Has anyone traveled to Sri Lanka?

[jabbahop]

My son has a friend that has invited him for a month during the summer and I am considering tagging along. I have never been to that part of the world and wondered what people thought.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Nemo2]

I've been there three times, 1960, 1963 and 1985.......I'd go back again.

 

[anethum]

I was in Sri Lanka about 10 years and I found the country a wonderful place to visit. In a relatively compact country, there is a great diversity of things to see. People were friendly, the country is beautiful, and the food is delicious. Among my favorite sights were the incredible Sigiriya, Horton Plains National Park, the landscape of tea plantations in the southern highlands, the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, and the fortified town of Galle.

While I was there, I met tourists from various countries who had just been visiting India. I often asked them to compare India & Sri Lanka, and there were 3 things which virtually everyone said: Sri Lanka is cleaner than India, people don't hassle you as much as in India, and it's more expensive than India.

I was there a year or two after the tsunami hit, and I saw first-hand some of the destruction.

 

[Nemo2]

Further to anethum's comment, totally agree that Sigiriya is a 'must'; I also enjoyed Anuradhapura, Galle and Kandy.....disappointed with Yala, (perhaps because we were loaded into an old bus with a shot muffler that the animals could probably hear coming from 5 miles away), but my personal favorite was the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.

In 1963, (having come down through India), we used the Dhanushkodi - Talaimannar Ferry, from India to Sri Lanka, but that was halted and I'm unsure, (and haven't checked), as to whether or not it's been reinstated.......if it has, or if there's something similar, you could grab a boat ride up to India and back.

 

[Nemo2]

...rummaging through the detritus of my past lives, (looking for something completely unrelated), I uncovered an old passport containing stamps of my 1963 visit to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon:

 

[Sarah in SC]

How very, very cool, Nemo!
I bet your passports bear some amazing stories inside those pages.
Awesome!

 

[rodi]

My dad went, and loved it.

I want to be Nemo in my next life.

 

[braumeister]

Arthur C. Clarke lived there the last 50-odd years of his life, and I think you can still go to his dive center if you're into scuba diving.

 

[Sarah in SC]

My dad went, and loved it.

I want to be Nemo in my next life.

Heck, I wanna be Nemo in THIS life!

 

[Nemo2]

Heck, I wanna be Nemo in THIS life!

The way the aches & pains are accumulating and accelerating, you both might want to reconsider.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Nah, I suspect I'll have all those aches and pains anyway, regardless of whether I work harder on getting my passport filled up or just sit on the porch waiting for them to come.

 

[timemoveson]

Fantastic country

One of our best trips ever when we lived in Asia. Similar intinerary to what Nemo outlined. 20 years ago, before internet could be used to help you be organized. Stunning country - a manageable version of India indeed. Totally recommended particularly since terrorist/civil war like violence is no longer a factor as it was when we were there.

 

[jabbahop]

Thanks everyone - sounds wonderful. I am going to try it as a last minute decision. My mother in law just got the news that cancer is back so can't do long-term plans at this point.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Nemo2]

My mother in law just got the news that cancer is back

Although I don't know her, I wish her well in her battle - I lost a wife, and at least a couple good friends to cancer, and learned to hate it with a passion.