From doing the Hokey Pokey to being within arm’s length of Wild Elephants, it was certainly a trip to remember.
Sri Lanka isn’t on everyone’s bucket list. There are a few of you out there looking for the next “hot” location to visit and tell all your friends about. I guess I was in that boat. I had a travel photography friend who was looking to scout the location. Brendan van Son makes a large chunk of his income from photography workshops and is always looking to expand to different locations for those workshops. He had a few days free to explore. After a few messages on Facebook, he told me to mark it on my calendar and book some tickets. Why wouldn’t I tag along?
I frequent the Youtube travel community. So, I knew a little bit about Sri Lanka before the idea of actually going was ever considered. I knew there were some iconic locations, even if they weren’t famous yet. Plenty of Instagram influencers were already photographing themselves hanging out of blue trains and walking through the vast terraces of tea plantations. I prefer to leave people out of my photos unless it tells a story or shows scale. I’m not a big “look at me” person. That being said, everyone wants a new profile picture.
Sri Lanka isn’t a hard sell for photographers. You have your choice; landscape, wildlife, and street photography are all possible. I couldn’t wait. I’m not the best street photographer, but landscapes and wildlife are my favorites. Plus, I’d never seen a wild elephant before.
My flight from Dubai arrived around midnight. It took a little longer to get through customs because of an annoying visa error. Yes, you do need to apply for a visa a few days before your trip. Without approval, you’ll be stuck in the airport for an unknown amount of time. I blame my mistake on the computer application used to fill out the visa. My birth month was changed from October to June when I changed either the day or the year. I should have double-checked everything. In the end, I had to wait for about an hour to have someone fix and approve my visa.
Leaving the airport was an entirely different story. I HATE dealing with airport taxis. Please, do your research first. Find out how much a trip to the city of your hotel should cost. Everyone wants to rip off travelers, especially Americans. If I can, I order a car from whichever app that country allows. However, there is a trend of drivers not being allowed into airports to pick up passengers. That was the case here.
Colombo International Airport was relatively small compared to most international airports I’ve flown in and out of. It didn’t take me long to walk out to the main road. Even at night, the air was still pretty warm and sticky. There were only a few pesky cab drivers to avoid. I wasn’t alone. Plenty of people were walking out to this road, presumably to do the same thing. Shortly after, my Grab driver arrived to take me to my hotel.
I had 2 days before my buddy arrived. Jet lag was minimal, only a few hours ahead of Dubai, but I still woke up a bit late. This led to my first Asian tuk-tuk ride. I was able to book one from my hotel to an upscale mall on the Grab app. My outlet converter disappeared, probably still plugged in at my Airbnb in Dubai. After searching the internet for somewhere to buy a converter, it looked like the mall was the best choice. Plus, it was lunchtime. The food court option was appealing.
After getting my bag checked by mall security and strolling through the metal detector, I made my way to the travel store. It was the only place that had universal outlet converters. I thought the price was too high. Then, I thought my meal at the food court was too high. I understood that this was a nice mall, but this is Sri Lanka, not Dubai.
I later returned to the mall after realizing I was using the wrong rupees for my conversion.1 USD equaled about 175 Sri Lankan rupees at the time. While Indian rupees were closer to 75. That’s a big difference. I thought the store wanted the equivalent of about $55. It was closer to $25. So, I went back to the mall the next morning, bought the converter, and grabbed some food and water at the supermarket there. I did some more walking around the city closer to sunset. I took a few photos here and there but didn’t find anything interesting enough to post. So, I ended up back at the hotel, got some food and beers at the bar, and went to bed.
A day later, Brendan arrived for his scouting trip. I was excited. I couldn’t wait to get out of the city. We were leaving early the next morning (pre-sunrise early.) I hate waking up early. When I know I’ll be waking up super early, I’ll try to take a shower the night before. That way, I can just wake up, get dressed, and leave. I wish I’d done that.
Our hotel was great. The rooms were huge. It was an old colonial-style building. Old buildings will have problems here and there. One of those problems was getting hot water at 4 am. The bathroom and shower were huge. You could’ve fit 10 people my size in the shower. I needed the space for myself. Do you remember the Hokey Pokey? “You put your left arm in and pull your left arm out. You do the Hokey Pokey, and you shake it all about.” That was my cold shower that morning. That’s one way to wake up.
The train station wasn’t far away. Close enough to walk, even with heavy rolling bags. We arrived at the train station and were immediately marked. I’m not sure if this was a scam, but you have to be aware of scams anywhere in the world. A deaf man wanted to direct us to our train and help us with our bags. We said “no”, but that did not stop him. The train pulled up about 30 minutes later. He was there waiting for us. He looked at our tickets and showed us our seats. He even wanted to help with our bags. After we were set up, he gave us paper explaining that he was raising money for a blind/deaf charity. I think we gave him the equivalent of $10 USD.
