The Sri Lankan experience: December 2015

Hi everyone,

I would like to share some of the things I learned during my first weeks in Sri Lanka. Some basic stuff which you might experience if you visit the country. Also I want to add, that I live here (not a tourist, not on a holiday) so I'm trying to get an authentic experience which means I prefer local places rather than touristic ones, I like to experience new things and I try to be open minded when it comes to places, food, adventure. Sometimes my experience would go crazy, but at least I'm having fun :)

For example: Last week I was in a hurry so we made a quick stop with the driver out of the city on the road to have lunch (Rice and Curry of course, as it was the only food they had). It was a very local "street food place" which had 3 tables to sit down. Judging from the facial expressions of the waiters I believe they never had a white person or a tourist eating there before. When I asked for a fork (coz unlike the locals I don’t eat with my fingers) they went to the kitchen and brought it out in hot water to show they cleaned it good. To understand and imagine how "local" and how "low cost" it was, the napkins on the table to wipe your hands on were pieces of newspapers!!!!! But the food was fresh, really tasty and amazingly cheap (130 LKR/meal, which is less than a dollar)

The following three topics are the most commonly seen things local people will eat, wear and do in daily bases.

1. What they eat? - RICE & CURRY

Sri Lanka is very well known for it's cuisine and typical food. The plate of food that you can find literally everywhere is Rice & Curry. When I say you can find it anywhere, I mean it: they serve Rice & Curry in the McDonalds!!!! Next to the Rice burger as well :D (by the way I have never seen Halušky in Slovak McDonalds...) For me and for my Central European fellas it might not be so clear what this meal means. To be honest I had Curry Chicken once, prepared by my Bangladeshi friend Saha but that’s about it. Now the situation is different, now I’m basically after one month of daily Rice & Curry eating, so I can say I collected some knowledge ;)

NOTE: If you are a PRO Curry "maker & eater" please just skip this part of my elementary Curry introduction :D

Sambol

Fact is, that Sri Lankan people can make Curry out of anything: meat, vegetables, fruits, herbs...everything :) There are a lot of types of the vegetable and fruit curries. I’m here for a month and I've already tried some of them: Dhal curry (my favorite), Potato curry, Sweet potato curry, Green bean curry, Beetroot curry, Eggplant curry, Pumpkin Curry, Zucchini curry, Mango curry, Jackfruit curry,... and the rest I couldn’t identify :D So you can see it’s a huge variety of choices. You also need to know that this food can be sometimes really spicy. There is not no spicy version of it. It’s either a little, medium or a lot :D

Papadums

When you order a plate you should expect at least 5-7 things on your plate:
* white rice (sometimes red rice)
* chicken or fish curry
* vegetable curries (2-3 types)
* sambol (usually the spiciest part of the dish)
* papadums (crispy wafer made from rice flour).

There is a strange part of this food and generally every plate of food you get here. We in Slovakia used to serve food based on a meat (chicken, beef, pork) plus a side dish (rice, potatoes, pasta or salad). It’s usually a 1:1 measurements combination. Here you will get a HUGE amount of rice plus a very small part of meat (usually a 4-5 bites big). So they kinda base their food on the rice and the other things come as a side part. Also they have no problem of eating Rice & Curry all the time, and I don’t mean just every day, but even for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day. So you can imagine how delicious it can be ;)

Eating with fingers

The secret of enjoying the Rice & Curry dish is very simple. I was kind of shocked when I first saw so many things happening on my plate, wasn’t sure what to eat with what, how to mix it. The local way is to take a little of the rice, of the meat, of all the curries and the herbs, mix it together and eat it. Ones you mix all those flavors and spices together it’s really yummy and delicious. The local people do this with their fingers, so they don’t need fork or spoon. They nicely mix it all together with their fingers, play a little with it, form something like a ball and just pick it up and put it in their mouth. They believe the food taste much better this way. Of course I tried it too! But it’s not as easy as it seems and of course my colleagues laughed at my initial attempt. I might get good at in one day, but for now I stick to my fork! But definitely no one should leave Sri Lanka without trying this meal! :)

2. What they wear? - SAREE & SARONG

Saree in everyday use

I’m sure all of you saw a Saree already, if not a real one, than in magazines or in one of those famous Bollywood movies. It’s a beautiful and very colorful dress typical for ladies in South - East Asia. What will maybe surprise you that the Saree dress is one piece of fabric (which can be from 4 up to 8 meters long). Ladies wear a short saree blouse underneath and the fabric is usually wrapped around the body with some special folding and with one end thrown over the shoulder.

Stewardesses of Sri Lankan Airlines

Different countries have different styles of this dress, in Sri Lanka the style is to show a little of the waist or the belly area. There are also several types of sarees depending on the fabric they use. The simple fabric (1-2 color) is used for the everyday use and the more colorful and decorated ones are used for special occasions, celebrations. It is absolutely normal for local ladies to wear it every day, it’s not really a question of money or status- from poor people on the streets up to rich and famous-, it is also the uniform of the stewardesses of Sri Lankan Airlines. And the best is, it does not matter if you are skinny, curvy or plus sized- everyone can rock a Saree! :)

Casual everyday sarong

Sarong is a similar traditional outfit but typical for man in Sri Lanka. It’s also a one piece of colorful fabric but the two ends are connected, creating a circle. Men use it as a long skirt, they simply jump into the sarong fabric and "easily" fold it around their waist until they fix it.

Short sarong after rain

They wear sarong with a shirt or a T-shirt, it is usually worn long, but sometimes (when it’s too hot or rainy) they would just make it short by folding it up. It looks very practical. So far the sarongs I’ve seen were used for everyday use (mainly by people working outside), so I’m not sure if there is a fancy version of it.

In some of the fancy hotels they make special uniforms for their stuff. So it would be Saree for the ladies and Sarong for the gentlemen made from the same fabric. Looking very nice and chic.

3. What they do? - THE HEAD SHAKE!!!

Now this is a topic I was warned about by my Egyptian friend Abdul. He described it and imitated it (as he was working with people form Sri Lanka before), but ones you see it in real, you are confused as hell!

For those who have no idea what am I talking about, the Sri Lanka waggle is the most confusing thing I’ve ever seen. It’s basically a head shake! We (and by “WE” I mean most of the people I know from Europe, America, Africa or Asia) use to nod our head up and down to show Yes and from side to side to show No. Of course I know about Bulgarians who do it in the opposite way. But here THEY SHAKE! :D .

Basically you can ask anything from the local people, they would give you a head shake. It’s not really possible to describe how they shake, you need to see it to understand! (like a side to side head movement, something I would do if I’m not sure about the answer) And the best is, it can mean yes, it can mean maybe or even maybe not. You are never really sure what are they trying to say.

This is a pretty good video for you to get an idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjsDSQURekc

And please don’t get me wrong, I’m not making fun of anyone, this is a pure confusion I’m trying to handle. Sometimes it can get really confusing. It happened to me that I asked the waitress in the restaurant if they have Kottu -she shaked, I asked the bus driver if he can stop- he shaked. I had no idea what the answer was! I mean, what is this?! And why are they making everybody so confused?! Next time they ask me if I like the country or the food I WILL SHAKE! so they will be as confused as I am :D

Thank you for catching up with me,

your comments and questions are welcome :)

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...