1. Drink a freshly cut sweet Sri Lankan coconut by the beach
It’s dubbed the King Coconut and the juice is called thambli.
2. Sample their cloyingly sweet cakes
It’s available at the bountiful local sweet shops dedicated to selling sweets (cakes).
It’s very, very sweet, crumbly and tasty!
3. Eat Kothu Roti
It’s a Sri Lankan dish made with roti, meat (beef and chicken), vegetables and egg. It’s spicy!
4. Share your table with a local
5. Haggle with tuk tuk drivers
Get on a tuk tuk with cars zipping by a scant 2 cm away!
6. Look at gemstones
7. Visit a temple
8. Take a photo of one of their gigantic Buddha statues
9. Drink faluda
It’s a sweet local drink made with fresh milk, rose syrup and vermicelli, basil and tapioca seeds.
10. Try Nannari Sherbet
It’s a refreshing drink made with Indian Sarasaparilla root said to have medicinal properties.
11. Marvel at a Sri Lankan elephant’s…tusks
12. Eat at a hotel with your hands (hotel means curry house in Sri Lanka)
13. Drink Ceylon tea from a street vendor
14. Eat seafood on the beach
15. Drink their local coconut arrack
It’s traditionally mixed with ginger ale – go for Old Arrack or VSOA.
16. Taste “short eats” from the many stalls
There’s samosas, deep fried rolls, and more!
17. Take a photo with a soldier
18. Visit Pettah
Pettah is a famous local market with everything from cell phones to shoes.
19. Buy something you don’t need e.g. 10 hammers for 20 cents
20. Drink wood apple juice
21. Try the watalappam
Wattalappam is a Sri Lanka dessert of coconut custard made with eggs, coconut milk, cashew nuts, cloves, nutmegs and spices.
22. Eat their local “Maldives fish” from a street vendor
It’s deep fried and savory!
23. Visit the beach on a Sunday
24. Go fly kite at the beach
25. Pimp your blog!
Spare some change for the people living on the streets…
…and leave a smile on their faces! 🙂
