5 Reasons You Should Maybe Visit Sri Lanka

In the poor and largely underdeveloped region South Asia (India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka), Sri Lanka stands out as perhaps the least materially and culturally repulsive of them all. However, even though this is the case if one looks at these countries in their entirety, it is still a relatively poor emerging market. Monthly gross income is roughly 84 700 Rupee, about 593 US dollar.

This implies that the average Lankese person can never afford to travel and often ends up working either in agriculture (tea, spices, grainseed, sugarcane, rubber and so forth) or simple industries (telecommunications, insurance, banking, tourism and so on).

From a tourist perspective, another consequence is a low level of infrastructure. Sri Lanka is not a big island and a distance that would have taken less than two hours in Western Europe or East Asia takes 4-6 hours there. Some trains which travel across mountainous areas are incredibly slow. This leads to a lot of wasted time on crowded trains, busses and taxis.

However, the southwest coast, where places such as Galle, Hikkaduwa, and Mirissa Beach are located, have faster trains, and if one can afford to hire a driver for a couple of days, some distances can be dealt with at a somewhat faster pace.

Another negative thing about Sri Lanka is that there are pretty much zero attractive girls within the Lankese population. I always keep my eyes open but could still not see a single local hottie during two weeks. They are not particularly fat, but that is pretty much their only advantage. Therefore one must go to more touristic spots in order to meet Western or other Asian women instead. For instance, in Hikkaduwa I met an attractive German girl, of partially Serbic descent, whom I number closed after five minutes of chat in a local gym.

Thus this place is obviously not a high-tech poosy paradise, but if one keeps that in mind and find ways to work around the logistic and even hedonistic obstacles, then a number of other advantages will manifest themselves.

1. Stunning scenery

The scenery is stunning in many places in Sri Lanka. For instance, one early morning me and a friendly guy who worked at my guest house went to the top of the Lion Rock in Sigiriya to catch sight of a view I will never forget.

Ella, Dambulla Cave Temple, Galle, Mirissa and Yala National Park do likewise offer majestic views.

2. Breathtaking beaches

One of the best beaches I have visited is located in Grand Bahama, Bahamas, so an American who only wants to relax in a pleasant environment might want to go there instead. Many of the beaches along the southwest coast of Sri Lanka cannot be considered prettier, although generally of high standard.

However, Mirissa Beach is breathtakingly beautiful, especially around sunset and at night. So it might actually be worth to go there on a more exotic honeymoon if one has the chance. I was there alone and did not meet anyone, and albeit it was much pleasant to contemplate while walking along the stretches of sand numerous times, I wish I could have spent that time with a girl.

3. A diverse and fascinating fauna

In Mirissa Beach, a traveler can also do whale watching, which is a fascinating experience since one can likely see a significant number of blue whales. I was particularly lucky at this time and saw multiple giant whales, as well as dolphins and other marine animals.

Within just one or two weeks, one can spot blue whales, Sri Lankan leopards, Indian elephants, monkeys (Tuffed grey langur), mongoose, Indian crested porcupine, as well as numerous fish species while snorkeling or scuba diving.

My best experience in this respect was when my expedition car was hunted down by an elephant mother which vehemently protected her offspring near Sigiriya.

4. Theravada Buddhism

Historically and presently, Sri Lanka is an important place for Theravada Buddhism. Around 250 BCE the only surviving school of Buddhism arrived on Ceylon, and eventually this branch spread to Burma in the eleventh century, and later also to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Therevada is more conservative than Mahayana Buddhism, and this influences the larger society as well.

For historical sites, Dambulla Cave Temple is an excellent point of departure. Here some of the most impressive Buddha statues in the world are located.

5. Genuinely kind people

One meets kind people pretty much everywhere around the globe, but this often comes with an even greater number of annoying opportunists or worse. Often a nice person within the tourism industry, whether it be Malta or Indonesia, sooner or later tends to convey a message of at least semi-imposed recommendation. In other words, they make you feel obliged to support their family which happens to be willing to take you on a trip, or recommend their particular guest house, hostel or hotel. Not that it is a big thing but it signifies a transition to a Gesellschaft society with merely rational mutual agreements and transactions rather than genuine altruism involved.

In Sri Lanka one finds very little of that, though it often lean towards a traditional Gemainschaft, to the extent to which Ferdinand Tönnies’ concept conforms to non-European cultures. If you prefer to travel in a more expensive way then you will of course pay accordingly, but as long as you travel in a budget style, no one will bother you with drugs, hoes or knick-knacks. Street vendors are pretty much absent in all of the country, and if some offer anything they will likely act very nice and polite. For instance, I was convinced to go on a traditional show, with Hindu elements, in the small city of Kandy, which did not cost much.

