Colombo is Sri Lanka’s largest city, and it’s pretty useless as a tourist destination. Nothing much to see there, just asphalt, heavy traffic, polluted air, highways and train tracks that block most of the feeble ocean beach, and no sights or even restaurants, unless you count KFC and other foreign fast food joints in the…

A dagoba is not,  in fact, Yoda’s swamp retirement home. It’s a domed shrine, usually holding some Buddhist holy object. Elsewhere they are known as stupas, chedis, chörten, or by other names. The archaeological zone of the town of Anuradhapura has two of the highest, at up to 74m, but other than that it’s no…

There was a volcano once at Sirigiya. It eroded away long ago but a 350m tall basalt plug that was the magma chamber still stands. Naturally a Buddhist meditation place was built on top sometime around the 5th century,  and now there’s tourists crawling all over it. Fortunately, I was there before the crowds arrived.…

Left the mountains to see Sri Lanka’s ancient ruins, beginning with Polonnaruwa. There is an extensive site with many large monuments, most dating back 800-1000 years. There are palaces, Buddhist stupas and shrines, but also the foundations of hospitals, monasteries, and even market stalls, giving a good sense of the layout of the ancient city.…

Ceylon is the name the British used for Sri Lanka. Their tea plantations are still here, scenically covering the hills and valleys of Sri Lanka’s mountain region. Next time you buy an expensive small package of exquisite Ceylon tea, think about how it was scooped up from a huge pile on a factory floor here.…

There’s a train from Kandy that scenically winds its way up and down Sri Lanka’s Hill country. The views of the tea plantations in the steep valleys are fantastic, but the train isn’t -  it’s so packed with people that it makes the Tokyo metro look like a golf course. I am amazed that nobody…

Kandy is up in the mountains of Sri Lanka. Not sure I like it much -  lots of traffic, bus diesel fumes, and very narrow sidewalks with fences on the sides so cars aren’t bothered by human obstacles. They clearly don’t want pedestrians. But otherwise Sri Lanka feels like India 2.0. Much cleaner, far more…