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6 Months in Sri Lanka: Travel, Surf, and Working as a Digital Nomad

I came to Sri Lanka for my first time last year in 2019 for just a month and felt like I had seen it all. I went to the main popular beaches in the south, took the iconic selfie on a moving train, visited some sites and even went on a safari. I figured that I had seen enough temples and mountains, and that the beaches in the south were closer as well as less isolated than a place located in the middle of nowhere just for hard core surfers. I had felt that I had seen enough of Sri Lanka. If I was a normal tourist, or a digital nomad who wanted to check off as many visited countries as possible to get to the magical 100 country stamped list, I wouldn't have came back to Sri Lanka again for 2020. This post has been updated again for September 2020. 

But I'm glad I did, as even though this trip was originally scheduled for just 8 weeks, due to the worldwide travel restrictions, it's now turned into almost half a year here. I'm grateful and blessed that it did. Not only did I get to see a lot more of the country, I also got to the culture, food, way of life, and even the places I've been last year far better. It's also given me the time to actually get decent at surfing, and to really enjoy a whole new world that I had never thought possible. I've now made local friends, helped feed the less fortunate during the lockdown, as well as helped a few local business start their youtube channels and marketing efforts. I've accidently become an unofficial and unpaid promoter of tourism for Sri Lanka, and in this blog post, I'm going to explain why it's such an amazing place that kind of reminds me of what other destinations like Bali was like 10-20 years ago before they got over touristed and over crowded.






My First Trip to Sri Lanka



As a bit of a recap of my 2019 trip here, I landed in Colombo, spent a night in Negombo near the airport, then slowly made my way beach hoping, spending a few nights in Unawatuna and Hikkaduwa, before settling down in Weligama.  From there I did a few day trips to the Dutch Fort Town of Galle, to see animals at the Udawalawe Safari, to see the Handunugoda Tea Estate and visited the popular tourist beach of Mirissa, swam with giant sea turtles, and did the rest of the popular tourist activities.

I had decided to save Ella and the mountain towns for my 2020 trip to have something to look forward to, and overall just had a quick overview of what the country had to offer which I wrote about in my 2019 Guide to Sri Lanka blog post. You can watch the video below to see some highlights of what my first trip was like, but make sure you keep reading and watch some of the new videos below as in retrospect, even though my first 3 week trip would have been a closed chapter, or even a full book as far as most travel bloggers are concerned, in reality, it was just skimming the surface of what this incredible country has to offer, and I'm so glad I came back and got to know it on a deeper, more authentic level.






Surfing in Sri Lanka



The main reason why I came to Sri Lanka in the first place was to learn how to surf and hopefully finally get decent at it. I was looking for a place in Asia with good surfing, low costs of living, great weather, but one that wasn't as crowded or overtouristed. The options were a bit low as even though there are surf spots Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Cambodia, they aren't very consistent, and not a great place for beginners to learn. Japan and Maldives, are both expensive, and Indonesia and Bali are just too over touristed and has too many downsides like polluted water, crime, and lack of infrastructure and good internet. 

Asking around both with surfer friends as well as literally searching for "where to surf in Asia" I was surprised when Sri Lanka has come up as it's a place I had honestly never even really heard of or considered until last year. But it turns out to be quite possibly the best place in the world to learn to surf both for beginners as well as having good surf spots for intermediates and pros. Weligama beach on the south coast of Sri Lanka is literally perfect from January - April each year for beginners to learn. There are 30+ surf schools and shops directly on the beach. Board rentals are ultra cheap at just 250lkr ($1.34) an hour or around $5 per day. Lessons are 2,000 - 2,500lkr for two hours, which is less than $7 per hour and best of all, it's a sandy bottom beach break which soft and forgiving to falls. The water is warm so you don't need a wetsuit, and the water is shallow enough where you can just walk out until you're neck deep, hop on your board, and start practicing standing up and surfing the white water until you get good enough to paddle out for bigger, unbroken green waves. 

