Slooooow Lanka (the frustrated post)

Sri Lanka was the first country that we really struggled with. We didn't originally even have Sri Lanka on our itinerary, but when we decided to take India off the list (long story, but came down to the difficulty of getting Indian visas, plus the realization that on our budget, India might be too difficult), Sri Lanka was described to us as "India lite" - the perfect solution to our two week gap between Southeast Asia and Jordan/Israel.  Plus, Sri Lankan cities have fun names like Hikkaduwa, Unawatuna, and Kataragama, so that was a bonus, too.

Our first impressions - solid. Sri Lankan Air was the nicest airline we had been on for a while (granted, this is a fairly low bar), and after they undercharged us for our visas on arrival, the airport officials were too embarrassed to ask for more money.  Our hotel sent both a driver and hotel rep to pick us up, and when they realized there wasn't enough room in the car, the hotel rep squished himself in the back of the trunk for the quick drive.  Our sense was that hospitality was high on Sri Lankans' priority list.

When mapping out our route through Sri Lanka, we decided to take a faster pace than we usually do - 4 cities in 2 weeks so we could get a real feel for the country. This is where our frustration began: what we didn't account for (thanks for nothing, Google Maps!) is that the speed limit in Sri Lanka is about 50 km/hour.  Yes, kilometers not miles. That equates to about 33 miles/hour. And that is on the fast roads - most of the time, the drivers rarely hit more than 30 km/hour. Which meant that trips we expected to take 2-3 hours would stretch to about 5-6, meaning lots more days spent traveling than we hoped for.  The roads themselves would often be fairly windy (or curly as Maggie calls them), with lots of swerving, honking, and passing, so reading or doing homework wasn't happening- making for really long rides.

We tried to take the train between two cities, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, but were there during a public holiday, so couldn't get on the train. Literally. Bought tickets, waited at the station, had packs on and ready when the train pulled up, only to find a train bursting with people. Bench seats that would usually hold 4-6 people had at least 8-10, with others crammed in the aisles, and others physically hanging out the windows and doors. We couldn't even get within 2 feet of the door, and we certainly weren't going to get 5 people with 2 huge bags each on the train. The ticket guy laughed, and refunded my whopping $5. A Sri Lankan man standing there told us he would get us a van, so his friend pulled up, we all got in, and off we went on a "lovely" 5 hour drive to Nuwara Eliya.  Not exactly how I would get somewhere at home.

The real struggle, however, was the people. Many were warm and friendly. One driver brought us to his house to have us meet his wife and son, eat some cookies, and see his family photos. Our guide at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy loved teaching the kids riddles, and found us walking nearby on subsequent days to teach them more. The hotel manager in Kataragama shared with us the story about how his family missed being swept up in the tsunami of 2004 while his friends' family wasn't so lucky.  There were plenty of friendly people who were kind and open with us.  But there was also this nagging feeling through most of our time that we were just walking ATMs. Nothing had a price on it - and the prices we were often quoted were much higher than those quoted to the locals.  While this isn't totally unexpected, after 3+ months in Asia, it just felt dirtier.  Being sized up before being told a price just seemed uncomfortable, but often we were put in a position where "ok" was our only real option. Frustrating.

One example - our day-trip from Kandy to Sigiriya.  We hired a van to take us there, and asked to just be taken to Sigiriya and the Dambulla Caves.  The driver asks us if we'd like to stop for a tour of an herbal garden on the way - we refuse, since we've seen enough of these to know we are expected to buy things we don't want at the end, so the driver can make a commission. We stop anyways. We decide to be good sports at that point and went through the tour, managing to not buy any of the remedies.  No big deal. After Sigiriya, we ask the driver to stop at a cheap, local Sri Lankan restaurant. Instead, he stops at a tourist buffet stop - and the food there is horrible. We eat next to nothing. The bill comes with a total cost of $45 - not a huge deal in the US, but about 5 times the cost of a similar meal in any other Sri Lankan restaurant. After a bit of negotiating, they gave us a discount for the kids (although we still had to pay for Maggie's soda which came with a bug in it).  By now, I was less than pleased with the driver.  Next stop: another herbal garden. Um, I'm pretty sure that we said we didn't want to go to ONE, let alone TWO! The driver disappeared the minute we pulled in - so we had no real choice but to go on another tour. We ended up buying herbal after-bug ointment just so we wouldn't have to stop at another.

Lastly, standards just aren't the same in Sri Lanka as other places we visited, and that came as a surprise to us. Lets be clear - we are not staying in luxury hotels and dining at fine restaurants this year - our standards really aren't that high. Even Cambodia, which I would argue is not as developed as Sri Lanka, had a much higher bang for the buck than SL. We know the cost of living is always higher on island nations, but the quality didn't justify the costs.

Overall, I can see why many people love Sri Lanka. But I can also see why many people are not fans yet. On a better budget than we are using for this trip, hospitality is probably greatly improved and the quality is probably drastically better, but on our budget, Sri Lanka wasn't quite there.

For the good on Sri Lanka (and there was plenty!!), read my next post! :)