The Sri Lankan experience: Ayubowan everyone!

Ayubowan - which in Sinhalese language is used as welcome - is a traditional way how people will welcome you in Sri Lanka (gentle bow of the head with palms clasped together). That's how you will see the locals; with a friendly smile being kind and helpful.

If someone is not the best in geography here is a little map which shows you where is Sri Lanka exactly . It’s that drop shaped island under India, near to the equator; just so you don’t need to Google it out ;)

For my friends in Slovakia: I would think Sri Lanka is a small island, compared to the big India. Just so you know Sri Lanka is bigger than Slovakia :D (65 000 square km) and the population is around 22 million (compared to 5,4 mil. in Slovakia).

My journey was alright, a bit hectic though. I was traveling from Bratislava, through Dubai and to Colombo. It was a 5 and a half and a 4 and a half hours flight which was alright. For the connection in Dubai I was suppose to have 1h 15min. Well, we had a 40 min. delay from Bratislava and they already closed the check-ins in Dubai. But after some minutes of "I'm desperate, but trying to look cute for the guy at the check-in counter so he let's me go" look I heard him saying the lovely phrase "mish mushkila" (which in Arabic means no problem) and I could continue and run to my gate (if anyone knows how big is Dubai airport, than you know running was necessary).

First thing which was strange when I arrived here was the time. Of course time difference is normal when you travel, but usually it would be a full hour. But not in Sri Lanka! :) The time difference is -4:30 hours from CET (Central European Time). FOUR AND HALF HOURS :D

Second thing was how hot & humid is this country! It can be sunny, cloudy, rainy, day or night - Sri Lanka is a hot country! ;) What it does to your skin and hair, I will talk about that later :D And don't get me wrong, I don't complain - the hot weather was one of the reasons why I moved here (in my country it's already freezing). It's just hard to get used to the feeling that if there is no AC you'll be sweating (I'm from a country with 4 seasons and the tropical weather is really different). But if you want to cool down a little, the Hill Country area (1800 m.a.s.l.) in the middle of the island around the Tea plantations is pretty cold (I was wearing long pyjamas, socks and a hoodie for sleeping :D)

Third thing is the head shake. I'm still kinda confused so I will explain that later :D

For everyone to understand why I'm here and what I'm going to do, lemme explain :) I got a job offer here to work as a tour guide for tourist from Czech republic and Slovakia. Which means that I stay in Colombo, the capital, (got a nice apartment next to our office) and when groups or individuals from this countries come I go and guide them through the island. This island tours can go from one day, 2-3 days, up to 11-12 day tours. During this time me and my tourist move from place to place, to see all the beauties that Sri Lanka can offer. So I'm not just staying in the capital or in a nice beach resort, but actually moving across the whole country which is really cool :)

During my first two weeks I had a "training" where I went on a tour with an other gourp and other guide to learn everything I will need for my work. For the beginning I will show you some pics I took. So everyone can get an idea how Sri Lanka looks like :) And after I will spice things up about the life, food, customs and things that you can't find in your "Lonely Planet Guide book" (which of course I have as well :D)

The tour itinerary for my first trip was:
- Colombo
- Anuradhapura
- Polonnaruwa
- Minneriya National Park
- Sigiriya
- Dambulla
- Kandy
- Nuwara Eliya
- Horton Plains National Park

Colombo - Gangaramaya Temple

Anuradhapura - the 1st Royal city

Polonnaruwa - the 2nd Royal City

Oh and one more thing, the transportation!!! Generally I know that people can drive crazy, traffic can be crazy, roads can be messed up and infrastructure can be horrible. BUT when all that comes together and meets in Sri Lanka (all together with hundreds and thousands of bikes, tuk-tuks, cars, vans, buses), than it can take more than an hour to make 10 km. Generally the worst traffic is in the capital, in Colombo, but all around the island it’s just bad anyway. So if you are planning to move around the island than be prepared you will spend some times on the roads...