sri-lanka-13-full-pdf-ebook.pdf

Directory A–Z

P

HOTOGRAPH

y

Photography

̈ (^) Most Sri Lankans love
getting their picture taken,
but it’s common courtesy
to ask permission. A few
business-oriented folk,
such as the stilt fishermen
at Koggala or the mahouts
at the Pinnewala Elephant
Orphanage, will ask for
payment.
̈ It’s forbidden to film or
photograph dams, airports,
road blocks or anything
associated with the military.
̈ Never pose beside or
in front of a statue of the
Buddha (ie with your back
to it) as this is considered
extremely disrespectful.
̈ Flash photography can
damage age-old frescoes
and murals, so respect the
restrictions at places such
as Dambulla and Sigiriya.

Public Holidays

With four major religions,
Sri Lanka has a lot of public
holidays; also, all poya days
are public holidays and much
is closed.

New Year’s Day 1 January

Tamil Thai Pongal Day 14
January, Hindu harvest festival
Independence Day 4 February

Good Friday March/April

Sinhala and Tamil New Year

14 April

Labour Day 1 May

Id-Ul-Fitr July, end of Ramadan

Christmas Day 25 December

Safe Travel

Sri Lanka is open for travel,

though you can check the

security situation in advance

at government websites.

Parts of the North may

remain sensitive for some

time, so you may still en-

counter a few road blocks

and security zones.

Sri Lanka does not

present any extraordinary

concerns about safe travel,

although women will want to

read about certain concerns.

Telephone

Sri Lanka country

code

% 94

International

access code

% 00

Mobile Phones

Mobile coverage across Sri

Lanka is good in built-up

areas and cheap. You can

get a SIM card that has data

and voice credit for as low as

Rs 1500.

The main mobile com-

panies have booths in the

arrivals area of Bandara-

naike International Airport;

compare prices as there

are wide variations in rates.

Major providers include the

following:

Dialog (www .dialog .lk)

Hutch (www .hutch .lk)

Mobitel (www .mobitel .lk)

Phone Codes

All regions have a three-digit

area code followed by a six-

or seven-digit number. Mo-

bile numbers usually begin

with %07 or %08 and have

up to 12 digits.

Time

Sri Lanka’s time, being 30

minutes off the top of the

hour used in much of the

world, bedevils many a trav-

eller. Sri Lanka is 5½ hours

ahead of Greenwich Mean

Time (the same as India),

4½ hours behind

Australian Eastern Standard

Time and 10½ hours ahead

of American Eastern Stand-

ard Time.

Toilet s

All top-end and midrange

accommodation will have

sit-down flush toilets. Only

budget places that don’t

get a lot of tourists will have

squat toilets and lack toilet

PRACTICALITIES

̈ Sri Lanka has several daily newspapers in English; they can be entertaining reads,

whether intentionally so or not. Try a few to find your favourite.

̈ Sri Lankan government-run stations dominate the radio and TV broadcast channels.

Midrange and more expensive hotels usually have satellite TV with international

networks.

̈ Sri Lanka uses the international metric system, though some Sri Lankans still

express distance in yards and miles. The term lakh is often used in place of ‘100,000’.

̈ Smoking is not common in Sri Lanka. Smoking is outlawed on buses, trains and

public places. Bars and restaurants are legally required to have separate smoking and

nonsmoking sections, although these often merge.

̈ Alcohol is not sold on poya (full moon) days; this includes hotel bars.