For me personally, I spent a few months surfing everyday in Weligama before having the confidence to venture to the more intermediate surf breaks in other parts of the island. Around Weligama there are a dozen or so great surf breaks, many of which are still kept secret and aren't posted anywhere on the internet. Now that I'm in Arugam Bay, I'm much more confident that I can stand up catch the longer, better waves here. The best breaks do get crowded in the normal high season, but there are enough to choose from that there's always a place or time to go to have some waves to yourself.





Coworking and Internet



The great news is that the WIFI has gotten significantly better in Sri Lanka in the past year since 2019. It was useable last year, but this trip has really proven to me that the country is slowly getting ready for digital nomads to start coming and spending time here. More and more cities here are phasing out their old capped data plans and starting to have unlimited data options, including fiber optic. 

But in the meantime during the transition, I'm happy to report that the 4G here has been fantastic and that even though tethering from our phones seems like a strange option, it's actually both easy and cost effective if you want fast, stable internet. Doing a speed test just now while on Dialog 4G, I got 22.8down/15.6up mbps which is decently quick. (Update: I've now switched to Mobitel as they get better reception in many places and the data somehow lasts much longer, many locals believe that Dialog cheats you out of data usage by rounding up, which was my experience as well)

The speeds however fluctuate, so I've seen as low as 5mpbs all the way up to 50mbps for both up and down on 4G. But less than 50 cents per gb compared to $10 per gb that GoogleFi and other mobile phone companies charge, you can literally just load $20 on your account (4,000lkr) and get over 100gb of data to use for the month (66GB anytime/44GB nights), which even for me is more than enough. Plus many carriers including both Mobitel and Dialog seem to always have deals where for an extra 249lkr ($1.33) a month you can have unlimited Youtube. I also recently activated the unlimited Facebook and Whatsapp options for 107lkr (57 cents) a month. See all of Mobitel and Dialog's Packages here. So basically, for as low as $2 a month you can have unlimited Youtube, Facebook and Whatsapp on your phone, which aside from Instagram (follow me @JohnnyFDJ) is all that I use anyways.

As I'm typing this, I decided to speedtest the WIFI here at a cafe which is located literally on the beach here in Arugam Bay. I was really impressed to see 58.66mpbs down and 45.06 mbps upload speeds, which is insanely fast. As for coworking spaces, there aren't that many yet in Sri Lanka, but they're starting to pop up more often and being on the beach road and near surf points make them incredibly desirable for those who want to surf before, after, or even during work. The two coworking spaces as of writing include Cafe Ceylon Kabalana as well as Verse Collective in Dikwella. There are also a bunch in the capital city of Colombo itself, but most digital nomads won't want to stay in the busy city and will instead opt to go down south instead. Here in Arugam Bay there isn't yet a coworking space, but with plenty of cafes on the beach road, it kind of feels like coworking wherever you are as there are always a few people on their laptop hanging out. Good news is that Hideaway is planning to open a co-working space there starting this year which is fantastic news! 

Update: My friend and fellow nomad Sheneller did an Epic WIFI test around Sri Lanka.







Accommodations in Sri Lanka



Even though I've gotten used to pre booking all of my accommodations online before going to a city now a days, places in Sri Lanka aren't quite there yet. It really reminds me of what things were like in Thailand back in 2008 when I first went, which is both good and bad. There are a few options on Airbnb and plenty of nightly rooms on hotel booking sites, but in general it's still a better option to book a few nights online before you arrive, then look around in person for a monthly rental. I'm sure things will change as the country gets more popular with digital nomads, expats, and longer term tourists, but right now everything is designed and setup for shorter stays. You'll also notice this right away when places will always quote you a nightly price, even if you're asking how much it is to stay for a month. The way to negotiate is first ask how much the room is per night, then how much it would be if you stayed a week, then ask how much it'll be if you stay a month. The price may drop from 3,000lkr a night to 2,500lkr, all the way down to 2,000lkr for longer term stays.

