A couple of further notes if you want to read them –
Cons – the food has variation but if you ignore the breakfasts, which are usually large and with a number of elements including eggs, a thing I had but didn't mention which were hoppers (fermented rice flour and coconut milk batter usually fried and made into a bowl shape in which is put mostly an egg, but can be many other things) plenty of fruit and toast/butter/jam and often a mild curry, possibly lentil, pancakes and so on. Whatever they'd got to hand really.
Apart from that there seemed to be not the variation you get in India and many SEA countries by a long way.
The food is good by all means, but it isn't a country you would go to with that as a main theme.
Accommodation – a big difference in standards depending on location for the same prices – plus, I heard many stories of additional taxes being added that you didn't know about when booking. It seems normal that with mid-range and above places there is often an added 30% tax. Often mentioned, sometimes not. Sometimes included, sometimes not. You have to be a bit careful as this can be a sizeable chunk of money. Those I booked tended to be cheaper than mid-range and this tax was never a factor anyway.
There are other taxes as well, 10% here and there. Plus if you are booking in USD or Euro or GBP, when you come to pay, if you pay in local currency, they are quite flexible with the exchange rates, to say the least.
Few places of my range allowed credit card payments and I wasn't too keen on handing mine over anyway. Apart from the Jetwing hotel in Jaffna, I always paid in local cash.
The only problems I had out of all of them were two, the one who didn't expect me but wasn't really much of an issue, and this last one, Gudsmith Home in Negombo who apart from everything else there, tried to charge me an extra 10%.
I asked in the evening to pay him and he came out with a printout from booking.com, the same one I had on my app.
But, no matter the price included this 10% tax, he'd handwritten on another 10% and upon asking him why, he offered no real reason other than he'd always done it as he didn't think it was included – never mind it being in front of his face. Nobody had ever queried it, maybe they didn't notice, but he'd been adding it on for years he said.
Last thing – check the hotel website itself, if they have one, as sometimes there is a cheaper deal than booking via a third party. You know this anyway.
Pros – everything about the country can be cheap enough for a tourist if you just look around. Food, transport, hotels etc for normal day to day living. It is often hardly worth arguing over a few cents unless, as with me and the tuktuk driver, it is on principal. Get out of the tourist areas, as normal, and the prices drop dramatically.
The costs of sites are fixed, so nothing that can be done there.
Hassles from touts are pretty minimal. Maybe it is just how I look, but I was never bothered.
The food, if not so varied as in many countries is filling and plentiful. If you're vegetarian or vegan you may find it even more restricted especially inland, but there is more variation on the coast or in the inland tourist towns.
The climate is quite benign with no great variations. It can get chilly up in the hills but not to any extreme. The rains can be avoided to a certain extent depending on which coast you go to.
Transport is not difficult, many use a car and driver for part if not all of their time there. Buses are everywhere, big and small but the standard of driving can take a little time to get used to. Trains are mainly in the west and centre though there are a couple of spurs heading out to the east.
English is widely spoken to some degree, even in the backwaters and communication is not difficult.
There is good phone coverage and I didn't notice any gaps at all. Mind you, I didn't look at it very often except when I was at my destination.
All accommodation I tried had wifi.
If you want to show respect when you are handing over something, like with money at a shop, I was a little surprised to find the action they make is exactly the same as here in Zambia – hand over with the right hand, palm up as much as you can do it, but also put your left hand over to around your right elbow and gently rest your fingers on your other arm.
PDA's are frowned upon, no nudity, don't turn your back on Buddha – the usual respectful things.
For info, the tuktuk company I used was -
tuktukrental.com/However, they were constantly contacting me on Whatsapp as I was added to their group of those out on the road. This meant I was hassled every day by thirty or forty messages from everyone else. I exited the group as soon as I got back to their place. It was a relief to do so but I had lived with it just in case there was something interesting to take note of.
They also sent me emails every few days asking if all was good, if I'd greased it etc etc. The mail usually started as such – "We're just checking in to make sure you're still travelling ok, we're sorry that we sound like needy parents! Reply with a smiley or sad face to let us know how you're doing."
The sign off was usually, "With unconditional universal love, The Tuktuk Rental Team"
Their very last mail after I got back started, "You made it! You bloody ripper! You are now officially a tuktuk "veteran". You owned the road with your sleek moves, semantic slogans, and of course glorified three wheels! This QUALIFIES you to join our veterans facebook page. This is a place to share knowledge, tell tales of foreign lands, reminisce about your experience and for the young apprentices to seek advice about manoeuvring their chariots from the hardened elites like you ;-)"
I didn’t join. I am getting old. I know it. This proves it.
There are a few rental companies and I think they are pretty much the same, or so I understood when I compared notes with a couple of others who had rented them from different companies that I crossed paths with. One might be a bit cheaper, one a bit more expensive, but seeing as I had mine for an extended period of time, mine also worked out the same as the cheapest priced company. I did choose the one I did purely because of their reputed policy of using vehicles owned by the locals who get a share of the rental fee.
Addendum – list of places stayed –
8Plus Motels, Negombo
Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo
Island Hostel, Mount Lavinia
Aayu’s Guesthouse, Bentota
Talalla Bay Inn Beach Bungalow, Talalla Bay
Samwill Holiday Resort, Kataragama
Coco Bay, Arugum Bay
Amanda Beach Resort, Kalkudah
Blue Wings Beach Hotel, Trincomalee
Sun and Sand, Mullaittivu
Jetwing Jaffna, Jaffna
Hotel Oviya, Vavuniya
Sigiri Regal Residence, Sigiriya
High View Homestay, Kandy
Gem Field Rest, Rathnapura
Hikka Regent Hotel, Hikkaduwa
Gudsmith Home, Negombo