We had been looking forward to this for so long that we weren’t sure what to do when we finally touched down in Sri Lanka. After some fairly swift moving through the Philippines, Timor-Leste and a brief stopover in Malaysia to catch up with friends we finally had a month to spend somewhere with only a small amount preplanned. It was strange because we’ve always been the sort of travellers who don’t really plan too far in advance but by this stage we were coming out of nearly 5 months of fairly tightly planned travel and it felt so good to have some freedom. The only thing booked was a 6-day safari trip around the country that would be starting 2 days after we arrived. As part of this package was the most welcome addition of airport pickup…as a backpacker, haven’t you always wished (as you get onto that dodgy looking local form of transport from the airport after a long flight) that it was your name on one of those signs as you exit customs. Well today was our day because there was the man with a sign that had my name on it! With a quick stop to get money from the ATM (no ATMs appear to have bank fees in Sri Lanka) we were on our way to our guesthouse in Negombo (actually a lot closer to the airport than Colombo). The first thing that struck both of us was how green everything was. Here we were on the outskirts of a major city and all you could see was green. Green fields, green banana leaves, green rice paddies, green coconut palms… just green. Check in at our guesthouse was a breeze and we were soon wandering around our local streets looking for our long awaited (we are massive fans of Southern Asian food) first Sri Lankan meal. The only thing nearby looked more like a convenience store than a restaurant but the smiley and enthusiastic gentleman who ran it seemed excited to whip something up for us so we agreed. For 620Rs ($5.25 AUD/3.90 USD) we had 2 large portions of fried vegetable rice, 2 vegetable stuffed roti and 2 parata bread. This was the dream! It turned out that this was on the more expensive side of things, because the next day we managed to get 2 large plates of rice and curry for 240Rs ($2 AUD/1.50 USD) but you can’t really grumble at $2.50pp for a freshly cooked and very sizable dinner! Now, our safari tour was expensive by backpacker standards (in fact, it was just expensive) and with the amount of time we had in the country it may not have been necessary to indulge in the expense, but we had a wonderful time. Because this a backpacker blog have to acknowledge that this absolutely isn’t the cheapest way to visit the national parks and explore the ‘highlights’ of Sri Lanka but it was a great way to see a lot in a short amount of time with minimal hassle and effort. Our tour cost $950USD per person including transport, activities, breakfast and dinner everyday and 1 lunch. During this time we covered a significant amount of ground and saw the most amazing wildlife. Here’s a breakdown of what we did and saw to maybe help you choose what you would most like to do.
This trip was definitely one of the most expensive ways of doing this and as backpackers it would be a lie to say that this was the cheapest way of seeing the most, as it really wasn’t. All up the entrance fees and safaris that we went on would have cost us a total of around $700USD ($942.10AUD) for two people. Obviously on top of that we got all of our transportation, meals and accommodation (which was seriously luxurious) but you can see there is definitely money to be saved! There are guaranteed cheaper ways of seeing all these national parks but I wouldn’t take back this experience for anything. I would however say that it isn’t necessary to visit all of these parks. For leopards Yala and Wilpattu are the best so you can just pick one. For elephants Udawalawe and Minneriya are equally good but for different reasons. Udawalawe is best for up close encounters and Minneriya is better for herds. I would say overall our best wildlife experience was at Yala but the least amount of respect for the animals and environment was shown here. For the amount of respect shown Wilpattu (followed closely by Minneriya) would be my pick but we saw the least here. The end of our 6-day tour saw us finishing up in Anuradhapura, which is part of the ancient cities circuit. This was our first actually independent location and we were really ready to get back into traveling on our own. This city has a large variety of ruins you can visit but unfortunately most fall into the expensive list as part of the $25USD ($33.75 AUD) day pass. Everything we read said that you cannot see everything in a day even if you do hire a three wheeler (tuktuk) so you either have to pay this fee twice or be very selective about what you choose to see. We decided to skip the pass all together and just visit the few cheaper sights instead. The first sight of real interest was the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree. This tree is over 2000 years old and has been constantly guarded throughout the centuries, even through colonial periods and civil war. There is apparently a charge but we did not encounter anywhere to pay this on the way into the temple. This is also an easy walk to Ruwanwelisaya, which is also worth checking out and gives you good views of Jetavanaramaya. Jetavanaramaya is part of the day pass but we found the views from both the other temples and the main road sufficient for us. After a rest day and a day exploring we were ready for a trip to the north. We had both found Anuradhapura trying as there was a lot of overcharging and willingness to scam you which we found more prevalent here than anywhere else in the country, so it was off to Jafna on the train. There is a direct train from Anuradhapura to Jaffna which takes 4-hours on the slower cheaper train. We booked in advance and the tickets cost us 700Rs ($5.95 AUD/4.40 USD) each for a 2nd class ticket but we learned that there is definitely no need to book in advance. It costs a lot more to book, tickets never sell out and if you really want a better chance of a seat buy a 2nd class ticket on the day. This journey without booking should cost 280Rs ($2.35 AUD/1.75 USD) for the same 2nd class seat. To be honest there is so little difference between the classes that we chose 3rd class from this journey onwards. The train journey was beautiful and I really do recommend taking as many trains in Sri Lanka as your adventure will allow. Once in Jaffna we managed to find a simple guesthouse (1800Rs/$15.30 AUD/11.35 USD – negotiated down from 2000Rs) really close to the station, but a word of warning you should really consider upgrading to aircon in the north, because wow does it stay hot all night up there! Jaffna was a breath of fresh air when it came to pricing. Here everyone gave you a fair price, from room rates to transport to food. It was here we were able to learn what we should be paying for meals etc. rather than having to navigate and negotiate the minefield of inflated tourist rates. Rice and curry will set you back a hefty 120-150Rs ($1-1.30 AUD/0.75-0.95 USD), vegetable roti cost between 30-50Rs ($0.25-0.40 AUD/0.20-0.30 USD) and chickpea and lentil snacks cost between 10-30Rs ($0.08-0.25 AUD/0.05-0.20 USD). Jaffna itself is an interesting place to walk around. It is a lot greener than you would expect given its proximity to the salt plains and if you look past the shiny facades of the newer buildings you can see the old abandoned ones pock marked by both time and bullet holes. This city in no way feels left behind or recovering but it does feel different to the rest of the country.
We didn’t feel the love we expected to feel for Jaffna but we are glad we had visited. We spent our 2 days wandering around and visiting the main sights like the pubic library, Jaffna Fort and Nallur Kandaswamy temple. Our favourite sight would be the temple and try to go around 10am when there are prayers happening as the music is lovely and it is very peaceful to observe. Having not fallen hard for this hot city we cut our stay short by a day and jumped on a train southward for some cooler weather.
8 Comments
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