Sri Lanka Beaches and Mountains by Tuk Tuk

MartinK

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This trip was conceived because we had a want to see more of Asia. My girlfriend Andreea is on a 3-year contract in Dubai, so it presents an ideal opportunity as the flights from Dubai are cheap and quick to Asia. We had looked earlier in the year, but Sri Lanka was on the FCO “Red” list for Covid and the internal struggles they had experienced for most of 2022.

We went to the bookshop and bought a map and guide (Lonely Planet type thing), then started searching on t’interweb. Andreea “follows” a traveller (like many of us follow Itchy Boots’ travels) who had travelled Sri Lanka and that also gave us some ideas.

Using the information we gleaned, we booked the accommodation online, mostly by booking.com. The Tuk Tuk rental place we found was this one - https://tuktukrental.com/sri-lanka/negombo/ - they looked great on the website. The Tuk Tuk’s are not their own, but ones owned by locals which were cleaned, serviced, and prepared for rental.

So, that was it! Planned. On the 21st December 2022 we flew overnight to Sri Lanka. Landing at Negombo Airport. It was pretty tiring as neither of us slept well on the flight. On arrival, we were speedily through Customs, and haggled a local taxi guy (not well enough, we overpaid a bit!) to take us to the Tuk Tuk Rental, about 4.5 kilometers away.

I had previously filled in all the paperwork for my Sri Lankan driving license (a necessity), but still had to pass a test set by the Tuk Tuk guys to make sure I could drive/ride the thing. For us motorcyclists it was pretty easy, but I’m sure the scooter-like controls would baffle many people who had not ridden bikes. Of course it’s handlebars not a steering wheel!

This was me, taking the driving test…
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By mid-morning we were on our way. The melee of local driving was a bit of a shock. We soon learned that size is everything. You give way – whether it’s your “right of way” or not, to bigger vehicles. Lorries and busses had priority! The first miles were pretty sweaty as I got used to the local driving habits and the controls of the Tuk Tuk. The Tuk Tuks have a maximum speed limit of 40 km/h. However they will easily cruise at 50 km/h with a bit left in reserve. 4 gears, around 200cc and about 8 bhp does not make for fast progress, but it would be terrifying to go fast – the brakes and steering are of course very basic…

While I remember to tell you, this was our route outline. Anticlockwise:
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As we were heading South from Negombo, we had to pass through the major city of Sri Lanka – Columbo. It was a baptism of fire. A couple of hours later we were heading South on the coast road. The traffic thinned a bit, and the scenery was fabulous! After a long drive, we reached our first Accommodation - Thambili Cabanas in Hikkaduwa. Very nice large top floor apartment, about 75 USD per night including an excellent breakfast. This was the view from the balcony:
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The beach was great fun. Huge waves. A few people trying to surf, but overall a lovely beach, with a few bars…
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And our first Turtle encounter!
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After 2 nights in Hikkaduwa, we continued South in the Tuk Tuk.

to be continued...
 
Thanks for the comments chaps. Pete - I am back in Dubai now, heading home to UK in a couple of weeks...

Leaving Hikkaduwa, we tried to keep to roads close to the shore. Tuk Tuks are not allowed on the faster highways anyway!

Not many miles were planned for today, so we had the opportunity to stop driving a few times, and trek (usually through the jungle) into beauty spots we had see during our research. This one was called “Jungle Beach”, which could only be reached by a bit of a trek (unless you came over by boat):

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We saw a few local sights…

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Typical pic from the Tuk Tuk driving along the coast road:

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The guys at the Tuk Tuk rental had given us advice regards the security of the Tuk Tuk, and of course our luggage inside. You can’t lock the doors when you leave it unattended. Out modus operandi was to pay for a meal or buy something from a street seller, and then ask if we could leave the Tuk Tuk and they would keep an eye on it. This always seemed to work.

Our next stop was Galawatta Beach Resort. This was to be our Christmas accommodation. We had booked the most amazing hut/chalet (whatever you want to call it!) right on the beach. Borrowed pic sadly as we didn’t take any!

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The staff served food on our own balcony, all local food, and delicious! Christmas dinner Sri Lankan style ��

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Right on the beach next to us, we swam on Christmas Day, snorkelling with the turtles. Although it rained part of the day, it was magical.

