Follow Me: Sri Lanka
We arrived in Colombo at 11pm. After sorting out visas and getting through security, the next step was to find out where the hell we were staying.
A little background: Colombo is the biggest city in Sri Lanka and is also the capital. You could say Colombo is the most westernized part of Sri Lanka as whole. That being said, our hostel for the night was in Negombo, which is just north of the city. After just getting off the plane, and having done little to no research at all, a taxi offered to take us to our hostel for 10 US dollars. We later found out that we completely overpaid, but had no idea what the currency system was like at the time. (What we found out: A 20 minute taxi ride should usually cost about $1.12 US).
We arrived at the hostel, which turned out to be more like a homestay. We were, one, just happy to be able to go to sleep, but two, ironically surprised by the fact that Sri Lanka seems to actually be a third world country. Having obviously known this before traveling here, I’m not sure why we expected the quality of living to be higher. We were thrown into reality when we walked into our dusty bedroom with zero electricity and mosquito nets wrapped around every mattress.
The next morning, we experienced our first tuk tuk ride alongside the beaches to the train station. Tuk Tuks are probably the most used form of transportation in this country. They are motorized, three wheeled taxis, that are often the cheapest and most time efficient type of travel.
When we boarded the first of many train rides for this trip, I was surprised by how many friendly faces we saw. Older men offered their hand with our heavy backpacks, and the women dressed in traditional Sri Lankan outfits made room on the benches for us to sit. Nobody spoke english, but their persistence in trying to communicate with us was refreshing and heartwarming. As little boys sling shotted paper triangles out the window, and beggars spilled their nonstop stories (in a language I couldn’t understand), we finally made it back to Colombo.
We then caught another tuk tuk to our next hostel and were shocked by the insane upgrade. This hostel, called C1 Colombo fort, made us feel like we were in a 5 star hotel compared to our last.
We discovered the city mostly by rummaging through cheap markets, which pretty much surrounded us entirely. We smiled and said hello to everyone we passed by, and in return locals would do the same. One little girl even pointed at us and said “look mommy tourists”- or at least I think she did.
Afterwards we ate our first traditional Sri Lankan meal at a local shop called Pillawoos Hotel. The kottu and noodles had us begging for water. Our mouths had never been so hot, it still baffles me how locals eat such spicy food on a regular basis. I mean, we were literally sweating from the spice.