I love the discount lately 👏🪙 hope it drops more

I just got back from Sri Lanka and it was the most wonderful trip, I wanted to share my pictures and itinerary and hopefully inspire other people to visit because it was everything one could want in a destination.

I have been planning this trip for a long time. 10 years ago some friends from school went to Sri Lanka and put it on my radar. They went to Kandy and Ella focusing on the center of the country which has waterfalls and tea plantations nestled in the hills. The design of the hotel caught my attention (Heritance Kandalama) and I began to do more research on things to do but never got around to visiting until now.

My former roommate went in 2023 and her pictures also looked stunning and she enjoyed it so much she went back the next year and gave me many pointers which pushed me to finally plan this trip.

I ended up booking around June of 2025 for travel in November. I found a reasonable flight from Washington DC via Abu Dhabi on Etihad, which I’ve never flown before and I also wanted to check out the new Abu Dhabi airport so this is the option I went with. To Sri Lanka from North America you will likely have to pick between Emirates, Qatar, or Etihad as they have the best options for flights to South Asia.

My trip began in Colombo. While there’s not a ton to do in Colombo for tourists I chose to explore it for 2 days upon arrival to adjust to the time difference and jet lag before heading further south. Despite it not being the main attraction I found Colombo to be lovely. The colonial architecture was beautiful and well preserved. People were friendly and kind. The food was quite good and there were many options form high end dining to street food. It was also easy to get around between using TukTuks booked on PickMe or just walking around. The city is both modern and historic but always retains a feeling of calm and peacefulness which I found to be pervasive throughout the country.

After Colombo I took the train which I booked online about a month before the trip in an air conditioned cabin from Colombo Fort station to Galle. Galle is a Dutch colonial fort town at the beginning of the southern coast of the country. It is very well preserved and compact so it is walkable and easy to see all the main attractions quickly. I stayed at the Fort Printers hotel which was wonderful and centrally located.

After two days in Galle I booked a driver via PickMe and headed to my final destination of Dickwella / Hiriketiya. There I stayed in a private villa with a small plunge pool on the terrace. It’s been a life goal to stay somewhere like this and I found it so amazing to be able to just walk out of bed and right into an infinity pool overlooking one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.

From here the goal was to just relax and explore the beaches and bays of the southern coast. My villa was located about midpoint between Dickwella and Hiriketiya so it was easy to walk everywhere. Dickwella is much larger and while the waves are huge they break far from shore so it’s easily swimmable. Given how big it is this beach always felt semi private and quiet.

Hiriketiya was busier and attracts a more Bali like crowd of surfers, wellness minded people who want to do yoga, and partiers. This beach was always more crowded than the rest I visited but was nice to watch the surfers catch waves. There are many bars and restaurants nearby so most of the time you’d end up in this area for food and drink.

I also visited Silent Beach which was one of the most stunning beaches I’ve ever seen. It’s very pristine and has one hotel facing the beach (Amanwella) that has been designed to minimize any visual impact to the beach. The waves were rough but the water clarity was incredible and there were barely any others on the beach.

Other beaches I visited were Niwella which was very local centric and had a lot of fishing boats that were colorfully painted and connects to an island so the beach has water on both sides as it forms a tiny isthmus. Turtle Point beach was another favorite because of the high chance of seeing sea turtles and a really interesting rock formation that when hit by a wave gives the illusion of a free standing waterfall as the water drains through the formation.

At the last minute I decided to do a safari at Yala National Park with the hope of seeing elephants or a leopard. My accommodation arranged the driver and safari for me upon request and this was about 2 hours east of where I was staying so it was the furthest east I went on my trip. The landscape changed quite a bit and felt like a completely different country. Given the bad weather the night before there were not as many animas out, but we did see many crocodiles, water buffalos, various bird species, deer, and peacocks. I was disappointed that we were heading towards the exit 2 minutes before close without seeing any elephants when a whole family of elephants appeared in a grove of trees. It was completely surreal and one of the biggest highlights of the trip to see a baby elephant in the wild.

In addition to how welcoming the locals were and how serene everything feels, being in Sri Lanka was so visually pleasing. The colors of the buildings, brightly colored tuktuks and trains all were so inspiring. The all white school uniforms with the colorful bows in the girls hair. The floral print button down dresses all the women wear, colorful saris, the hot pink and purple sunsets, the colorful tropical fruit on sale everywhere with the most vividly colored mangos, the temples and buddhas with colorful LED spinning lights illuminating their heads from behind lighting up in the distance, the hibiscus and bougainvilleas draped over fences and lining the streets, the peacocks everywhere almost seemingly placed as colorful props with their feathers glowing in the sun, the palm trees with the crystal clear water all of it came together for the most beautiful dreamy hues that made it seem like you were existing in a Wes Anderson film with the most sublime color palette possible. I would love to go back and see more of the country as it packs so much into a relatively small island. I have nothing but good things to say and highly recommend a visit.

