Sri Lanka by tuktuk

[The Other PaulG]

In January 2023 MartinK of UKGSer wrote a fabulous report following his travels around Sri Lanka by tuktuk.

At the time I commented that it was really inspiring.

So, three and 1/2 years later, I find myself with my family and our good mates getting off a Sri Lanka airlines plane in Colombo.

What probably appealed most to me was the opportunity to bring the family on something vaguely resembling a Motorcycle tour, which I would otherwise be unable to do. It is also a fabulous opportunity to show the kids that holidays don’t have to come out of a Thomas Cook brochure, you can just pack your ruck sack, get on a plane and go and see the world.

The island of Sri Lanka is dissected by a mountain range. Depending upon the time of year it will be raining heavily on one part of the island with the good weather on the other side. Because we are here in September, the north east side is the dry side, so that is where we have come.

To best coordinate our Flights, we stayed the first night on the coast near Colombo Airport, at Negombo. From there, the following morning we took a cinnamon airlines flight across the island to Batticaloa. When we booked eight seats on the aeroplane, we were unaware that they only were eight seats in total on their aeroplanes!

From the air we could clearly see the mountain range as we flew west to east, along with a clear change of weather on the eastern side.

 

[The Other PaulG]

We picked up the four tuktuks from the excellent tucktuck rental people at Batticaloa Airport. After a lesson showing us how to maintain and drive them, we headed north up the coast to Pasikuda. This was an intentionally short 30 km leg, designed to let everyone settle in and tune into the roads.

Driving in Sri Lanka is at first fairly alarming, but then something you quickly get used to. In fact, anyone can do anything at any moment and the general rule is that the larger vehicle has right away. So what initially appears to be utter chaos and mayhem is actually fine once you are in amongst it. There had been some apprehension about the driving, but after our first leg all for drivers (my eldest boy Sam, my mate Wayne, his wife Bernie, and myself) were just hooting with laughter having had such an absolute blast.

Junctions are an absolute lottery, the technique is to choose a god to pray to, then just go.

The coastline is absolutely spectacular with picture perfect golden beaches and a beautiful flat warm sea.

We stayed at some really nice hotels – this was in fact a large part of getting Mrs G to agree to this kind of trip!

 

[The Other PaulG]

After Pasikuda we travelled a further 120 km north up the coast to Trincomalee. Again, this was a good quality hotel right on the beach. We stayed here four nights, taking in all the local sites such as snorkelling in the marine reserve of pigeon Island.

Thus far the food has been absolutely exceptional. Fabulous meat or vegetarian dishes, cooked in blends of local spices. You have to love a country where being offered chicken curry for breakfast is perfectly normal.

The other thing I have to mention is the Sri Lankan people who have been absolutely wonderful. They are exceptionally peaceful and hospitable with a natural warmth and grace that continually makes you question whether you should in fact be a better person!

 

[brut33]

What a brilliant trip Paul. Looking forward to seeing more of it.


PS, Will there be a tuktuk section now.

 

[Wapping]

Excellent!

Thanks for letting us share the fun.

 

[The Other PaulG]

More pics. If you ever buy fish for a marine aquarium, bear in mind where they may have come from….

 

[The Other PaulG]

Currently at Sigiriya. In a hotel thats built into the forest - absolutely beautiful and very peaceful. This took us about three hours yesterday and was a decent drive, except for one very hairy moment when a truck coming against us swerved right across our lead vehicle to take a turn at speed. Hearts in mouths.

We also took the opportunity to bling up some of the tuks.

 

[The Other PaulG]

For the bird nerds, Sri Lanka is quite exceptional. This morning I launched my bird app at dawn and within about 10 minutes had a significant number of birds.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Ok…seemingly unable to attach pics at the moment, will try again in the morning.

 

[The Other PaulG]

 

[The Other PaulG]

The routes so far - once we had flown across the island to Batticaloa, this was the route north to Trincomalee. Google maps very likely bases its time estimates on a saloon car. Tuktuks take close to double these times.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Then, Trincomalee to Sirigiya.

 

[Kitsilano]

@The Other PaulG

What an adventure!

What brave souls you all are - We played it a little safer in travelling by train with our kids, with car-and-driver sections. A marvellous experience and a taster for a possible future bike trip.

I agree with you about the food, hospitality and the road chaos! Thanks for sharing great photos.

Stay safe in your convoy!

 

[The Other PaulG]

Sigiriya - wow.

This was a real highlight.

It is an unbelievable monument, built 1500 years ago as a palace and a defended fort. The centre piece is Lion Rock, an immense granite outcrop upon which the palace is built.

The climb to the top involves metal walkways, precariously attached to the rock face.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Would-be attackers should have been deterred by its defences.

Firstly a 5 metre deep moat, with an intentionally muddy bottom. Our guide informed is that soldiers “die in the mud”.

Then the first rampart, a 5 metre high wall.

Then the second moat, this one 10 metres across. Oh, and full of crocodiles.

Any remaining attackers then faced the second rampart before approaching the absolutely sheer rock walls of the hill. There are three ‘gates’, each a narrow gap between massive boulders, wide enough for one, perhaps two people at a time, and towered over by ledges cut into the rock where archers would be stationed.

 

[The Other PaulG]

A short way up the hill is the grand entrance. Much has fallen into disrepair but originally the entrance between the lion’s feet led to a concealed staircase constructed of bricks cut into the rock face.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Anyone with any kind of fear of heights, or indeed third world H&S standards, tended to stop here.

 

[The Other PaulG]

At various points we were cautioned to proceed in silence. This is because there are large colonies of aggressive Asian hornets clinging to the rocks. We googled it later and it seems every couple of years a colony gets disturbed and puts 40 or so tourists in hospital.

So you’re hundreds of feet above a sheer drop, standing on a rickety structure attached to the rock by a few bits of steel and wishful thinking, and you’re attacked by a swarm of angry hornets.

How are those phobias going?

The colonies themselves were fascinating - as you looked at them, they kind of pulsed, with patterns and waves caused by the hornets moving in some kind of highly coordinated way.

Any resident wasp experts care to explain this?

 

[The Other PaulG]

Ok so back to the defences. You have survived the cloying mud, the walls, the crocodile moat, the garrison of soldiers, the archers at the boulder gateway, the terrifying climb and the killer hornets.

But the defenders are not quite done. Very close to the top, with a pretty much vertical drop down to the approach hundreds of feet below, there is a boulder about the same size as a 3 bedroom bungalow. The earth below it has been excavated, and replaced by a number of ‘wedges’, rocks angled to just hold it in position.

When the enemy are really not showing you the kind of respect you feel you deserve and you want to up the ante a bit, your soldiers put their shoulders to this immense rock and tally ho.

As LoIq might say, nothing says hello like a thousand tonne boulder plummeting towards you.

 

[The Other PaulG]

The more we learned about this pkace, the more it felt like a set for an Indiana Jones movie..except it was all real.

Finally reaching the top, there was a fabulous cooling wind (which is why the king and queen would spend summers up there) and the most incredible views, perhaps 40km in all directions.

I won’t ramble on any more about this place but if you are interested in civil engineering, look up the water system that was built as a core component of this place, with filtration, ornamental fountains, numerous massive swimming pools…all gravity fed and an absolute masterpiece of design.