If you didn’t realize from my Borneo exotics blog, we went to Sri Lanka. And this country was pretty special for me, not just because it was another country I had never visited but because it was my first 3rd world country. Sure, there were proper cities but you could tell that this country was not as well maintained as some other places I’ve been to. In reality, I didn’t care all that much about this and it was kind of interesting, so stick around as I recap my experiences in the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.
When we first arrived in this country, I didn’t know a whole lot about it. Sure, I knew that it was famous for its tea but that was pretty much it. I thought it was a smaller cousin of India, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. For one, the two countries, although sharing some similarities, are completely different. And second, the Sri Lankans hate it when people refer to them as Indians. Sure, they don’t hate the country they’ve helped each other over the history course, but like many other countries, they are proud. Being called the ‘downgraded version’ of another country is not something anyone would enjoy, and for it to be such a frequent occurrence makes it that much worse. Unlike India, Sri Lanka has a very laid-back attitude, and the people are very kind towards strangers (just to be clear I’m not implying that Indians are not nice people). This seems alright however, often you will need to wait tens of minutes before your food arrives in any restaurant. I can’t stress how important it is to bring some form of entertainment when you go out, because you’ll need it. Another reason why you’ll need card games specifically is because Sri Lanka is known for its exceptionally bad internet. So keep this in mind when you plan on visiting Sri Lanka.
We arrived in Colombo, which is the largest city in Sri Lanka and is often falsely mistaken as the capital. I was pretty impressed by the city, for one, it had very delicious food (that is always the most important part when you’re traveling), and two, it had the tallest tower in Southeast Asia. If you think about it it’s not very impressive but it is there. The capitol had a new port town being built up which looked very promising, along with many colonels buildings. For anyone wondering, Sri Lanka was once colonized by Great Britain which is the main reason why this is.
Moving on we drove north where we saw many important temples for Buddhists. In Sri Lanka, there is a form of temple called a Stupa, which is designed in a bell-like shape to help make it harder for thieves to steal whatever goods are stored on the top. We occupied ourselves for days looking at all of the different types of Stupas in Sri Lanka, all of which were very impressive in their own right. Their size, shape, and condition, let alone the time when it was built are all reasons why these are considered great feats by many people today. The most significant temple we saw has to be Sri Maha Bodi, which had the offspring of the original tree which the Buddha meditated for days. Looking at all of the devoted followers coming from all over the world for their pilgrimage. The silent prayers engulfed us as we explored around the temple. This temple also included many relics belonging to the Bhuda!
After we went north we then slowly started to make our way back south. Along the way, we stayed in a luscious man-made jungle that was teaming with life. This was probably my favorite place we had stayed because of the atmosphere but also the enthusiastic hosts. They had originally come from Sri Lanka but then worked in Qatar and Japan for many years. However, they missed the simple life in Sri Lanka so they decided to leave that life behind and start the Airbnb business they had today. In my opinion, it is small encounters like these that make World Schooling so special. These inspiring stories people have makes you respect the people you meet more. While in Sgiria (where we were staying), we also went to a Safari. We had to wake up at dawn since apparently, it was only humans who hated waking up. Originally I was skeptical, but we kept our hopes high and after a few hours we ended up spotting a whopping 30 elephants! Regardless of the wild elephants I enjoyed the action pact ride and just looking at nature.
We did so much in Sri Lanka, including surfing for the first time in New Year (yes, we fell a lot), eating at a colonial hotel for Christmas, riding on the famous train ride, and exploring a forgotten castle ontop of a giant boulder, but sadly this is all for now. If I learnt anything it was of the beauty of Sri Lanka and of the hardships many people experience every day. I feel privileged to get to experience such an amazing trip and with that, I’ll see you in Australia!