The other unique thing about Sri Lanka is that the tourist high seasons are relatively short in each area, so if you're coming during those times which most of us are, expect for prices to be much higher than the low season/rainy season rates. Even some of my favorite restaurants such as Mama's in Midigama actually have two locations, and open in the South for six months, shut, then reopen in Arugam Bay for the rest of the year. Most places I found in Weligama during the normal high season near the beach were around $300 a month for a fan room, and $500 a month or more for an A/C room including all utilities and electricity.  But during the 2020 travel restrictions, since there were so few tourists, prices for accommodations were cut back down to the low season rates or below.  You can also rent really nice private houses and villas, or cheaper rooms a bit further back from the beach if you don't mind driving 10-15 minutes.

Below are examples of a few places I stayed during my trip in 2020. The first is a shared villa in Kabalana Beach called Cafe Ceylon that normally rents for $40+ a night that I got for 80% off this trip including use of the coworking space. The second is where I'm currently staying now and really love, especially for the outstanding deal of 2,000lkr ($10) a night including A/C. But even nicer is the third video below where my friend Maria stayed for a month in this super luxury villa, one of the nicest i've seen anywhere in the world. Prices won't be this cheap during normal non-pandemic years unless you come during the rainy season, but hopefully with more availability of monthly rentals, combined with cost saving technology such as automatically turning off air conditioners when people leave their rooms, or the ability to meter and bill people separately for their electricity useable, prices even during the high season will gradually come down.
















Costs of Living



Aside from housing, which is a bit overpriced during normal high seasons, everything else in Sri Lanka is ultra cheap. A taxi or tuk-tuk ride is less than it would be in Thailand and a 6 hour airport transfer to the other side of the island will cost just around 20,000lkr ($107) for a Van that can fit 9 people including luggage, making it as low as $12 a person. The only issue is that as of 2020, things in Sri Lanka just aren't that organized yet compared to more popular tourist countries. In Thailand there would be a daily or even hourly van charging a fixed price of $18 a person. However here in Sri Lanka, you literally have to join random facebook groups or whatsapp groups and try to self organize with other travelers to share a ride. For some that can be extremely fun and a great way to meet people, but for others, it's also a pain in the ass that comes with visiting a less tourism developed country.

If you look through my monthly income and expense reports from Sri Lanka you'll see that I normally spend anywhere from as low as $562 up to a bit less than $1,000 a month while living here. Aside from rent, everything is really cheap here including eating out at local restaurants, groceries, fresh fruit, internet, transportation, and things to do. A fresh coconut ranges from as low as 70lkr (40 cents) on the street up to a maximum of 150 lkr (80 cents) at a bar or restaurant. Local meals costs anywhere from 150-300lkr (.80-$1.61) and a local tuk-tuk ride starts at just 100lkr (54 cents) for short distances, and just 400lkr ($2.15) for a 20 minute ride. Western food both in restaurants as well as supermarkets cost more though, with an Avo Toast or Smoothie Bowl starting around 750 lkr ($4usd) and a pizza with toppings, a big bacon cheese burger burger, or other western food being around 1,000 - 1,500lkr ($8usd). 

Overall though, things here are an incredible value. I had my watch battery change for just 200lkr ($1.07), custom linen shirts tailor made for 2,000lkr ($10.73). Just today I bought two small watermelons for 50 lkr (27cents!) and small mangos for 10lkr each which is just a nickel! You can't even buy a single grape in most countries for 5 cents, and here you can get a an entire mango. Below is a comparison of prices from Colombo to Chiang Mai, you'll see that even compared to Thailand where things are already super cheap, Sri Lanka is lower in every category. 



costs of living sri lanka



Travel: Ella - Kandy



The great thing is that there are plenty of weekend trips, or travel adventures to be had while in Sri Lanka. Right now as of 2020, the most popular route for travelers is the south coast beaches, then straight up to Ella, with maybe a stopover in one of the national parks. But I have a feeling that in the future, the rest of the island including the center, north and east coast will start getting more popular as well. Taking a weekend trip to Ella was a fantastic experience and a nice break from the heat and sun of the south coast beaches. It's sunny and a comfortable 28c/82f degrees during the day, while the nights drop down to a chilly 17c/62f which is refreshing and ultra comfortable to sleep in.