Looking at the Pics, you may be wondering - yes they drive on the Left like good old UK :)


To Be Continued…
 
Leaving Galawatta, we continued along the coast. It was getting monotonous! More beautiful beaches, jungles, and crazy driving. The most people we saw on a single scooter was 5!

Our next stop was “Mangrove Beach Chalets”, in Marakolliya, Tangalle. This was a real change in atmosphere because we were buried in a Mangrove. Once the Tuk Tuk was parked, we had to carry the luggage over a precarious bridge onto a Mangrove island, and then into this rather spectacular cabin. Did I say...not a trip if you like taking luggage with wheels! This is definitely a rucksack holiday!

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And we were met by “Larry the Lizard” – I reckon close to a metre long head-to-tail. He lurked around our cabin most of the time we stayed there.

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We had no cooking options at all here, and a trek to any shops, but fortunetaly there was a beach bar 250 metres away. The guy “Achili” looked after us really well. Although we were a captive audience here, the prices were broadly the same as usual (about $2 USD for a large beer or wine, and about $3-$6 USD for a main course.

If you like long, clean, golden beaches surrounded my mangroves, palms and coconuts – this is the one for you!

Andreea enjoying a traditional swing from a coconut tree!
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The gorgeous, quiet and unspoiled beach at Tangalle
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Next part of the story imminent – Elephants and Mountains!
 
What is the situation like out there at the moment Martin?
We had two weeks touring around on a hired FMX 650 in March2020, arrived back here on lockdown day!! Had a great time until Sri Lanka locked down, fortunately it 2 days before we flew back, some absolutely stunning ride in the mountains through the Tea plantations, add Elephant & croc spotting in the game parks and tropical beaches and it’s a great place to visit, we want to go back as two weeks wasn’t long enough to get to fit it all in.

Al.
 

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Now it’s time for a significant change in scenery and atmosphere. We were “beached out” and longing for a change of scenery. Leaving the coast we headed East then North for the Yala National Park. Frequent sightings of Elephants, leopards etc here. The road is the B35. We had been warned about the elephants because they apparently think it’s fun to push Tuk Tuk’s over…

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So, duly warned, and a bit nervous, we set off up the B35. Just after entering the National Park, we were flagged by the Police, who also warned us of the dangers… However it was worth it. We had TWO close encounters with Elephants, one was a bit close for comfort (the video is hilarious because we’re so nervous!):

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The second Elephant sighting, at least this one wasn’t blocking the road. We had bought a large bunch of bananas, and dropped them next to this elephant as a treat ��

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Now we left the coast and flat lands and started climbing into the hills. The little Tuk Tuk was wheezing up the big hills. Sometimes we were down to 1st gear. Some lovely views looking back down the valley we had just driven up:

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Our destination tonight was Ella. We were a bit shocked with Ella. Much more touristy. This meant loads of choices for food and beer. After a brief trek to the summit of a local hill “Little Adams Peak”, we ate in a super-trendy bar called “Chill Bar”. The food was average at best, but the atmosphere was good!

Our accommodation was called “Inspira Ella”. It was the bargain of the trip ($40 USD bed and breakfast). Lovely apartment, with a stunning balcony. In the morning the proprietor laid on a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast on our stunning balcony:

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As soon as we left the balcony, the monkeys moved in a pinched the left overs ��

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Next - Kandy
 
What is the situation like out there at the moment Martin?
We had two weeks touring around on a hired FMX 650 in March2020, arrived back here on lockdown day!! Had a great time until Sri Lanka locked down, fortunately it 2 days before we flew back, some absolutely stunning ride in the mountains through the Tea plantations, add Elephant & croc spotting in the game parks and tropical beaches and it’s a great place to visit, we want to go back as two weeks wasn’t long enough to get to fit it all in.

Al.

Al - they've had a tough time. Almost 3 years without tourism revenues. Covid and then the collapse of their Economy in March/April 2022 and then the subsequent governmental debt issue in May. Fuel was sometimes in short supply, and occasional power cuts too, Leaving Ella we had real problems finding fuel the first 2 petrol stations on our route were out completely. We met locals who helped us though - one guy even syphoned a litre of fuel from his own tank to get us to the next petrol station.
Possibly as a result of this, many places wanted to be paid in USD instead of Rupees... It was all great value though, we often ate roadside street food for as little as a couple of dollars for lunch. Beer/wine usually $2. Even a nice meal was usually under $6 per person!
 