As a young married Lankese man told me when he explained why he wanted very little if anything in return for driving me with motorbike to the starting point, as well as following me all the way to the top of Lion Rock in Sigiriya: “As a Buddhist I believe in Karma and compassion. I have no desire for your money.”

With the government’s 26-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the fact that human nature is pretty much the same regardless of place kept in mind, I am not suggesting that Lankese people necessarily are better than others. Still ethics do matter.

In summary

Like I stressed in the preamble of this article, there are palpable flaws in Sri Lanka with regard to infrastructure and female talent in particular. If one also takes flight distances into account it could be questionable for an American to go all the way there at all, but those who come across will experience a beautiful tradition-leaning country which offers great scenery, beaches and wildlife.

Read More: 4 Reasons You Should Make A Trip To The Country Of Georgia

51 thoughts on “5 Reasons You Should Maybe Visit Sri Lanka”

  1. Once people start to get a more tepid or even slightly apathetic approach to travel (usually happens once you’ve been to all seven continents and/or 30 odd countries) they just start hitting relatively obscure countries that few westerners have visited just for the Facebook fooder and “like” bombs they hope to get.
    The “Stans”, North Korea, Azerbaijan, Mozambique, etc. are perfect examples. Sri Lanka not toooooo much. A lot of people consider it a more approachable version of India (kind of like Taiwan to China).

    1. My friend was in NK at the resort the South built for them (right before the guards shot a tourist to death) before it closed. Very unusual dude.

  2. It’s okay to be alone on an exotic beach with nothing but your thoughts. I’ve had life-changing moments that way. Many years ago, climbing Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park with The Last Temptation of Christ soundtrack playing in my earbuds was a semi-religious experience. So was climbing Monserrate, a famous trek overlooking Bogota, Colombia. You don’t need a constant stream of poon to transform your life. In fact, a woman could wreck those perfect moments.

    1. ” You don’t need a constant stream of poon to transform your life. In fact, a woman could wreck those perfect moments”
      Exactly. All my more profound moments I had niether of my girlfriends were around.

  3. Apparently Arthur C. Clarke moved to Sri Lanka because the culture there would let him bugger underaged boys.

  4. I went to Sri Lanka in March. One thing I noted is the massive gap between the interpretation of buddhism/hindu religion in the west and the region. A lot of celebrities and other dorks wear it as a mystical garb to justify their permiscuous sex and drug use. It is however intertwined with a very very traditional society and traditional values (you basically never see a lical girl in the club).

  5. I met someone who got a bizarre soft tissue infection in a limb from a mosquito bite in Sri Lanka. No level of antibiotics could cure it and at the time i spoke to him (after nearly 20 years of intermittent bouts of crippling pain) he was seriously considering having the limb amputated.
    Safe to say I will never be visiting that part of the world.

    1. I moved to Australia years ago, shortly after arriving I was bitten by ‘something’ that caused half my thigh to go black. Not purple, not red, BLACK. Felt like crap for weeks. Doc’s had nothing but raised eyebrows and later told me they were surprised I wasn’t dead. Every 12 months I will feel like crap for a day or two. I figured it must be some weird malaria type thing but they ran a battery of test and nada. Everything here either wants you dead or in agonizing pain. Still, great place though!

        1. Well, if you ignore the worlds most insanely venomous snakes (most of which are very angry) and spiders which are ridiculously lethal, the beautiful but murderous blue-ringed octopus, the variety of large sharks in the South and absolutely enormous saltwater crocodiles in the North, along with jelly fish that has pain like ‘you have been dipped in acid and thrown into a pile of salt’, avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes that carry malaria,dengue,ross river fever and many others, you’ll be fine. Oh and avoid the gympie-gympie plant as it’s been known to kill horses and people who accidentally brush against it. Apart from that, you’ll be fine! It does get up to 130F in the desert though so drink plenty of water. Nearly forgot, we have constrictors here that will have a go at anything so maybe an idea to avoid sleeping outside.

        2. Lol “most of which are very angry”. True, every poisonous snake seems like they have bad attitudes

        3. Venomous dude, animals are venomous and plants are poisonous. Our coastal and inland Taipans are unbelievably hostile to just about everything that breathes, our Tiger snakes will actually GO for you if you happen to wander too close and our Pythons have been known to fancy a bit of crocodile on occasion!

      1. “Wow, your leg is black and you aren’t dead” is such a doctor response.