If you search for photos of Sri Lanka, you’ll see a lot of blue trains. Not all the trains in Sri Lanka are blue. Lots of them are orange. I’m not sure if the colors mean anything. Like anywhere else, you have different prices and different routes. Our train was orange. Brendan had booked tickets and got us seats reserved in the observation car. This car was located in the caboose with a large window for viewing out the back. I wouldn’t call it a luxury car, but I also don’t think those exist. When it comes to photos, I do suggest sitting in the back, or near the back. Ideally, you want to shoot from the back to the front on wide turns. Be warned, this involves hanging off the side of the train to get a clear shot. Hold on tight. It gets bumpy.
The first stop was Kandy. I feel like Kandy was a great introduction to Sri Lanka. Colombo was interesting but much busier than Kandy. The main part of town is near a large lake that was filled with, what I believed to be, tilapia. Near this lake, you have the Temple of the Tooth (where they keep a tooth from Budha), the Old Royal Palace, a National Museum, Kandy City Centre mall, and plenty of food options.
You also have a few hikes and viewpoints nearby. We hiked early the next morning to one of the big Budha statues. It wasn’t a very challenging hike, but there were a few steep roads. You may want to hire a driver if you’re not looking to be drenched in sweat. Bring water, the humidity will get to you.
We got back in time to get buffet breakfast and a shower before heading to Sigiriya. This section of the trip was one of a few occasions where we used private transportation. Trains are great, but they don’t always go to the exact locations you’re visiting. Trains can also be a bit slow. Even if the train can get you from point A to point B, hiring a driver might be the best route. We booked our drivers through the hotels. Grab, the Uber of Asia wasn’t always available outside of Colombo.
If you’re into ancient history, Sigiriya is the place for you. The Unesco Heritage site is the Machu Picchu of Sri Lanka. The story of its creation sounds a bit dramatic. You have a king with two sons. The sons are half brothers. The non-heir son kills his father. The other son flees to India. The new King builds a new palace in Sigiriya on an easily defendable plateau. His brother eventually returns with an army to reclaim the throne. Rather than surrendering, the King takes his own life. The rightful heir claims the throne and relocates it back to the capital. Sigiriya was then converted into a Buddhist monastery complex until about the 13th or 14th century.
With anything dating back to the 3rd century B.C., there are plenty of variations to the story. In the end, this is a beautiful and unique place that is worth the visit. Unfortunately, we had less than 24 hours here. We didn’t have time to hike up to the palace and view the grounds. Instead, we hiked up another large rock for a stunning view of the plateau. The hike was a little harder than anticipated. We were glad we had a chance to experience it in the daylight. The next morning, we were going to hike in the dark to make it up top for sunrise. If I ever go back, I’ll stay at least two nights.
From Sigiriya, we went back to Kandy and caught a train to Ella. This city was a bit more touristy than the rest of what we saw in Sri Lanka. I’m sure it will continue to grow as the location becomes more known. Ella is Instagram famous for its terraced tea plantations and the Nine Arch Bridge. It was a beautiful area that deserves the popularity. Plenty of tourists were hanging out and taking selfies as they waited for a train crossing. We were the only two photographers with tripods. I’m willing to bet that’s going to change in a few years. All in all, Ella was a beautiful area with hikes, zip lines and other tourist activities to enjoy with your family.
Next up on the photo adventure was Udawalawe National Park on the southern end of the island. I was extremely excited for this next location. Although I’m a travel/landscape photographer, I grew up loving animals. I love wildlife photography. It’s just extremely difficult and super expensive. For the first time, I was going on Safari. I couldn’t wait!
We hired a driver who picked us up after breakfast and drove south to Udawalawe. Along the way, I saw my first wild elephant just off the side of the road. Unfortunately, the elephant was only there because locals were feeding it some chopped watermelon. It was a cool first experience, but I don’t agree with feeding wild animals. Our driver was a great salesman. After discovering we wanted to take a safari later that day, he was able to introduce us to a safari operator on the way to our hotel. On the side of the road, we were able to reserve a private tour with a small down payment. Price was reasonable for a two-person private tour. We enjoyed the safari so much, we reserved a sunrise safari for the following day.
Udawalawe was a great park for Asian Elephants. We also saw water buffalo, crocodiles, wild boar, a few different birds (mainly Bee Eaters), and some cool looking lizards. There are a bunch of parks, so I recommend doing research to select the park that’s right for you. Jaguars are extremely difficult to find, but some parks have higher concentrations than others. Even at those parks, you have to get lucky. I was happy seeing the elephants.
Did I mention that our driver was a good salesman? Instead of taking a taxi to the nearest train station, we negotiated a price for him to pick us up the next day and take us back to Colombo(a 4-hour drive). Sadly, the trip was coming to an end. There were still many parts of the country to explore, but Brendon had a schedule to keep. He flew out that night to lead a workshop. I woke up early the next morning to fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was another 4 am wake-up. Having learned my lesson a week before, I showered the night before. No hokey pokey before my flight.
If you have any questions about Sri Lanka Photography, please contact me.