TRAVERSE 143
TRAVEL- SRI LANKA
JODIE ROGERS
NOT ENOUGH WORDS
As I always do when heading to a foreign country to ride, I arrived a couple of days earlier than I needed so I could have a look around. It was certainly a lot different, compared to what we are used too in Australia. With a population of 22 million people on an island as big as Tasmania, Sri Lanka is incredibly overpopulated in the city areas and as a result the planet is copping a beating.
Being colonised in 1815, English language is prevalent and that matters to me as I can ride on the same side of the road as I do at home. I am definitely guaranteed to get lost, as after about 20 minutes in a Tuk Tuk everything started to look the same for my untrained eye.
It wasn’ t long before my adventure on the Emerald Isle on an XT250 had begun, by riding north along the coast on Fisherman’ s Rd. I’ m sure you can guess why it has its name and the amount of traffic that fresh fish culminates is hectic! I’ m not keen on the smell of fish, so catching a sea breeze every now and then was wonderful! I definitely got the feel of the little Honda before heading Northeast across the country.
Riding this part of the countryside gave me Vietnam feels, the lush tropical rainforests with rice paddies everywhere. Although I wasn’ t in the mountains yet, it did feel like it. No wild elephants however I did see a ' working elephant ', tethered, eating fresh greens.
I did not see many tourists until Sigiriya, a massive rock in the rainforest. It was a 4th century kings palace in its former days, and I believe its nominated for UNESCO Heritage listing. It is a popular climb, which I didn’ t do, I instead climbing up Pidurangala Rock which is very close by. It was pretty hard work to climb in the humidity and by reaching the top I was rewarded with absolutely spectacular views.
TRAVERSE 143