Sri Lanka
I was meeting a friend in Europe for a trip, trying to find the best and cheapest way to traverse across the continents to get there. I was in Bali, and it was cheaper to fly to Sri Lanka than to Norway, so... I did.
WTF is Sri Lanka? Do you even know where that is?! Sri Lanka is an island and is located southeast under India. A little island that most travelers must miss or overlook. Although, they really shouldn't. I didn't spend much time here but it was enough time for me to know that I'll return. I love places where you don't see many tourists. It's raw. Real. Third world. People right now are living their lives in Sri Lanka.. completely unknown. Doesn't it make your heart beat a little faster? To know that people exist in places you didn't know did? Marvelous shit.
I started my journey in the capital named Colombo. This (super rich) woman who owns a big portion of land built a really big room filled with 4 or 5 sets of bunkbeds in it and called it a hostel. Literally, this hostel was located on some lady's property. The driveway was barricaded with a gate at its entrance and I needed a code to enter. I walked into the door thinking it was a lobby and it was just the entryway to this woman's house. A beautiful house! One of those houses that are open and spacious and everything has a place where it's supposed to be and it's always in that place. Plants perfectly scattered throughout. There were some older folks in there, I think her parents. She gave me juice and we chatted about how her son goes to college in Ohio. She showed me a picture of him hanging on the wall, then, she took my money.. and brought me to the big room filled with the bunk beds. There was one other person staying there, who was absent at my check-in and whom I didn't cross paths with really much at all. There was a patio deemed as a kitchenette with a table I could smoke at. The bathroom/shower was a cement block with no light inside. Yup, no showers at night for me. Literally a tiny square with four, old, dirty, cold cement walls and no ceiling. This is where I showered. At this point, I was used to cold showers so I don't even remember it being cold or warm. Probably cold. I feel like a warm shower after a series of cold ones would be something I'd remember. After a month of 2-minute freezing cold showers, I now take 7 minute hot showers in the good old USA if any cares to know. I guess this is what they call a life-changing experience.
I had no real plans for Colombo because it was just a stopping place for me. A place to go that I've never been and I was only spending the night in Colombo before adventuring to Kandy. I Tindered, met some people, ate some Subway.. Later in the evening, I couchsurfed and met a cool dude who took me to a dope hookah lounge where hookah was like $8 instead of $30. Fun, fun night.
The next day I headed to the train station with Kandy in my end sights. The trains in Sri Lanka are probably one thing it's actually famous for. There are no train rules. You can hang off the edge of the doors because there are no doors. That's right, the entryways don't have doors. Just open spaces.. but the train doesn't move fast enough to fall out of. A slow train. The slowest train. I honestly have no idea how I even got a seat because everyone pushed and shoved their way into the train as soon as it arrived and I was one of the last people on. Yet, I still got a seat.. and good thing 'cus people were standing in the aisles for the entire 4 hour journey. Likeeeeeeee, nope. And this isn't some train you're used to. There were no cushions on the seats and no individual seats at that. They were hard, hard bench-seats. You and the stranger next to you.. with no barricade in the middle. Like school bus seats minus the cushions. The windows opened all the way and had no screens or anything like it. Giant rectangle windows that you could stick your entire body out of if you wanted to. Yes, they were big enough to do that. The train ride... oh. my. goodness. The scenery, the views, the trees, the hills, the breeze, everything about it was amazing. Go to Sri Lanka and ride the $4 train to Kandy. Life-changing.
I made it and I hired a little tuk-tuk to bring me to my hostel. This hostel was dope. Beautiful artwork painted on the walls by travelers who have stayed there. Hammocks. A bar. I had only planned to spend a day or two here but I ended up staying the remainder of my trip here and paid someone like $40 to drive me to the airport at 3AM. The employees at the hostel were fun and helpful. And I met the coooooooolest people. No. I know I always say "I met the coolest people" but forreal, I did. More-so here than anywhere else. Maybe. Probably because it is still such an untraveled, unknown kind of place.
