Life Beyond the Wall

In February 2025, my boyfriend and I found ourselves searching for a new travel adventure a little further afield than our earlier trips to the likes of Munich, Dublin, and Greece. With the last few months at Vet School looming in front of me , and many winter days attempting to blood sample cows ahead (a task made significantly more difficult when you can’t feel your fingers), I was gravitating towards a holiday with sun, sand, and new found flavours to fuel that feeling of something to look forward to. In my 24 years, I have discovered that I am pretty addicted to that feeling. After hours of scrolling various social media platforms and websites titled: “the best upcoming travel destinations in 2025”, we landed on Sri Lanka.

The videos and posts then constantly filling my ‘For You Page’ promised untouched white sand beaches, surf havens, and brightly coloured Tuktuks beetling beneath dappled palms. I was drawn to the fact it seemed to be compared to Bali 10 years ago (although this description is not particularly popular with the local Sri Lankans), which to me indicated that it would be enough of an adventure but with less of a party island feel? But despite some much-needed and appreciated recommendations from friends, I still wasn’t sure what to expect, having never visited Asia before.

Flights booked, Visas approved, and Tuktuk license carefully tucked away in the plastic wallet, we soon found ourselves changing flights at Doha and then landing in Colombo International AirPort.

On arrival, I was immediately struck by the overwhelming humidity, and as I changed into my shorts in the arrivals area, I hoped my pale legs didn’t look quite as reflective as they had in the bathroom mirrors. Tensions slightly high between Jacob and I, we made our way through the crowds to pick up our new SIM (we used Dialog which had great coverage across the country). I removed my earring to open the sim card slot on our phones, and reminded Jacob that once again, he’d be lost without me. Once out of the airport, we slung our bags into our shuttle kindly sent out to us by TukTuk Rental.com, and arrived at the TukTuk rental hub.

My immediate impressions of Sri Lanka from the other side of the shuttle window was fairly in line with what I expected: busy roads filled with beeping vehicles, and rustic train tracks lined by palms dripping in swinging monkeys. Negombo was fairly built up so the true beauty of Sri Lanka’s landscapes that was about to follow was not yet obvious to us.

At the TukTuk Rental office, we were offered a sweet and potent espresso, and waited in a small courtyard with other travellers in baggy trousers and leather necklaces playing cards. This rental company is probably the biggest in Sri Lanka, with tuktuks of all different colours just about everywhere, and you can see why. When we received our briefing video, the attention to detail was immense with no question left unanswered, making an intimidating prospect of driving a metal box along busy roads feel slightly more manageable. There were a few young gap-yah girls and even an older couple wearing schoffels listening keenly to the instructions, and although I hate to stereotype, we had to wonder how they’d get on…

After the video, we made our way outside for a crash course in how to drive the TukTuk with our instructor Vina. Jacob looked pretty terrified in the rear mirror as I navigated the motorbike-like controls, with only a few stalls and shrieks as we braved the roads. And just like that, we were off on our 5 hour drive to our first destination: Sigiriya. The staff at the rental office looked slightly hesitant when we explained our plan to do this drive that day, having had about 3 hours of sleep on the overnight flight, but with our wide-eyed wonder that only a new adventure can bring, we could not be deterred.

I have written in my notes from the first day that Jacob was actually pretty good with the driving and took to it straight away, so I feel it is only fair to give him the credit that he’s due. Nothing can quite describe the feeling of motoring along at 30mph with only the air between you and the surrounding landscapes, while a bus swerves past you at three times your speed! The horn doubles as an indicator here, and there’s definitely no such thing as a zebra crossing.

Despite the slightly terrifying buzz of leaving Negombo, reaching the quieter roads provided sights that were genuinely breath-taking. The air was laced with scents of tobacco, fuel, mango, mint… and I soon realised it was genuinely quite similar to a home-store candle named “Indian Summer” – who’d have thought. We motored past rice fields, mountains with Buddha statues nestled in their trees, jungles, and many animals including cows and dogs (the obvious) and even mongoose and iguanas (less obvious, but very exciting!).

A quick stop at one of the many P&Ss lining the roads gave us some much-needed energy (the vegetable roti was a real hit), and we filled our fuel tank several times, helped at each stop by the local staff. Although surprised to see a woman behind the wheel (when Jacob wasn’t hogging it), they waved happily and nothing was ever too much trouble.

Eventually, we arrived at Sigiriya, where the mist and tropical atmosphere descended immediately. The mountain village was quieter than I expected, with bars and small restaurants dotted along the roads, slowly filling up with tourists coming back from a long days hiking or elephant safari. The famous Lion’s Rock was visible from the distance as we journeyed towards our hostel, The Travellers Place. We were greeted by an extremely welcoming host who showed us to our private room, a plain but comfortable double bed and en-suite, and had a restaurant named ‘The Little Hut’ recommended to us. We were told to drive down to dinner, as in the darkness there are tales of slightly angry wild elephants causing havoc, and after settling at our table (which was lucky to find in a very busy little place), we had our first taste of Sri Lankan curry and kotthu roti. This meal was absolutely delicious, and set the bar high for all khottus to come…