        1. “You might want to take some Advil for that. Certainly don’t walk on it.”

    2. ” i spoke to him (after nearly 20 years of intermittent bouts of crippling pain) he was seriously considering having the limb amputated.
      Safe to say I will never be visiting that part of the world”
      I don’t think that any exotic place regardless of how beautiful it might be is worth having some incurable, deforming, painful disease. I’ll stick to the mediterranean coasts of europe until the upcoming civil war commences. I guess I’m ‘gettin’ old’.

      1. It’s just one of those things. Common sense keeps you safe. Don’t swim in rivers or the sea, don’t walk through long grass, cover up your body to stop insect bites and always shake your clothes and footwear. Honestly, Australia is an awesome place to live.

    3. He should try e bacteriophage therapy, one of the few good things Communism brings us
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phage_therapy
      Instead of using large spectre antibiotics, you take a sample of the infeteced area, and you cultivate the bacteriophage that attacks that specific disease.
      Problem is, you can’t put pateht on a phage, so big pharma doesn’t like that idea…

  6. The reason you don’t find a lot of attractive women outside is largely due to the conservative culture. On the other hand, Western women are more extroverted so you see all types when you go out.
    When I was a teen, my father told me that beautiful women stay at home and restrict themselves to their social circle. It’s the attention whores who go out to appear “modern”. At first, I thought that was nonsense, but the more I went out the more I realized there is some truth to his words.

    1. I am sure there are attractive women somewhere on the island, and there are always some local celebrities here and there, but my suggestion is that the general beauty potential within the population is low. Even after modern grooming has occured quite few can be considered better than 5s or 6s. However, if they would lose 10 extra pounds they would look better at least.

      1. They are in Kandy, during the day. You won’t see them out at night.
        As an exchange student I lived with a family – the daughter was absolutely gorgeous.

        1. I believe you. I was walking around there a couple of days during the day but could not spot anyone who looked particularly good. If one stays longer the chances are that one finally meet those few beautiful who actually exist. The only one I wanted to bang while in Kandy was a Korean mother of 35, whom likewise watched a Hindu-influenced cultural show.
          They look like 25 those slim northeast Asian women. Me gusta.

      2. I’ll take a Sri Lankan chick over a Indian chick any day. Indian chicks, even the hot ones end up getting ugly once they become pregnant or get old.

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  7. The problem with Sri Lanka is that the Sikhs are killing like tons of Israelis over there

    1. “we have to promote general social concern and less materialism”- I love that movie

  8. “should maybe”? I get that there are pros and cons, but still that’s a bit weird for a title

  9. I spent 5 months in Sri Lanka during a semester in college. It is an absolutely beautiful place and the people (Sinhalese not Lankese) are wonderful. There are plenty of very pretty girls, particularly in Kandy. But, they don’t go to clubs, and don’t bang strange men. If you want one, you’ll have to find a prostitute or else marry one. They still do arranged marriages.
    If you want to hike, Horton Plains and Adams Peak are both spectacular – and require some rough living for a couple of days.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam%27s_Peak
    The beer there is okay. The local hooch is called Arrack – it’s made from coconut flower nectar and is devastating stuff.
    I’ll go back someday, but that is one hell of a long flight.

    1. Sinhalese make up the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka. I used a generic population term, referring to the population in its entirety, which I used ad hoc (could be used instead of for example the people of Sri Lanka).
      My point is not that Sinhalese women in particular are unpretty, but that I didn’t see any beautiful females – regardless of they were Singhalese, Tamils or Moors – at all while staying there. I didn’t see anyone that I wanted to marry, hypothetically speaking. I try to report and be as correct as possible from the basis of my experiences. Anecdotal evidence is what it is but I still saw what I saw.
      Adam’s Peak are not that high, so I would suggest that one should focus more on other mountains (in other countries) instead. Therefore I did not mention it. Pretty low ROI to go there I think, even though it is pretty.

      1. I have to admit, I never did see a particularly attractive Tamil girl.
        Some of the Sinhalese are very nice looking.
        There is also a small subset called “Burghers” who are the mixed-race descendants of Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonials. Some of them are spectacular Bollywood types.

        1. Yeah in the cultural show I watched, I saw one of these Burghers. Her face looked good.

  10. “Another negative thing about Sri Lanka is that there are pretty much zero attractive girls within the Lankese population.”
    LOL whaaaatttt?
    I’d bang a cute Sri Lankan over a white skank any time of the day.
    I LOVE exotic girls.