I met this Australian guy, James, and he had a freaking motorcycle that he rented and was sailing and biking around Sri Lanka for a few months. James has since moved to Canada, worked at a ski resort, bought an RV, then drove down the coast of California.. from Canada... into Mexico. His end goal is Guatemala and from what I've seen via Snapchat.. he is achieving every ounce of that goal. Fucking inspiring. Fucking DOPE. There was a girl there, Freya, from England. She was doing an internship for Uni (college) there and her main job was to "talk" to the people staying at the hostel. Freya had just started this three-month internship within the same week as my arrival so I was a part of her beginning experience and one of the first people out of many she met there and that is so cool for me to be a part of that experience with her.
But the coolest fucking person I met, I forget her name. When I asked where she was from, she told me "Israel." As soon as I mentioned "Boston," she shared more information. She grew up in Newton and her family is from Israel and she still has family there. When she turned 18, she joined the army in Israel (which is actually mandatory for all women and men of Israel as soon as they turn 18) which allowed her to learn Hebrew. And she now identifies with the country of Israel (which is why she says she's from there) and speaks fluent Hebrew. WHAT?! You willingly left the United States to join the army in another country? WHAT?! Yeah. She probably would have never went more in-depth about her life in the US if I wasn't, also, from Massachusetts. She was the most free-spirited person I have ever in my life met. And she just so happened to be in Sri Lanka at the same time as me ---- after she spent three months backpacking India at the age of 22 (or 23?). She was shocked that I had booked my hostel ahead of time. She says she never books things ahead of time, she just stumbles upon them and if it's booked already, she goes to the next place. Yup. She woke up early and went down the road to the lady selling some kind of stuff made out of metal pipes. She went there to learn how to make things out of metal pipes, just like this lady.. so she could learn and experience and bond with the people of Sri Lanka. She is the person you read about in books. Free as free could ever really be and uncaring to societal norms and pressures she grew up around. So simple. So happy. So beautiful, inside and out. Truly inspiring. With these three inspiring people, and a few others, I ventured out into the town. We ate lunch, fed some fish at the pond, and saw some giant ass fucking lizards! Like, HUUUUUGE! Then, James spontaneously asked a tuk-tuk driver for weed, which he provided. And we smoked. And laughed. And I too, painted on the wall of this hostel, in the tree-house section, leaving my mark. This was the best experience I could have ever asked for.
One thing I want to mention about Sri Lanka is that the bakeries were good but the local food was not. I found myself in a small restaurant-esque type of place, alone. There were maybe six tables in the entire place. Everyone was eating the same thing. It looked good. I told the worker that I wanted what everyone else was having. Rice, of course.. and some other stuff. Everyone ate with their hands and there were old scraps of newspapers to serve as napkins. None of the food was good. I couldn't even describe the taste to you, honestly. Every single side dish was a different kind of gross to me. Tastes I've never experienced before in my life. I wanted to spit it all out. I swallowed what was in my mouth, left the rest on the plate, paid, then continued on. I've eaten a lot of weird food in a lot of weird places and this has taken the cake for being the least desirable.
In Kandy, I got to go to a tea plantation and watch the entire process of how it's made and all the instruments they use to make it. This tiny, tiny, country is the world's 4th largest producer of tea. Did you know that? You're probably drinking Sri Lankan tea if you're into black teas. Yup. There was definitely enough room in my 40L backpack for two boxes of Sri Lankan tea which I later brought into work to share with my co-workers while teaching a motivational group in a women's prison! (I guess after this experience I'd deem myself pretty motivational)
I went to temples. I saw the view of the city as I stood above it at the temple. I bonded with the hostel employees. I lounged in a goddam treehouse. All the pictures on this post are all the pictures that I have from my 5 days here because I was livinggggggggg for me and enjoying life. I had a marvelous time and I cannot wait to go back one day. Sri Lanka, another underrated country.
