Incredible Sri Lanka 1: Colombo and Galle Fort

I’ve wanted to visit Sri Lanka for a long time, and finally got to check it off my list during the Christmas holiday.⚡⚡ 🖼️Sri Lanka boasts diverse landscapes—seaside, jungles, tea plantations, river valleys, as well as cultural attractions like temples and colonial-era European-style buildings, along with rich traditions. 🌤️ A 9-day itinerary is just right, not too long or too short.🌴 😘😘For foreigners, spending in Sri Lanka isn’t cheap. Meals are even slightly more expensive than in Southeast Asia, costing 100-300 RMB per person on average. Christmas and New Year are peak tourist seasons, with seaside accommodations costing over 1,000 RMB per night, but the quality is only on par with ordinary three-star hotels in China—much less cost-effective than in Southeast Asia.🕌 Sri Lanka’s infrastructure is better than expected. There are highways with little traffic.🚞 Having just visited Bali the previous month, the contrast made the experience here really pleasant. 🦋🦋 ☀️☀️We booked a car in advance, with an average cost of 325 RMB per day for the chartered vehicle, plus a daily tip of 2,000 Sri Lankan rupees for the driver. He helped plan routes and book tickets, which was very convenient.😘 Sri Lanka has great ecology. We often encountered monkeys, peacocks, and elephants by the roadside. 🌩️ ☄️☄️It was my first time hearing a peacock call—it sounds like a mix of a cat’s meow and a baby’s cry. Detailed Itinerary🕌 - Day 1: Shanghai ✈️ Colombo Airport (stay in Negombo) - Day 2: Negombo → Red Mosque → Coastal Train → Maduwa River Cruise → Galle Lighthouse → Seaside Swing → Galle (stay in Galle) - Day 3: Galle Fort → Stilt Fishermen → Mirissa Coconut Grove Hill → Tissa Lake (stay in Tissamaharama)✈️✈️ - Day 4: Yala National Park → Nine Arch Bridge → Ella (stay in Ella) - Day 5: Ella → Tea Plantation Train → Pink Post Office → Damro Tea Factory → Kandy (stay in Kandy) - Day 6: Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic → Kandy Lake → Dambulla Caves → Pidurangala Rock → Sigiriya (stay in Sigiriya) - Day 7: Sigiriya → Minneriya National Park → Lion Rock → Sigiriya (stay in Sigiriya)✈️ - Day 8: Sigiriya → Elephant Orphanage → Colombo Airport ✈️ Shanghai The coastal train is quite bumpy, making it hard to take those viral-worthy photos. You can get some nice shots on the platform, though. Colombo’s Granbell Hotel is right next to Kollupitiya Railway Station—sit in the second-floor café and wait for trains to pass by. ✨ 🎃🎃The Red Mosque is just a quick photo stop, taking only 10-15 minutes. When we arrived at Galle Fort in the afternoon, it was crowded. Going early the next morning, however, revealed the ancient town’s true beauty and tranquility—charming colonial-era houses, with monkeys and peacocks often appearing on rooftops. 🎊🎊 We even came across a newlywed couple taking wedding photos.🎇🎇 Waiting for the sun to set slowly by the seaside swing at dusk, the orange-hued sea was unrealistically beautiful—it was the highlight of Day 2.🗻 The stilt fishermen by the sea have become quite commercialized, and Mirissa’s Coconut Grove Hill is also just a quick photo 🌃🌃spot. The standout of Day 3 was Tissa Lake—serene and beautiful. Many locals come by bus to bathe here. 🌈🌈 The old trees by the lake, the joyful crowds bathing, and the line of dedicated bath buses parked by the roadside all looked wonderful in the sunset.☀️☀️ #SriLanka#CoastalTrain