General: Sri Lanka > Reviews > A slightly confused yet positive view

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money
Shopping
Nightlife
Ease of getting around
Family Friendly

Advantages:	Very Cheap prices .   Beautiful Country full of historical sights and friendly people .   Hotels are all excellent and reasonably priced
Disadvantages:	It's great for laid back people but be careful if you are a very active person and not into the whole sightseeing gig

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Okay let’s start with being honest. My name is Mario JAYAWARDENA, so to most people I hope it is blatantly obvious that I have a Sri Lankan background (That's why I put Caps on for surname and also if your wondering, no I'm not related to the other famous Jayawardena who plays cricket for SL). My parents are both from Sri Lanka and our family go there every year.

Now, I am definitely the Black sheep in the family, I claim to have nothing to do with Sri Lanka and actually quite detest the place (If any of my family out there is reading this, I detest the country NOT you, I love you guys!) and whenever my Grandmother would ask me to say what nationality I am I would always reply British (Born and bred).

People would tell me you'll love just go out and see the sights take in the countryside. Well I hate the place. So, being the psychologist people say I am going to be most of you are either about to stop reading or are expecting a totally biased view on why you should not go to Sri Lanka. But I am going to surprise you and also my self by actually recommending you to go there on holiday.

The reasons I hate the place is that I go there every year, and I am a get up and go person. I do not necessarily like to sit down and relax or take in the view/sights. For example my family and I tend to spend most of our time with relatives and it is kind of normal to sleep in the afternoons. That really drives me mad and I think once in the hotel I just went to the gym for about 2 hours while everyone else slept peacefully. Another thing I don't like is the amount of food consumption, yep that's right it's not the food it's the amount of food. I think (or at least all my relatives) give about three full course meals a day, and when I say full I mean FULL. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner you would be amazed how come everyone hasn't ballooned up. That leads me onto my other reason. They haven't ballooned because it is so hot and they probably have sweated off the weight. The heat is constant, but in rural areas such as Matale it is quite cool during the nights, but the heat is not as hot or equal to that of Dubai. Mosquitoes, seem to be attracted to me, and I’m not joking my family rarely gets bitten but I am a mosquito magnet. Also, I think that I have animal attraction, because nearly all my dog's do when they see me is hump my leg and only MY leg. My final reason is bit of a stupid reason. There seems to be an immense emphasis on education. Before the barrage of comments over education is good 'what on earth are you saying' come in, let me say this. People have school and then they have tuition and after that they have more tuition and also after that they have more tuition, what's the point of going to school!!

Now after getting all that off my chest first I must apologise again to any family or natives of Sri Lanka and now to the reasons why it is an ideal place to go on holiday if you want to relax.

One of the things that really opened my eyes to the beauty of Sri Lanka was actually watching the cricket on Sky Sports when England toured there. I just to need to add that I was Supporting England just to annoy my bro and, because it's true. It is really a place of true natural beauty. One of Sri Lanka's main exports is tea and you can take my word on this one when I say Sri Lankan's make one helluva cup of tea. Their hotels and package tours are very good offering a vast selection of things to do, but if you do stay in a hotel make sure you actually go out and look at the sights and the shopping. There are many plazas that contain about 50 shops in each one. Some items are obviously copied but the majority aren't and you will be knocked off your feet if you compare the prices to here. Another thing you will be astounded to hear is that you can feed 8 people a full course meal in a very good restaurant for way under £20.

Now I use to think that Sri Lanka was just a piece of waste hanging on the end of India, but I now admit much to the joy of my parents it is not. There is a lot of history and stories that go with Sri Lanka. Now my memory is a bit hazy but there is a place called Sigiriya (not sure if that's spelt right) where a prince used to live. It is basically one massive rock and inside are the Fresco's painted by the prince, which are in very good condition. Also you can climb to the top of Sigiriya rock, it is one LONG journey. One thing I didn't believe till I saw it is that this prince actually made water travel upwards. He did this ages ago and somehow he managed to do this you really have to see this.

In Kandy there are places where elephants are kept, I can't remember the name but there is also a tooth that has some significance, please remember that I have suffered many head traumas and can't remember everything clearly.

The main sport of SL is Cricket and if you do go there try and watch a game if you are able to the atmosphere is amazing as I am sure anyone returning from the cricket tour will tell you. Also, they built a cricket ground in the countryside in a matter of months for the final Test

Some people are afraid of going to SL because there are always reports of violence between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankans which is an extremely long story and I do not want to comment/offend anyone on this point, but I am lead to believe that the situation is improving and there is next to no chance of ever being involved in this.

I haven't been to SL sine my accident and honestly I do miss my relatives and now I wouldn't mind going on a short trip to give it another chance, but I would still be border line right now.