[Thermodynamics]

Overdose of landscape. Thoroughly loved the writeup. When I read the tile Sri Lanka, I assumed it is going to be just like South India, but you have significantly differentiated it.

I had been to Sri Lanka only once, that too on a transit as my connecting flight was delayed by a day and we had a nice free visit around Colombo. It was such a clean city, also surprisingly the English accent of Srilankans was very good.

Was expecting wild life pics and you have bombarded with your landscaping skills. Amazing amazing pictures. I guess you would have certainly taken birds, didn't you ? or you just did not carry appropriate gear. By the way, which lens did you use for landscape.

Thanks for sharing another amazing travelog, it takes so much, time and effort to compile and write something like this. Appreciate your perseverance. Rating well deserved 5 stars.

[superbad]

There are travellogues, & then there are "stories". No need to elaborate which one yours is.
Wonderfully penned & exquisitely photographed. At the risk of sounding redundant, you have a flair for both. The beauty of the country could not have been better captured. This goes straight into my itinerary whenever I'm planning Sri Lanka.
That part about not being allowed to sit in the top tier of boat for whale sighting was truly shocking. I would've refused to budge at all, come what may.
A few queries I have :-
1) How hot & humid was the weather?
2) Is it possible to self drive a rental car (a-la zoomcar) & roam around?

I can totally relate to your planning phase - dozens will correspond, but they'll trickle out week after week, until for the actual trip only two or three remain

[handsofsteel]

I had gone to Sri Lanka in September 2016 and could relate to almost everything you did having followed much the same itinerary (though mine was a 4 day trip).
One thing I found curious was that the front registration player of all vehicles was white while the rear one was yellow. I asked around and found that it was the local rule. However, I couldn't think of any plausible reason for the same.

[JoshMachine]

Amazing travelogue, I would say more of a storylogue.
Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing your experience.

[John]

Awesome travelogue! Enjoyed the pictures and the detailed text. We've been planning a trip to Sri Lanka for a long time. Your thread has re-inspired us!

Which agency handled your trip?

[Stryker]

A big thanks to everyone who have like the posts.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

It must have required a lot of effort to put up a long travelouge like this. Sri Lanka is a neat & clean country relative to us despite a similar per capita and culture. I think a un-Swachh Bharat is in our blood.

Yes, it did require a lot of effort. But as I mentioned it was spread over a period of three or four months, so it wasn't a concentrated effort. You are right, I too think being un-Swachh is in our blood. :(

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

Was expecting wild life pics and you have bombarded with your landscaping skills. Amazing amazing pictures. I guess you would have certainly taken birds, didn't you ? or you just did not carry appropriate gear. By the way, which lens did you use for landscape.

I've been posting too many wildlife travelogues, haven't I? Especially Kabini. No I wasn't carrying my 200-500 lens, as I knew we weren't going to any wildlife park. Most of the wide angle landscape shots were taken with the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Pro DX lens, others were with the Tamron 16-300 f/3.5-5.6 Di II VC lens (to give them their full names).

Originally Posted by superbad

A few queries I have :-
1) How hot & humid was the weather?
2) Is it possible to self drive a rental car (a-la zoomcar) & roam around?

Your New Zealand travelogue kind of pushed me into posting this. Thanks for that. Being very close to the equator, it was quite hot even in August. It was quite humid too. But Kandy was very pleasant weather wise. Not hot, not humid.

There are many agencies in Sri Lanka (mostly in Colombo) where you can hire self drive cars. We thought about it and then decided not to, as we wanted to enjoy the holiday from the back seat, so to speak. In fact, here on T-BHP there is a post which says "Now drive your car to Sri Lanka". Trust T-BHP to have it all when it comes to automobiles!

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

One thing I found curious was that the front registration player of all vehicles was white while the rear one was yellow.

Yes I noticed that too. In fact, in the car photoshoot, if you see the front view and rear view you can see the different coloured number plates. I never got a satisfactory answer either.

Originally Posted by John

Which agency handled your trip?

