here are 17 things I wish I knew before I visited Sri Lanka now I've spent a couple of months in
this country and there's definitely things you need to know before visiting and the first one
is the head bobble actually means yes or okay now in the western world shaking a head means
no but actually over in Sri Lanka it's completely different when you first get there it is quite a
shock but just remember that when you see someone shake their head once you go you'll understand now
number two is something I actually read before coming to the country and that is lots of the
reviews are fake and I was wasn't too sure about this after spending a couple of weeks
in the country reading reviews of restaurants hotels guest houses there was like 100 reviews
with 10 Stars each and you're just like that looks a little bit dodgy so just take that into account
when looking for stuff now number three Sri Lanka may look like a really small country below India
but actually it is pretty big and it takes a long time to get around the island this is due to some
of the infrastructure but things like buses and trains you could be on these trains for like 8
hours long and only cover a small distance of the the country now here I'm talking about the public
transportation that's what takes a long time to get around the country but it also means that all
the public transportation is super cheap as cheap as I've seen it anywhere in the world we took a
train journey for like 7 hours and it costs like £150 in second class which is incredible
value now number four something I loved about Sri Lanka is the local people are super friendly and
also really helpful if you're ever stuck and the great thing which actually surprised me a little
bit is they speak really good English English not all of them obviously but a lot of people speak
English so it's really easy communicate ask about problems or whatever you got just ask people they
will help you out now number five this one's a little bit of a confusing one so let's think
about this for a moment so there are two Monsoon seasons in Sri Lanka and two dry seasons in Sri
Lanka and this even though it's a small island the country kind of splits in half when's the
monsoon season and the dry season now the dry season also known as a tourist peak season in
the southwest of Sri Lanka is between December and March in the North Eastern side of Sri Lanka the
dry season or the tourist season is between May to September so depending on which part of Sri
Lanka you're looking to go to depends on which time you should go in the year now number six
Sri Lanka is a big bargaining place so this means things like Tuk tucks taxi rides Market stuff not
in food or restaurants that stuff is you know that stat is the same price but all other stuff you can
bargain for it because otherwise you're going to be spending a lot more than you actually need to
now as tourists it's understanding of paying a little bit more but getting absolutely ripped
off is not nice ask your hotels how much Tuk Tok should be and you can kind of get a rough idea
obviously I can't just tell you how much a Tuk Tok would be here because they vary in Ella things
are more expensive but then if you're in Columbo things are cheaper it just varies a lot now number
seven which relates to the bargaining is actually use Uber or the local pikme app pikme is like uber
but the shr Lankan style you can get Tuk tucks on there taxis and they are really affordable
and you can just put in the exact location you want and the driver will just drive there pretty
much like uber it also means you don't have to bargain the app does it for you now number
eight something you need to learn is to say no as Western people we always want to be polite and be
like okay yes for example if you take a Tuk Tok ride to the temple he's probably going to ask you
if you want to return to your hotel or wherever and in this instance I would advise saying no
because it means he's going to be waiting if you spend lots of time in the temple you might feel
bad and honestly I just feel like it's best to go with another Tuk TK there's always Tuk TK around
another instance is a Tuk to driver might stop you and try and take you into a shop to get commission
for selling you turmeric or tea or something random and you're allowed to say no you're
allowed to say I don't want to look in that shop no thank you now number nine is about the safaris
and which Park you should actually go to we went to the Arland National Park and it is beautiful
it's a really good chance of seeing the famous leopards and lots of other Wildlife but it is
the busiest it's the most touristy now something I would advise you is to go to Willow Patu National
Park this place is a lot less busy and also has a great chance of seeing leopards now it's about 2
hours north of nombo so it's not too far out the way and without the crowds it's probably going to
be beautiful now number 10 if you're looking to rent a car or a motorbike or even a Tuk Tok it
will be a great way of getting around the country but you actually need a Sri Lankan driving license
now legally an international driving license is not enough and you need to get this converted to
a Sri Lankan driving license in in Sri Lanka and it's quite a bit of work however if you use the
Tuk to rental.com company they can actually do this for you for a small fee and it's going to
make it a whole lot easier so if you're looking to rent a Tuk Tuk as a lot of people do on their tour
of Sri Lanka then I'd highly recommend using this company we didn't use them this time but I think
on our next trip this is what we're going to do now number 11 the famous sigara rock is actually
