First international trip will always be super excitement! Here are the few give-away’s for the wide benefit of my readers for better planning!
- Sri Lanka is an amazing place for nature enthusiasts as it is full of greenery every where.
- The tri-language trend is being followed throughout the country. All the sign boards, Name boards etc will be in English, Tamil and Sinhalese
- Tamil is the mostly spoken language. Even though people don’t speak the language well they understand it..
- In most of the monuments, Indians can avail 50% discount in the entry fees by showing the passport, for which it needs to be carried in one’s person all the time.
- Black tea is what they mean as Tea. Milk is not available in most of the places. In few places milk powder is being used. It is a bad idea to have coffee anywhere.
- Food is truly a nightmare unless you are a hardcore non-veg eater. For them, Non-Veg means only meat. Fish is considered as veg.
- Basic breakfasts will be Spring rolls with fish chambandhi or Parottas with Dry fish Gravy
- South Indian restaurants are there.It takes some effort to find them.
- Though the currency value is lower than INR, they match it with the pricing. Cost of one tea in a good location costs 90-100LKR. Egg omelets too cost the same.
- Quality of roads are amazing. They are neat and clean. It is quite difficult to find a rough patch or a pothole on the roads. Speed breakers will be there wherever it’s found essential. Not at every single village like here in India.
- Traffic rules are strictly followed. If the speed limit is mentioned at 40KMPH, people maintain the same speed irrespective of the road being free.
- There are no gates on the railway level crossings. Only alarms are placed and when the alarms sound, vehicles stop exactly on the stop line.
- No toll charges except on express highways. We must have hardly paid 4 tolls throughout our stay there.
- Almost each and every part of the country is under security camera surveillance.
- Mobile network coverage is excellent in all the places and we were connected with 3G everywhere. Hotels have free wifi
- Hotel pricing is cheaper for walk-in enquiries than online and telephone bookings.
- The first question when you enter any hotel and ask for stay will be your country of origin. If you say Indian, then you will have to be extra careful about confirming the price they say in INR or LKR.
- All the hotels in Sri Lanka have a driver’s bay which is an air conditioned bed and bath. So no need to worry about the driver’s stay!
- Like everything else, alcohol too is very expensive there. A quart of Smirnoff costs 1750 LKR. Whereas there are lots of country liquor available at attractive prices. The salesmen also promote them. Do not be swindled.
- Sandwich Massage boards are there everywhere, in all towns which sounds attractive. But don’t become a victim!
- Prostitution has not become as severe a problem in Sri Lanka as in some neighbouring countries It’s legal here It is rampant here, from hotels to beaches, everywhere!
- Outside Colombo there is no nightlife and even in the city it is limited to gambling at casinos, and overpriced Chinese, Russian and Eastern European prostitutes.
Signing out and Wishing you a happy and Safe journey to Sri Lanka!
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