Buffalo and buses

One of the top items on the agenda was to do a safari in Sri Lanka.  We elected to go to Udawalawe National Park, over the more well known Yala Park, as it seemed to be less crowded.  We organized a driver through our hotel, and split a jeep with 2 German guys, to lower the already low cost.  The driver picked us up at 5:30am, and we were the second vehicle in the park, when it opened at 6:00.

As we drove on the dirt paths in our open Jeep, we spotted hundreds of peacocks sitting in trees (they make noises that sound like a loud cat meow), water buffalo, crocodiles, monkeys, and elephants.  

Although there are some leopards in the area, we didn’t see any.  The best part was seeing a nursing baby elephant.

Taking buses across the country was probably the most dangerous thing we did in Sri Lanka.

Imagine rickety, old red and blue school buses racing through country roads, reaching speeds of 120km/hr, and not slowing down for things as mundane as passing other vehicles, turning corners or allowing pedestrians to cross.

Our arms got a workout holding onto the handles as the drivers whipped around corners; we were seated and still had to hold on. They barely even stopped to allow passengers to board; often, people had to run and jump onto the still moving bus, which had slowed down a bit for the inconvenience of permitting passengers to board.

Occasionally they did stop for something, like a cow, and at those points the drivers slammed on their brakes and everyone pitched forward.

Rather than use blinkers or brakes, vehicles communicate with horns.  A short honk means, “Just a heads up, I’m overtaking you.”  A series of short toots indicates, “Hurry up and move over, I want to pass you.”  An ear splitting blast is “Move the f#*! out of the way!”  There is a road hierarchy, and it appears that the vehicles with the loudest horns are at the top of the food chain.  Buses, therefore, rule the road.

The bus to the airport was hysterical, because it contained a guy in a pink shirt hanging out the door, rapidly screaming “airport!” over and over at people on the street to gather more passengers.  As if hearing someone yell “airport” caused someone to think, “Actually, yeah. Going to the airport right now DOES seem like a good idea.”

As rickety and old as the buses were, they were all decked out with amps that blasted Sri Lankan music. Incidentally, most songs are about lovers cheating on each other.  A few buses even had music videos and flashing lights.

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The rides were so cheap.  It cost $1 to get to towns 2hr apart.  Often we were the only foreigners, but people were very friendly and wanted to chat with us.  The bus drivers were utterly crazy, but it was really cool to ride the way locals do.

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Beer of choice: Lion (there’s not a huge selection in Sri Lanka)