Ella reminds me of a mix between Ubud in Bali and Pai in the north of Thailand, but with better viewpoints, hiking trails, as well as the beautiful Nine Arch Bridge. Nearby you also have the gorgeous Rawana Waterfall and the perfect hike to Little Adam's Peak. From Ella, you'll want to take the stunning train ride to Nuwara Eliya, making sure you sit in 2nd class so you can hang out the windows and doors. 1st class has locked doors to keep the AC in, while 3rd class is too busy for a comfortable ride or to get a good photo op. After spending a night in Nuwara and visiting both the tea plantations as well as having an afternoon high tea at the Grand Hotel, you can continue the train ride up to Kandy and all the way back to Colombo if you wish. 

I made it as far as Ella this trip so far, but my plan is to finish the above mentioned trip on my way back from Arugam Bay I'll be passing close by through Ella anyways to get to the airport in Colombo.  I might even stop by Kalpitiya for a week to learn how to Kite Surf on my way back as that's another amazing part of the island I haven't seen yet. 







Safaris, Snakes, and Rainforests



The other amazing thing that is not always well discovered yet in Sri Lanka is the wildlife. Aside from Africa, Sri Lanka actually has some of the best safaris and animal sightings in the world, not to mention the cheapest as well. I wish I would have spent at least a 2nd night in the Sinharaja rain forest as it was an incredible escape into nature that was a great break from the beach. We stayed at Sinharaja Forest Gate and really loved the location, food, and organized a great guide trekking guide for us. Another great choice and where we had some of our meals was next door at Sinharaja Forest Edge. Finding out that there was decent internet there, as well as no mosquitoes, all of us wished we had brought our laptops or a book to read and had spent another night there before heading back.

Other great trips we did included a safari at Yala National Park. Compared to Udawalawe that I did last year during my 2019 First Impressions Trip, I'd say that Yala is much, much bigger and overall better, while Udawalawe was more charming and intimate as it's smaller. Both were worth visiting and spending the night at, and for the price of around $15 for entrance and sharing a 5,000lkr ($27) jeep, the costs are so low that you might as well do both. Another really cool day trip was visiting the Sri Lankan Snake Farm in Weligama, where the family would keep snakes that they would clear from people's homes instead of killing them, before releasing them back into the jungle once a month.

Watch the video below for a highlight of some of the animals and wildlife you can see while in Sri Lanka, but if you make it to Arugam Bay, you can also just rent a scooter and drive towards Kumana National Park to see your own mini safari during your drive as I've done with friends and had a great time.







Sri Lankan Food



Sri Lankan food is tasty, cheap, and is made with a lot of my favorite ingredients. Staples include roti, rice and curry, egg hoppers made from coconut milk and rice flour, samosas, fish and chicken biryani. The fresh fruit, shakes, juices, and smoothie bowls are delicious, and they have enough western restaurants so you can get an avocado toast, fafael, pizza, salad, or whatever else you're craving. There are even some decent bakeries and coffee shops now on the island. It's hard to explain however, but even though on paper Sri Lankan food is really good, especially if you like fresh tuna, and curries, in reality, most tourists I know like, but don't necessarily love the food here. 

Starting with the local Sri Lankan food, it's something that I really enjoy eating and will miss when I leave. However, even though I thoroughly enjoy rice and curry and actually really love the chicken biriyani, especially since I like spicy food, eating it day after day gets really tiring after a while. The same with the other 5 or so dishes that you'll end up eating twice a day, almost every single day. Most locals will eat something like roti every morning for breakfast, have a samosa for a snack, then have rice and curry for both lunch and dinner, 7 days a week.

Occasionally one of those dishes are substituted with kottu, fried rice, or a noodle dish, but they're all made with similar spices and ingredients making them taste relatively the same. That combined with food or rice sometimes being served cold, the chicken being boiled in flavorless water instead of properly cooked, or just the lack of variety, makes eating out here get tiresome really quickly. Even the Western food isn't that varied as most of the dishes you'll get are some variation of pizza, falafel, or burger, that somehow all end up tasting the same for some odd reason.

