Things you need to know about Southern Sri Lanka

• In many places you will see locals selling fish along the road; both fresh fish but also dried fish. Even when riding on a motorbike or tuk tuk I could always smell fish from far. 
• King coconuts of orange color are also sold along the road a lot. You will hardly ever find green coconuts that are common in many other Asian countries. 
• If you see a big pot where they cook something by the road, it’s usually boiled sweetcorn. I saw it a lot in Weligama area.
• After talking to many locals, I’ve found out that most women stay at home, take care of house and cook. On the contrary, most men go to work. As far as I’ve seen, it’s mostly women cooking at home but chefs at hotels are men.
• It’s interesting to see that there’s very few street stalls with food, unlikely to Thailand, for example. I’ve heard it might be because everyone has cooked food at home thanks to the house wives so no need to eat at the street that much.
• There’s hundreds of street dogs all around. Also many crows that will eat just everything they find (similarly to India). I’ve seen a couple of cows roaming around freely as well. All harmless. 

• 5 l bottle water is a lot cheaper then buying 5 bottle waters of 1 liter. However, tap water in Sri Lanka is potable and I was drinking it without any problems since I’d heard from more people that it was safe to drink. Shame I was not sure since the beginning as it would have saved me some money which I could have used for a massage instead O:)

• Local people are usually very nice, helpful and smiling. If you wave at them, they will wave back. 
• Some locals speak very good English, others just basics or nothing. Depends on the destination and if they work in tourism or not. 
• Some local women wear sari. You might know it from India, or at least I did recognize the clothes from India.
• Sometimes women wear an umbrella when it’s too hot at lunch time.
• Kids wear uniforms to school. Each school has their own uniform, socks and shoes included. I only saw separated schools, so one school for girls and other one for boys but I’m not sure if all the schools are like that. 
• Locals like to play cricket on the beach at sunset time. I guess it’s a British influence from the past when the British were ruling Sri Lanka (called Ceylon) from 1815 to 1948.

• The best way to go around Southern Sri Lanka is to rent a scooter but only if you know how to ride on the left side. It’s not as hectic as in India but definitely more hectic than in Europe. Remember to horn when overpassing other vehicles.
• Local buses and trains are very cheap. However, local bus drivers drive like crazy. They were always the fastest ones and those who cared the less about the rest of traffic.
• Other way to go around is by tuk tuk. Yes, they are called tuk tuks (like in Thailand) and not rickshaws (like in neighbouring India).

• You will find bananas, papaya, mango, melons, guava, dragon fruit, pineapple and young coconuts being sold a lot at little fruit stalls or markets. As in many tropical countries, they have different kinds of bananas, with the smallest ones being the sweetest. Wood apple is quite popular, too, mostly found as wood apple juice. However, I did not like its taste.

• If you hear noise at the street at any time of the day or night, it’s most probably a bakery tuk tuk going around selling pastry. Bakery is quite popular in Southern Sri Lanka but don’t expect cereal dark bread or anything like that. They are not as far with bakery as we are in Europe yet. Once I wanted to try a coconut pastry, but in the end the vendor sold me one which had jam instead of coconut inside and 98% of it was just flour, no filling. Not so good in my opinion but I am not that much into pastry any more anyway as I try to avoid gluten. 

• Traditional meals are very spicy. They use a lot of red onion, shallot, garlic, ginger, chilli, turmeric, curry, black pepper etc. If you are not used to spicy meals, you always have to ask for a non-spicy meal. Usually they will make it a bit/very spicy anyway ? Personally, I can handle just ”little spicy”. I mean if I say I don’t want it spicy at all, or just want it little spicy, it’s always very spicy for me, and I end up crying and wit a running nose ?
• When a meal says it’s tempered, it means that whole spices are roasted (dry or in oil) to enhance their flavor. Simply said, the meal will be even more spicy.
• Locals eat more chicken and seafood/fish than other meat.
• Alcohol and cigarettes are very expensive.
• Locals drink more tea than coffee. And they drink it usually with milk. I guess it’s British influence from the past, right?