Ceylon General

What's your favorite short eat?

>>1233908
I really enjoyed those little deep fried fish croquettes....but most of the food was delicious.
I wish I had caught on to the deviled chicken earlier...

>>1233883
I just got back 3 weeks ago as well. Where all did you go.

I might go there 2 weeks in December, is that a good time to visit? where do you recommend me to visit? like nature and architecture, not so keen on beaches

>>1233883
Did you visit any Arthur C. Clarke shrines, or are there currently any such places?

>>1233883
Is Unawatuna exploited these days? It was paradise in my youth and before the Tsunami (oldfag)

>>1234024
>>1234004
I did the standard route counter-clock wise.

Negombo, - near the airport not much to do, the beach was like the fucking Sahara desert.

Bentota, some decent beach areas, mostly just a few hotels and some exploitable pools.

hikkaduwa, a complete shithole, avoid.

Galle, good for a day trip to see the fort, decent coffee and good food. I stayed in Una.

Unawatuna- Russians getting sunburnt, it may be because it was low season, but the place seemed deserted... rude service

Mirissa. fun touristy beach, loads of eye candy. a few discos that stay open late. this would be the best place to bang hot tourist girls...Whale watching.. pretty good times here.

Tangalla- I stayed out in Rekawa, gorgeous but unswimmable beach. you would have the place to yourself... go out at night and see the giant sea turtles come ashore.

Tissa- the town is a shithole, but you can go on the safari from here into Yala.. Was about 5000 rupees for the day, saw elephants and a leopard... and some other animals.. I liked it, but heard that Udawalawe was better. I cannot confirm this.

Took the train from Tissa to Ella.. It took forever, but was very nice... and cost almost nothing.

Ella- burgeoning little tourist town, loads of backpackers, restaurants, hikes. rented a scooter here, was totally worth it and easy. Tea factory was cool, the 9 arch bridge was neat, the waterfalls... all basically just an excuse to cruise around on the scooter for the day.

Kandy- didnt care for it..at all. I had shitty food, and wasted some money on the temple of the tooth.

Dambulla- good base for going to sigiriya rock. I did the pidurangala hike instead.. way cheaper and the lineup for sigiriya was stupid long in the blazing heat.. looked awful, probably cool once you get through the line though. Sigiriya was 4500 rupees, and pidurangala was 500.

>>1234029
No I did not, didnt hear of any either.. apparently his house is in Colombo and you can go see it

>>1234159
I was told the beach was a hundred times nicer before the tsunami, count yourself lucky.

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So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, looking for one thousand brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night. So, Jeff Beck pops his head 'round the door, and mentions there's a little sweets shop on the edge of town. So - we go. And - it's closed. So there's me, and Keith Moon, and David Crosby, breaking into that little sweets shop, eh. Well, instead of a guard dog, they've got this bloody great big Bengal tiger. I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shopowner and his son... that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business, really. But, sure enough, I got the M&Ms, and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show

>>1234243

Nice post OP, thanks. Why is Hikaduwa a complete shithole? Did you go to any nice beaches in SL? Also, how about Chinese tour groups -- I hear SL is overrun with them. Is this true?

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I was in Sri Lanka mid-December to early January, and to be honest was kind of disappointed.

The beaches mostly sucked, full of sunburnt Eastern Europeans and touts. The food, while good was pretty damn repetitive - sometimes it was hard to find a nice meal out. Hostels were few and far between, accommodation in general was expensive.

Positives though I guess were Sigiriya and Pidurangala. Pidurangala isn't a hike, it seriously only takes 20 minutes (look for the swimming snake half way - pic related). I did both and enjoyed them, they aren't really comparable despite what tight ass tourists will tell you. Also really like Polonnaruwa, ridng a bicycle around and exploring all the old temples.

Ella was great, loved exploring all the train tracks and the little hikes. Also did Adams Peak (the big one) which was pretty good.

Although I didn't like the town, I did a nice home stay in Mirissa at Sagopearl guest house run by a local family. The lady of the house will cook amazing dinners and breakfast for you for cheap.

>>1234255
Of the three beaches I went to, I would rank them
1. Mirissa
2. Hikkaduwa
3. Unawatuna

But really, they were all over developed, crowded and full of touts. The coral in Hikkaduwa was basically dead, although we saw some moray eels, octopus etc which was cool. Mirissa was more a surf beach, so it was a bit better - we found a spot away from all the development we could set up in and spent the days catching waves. But I think if you are a serious surfer Midigama is better. I heard Trincomalee is better for snorkelling but we ran out of time - somewhere called Pigeon Island I think.

I'm from Australia though and have better beaches like 40 minutes away. I think I'll avoid beach holidays in general in the future.

>>1234257
pretty much this... I found Hikkaduwa to be the dirtiest, jungle beach by Una was okay, although very small

>>1234257

Thanks for the reply. I went to Hikkaduwa in the 80's (yes, I'm an oldfag); back then it was a collection of 60's hippies leftovers and some Euro tourists. Really easy to buy weed on the beach. We drove around the country for a few weeks. We went to Sigiriya and were the only people there. I'd like to go back to Sri Lanka, but the thought of touts, package tour buses, and the like depresses me. Ella though sounds alright -- is there anywhere else that you've been that's laidback, inexpensive and has some things to do during the day?

>>1234272
I would worry that if you have fond memories that you should stay away now.. but I didnt get a chance to explore as much of the interior as I would have liked.. ran outta time. There may be hidden gems all through out there.. or maybe the east coast...
I was offered weed often, but it was expensive and not great quality.. but I'm from British Columbia, kinda like the Australian guy who found the beaches disappointing.

>>1234278
I'll be doing a RTW later this year so will probably go regardless, on the way to/from India. It's not a nostalgia thing, really the opposite -- I actually want to avoid places that were great in the past (Koh Samui in Thailand, for example) but are now swamped with tourists, touts, scammers, etc. Your idea about the east coast is actually a good one, thanks.

>>1234243
+1 on Kandy being massively overrated. The night before I went there I stayed with some locals I met and they unanimously recommend I not go at all. It is worthy of a daytrip but if I could do it again I wouldn't even book a hotel. I would just catch the first train in and last train out.