Maybe we're just a bit spoiled as westerners, or by living in Thailand for so long where the food, spices, and flavors are vastly different and exciting, but i'm not the only one who has gotten a bit tired of eating the same limited flavors, spices, colors and textures day after day, even after just a few weeks.  Don't get me wrong, I really do like the food in Sri Lanka, but it's not huge reason to come to Sri Lanka on it's own. Watch the video below for more info and what the food looks like and let me know what your favorite Sri Lankan dishes are, and which ones should be tired next. 








Transportation and Getting Around



Getting around Sri Lanka is both super easy and affordable as well as mildly frustrating at times. In certain cities both Uber as well as the local PickMe apps work and are fabulous. Unfortunately their reach is not yet popular on most of the island, which means you'll need to flag down a tuk-tuk or book a taxi yourself. Once you get to know the actual price of a tuk-tuk the process is actually really simple and convenient as they are literally everywhere, which is actually a huge annoyance when you don't want one. Tuk-Tuk drivers love to drive right in front of you while you're trying to walk or cross the street, yell at you from across the road, or honk their horn to get your attention. Buses are also a really cheap and easy way to get around Sri Lanka once you get used to the routes. However, both are so annoying, that it's one of the few reasons why I would NOT recomend Sri Lanka to many travelers. 

The reason why most of us choose to travel to beach towns is to relax, and loud horns, buses that drive dangerously fast, honking their annoying loud air horns, cutting off cars by driving on the wrong side of the road, and tuk-tuk drivers that won't leave you alone actually made me hate living in Weligama and being in Sri Lanka. This is something I really hope the government or tourism board of Sri Lanka reads and takes seriously, as its one of the very few reasons why I would not come back in the future or recomend it to family and friends. I've heard that the reason why Sri Lankan Police don't ticket or stop them is because of corruption and bribes from the bus drivers and bus companies, and I really hope that's not the case or if it is, it'll be stopped soon. 

The other annoyance you'll experience is through taxi drivers who will flood your inbox with offers, call, whatsapp, and facebook message you if they see that you're in the country. I've actually canceled taxi bookings with companies after seeing that they would send me 20 whatsapp messages in a row asking me the exact same questions I had already filled out and answered in the first message I sent "1 van needed for tomorrow, 1pm, pick up from Happy Bay Hotel, Weligama, 6 people, drop off at Sinharaja Forest Gate."  Which is usually followed by, "how many people?"

The good news is that aside from being incredibly annoying and needing to learn how to communicate better with customers, once you find a decent driver you can continue using them for all of your trips. My advice is to just ask your guest house owner to book everything for you as it's honestly not worth the effort or headache to do it yourself. 







Arugam Bay vs. Canggu, Bali



I've spent the last 3 months in a little surf town on the east coast of Sri Lanka called Arugam Bay, and honestly it feels almost perfect and ripe for digital nomads to come base out of here. It has a lot of the things I love about Chiang Mai including a walkable Main Street that reminds me of Nimmanheim with cute cafes, nice restaurants, boutique clothing shops, smoothies, fresh fruit shops, bars with live music, and it's a place where you can literally walk out to alone and be sure to bump into five or more friends to grab dinner or a drink with. 

It's also home to some of the best surf breaks in the world, and unlike Canggu, this place is not yet over crowded, over touristed, and doesn't have the other negatives like crime, ATM scams or villa break-ins like Bali does. However Arugam Bay is far from perfect. First off, it's literally far from everything including the airport. It's a 6 hour drive from Colombo, and hours away from any big commercial center, mall, fast food chain, or Macbook repair shop. The other surf breaks and beaches nearby, all within a 20 minute scooter ride or a $5 tuk-tuk ride are incredibly beautiful as well. Check out this drive from Arugam Bay to Elephant rock and these incredible views from the beach there just 20 minutes away. 






