Impressions of Sri Lanka and its people.

Impressions of Sri Lanka and its people.

Throughout our tour of Sri Lanka, the people have been very friendly, welcoming and eager to please. You are constantly asked where you come from and how many children you have, but it is not nosiness, just custom.

The English language is generally understood, but misunderstandings are rife, and it is necessary to repeat using several different forms of words to make sure your meaning has been interpreted correctly.

Phonetic spelling is the norm, and due to pronunciation variations is often somewhat wayward. The use of a dictionary or spell-checker is unknown. This extends to official communications, and is not just limited to the demotic.

There is little talk of the civil war and both Sinhala and Tamils seem to get on together, if anything there is more insularity along religious lines with Muslims keeping very much to themselves. The only discriminatory comment we heard expressed mistrust of Muslims. This is interesting as since time immemorial the island has been subject to waves of Tamil conquests followed by the Sinhala reasserting themselves.

Transport is by tuk-tuk, car, bus or train. Train is reliable if slow, you cannot run fast trains when the majority of the population use the track as a footpath, besides which you might hit an elephant. Bus we didn't explore because there seemed little chance of boarding one as the passengers were invariably packed in like sardines. Car is reliable and roads are excellent if narrow, so in Kandy for example car is probably the slowest form of transport. Tuk-tuk is superb for short distances ( 10km or less). The drivers go anywhere, usually at quite a pace. On the whole, getting from one place to another was remarkably easy, although quite time consuming. All forms of Sri Lankan transport are unable to function without a constant succession of horn blasts.

Towns are generally clean, sanitary and well maintained except pavements which are mostly either unmaintained or absent, making walking a challenge. We never felt in any danger when walking by ourselves, either by night or day, unless we had to cross a road.

Hotels and guesthouses were of good standard and generally helpful. Food was very good, especially Sri Lankan rice and curry, although this did seem to be the only indigenous dish.

In all we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Sri Lanka and would heartily recommend it to others.