30 USD which is super expensive compared to everything else in the country but there's
actually a cheaper Viewpoint and even a free Viewpoint you can go to which is going to save you
quite a bit of money the first one is pidu langar Rock if I'm saying that correct and it costs about
1,500 Rupees to go up it has great views of sigara and the surroundings and the second option you go
to which I'll leave it on a map and it doesn't really have an official name is a spot just 5
minutes walk from sigara town when we went up to this Viewpoint there was no one else there and so
this is a little secret gem which you guys are going to enjoy and it's not going to cost you a
penny now if you haven't already please go down and hit the Subscribe button I've given you all
this information for free and the least you can do is just hit subscribe maybe a like as well now
number 12 is about the candy to L train and I'll leave our link to our video all about the candy to
L train just up here or down the description cuz it's well worth a watch but what you actually need
to do for this journey is actually reserve seats if you can if you've planned out your journey a
bit then I highly recommend booking seats because you can go in the reserve carriages now the best
carriages to go in is second class and third class if you book First Class Car Carriage then all the
windows and doors going to be shut unless you want that experience then go for that but if you want
to hang out the doors take pictures and do all that kind of stuff then you're going to need to
reserve second class and third class carriages in the regular second class and third class
carriages is going to be super full packs full of Sri Lankans especially on weekends on weekends it
gets super busy so just take that into account during the week you might be all right and you
might get a window seat or even a seat but there's no promises I'll leave a link in the description
to reserve your seats on the candy to L train now number 13 is Sri Lanka is not as big of a
drinking kind of party destination as other places in Southeast Asia you're not going to find big old
full moon parties like you do in Thailand you will find some small beach parties especially on the
south coast but in other areas you you're probably not going to find them you can still drink and
it's easy to get some cocktails and beers but you're just not going to find those big party
destinations I also found that Sri Lanka is a bit more of an older Vibe I don't know if this has
got anything to do with it but but kind of just what I found now number 14 digital Nomads people
who love to be on the internet I'll be honest the Wi-Fi hasn't been great in Sri Lanka compared to
other places in Southeast Asia and Asia it's not been anywhere close I've been quite disappointed
I'll be honest for a YouTuber it's been really hard to upload videos but if you're just doing
small mundane tasks maybe emailing like small websites you might be okay now another option
is actually getting data and the data is actually being pretty good so if you are really reliable on
having Wi-Fi or 3G and I highly recommend getting a SIM card now I use eim cards with aot and I'll
leave a little discount code here but if you're looking for a cheap local provider then yeah I'll
probably get them in the airport or ask a hotel where to get them cuz I'm not actually sure now
number 15 little backstory we were in the Maldives before Sri Lanka and there's actually lots of Sri
Lankans who work in the Maldives now a number of the Sri Lankans there actually said don't bother
going to clumber there's not much to see it's just a busy City now in my opinion spend maybe
one day in Columbo and then get out there get to the beaches get to the mountains because that is
where the good stuff is don't waste your time in Columbo now number 16 something which is really
disappointing is that elephant riding still happens in Sri Lanka and we saw it quite a bit
there now you might be asking me why can't I ride an elephant I can ride a horse and it's fine it's
because elephants actually have to be beaten and tamed through violence and so they actually hurt
and tortured into not chucking Taurus off their back cuz you wouldn't get off a wild elephant
so yeah they've been tamed in violent way please don't don't support it now moving on to the final
one number 17 I've actually got two more you're in luck I've actually got 18 I'm sorry I lied I know
but number 17 is use the bank of selon ATMs these banks are really common around Sri Lanka and they
don't actually charge you any ATM withdrawal fees which is going to save you some good old
money you'll realize when you travel Sri Lanka cash is King so make sure you always have cash
on you because the chances are they won't take card number 18 the actual final one is the Sri
Lankan food the Sri Lankan food is incredible if you like rice and Curry then you're in for
a treat even if you're a vegetarian they have a vegetarian rice and Curry option which is also
super affordable sometimes only 500 rupees and it's honestly amazing the butternut squash the
D Curry something which really surprised me is Sri Lankan really upand coming especially
in Ella and the south coast and so those really cool quirky cafes which are really up and coming
if you're a vegetarian you want smoothie ballls all that kind of stuff if you aren't just looking
for schlank food there's lots of options for you thank you so much for watching this video
and again if you haven't already please go down and hit the Subscribe button so I can
carry on giving this information to you thank you so much I'll see you in the next video bye