    1. Exotic does not automatically imply attractive. I see it as my duty to tell the truth. If I saw attractive women then I would have reported it. The faces and bodies do not look good. Far-reaching modernization with regard to plastic surgery, grooming and dieting are required to elevate 3 SMV points, in general.
      I think that the women in Southeast Asia and East Asia are attractive and exotic enough (the prettier share).

      1. I have noticed that most ROK readers seem to subtract SMV points solely based on how dark chicks might look. East Asians look fair compared to Indian or Sri Lankan girls.

    2. That’s weird. I’ve run into a few hot Sri Lankan chicks here in the USA. I wonder if it’s because they have a healthier diet which helps them grow taller.

  11. Sri Lanka is one of my favorite countries. It is very underrated. It was even on our list for a retirement home!

  12. “In the poor and largely underdeveloped region South Asia (India…)”
    India; the poor and largely underdeveloped !!?
    I pity you @Williams !!!

    1. Everyone with a three-digit IQ grasps the difference between largely and completely. Of course India has in part developed.
      However people still use their hands instead of toilet paper.

      1. People still use “hands” while wiping their ass !! And guess most use their left hands.
        What is the difference ? People in Asia doesn’t just use their Hands ! You use your left hand and tissue paper and they use their left hand and water !! Doesn’t we “clean” our ass hole while taking shower !
        It’s no surprise that the West will never acknowledge the advancement & development of other Countries, especially Bharat/India; maybe because of “complex” or “fear” !! India is NO MORE “largely” poor or underdeveloped. Why don’t you simply Compare “your Country” in terms of the number of People, Space and Resources ! Oh no, it’s not possible, as it requires “three-digit IQ” !!!

        1. India’s Human Development Index is place 131 in the world. United States is 10. The fact that a very large share of the population lacks even the most basic sanitation and hygiene components is a symbol for the, literally, shitty status of this nation.
          Culturally and philosophically there are many things which originate from India (I read Sanskrit and Pali bro), but materially and humanitarianly it literally is shit.

  13. . . . the real positives here are somewhat subtle in nature. People actually seek harmony here . . . compare THAT idea to your last road rage incident in Northam. The economy is like the 1960’s . . . just getting going. Rent, and taxes, are low . . . The climate is magnificent . . . The food is healthy . . . it is generally inexpensive . . . especially rent. English is commonly spoken . . . especially in any sort of business. The women are beautiful . . . and they age nicely. And the mindset is positive. And they like foreigners . . . polite ones in particular. And . . . as the article mentioned . . . you have the beaches and everything else the place has to offer.

    1. The reason why I didn’t mention the climate is because it is obvious. The food is not bad but mostly centered around carbs and sugar whereas in the West you can have everything you like. I think Indonesia, China and Korea have better food. Price levels are okay.

  14. Have been to Sri Lanka twice. Cannot recommend it highly enough!!! It is (along with China) my favourite country to visit and I’ve travelled to many countries in my lifetime, including much of South and East Asia. In fact, I would love to retire there in my old age. It’s very easy to get around the island, travel times are relatively short, and it’s remarkably convenient for tourists. The people are easy-going, good-natured and honest. So many places to see…archeological sights at Anuradhapura and Sigirya, pristine beaches at Mirissa and Tangalle, colonial history at Galle, holy landmarks at Adam’s Peak, Kelaniya and Kataragama. Kandy is a gem. The tea plantation region is gorgeous and one could spend days there taking in some of the most breathtaking scenery this earth has to offer. Also, since the end of the civil war in 2009, it’s a peaceful and safe place. When you’re there, you feel so removed from major calamities plaguing the rest of the world.
    As a side note, I am in no position to make an informed judgement on the actions of the Sri Lankan army, which to this day is condemned by international organizations for human rights abuses during its campaign against the LTTE. However, a few things are for certain…i) the LTTE was a terrorist organization and carried out deadly terrorist attacks on civilians in Sri Lanka over many years, in a conflict that dated back to the early 1980s…ii) the Sri Lankan army eradicated the LTTE, whose remaining followers were forced to seek refuge in other countries…iii) the country has been at peace since 2009…iv) since the end of the civil war, the country’s Tamil populations in the north of the island and in the central tea plantation region live safely, peacefully and free of threat…and v) Tamil culture is respected and the Tamil language is still widely used across the country, including officially on road signs and in business services. When I see deadly ISLAMIC terrorist attacks now happening on an almost weekly basis in countries across the world and continual civilian casualties, I think that governments and military leaders around the world who are leading the war on global ISLAMIC terror should at the very least be studying the example of Sri Lanka.

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