The WIFI there however is surprisingly fast with 30-50mpbs down and 10-30mpbs upload speeds at most cafes, restaurants and hotels. However, data is capped which means some places end up running out halfway though the month. This is why I still end up tethering off my 4G plan, as it's super cheap anyways at $15 for 30GB or more, with options for unlimited YouTube, Facebook, etc for just $5 more.

 Right now there's no co-working space, but the beautiful Hideaway Villas where I normally work out of anyways as they have a really nice cafe and good WIFI has decided to build one with indoor outdoor seating. 


Take a look at the tour I made of Arugam Bay and let me know in the comments what you think. The surf season there only runs from May-October, and it's a bit early still to call this a hub, but I can see potential. 




Visas and Extensions



Another love/hate relationship I have with Sri Lanka is the fact that the visas here are both extremely easy, as well as unnecessarily annoying. On one hand you can apply online for an ETA Tourist Visa and get it within 48 hours, then just show up in the country and get a 30 day stamp, which is extendable up to 6 months without leaving the country or ever needing to leave your hotel room. Unlike Bali where hiring an agent to extend your visa just means you'll only make 2 annoying trips instead of 6 to immigration here in Sri Lanka you can use a service like Immigration Lanka to have them pick up your passport from your hotel anywhere on the island, get a new 2-3 month stamp in it, and drop it back off to you with a few days. You can even pay through Transferwise saving you a trip to the bank, just make sure you have a few passport photos handy or make some in town when you see a shop that makes them. 

The downside to visas in Sri Lanka however is that fact that you need to pay $35 for the ETA and apply online before coming, unlike other countries like Thailand where you can just show up and get a 30 day stamp for free. The biggest negative and a big reason why American tourists don't come or stay in Sri Lanka longer is the fact that they still have a silly reciprocal visa policy, like Brazil used to have, until they wised up and realized that countries like the USA don't care and won't make it easier for Sri Lankans or Brazilians to get a Visa to America regardless of how expensive or difficult you make it for Americans to visit your country. Currently as Americans we need to pay 500% the cost of visa extensions than Europeans for no other reason than this silly policy that really just hurts Sri Lanka as it discourages Americans from wanting to come or stay longer here. 

For the past couple of years Sri Lanka has been talking about making long term visas easier for tourists as they realize the benefits to their economy if they do. Right now they're even planning to issue 5 year tourist visas, but until these policies actually become reality, spending $150 on Visa fees for a 2 month trip to Sri Lanka will deter a lot of Americans from wanting to come, especially when there are plenty of other countries that make it both cheaper and easier.  



Visa Extension Costs for Sri Lanka


Overall Sri Lanka



I really like Sri Lanka and think it's an underrated tourist destination. It's a better, safer, more authentic version of Bali in most ways, just without the cool factor created for instagram setups everywhere. This island is still mostly undiscovered by tourists and the best thing about it is that it's unspoiled. It's relatively clean, super safe, and travelers are actually valued and appreciated here unlike many other over touristed countries. It's not perfect, but it's authentic, and really feels like you've stepped back into time and traveled to Southeast Asia 10 or 20 years ago. If that's ever appealed to you to see what Bali or Thailand was like before all the tourists came, then you'll love Sri Lanka.  Others have compared it to a calmer, kinder version of India while retaining a lot of it's charms. For me it's a great mix of all of the things I like about being in Asia, including friendly people, low prices, good food, great weather, amazing beaches, and ultimate freedom.

Here you can surf in the morning, have a coconut milk coffee and a smoothie bowl while working on your laptop at a hipster cafe, then go into the city for an extremely local lunch. On weekends you can take a trip into the rainforest, mountains or even go on a safari. There's a bit of everything here, and the travelers you'll meet that come here are super down to Earth, and level headed compared to the ones you'll find in more popular destinations. No one comes to Sri Lanka just to say they've been or to pose on a conveniently placed swing in the middle of a rice paddy. People come here because they genuinely want to see the country and explore all that it has to offer. This country is one of the few places where you can find completely empty beaches that look like it can be on the cover of Lonely Planet just by driving around. 