WTF is Sri Lanka? Do you even know where that is?! Sri Lanka is an island and is located southeast under India. A little island that most travelers must miss or overlook. Although, they really shouldn't. I didn't spend much time here but it was enough time for me to know that I'll return. I love places where you don't see many tourists. It's raw. Real. Third world. People right now are living their lives in Sri Lanka.. completely unknown. Doesn't it make your heart beat a little faster? To know that people exist in places you didn't know did? Marvelous shit.
I started my journey in the capital named Colombo. This (super rich) woman who owns a big portion of land built a really big room filled with 4 or 5 sets of bunkbeds in it and called it a hostel. Literally, this hostel was located on some lady's property. The driveway was barricaded with a gate at its entrance and I needed a code to enter. I walked into the door thinking it was a lobby and it was just the entryway to this woman's house. A beautiful house! One of those houses that are open and spacious and everything has a place where it's supposed to be and it's always in that place. Plants perfectly scattered throughout. There were some older folks in there, I think her parents. She gave me juice and we chatted about how her son goes to college in Ohio. She showed me a picture of him hanging on the wall, then, she took my money.. and brought me to the big room filled with the bunk beds. There was one other person staying there, who was absent at my check-in and whom I didn't cross paths with really much at all. There was a patio deemed as a kitchenette with a table I could smoke at. The bathroom/shower was a cement block with no light inside. Yup, no showers at night for me. Literally a tiny square with four, old, dirty, cold cement walls and no ceiling. This is where I showered. At this point, I was used to cold showers so I don't even remember it being cold or warm. Probably cold. I feel like a warm shower after a series of cold ones would be something I'd remember. After a month of 2-minute freezing cold showers, I now take 7 minute hot showers in the good old USA if any cares to know. I guess this is what they call a life-changing experience.
I had no real plans for Colombo because it was just a stopping place for me. A place to go that I've never been and I was only spending the night in Colombo before adventuring to Kandy. I Tindered, met some people, ate some Subway.. Later in the evening, I couchsurfed and met a cool dude who took me to a dope hookah lounge where hookah was like $8 instead of $30. Fun, fun night.
The next day I headed to the train station with Kandy in my end sights. The trains in Sri Lanka are probably one thing it's actually famous for. There are no train rules. You can hang off the edge of the doors because there are no doors. That's right, the entryways don't have doors. Just open spaces.. but the train doesn't move fast enough to fall out of. A slow train. The slowest train. I honestly have no idea how I even got a seat because everyone pushed and shoved their way into the train as soon as it arrived and I was one of the last people on. Yet, I still got a seat.. and good thing 'cus people were standing in the aisles for the entire 4 hour journey. Likeeeeeeee, nope. And this isn't some train you're used to. There were no cushions on the seats and no individual seats at that. They were hard, hard bench-seats. You and the stranger next to you.. with no barricade in the middle. Like school bus seats minus the cushions. The windows opened all the way and had no screens or anything like it. Giant rectangle windows that you could stick your entire body out of if you wanted to. Yes, they were big enough to do that. The train ride... oh. my. goodness. The scenery, the views, the trees, the hills, the breeze, everything about it was amazing. Go to Sri Lanka and ride the $4 train to Kandy. Life-changing.
I made it and I hired a little tuk-tuk to bring me to my hostel. This hostel was dope. Beautiful artwork painted on the walls by travelers who have stayed there. Hammocks. A bar. I had only planned to spend a day or two here but I ended up staying the remainder of my trip here and paid someone like $40 to drive me to the airport at 3AM. The employees at the hostel were fun and helpful. And I met the coooooooolest people. No. I know I always say "I met the coolest people" but forreal, I did. More-so here than anywhere else. Maybe. Probably because it is still such an untraveled, unknown kind of place.
