Everything in Sri Lanka
SIDE THE BEACH BATTLE
Tip 1: Who is a beach boy?
Arriving on the colorful island of Sri Lanka, as soon as they leave the hotel on the beach, they will immediately meet a local young guy who smiles at you for all 32. As your skin becomes lighter, he already calculates in his mind how much $ you can steal from you. He will start a casual conversation, will offer excursions, bring shrimp and other things. Do not repeat our experience. We took both. The story will be in particular about the Koggala 3 * hotel and the nearest beach-fights to it. Not far from the hotel there is a lake Koggala, where they swim in boats. You will be offered such a sightseeing tour, the most important thing they put emphasis on is "See the crocodile, crabs and other living creatures". In fact, they drive around the islands where there are "shops" (spice garden, cinnamon island), where everything will be the same as in ordinary stores, only 5 times more expensive. Do you catch the connection between the purpose of swimming and what is in fact?
More is more. In the spice garden, a "mega-cool young doctor" will already be waiting for you, he will tell fairy tales that he has been everywhere, all the more so in your country, he will tell you about "wild people living in the wilderness of the island of Sri Lanka, that they are everyone who enters their territory , "kill" and other heresy. The point is to sell you goods and medicine "for all diseases". Cream for magical depilation! Women, be careful! They will choose the hairiest man from your group and shave his legs. But what they sell and apply - different things! It's a scam, read more about the Spice Garden on the Internet (we were in both, the same ones). How many people were scammed!
As a result, having driven around the islands, only at the very end along the pier in the bushes they will look for crocodiles (which are not there; () and they will say "There is no crocodile today! ". That's all. Here's a scourge for you. They asked him : "How much does a crab cost? ". 4.000 rupees! (It will supposedly be cooked for you by his mother and brought right under the gate of the hotel). Guys, don't be fooled. In an ordinary cafe 300 meters from the hotel, on the beach, go out and keep your way to the right, a little further away from The Fortress hotel there is a wonderful cafe, where unobtrusive, calm guys work. The price for a crab is 2000 rupees. So it's in a cafe! Where they cook it for you, sauces and french fries (as a bonus) will be served, there you can drink fresh fresh juice for only 2$.
Draw your own conclusions. This is not an advertisement, this is an experience. A beach boy will never be your "friend / matchmaker / brother", as he himself can say.
Tip 2: Never show interest.
For every step they ask for money. Nothing will be done for you for free. Did a local grandmother come up and stand in the frame for a photo? - Give me money! Ride on elephants, rip out your phone and take a photo of you? They will secretly ask for both 1000 and 5000 rupees, each separately, who did what to you.
Tip 3: Hotel guides.
We don't like hotel guides. But Sri Lanka is an exception. We don’t like it for several reasons: they are usually very annoying and arrogant, they will do anything if only you bought an exorbitantly expensive excursion from them. We thought that it would be the same in Ceylon, but it was not so. It turned out that the price of beach-boys and guides from a travel agency on the tour is the same or plus or minus. So you yourself think. With a hotel guide there will be a Russian-speaking guide (local), meals during the trip (and not just local sandwiches), but let's say in Kandy you will be taken to a hotel restaurant and there is a buffet. save on it).
Since we are very picky about hotel guides and we came across mostly not very good ones, in Sri Lanka we came across a real treasure and just a wonderful person, his name is Endryu. He is not a hotel guide, but it was the hotel that brought us together (it is written about the hotel guide above). Endryu answered all questions, was not intrusive, we spent the whole day with him and he never refused us anything, referring to fatigue or unwillingness, he knows Russian well and took the initiative himself. It's just some kind of miracle that we met him. I recommend to everyone. If you do meet Endryu, say hello from grateful tourists, he is still remembered!
