The immediate impression of Sri Lanka upon leaving CMB (which is well to the N of Colombo) and driving slightly inland to the first night’s hotel is that it is not a small clone of India. Sri Lanka is very firmly its own place. It is less shambolic (that’s not a criticism of India, as that is part of India’s charm), the roads are generally better and it’s tidier.
But, like India, the people are benign and friendly and English is almost universally spoken, so it’s also an easy place to travel in.
Late September/early October is the beginning of the tourist season, but it was exceptionally quiet. The atrocities of the previous Easter had clearly made tourists shy of going to Sri Lanka. Normally the type of tour I was on would have up to 16 people.
It was the first of the season, so numbers may be expected to be less than the maximum. However, we had only four – my elder son joined me and there was a couple from Victoria. Our tour leader was a great guy, about my son’s age, and the other couple were very active and youthful 50/60-ish. We ended up having an absolute blast.
During the two weeks, our tour leader told us that he was taking his last tour group for the 2018/19 season to CMB for their outbound flights when they saw the explosions in the distance. It has clearly had a dampening effect on tourism, which had been rapidly increasing, with all the hotels we stayed at being very quiet. Such a pity, because Sri Lanka is a great place and we certainly saw no sign of any religious or ethnic tension.
Much like Egypt, the upside for tourists prepared to go is that major sites that may usually be packed are much easier to get around.
Coming into CMB.
The next day was driving inland to the famed WH-listed Buddhist Royal Rock Cave Temples at Dambulla (
Dambulla cave temple - Wikipedia). These date to the 1st century BCE.