Al - they've had a tough time. Almost 3 years without tourism revenues. Covid and then the collapse of their Economy in March/April 2022 and then the subsequent governmental debt issue in May. Fuel was sometimes in short supply, and occasional power cuts too, Leaving Ella we had real problems finding fuel the first 2 petrol stations on our route were out completely. We met locals who helped us though - one guy even syphoned a litre of fuel from his own tank to get us to the next petrol station.
Possibly as a result of this, many places wanted to be paid in USD instead of Rupees... It was all great value though, we often ate roadside street food for as little as a couple of dollars for lunch. Beer/wine usually $2. Even a nice meal was usually under $6 per person!

Thanks Martin, we have two weeks off at the end of March, and looking at your post now having a rethink as we are/were considering Thailand or Vietnam and spending some time on two wheels, I’ll have a look to see if they guy in Negombo we got the bike off last time is still in business.

Al.
 
We had arrived in Ella with a fairly empty petrol tank. Which was preying on my mind a bit. Ella is a pretty big town but has no petrol stations! However before setting off in the morning, we woke early and trekked through the tea plantations and jungle, because the train crosses the “Nine Arch Bridge” around 0920 in the morning. I only took GoPro, but borrowed this image off t’internet…

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The train journey is supposed to be one of the best attractions in Sri Lanka, but it’s mobbed! Packed with people and the only bookable seats are in 1st class which sells-out early. We didn’t fancy being sardines for 5 hours 😊

Leaving Ella, the first 2 fuel stations we passed were closed – no fuel. We were on fumes. The guy at the second station syphoned a litre of fuel from his own Tuk Tuk, I gave him $2 (more than he asked for!) and we finally got fuel in the third garage we found – vowing never again to let the fuel get low!

After about 4 hours travelling we arrived in Kandy. The biggest town in the mountain area. Our accommodation had a beautiful balcony overlooking the town of Kandy:

Our very modern bedroom:
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View from the Balcony over Kandy:
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Tomorrow we would wake and have an early breakfast. Kandy has some tremendous temples and landmarks we wanted to see… To be Continued…
 
So the morning dawned, we had a big day planned, all on-foot visiting temples and landmarks in Kandy. Delhi Belly had made its presence known for the first time. Andreea was a but uncomfortable, but I was pretty sore with cramps, fortunately we were well enough to continue. I know where the problems started, I had red meat… Sri Lankans don’t eat beef, it’s reserved for the tourists and I should have known better (especially having seen food hygiene standards in the markets)!

The trek into Kandy was a bit of a shock. I wish I had took pictures. Andreea took some video footage on her phone but it hasn’t come out well. It was our first walk through a proper poor “shanti town”. Families lived in rudimentary huts, with corrugated sheeting for roofs. Living next to a stream, they obviously had little access to bins and things and just pushed their rubbish into the streams. Despite this, the kids were keen to wish us “Happy New Year” (it was New Year's Eve) in English as we walked by, and they played happily together. It was an eye-opener! Once in the town proper, the hustle and bustle was crazy.

This was a very different experience from the beaches and life we had seen on the South Coast.

The street art had some interesting messaging:
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We walked onwards, and found the Temple of the Sacred Tooth. Supposedly after the original Buddha was cremated around 400 years BC, some of the surviving relics included a couple of his teeth! One of these teeth is supposed to still survive in the Temple in Kandy. We were luck – completely lucky as we had not planned our trip around this, but on the morning we were in town, they were opening the outer door of the shrine. There are of course many layers, and even though we could see through the door of the shrine, all we could see was the big golden urn which is supposed to contain the tooth:

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Another shrine inside the main temple area:
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We paid a local guide $5 to show us around. Glad we did. He whisked us around the temple, using doors we would have never spotted. It was very crowded so the $5 was a good investment.

As you walk around Kandy, there’s a 9m tall monument of the Buddha, sitting on top of one of the towns 5 hills. In the heat, we walked up the hill, and got to the base of the monument. It was huge. The photo does not do justice to the size of it!