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| little baby pineapple |
I met this Australian guy, James, and he had a freaking motorcycle that he rented and was sailing and biking around Sri Lanka for a few months. James has since moved to Canada, worked at a ski resort, bought an RV, then drove down the coast of California.. from Canada... into Mexico. His end goal is Guatemala and from what I've seen via Snapchat.. he is achieving every ounce of that goal. Fucking inspiring. Fucking DOPE. There was a girl there, Freya, from England. She was doing an internship for Uni (college) there and her main job was to "talk" to the people staying at the hostel. Freya had just started this three-month internship within the same week as my arrival so I was a part of her beginning experience and one of the first people out of many she met there and that is so cool for me to be a part of that experience with her.
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| also painted on the wall. |
But the coolest fucking person I met, I forget her name. When I asked where she was from, she told me "Israel." As soon as I mentioned "Boston," she shared more information. She grew up in Newton and her family is from Israel and she still has family there. When she turned 18, she joined the army in Israel (which is actually mandatory for all women and men of Israel as soon as they turn 18) which allowed her to learn Hebrew. And she now identifies with the country of Israel (which is why she says she's from there) and speaks fluent Hebrew. WHAT?! You willingly left the United States to join the army in another country? WHAT?! Yeah. She probably would have never went more in-depth about her life in the US if I wasn't, also, from Massachusetts. She was the most free-spirited person I have ever in my life met. And she just so happened to be in Sri Lanka at the same time as me ---- after she spent three months backpacking India at the age of 22 (or 23?). She was shocked that I had booked my hostel ahead of time. She says she never books things ahead of time, she just stumbles upon them and if it's booked already, she goes to the next place. Yup. She woke up early and went down the road to the lady selling some kind of stuff made out of metal pipes. She went there to learn how to make things out of metal pipes, just like this lady.. so she could learn and experience and bond with the people of Sri Lanka. She is the person you read about in books. Free as free could ever really be and uncaring to societal norms and pressures she grew up around. So simple. So happy. So beautiful, inside and out. Truly inspiring. With these three inspiring people, and a few others, I ventured out into the town. We ate lunch, fed some fish at the pond, and saw some giant ass fucking lizards! Like, HUUUUUGE! Then, James spontaneously asked a tuk-tuk driver for weed, which he provided. And we smoked. And laughed. And I too, painted on the wall of this hostel, in the tree-house section, leaving my mark. This was the best experience I could have ever asked for.
One thing I want to mention about Sri Lanka is that the bakeries were good but the local food was not. I found myself in a small restaurant-esque type of place, alone. There were maybe six tables in the entire place. Everyone was eating the same thing. It looked good. I told the worker that I wanted what everyone else was having. Rice, of course.. and some other stuff. Everyone ate with their hands and there were old scraps of newspapers to serve as napkins. None of the food was good. I couldn't even describe the taste to you, honestly. Every single side dish was a different kind of gross to me. Tastes I've never experienced before in my life. I wanted to spit it all out. I swallowed what was in my mouth, left the rest on the plate, paid, then continued on. I've eaten a lot of weird food in a lot of weird places and this has taken the cake for being the least desirable.
In Kandy, I got to go to a tea plantation and watch the entire process of how it's made and all the instruments they use to make it. This tiny, tiny, country is the world's 4th largest producer of tea. Did you know that? You're probably drinking Sri Lankan tea if you're into black teas. Yup. There was definitely enough room in my 40L backpack for two boxes of Sri Lankan tea which I later brought into work to share with my co-workers while teaching a motivational group in a women's prison! (I guess after this experience I'd deem myself pretty motivational)
I went to temples. I saw the view of the city as I stood above it at the temple. I bonded with the hostel employees. I lounged in a goddam treehouse. All the pictures on this post are all the pictures that I have from my 5 days here because I was livinggggggggg for me and enjoying life. I had a marvelous time and I cannot wait to go back one day. Sri Lanka, another underrated country.
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| tea tea teaaa |
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