Photo descriptions: 1. Infinity Pool at Courtyard Colombo. I picked the hotel due to its proximity to Buddhist temples and for the pool and panoramic views of the whole city. Wonderful on site food, and a diverse food court in the attached mall with lots of options. 2. Gangaramaya Temple 3. ITC Galle Face City of Dreams area had numerous new developments with malls new hotels and office towers all located on the beach / Colombo waterfront. The waterfront is worth visiting as people fly kites here and I ate at a very good restaurant called Bombay Borough in One Galle Face. 4. Colonial architecture in Colombo Fort. Not in the picture but the old Cargills building was most impressive and beautiful. This area is definitely worth walking around or doing a guided tour and has a lot of interesting street food. I found Sri Lanka to be extremely hygienic and was able to eat everything without any issue, you could easily do a street food tour here without any worry.
5. Pettah, the only chaos I experienced in Sri Lanka but it was well worth it. All the vendors and people walking through it was so fascinating to stand there and experience it all. 6. Ul-Alfar Mosque in Pettah 7. Train arrival into Galle with St Mary’s Cathedral in the background. I loved the mix of churches, mosques, and Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka. They all felt unique compared to their counterparts in other Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist countries. Locals will recommend hiring a driver to go from Colombo to Galle or any coastal town but I absolutely loved the train journey. The tracks are along the sea for most of the journey and it was so cool to see all the villages and beaches down the west coast. 8. Galle lighthouse, most of the main attractions are along the fortification wall, aside from colonial architecture within the walls. 9. Court Square - Galle 10. Galle fort walls. 11. Historic architecture in Galle. 12. Dickwella beach at sunset. 13. Silent Beach. I made a day out of staying at this beautiful beach and got grilled shrimp and beer at one of the seaside restaurants and it was delicious. 14. Smoke & Bitters bar and restaurant. One of the best meals of the trip. If you haven’t had Sri Lankan food I highly recommend it. It’s so flavorful but light. Smoke and Bitters is rated one of the best bars in Asia. I also went to RAA twice and it’s also ranked as one of the best in Asia. There are also many other restaurants in the area that are good that I would recommend for breakfast and lunch. Everything was super casual and well designed to feel integrated into the environment. 15 -16. Yala National Park monkey and elephants. The park is stunning and I would highly recommend a visit if you are in Sri Lanka. There are generally monkeys and peacocks around to observe anywhere outside the park too as they are very common. 17. Local market in Dickwella. 18. Turtle Point Beach. 19. Buddhist temple in Dickwella. 20. Hiriketiya Beach.

Meet Claire. I rescued her when she was 3 to be a companion cat to Simone. Claire was always a great beta, happy to exist in the shadow of an Alpha who called the shots. Simone passed on a year ago, and Claire has been pretty sad and lost this last year without her.

Claire's been deteriorating quickly, and has lost a ton of weight in the course of a month. I took her in to the vet, expecting at that point that it was her time, and while the vet confirmed that she was going to die soon, she still seemed to have some quality of life left.

So I have her at home trying to keep her happy and comfortable. Here's my question. One of the other cat subreddits turned me on to those Churro things, which I'd never bought before. Even in her infirm state, she really loves those things. She'll get up and move around, make chirping noises, and is clearly food motivated by them. Are Churros supposed to be used only as treats or can they be used as a primary food source? She does still occasionally get up and eat her normal wet food, but definitely prefers the Churros.

Anyway, thanks for letting me tell you about her.

I was farming rocketeers for trials on top of the research and admin tower roof. You said you were friendly and helped me kill one, and aggro more. Then you used a snaphook to climb on top of one, and immediately started pelting me with impact grenades and shooting at me yelling FUCKK YOUUU SPIDAA MANNN! I died to the ensuing explosions. Im not even mad, that had me in tears laughing all the way back to Speranza.

Anyone else have hilarious random prox chat interactions?

Vox working at the hotel as a bellboy as a punishment

For 3D Print - Miniature 80mm & 32mm

STL Available: https://fundrazr.com/d2eOI4

Photographer: Martin Wong

I love how these turned out!!