I can't recomend Sri Lanka to everyone as if you want the ease and convenience of nice gyms, air conditioned cafes, movie theaters, proper steaks, and a place where you can buy or fix your 2020 Macbook Air, you'll be super frustrated and disappointed. But instead, if you're okay with not having that for a while, and want to experience authentic travel and not just instragram tourism, then come visit Sri Lanka, you'll absolutely love it and be glad you came. It's super safe, really authentic, and the locals here actually appreciate us for coming here and don't just see us as a paycheck like they do in many other countries. For more information read my 1st trip to Sri Lanka blog post that I wrote last year as it goes into more detail about flights, visas, sim cards, etc. or read my updated ONE YEAR in Sri Lanka Blog Post for info on where to go, and all the common questions you may have if you consider a trip to Sri Lanka. 









With Love from Sri Lanka,


Johnny FD

Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you! 

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  1. Have you been to Sri Lanka? What are you looking forward to most?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Johnny,

    Thanks for all the great information and videos. The food looks good but seems limited to rice, vegetables, eggs and chicken. Unless I missed it, I didn't see any pork. Do they not eat pork there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pork isn't super popular here, but it exists. I have bacon for breakfast a lot. The country is 10% Muslim, and maybe 50% where I am currently in Arugam Bay which may explain it. But there's a bit of beef, which is most likely buffalo. Fish and Chicken are the most popular though by far.

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  3. Great article with so many useful information about Sri Lanka. Thank you for your effort.

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  4. Thank you Johnny for your efforts in promoting Sri Lanka. How about taking your Nomads Conference to Sri Lanka in the near future? May be at a 5 star Beach Resort somewhere!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it could be possible in the next few years. Maybe 2022 would work.

      Delete
  5. Ok, you convinced me. Sri Lanka is now on my list.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well done on a great, informative article!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Reading your blog is the first part, second part is to actually visit SriLanka. This winter I will be there.

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  8. Hi watch your videos sometimes. I like it. What you drank is the 3rd item hanging on the board. That's called in Tamil language 'More.' That's 100 per cent made out of milk. This is traditionally made for the purpose to cool your body for the tropical climate. Sometimes they may add fresh red cut onions. It may be savor but its really a healthy drink made for the climate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the info! I actually liked it, but for sure it wasn't a normal glass of standard milk. =)

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  9. Johnny it’s really amazing hopefully u will enjoy lots in there still u have to visit more gorgeous places In Sri Lanka and um so glad to you promote about my Mother country next time when you visit here ur most welcome to my restaurant thanks again stay safe ����������

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I'm still here and exploring more places everyday. What's the name of your restaurant and where is it located?

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  10. Hey Johnny!

    While I am excited about a possible work opportunity (Colombo) in Sri Lanka, my wife is not a fan of the 'creepy-crawlies'; bugs, cockroaches, centipedes, spiders, scorpions, snakes etc.

    For reference, she has been to Kerala / South India and was *okay* with this aspect there, but it wasn't her favorite thing. How is it in Sri Lanka? An issue or not a problem?

    Thanks, Johnny!


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't lived in Colombo but it's probably not a problem as it's a big city. Either way, I would tell her she needs to get over her irrational fears.

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  11. Hi Johnny, Great detailed article. Thank you very much for showing the beauty of Sri Lanka to the world.! If anybody needs more details about Sri Lanka, pls find it here.
    https://magnificentsrilanka.com/

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Johnny,
    Loving your vlogs on Sri-Lanka. I lived and worked in Sri-Lanka in the 90's and now after 20 years we are coming back to live in this wonderful island. Should have been this year but definitely next year when the situation improves. We've been back a few times in the last few years and things have really developed there. I know you criticised the driving but honestly it was a lot worse than that in the 90's. In fact the last 3 times we've been back i've hired a self-drive and driven all round. Got to say not at night in the countryside though! if you want to experience really life threatening driving, spend some time in Cairo. Only place i've ever asked for help from above!! Keep up the great work. Even if we can't be there at least we can experience it through you.

    ReplyDelete

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Want to start an online business?

Want to start an online business?
A post written for friends and family - Step by Step instructions on How to start your own online store.