My wife and I spent 16 days and 1700km with me on a Baja 250 & a she on a Bajaj 125 rented from Sha Lanka in Negombo. Sri Lanka is a great ride! What surreal landscapes! Ancient ruins, prolific wildlife, stunning vistas, awesome mountains, beautiful waterfalls, well-maintained roads, friendly people (...where you come from?!), and a favorable exchange rate made this trip a winner. Reminded me quite a bit of Bali. We did have to spend half a day mucking through bureaucracy to get our temporary driver's license, but I guess that might be expected. Food was a mild disappointment. It was not nearly as good as I imagined it would be. (Maybe I'm spoiled by Thailand!) Decent, clean hotel with hot and cold water and aircon is about $23. A short lunch on the road is $2. Western-style dinner might be $5-7. Big beers are $2--and Lion Lager is really good. Honda 250 Baja is $15-20/day. We avoided the beaches and low lying areas in favor of cooler weather and fewer tourists. I've seen enough beaches lately and not enough mountains, so off we went from Negombo to Anuradhapura, then to Aukuna and Sigiriya, next to Dambulla and Kandy, then Rambota falls, Nuwara Eliya, Ella, Haputale, Tangalla, Unawatuna, Ratnapura, Kegalla, back to Negombo. The fort at Galle was OK, but Unawatuna was a overbuilt, overrated tourist trap. If you need the beach, then Tangalla was MUCH nicer with way fewer Lonely Planet gawkers. We ran into very few bikers on our trip--not much of an exploited travel means. We by no means did a complete trip--Still lots for me to go back and explore. I hope to do that some time in the future. And maybe you should too!
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