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Walking back down from the Buddha, back into the busy melee of Kandy:

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Deciding we needed a rest and a beer, we wandered off and found a lovely place we saw earlier – the “Royal Bar and Hotel” in Kandy. If you do go to Kandy – this is a fabulous oasis to re-hydrate after some sightseeing!

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It was a day well spent! We blundered back to our hotel ("The Summit Hotel") in the dark, using the torches on our phones where there was no streetlights. We had a long Tuk Tuk drive West tomorrow…
 
MartinK - I'm loving this, this is the sort of thing that brought some of us to this web site in the first place.

Re 'rucksack holiday' - EVERY time, I don't know any other way :thumb. I have even got my classic 'stuff person' wife trained nicely in that respect....the lads here who carry ALL THAT STUFF for a few weeks in Europe..:confused:

Please keep it coming. :)
 
Thanks for the positive comments chaps, but sadly I am running out of content. Over this weekend I'll pool the content from the videos and make a short video of the highlights...

Anyway, before we completely leave Kandy… Whilst in the Royal Bar and Hotel, we saw our first Yak (I think it’s a Yak?):

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We now had a long drive back to Negombo. Leaving the mountains was a bit sad, but the trip was getting into its final chapter. It took about 5 hours driving to get back into Negombo and return the Tuk Tuk to the garage. I made a significant error. Whilst chasing-on a bit (at least 40 kp/h �� ), we were in a rural part of the road, and I started to overtake a moped. Halfway past the moped, we drove into a zone which was no-overtaking. As I was halfway past (the signage was not good) I pressed on. Immediately a couple of policemen came into sight, and I was flagged to stop. The senior policeman was quite stern and asked me if I knew what I had done wrong. I explained yes I know I had been overtaking in a no-overtaking zone. He then asked (in good English) “what’s your excuse?” I replied smiling “I’m an idiot who made an error of judgement”. The policemen had a good laugh, we wished each other Happy New Year, and we were sent on our way. Phew.

So whilst this had been a great adventure, it was also pretty hard going at times! Now without Tuk Tuk, we headed for the nice Camelot Hotel (https://camelot.lk/ ). This was the first time for 10 days we had a room without creepy-crawlies, geckos, crabs, lizards, monkeys etc. We even had a chipmunk nesting in the roof of one of our “huts”. The hotel is supposed to be one of the better ones in the area, and had a nice pool area overlooking the beach:

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You may be thinking there’s only one drink! Yes, my Delhi Belly was still making itself known – indeed I nipped over the road to the pharmacy to get some tablets for relief.

And that was it! Our 12-day visit was over. In hindsight we missed one of the major landmarks - Sinhagiri the ancient rock fortress – so we may need to pop back at some point. We would also like to tour a bit more of the North of the island. Ah well – it’s only a 4-hour flight from Dubai… ;)

Thanks for reading :beerjug:
 
Summary

Great place to go. Probably an easier "Asia" trip than India
It's cheap! Despite eating in nice places, and enjoying nice drinks, we only spent £500 in 12 days on food and drink (all costs except accommodation and flights). That's only about $20 per person per day. Most drinks are about $2. Street food for lunch is usually just a couple of dollars. We had some lovely evening meals (including Lobster one evening) and again, very well priced.
The Tuk Tuk rental was about $20 per day. It sipped fuel.
I fed the local populace a lot. The mozzies loved me. I'm still scratching at times! Strangely they barely touched Andreea!
Credit Cards are not widely accepted.
Sri Lanka is getting through it's internal issues. Fuel can be hard to get at times. There are power cuts...
It felt very safe. We never felt threatened in any way. The people were very friendly and always happy to help.
It's fascinating. The drive into the mountains was amazing. Leaving a gorgeous beach in the morning, driving past Elephants, tea plantations and rice paddy fields, then into the mountains... Amazing.

It's a good time to go. After 3 years of difficulties, Sri Lanka is blooming again.
 
Yes If you are unsure about India, go to Srilanka first, if you can't handle SriLanka you can forget all about India....

Nice trip, thanks for sharing, I am off to India in a week or so, for a few months be nice to be back after three years.
 


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