods. Tangalle, Hirikatiya, Mirissa and Matara were all different to each other, but also fairly similar. They all had wonderful beaches touching the Indian Ocean. But some of these places were more authentic while others were just full of hippies and surfers eating vegeterian bowls. I am not gonna lie, I tried to fit in. I bought myself some colourful shirts, and did not say no to any cocktail offer. We met with our British friends again and they introduced us to a large international group of travels they had gathered. We went partying together, we danced to ABBA and I even found time to go whale watching. I failed in my attempt to surf and also in the attempt to get a tan without the "red stage". 

After some turbulent and sleepless days and nights, we all felt like we needed to get back to the "real" Sri Lanka before leaving. That is why our last stop was in the beautiful town of Galle. Its fort, its market, the smell and the sea breeze, the last sunset and the last traditional dinner were what I was looking for. I keep it in my memory until I come back to this beautiful island, and beyond.

PD: Not many pics in the blog. I redirect you to my Instagram  feed (February is full of them).