A very local and very small boutique agency called Matha Tours. I and my friends do all our holiday bookings through them, local or international. We have tried the bigger ones like Cox & Kings, Thomas Cook and SOTC, but we are very comfortable with the "agency next door".

[alphadog]

Great travelogue. Thank you for sharing. Better late than never I guess.

It brings back memories of my travel to Sri Lanka with my family. We did the inland trip to Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Dambula caves, elephant orphanage and of course Colombo. Missed out doing the south west coast and the beaches.

Two things that stuck in my head are,

1. The vegetation and the feel of the place was similar to Kerala, which is understandable considering the geographical location of the place. The roads were narrow and similar as well, but there was a huge difference in the traffic sense, density and the road manners. The drivers would stick to the rules of the land, would not overtake unless absolutely safe to do so and generally were better behaved on the roads.

2. The attitude of the people in general were more laid back, peaceful and chilled out. It felt almost like the whole country was moving in slow motion.

It is just amazing to think that we are so close in geography and customs, but so different in attitude, road manners and respect for the rules and laws. I guess this is what makes every country unique and interesting.

Keep traveling and sharing

Cheerio!

[NPV]

Excellent travelogue with lovely photographic captures (as always in your threads!), Thanks for sharing
You really did justice to the beautiful places by spending 9 days at a relatively relaxed pace covering the central, western and southern parts mostly and you still have some left for another visit

[rst89]

Thanks for the amazing travelogue. I felt like I was traveling with you in Sri Lanka.

I have one observation from your photos. Are the elephants in the orphanage always kept in chains?

[Stryker]

Thanks alphadog, NPV and rst89.

Originally Posted by NPV

You really did justice to the beautiful places by spending 9 days at a relatively relaxed pace covering the central, eastern and southern parts mostly and you still have some left for another visit

Slight clarification, we toured the western coast and not the eastern one.

[ampere]

Beautiful @Stryker! Sri Lanka to me is the perfect mix of every thing thrown in. Right from colours, to food, to places, to adventure, all the way to peace, meditation and relaxation. Its a fantastic holiday location.

Dambulla especially is one the most charming locations to experience. Not to mention the cultural triangle with Sigiriya at the center.

The orchids hall at Kandy botanical garden is worth a visit for its colours. On the return path, if one has time, can also chose to go to Nuwara Elaya and drive to Colombo. Legend claims its the "Ashok Vatika" from Ramayana and there is a dedicated temple to Sita here.

The drive back comes via couple of nice water falls and then follows the river rafting trail; a breathtaking drive terrain.

Brilliant snaps indeed and I can see Tokina did a stellar job!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Stryker

Slight clarification, we toured the western coast and not the eastern one.

Yes sir, that was a typo in my post, have reported to MODS for correction.

Any idea about self-drive cars in Sri Lanka and any recommendations ?

[pratik1992]

Wonderful pics Stryker! I have been thinking of a trip to SL as well. The post was quite detailed and gave me a fair bit of inspiration to on how to plan it. Also hybrids being more popular in SL is quite a shock to me. We and our administration needs to gear up tailor-make a similar plan if we want to do anything about the rise in pollution in our cities.

I've seen one of your friends from the pics (guy with the bag/pouch around his waist) in my previous organisation. I believe he was even part of our team for a brief time. Can't remember his name, but definitely have seen him around in B44. The world is small!

[gadadhar]

Wonderful pictures and travelogues.

I had been in the Colombo airport multiple times while flying London from Bangalore with Sirlankan airline. The resemblance of the place with my home state of Kerala is striking.

I was unfortunate to miss a family trip with all air-tickets booked (it was on travel miles + some cash), but couldn't travel due to the civil unrest and lost the tickets after 1 year of validity. Your travelogue inspires me to plant it again.

[Nagesh Bhatt]

Wonderful travelogue Stryker !! The photographs did most of the talking & i must say you have a great sense of frames & a cool gear.

I suppose there's a lot to see & roam around in Sri Lanka & as such eight days wouldn't do justice. I was looking for a "Self Drive" option peeping through some forums but seeing the amount of rock climbing involved, a Chauffeur would do just good.

Thanks & happy driving in "Namma Bengaluru". 😊