A coffee at Cafe Tortoni [YQrtw Day 71 Jun 17]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

There is a long weekend this week in Argentina. Our school will also be closed from Thursday to Sunday. To replace our lessons, we were required to come to school one hour earlier.

One hour earlier sounds easy. Just 60 minutes earlier than the usual routine, right?

Well, my usual routine is waking up 2 hours before class and taking my time with my breakfast and reading. However, I couldn’t bear waking up at 7am when the sky was still dark and the air cold so I woke up at 7:30am.

The sky was still dark and the air cold. I was sure I had woken up some of my roommates when I fumbled with taking my things for the shower and for school.

Living right across the street from school has its perks, I arrived with only 10 minutes to spare before class.

We had a new teacher and a new classmate from Holland. Our 4-hour class was great since we got to talk a lot but all the new information needs time to be absorbed. Let me give that 2 years.

Trip to Cafe Tortoni

Our after school activity today was a trip to the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires–Cafe Tortoni. Before heading there, we sat in class and listened to a Tango song about the cafe and the famous people who visited there.

We were supposed to ask the waiters questions about the cafe when we reach there. I managed to ask only for the Wi-Fi password because I’m such a noob. Boo hoo.

Still, we learnt that the cafe’s entrance wasn’t at Avenida de Mayo as the road wasn’t built when the cafe first opened. Instead, the back of the cafe was the entrance.

The cafe is pretty. One part of the ceiling had stained glass while the walls are decorated with donated paintings.

Still, I find a cafe most useful when the coffee is large and I can read for an hour without being disturbed.

After our trip to cafe, it was free time. I headed to Carrefour, where the security guard knows me by sight, to buy something for the night’s dinner.

That something turned out to be a midsized cabbage. All the other leafy greens were either rotting or looking fresh and expensive in a plastic bags.

Unfortunately, the cabbage was really tough. I’ve sliced it into small slices but it tasted like chewing through paper.

The vegetable also lacked the usual sweetness I find in cabbages. Are winter vegetables exceptionally bad?

The night was spent drinking more honey lemon to prevent any cold that might want to visit.

The night has become really cold, my fingers are numb as I type in the kitchen. I hope I am able to find the remote control later so I can turn up the heater in my room.

Oh, I have a bunk mate now. Hope that my climbing in and out of bed won’t wake her up in the middle of the night. (Actually, deep down I hope she moves out sooner than I do.)

Have a good week, folks!

Preparing for my visa run/ Streets of Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 69 Jun 15]

[I wrote this yesterday but forgot to click on Publish. Doh]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

This is the first time during the entire trip that I’m conscious that it is a weekend. Usually everyday jumbles up together since I do not have a routine separating the weekdays from the weekends.

Today, I planned to finish at least 2 days of revision in the morning. Sadly, I had to deal with printing my documents for the US visa application and that took up half of the morning.

I spent another half of the morning reading up on Veelas in the Harry Potter world (I’m now at GoF!) which led to more useless web surfing.

In the morning, I also booked ferry tickets to Colonia del Scaramento, Uruguay, for my very first visa run.

Wait, YQ, you can’t just drop new vocabulary like that into your post and expect us to Google it.That’s just lazy.

Probably not how the Argentina-Uruguay ferry looks like

OK OK, I’ll explain. Long term travellers do visa run to extend the length of their visa. The do this visiting another country and coming back to the country of their choice in a short period of time.

Take me for an example, when I arrived in Argentina, the immigration officer gave me a 30-day visa. (I seriously thought it was 90 days. Damn you VisaHQ.)

That 30 day deadline is coming up in 2 week’s time and I will become an illegal alien if I overstay.

However, since I’m applying for a US visa, I suspect that my passport would be kept with the US embassy for at least a week since next Thursday and Friday are public holidays. If I have terrible luck, I might even overstay.

So to extend my visa, I will visit Uruguay. I will get an exit stamp at the Argentine side and a new entry stamp when I come back in the evening.

Thankfully my visa run is just a ferry ride away. I’ve read horror stories such as Juno from Runaway Juno who had to do a 573km visa run.

After concluding my affairs of the morning, I decided to take a walk and visit the second hand book stores my teacher told us about.

Streets of Buenos Aires

Luckily, Ave Corrientes, where the bookshops are, is very near the hostel. I only had to walk about 3 blocks to get there.

Along the way, I snapped a few photos so you can see how Buenos Aires looks like.

Head's up on Buenos Aires's street — Head’s up on Buenos Aires’s street

I spotted this map of Westeros but I do not think the story universe actually looks this neat.

Poked fun by a jerk

I browsed through one of the second hand bookstores. It didn’t look like the usual second hand bookstores crammed with books from top to bottom shelf. Instead, the books were arranged in stacks on tables.

There were a lot of interesting books around. I was tempted to get a Book of Myths for Children which had Greek legends but 22 pesos wasn’t something I wanted to spare.

At last, I found a Sweet Valley Twin book. I’m more attached to the Sweet Valley High series but that book was only 3 pesos so I bought it.

At the cashier, I made a language mistake by saying, “Good.” when the cashier said, “Good day.” The other person at the cash register was unkind and asked his friend repeatedly if he asked “Good day” and laughed.

I was rather upset about that. When I left the shop, I kept imagining that I knew enough Spanish to retort, “Well, at least I’m learning another language. What about you?”

Alas, I do not know that much Spanish.

On Ave Corrientes, Ave 9 de Julio

Enough complaining, let’s get back to sightseeing Buenos Aires.

Newstand. I'm very scandalized that they display X-rated books publicly here. Mostly they have covers of half naked women with large breasts. — Newstand. I’m very scandalized that they display X-rated books publicly here. Mostly they have covers of half naked women with large breasts.

From the poster, Camila looks like a scandalously good show.

See that big poster of an Argentinine flag and the pope? It's from the city, to celebrate Papa Francesco's new job. — See that big poster of an Argentinine flag and the pope? It’s from the city, to celebrate Papa Francesco’s new job.

Dinner was another nice meal of home cooked steak with mushrooms. It’s strange that the mushrooms were more expensive than my two rather large pieces of beef.

How was your weekend?

It’s steak time! [YQrtw Day 67 Jun 13]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

After my having steak and champagne mistake, I thought I should stop going out to eat steaks. The problem is, Argentina is famous for steak.

So what’s the next best thing? Cooking my own steak.

Wednesday and Thursdays are cheap meat days at the nearby Carrefour. They gave me a discount coupon with a value 30% of the price of the meat I bought today. I guess this means I’ll have steak again soon with the coupon.

Cooking steak in a hostel kitchen is easy

When I bought the meat, the three pieces in the A$20 (S$5) pack didn’t look that much. But it looked a lot bigger as I seasoned them with salt. A dorm mate even asked, “Are you having all three now?” Indeed, I am.

I cooked them in batches since the frying pan was a little too tiny to host all three of the meat. They turned out medium rare and were bleeding profusely when I sat them for 10 minutes.

Eating steak in a hostel kitchen is even easier

While it was great stuffing my face with steak, the cut that I bought wasn’t that tasty. (Do you think I’ll admit that my cooking is bad. Of course not.)

Next time, I’ll buy a better cut and see how it goes.

Until next meal!

Have you cooked in a hostel before? What’s your best dish?

Chinese food by weight in Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 66 Jun 12]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Today was one of the most uneventful day of my time in Buenos Aires. The school didn’t have any after school activities and I had to finish my transit visa application for the US.

Even though it was the third day of Spanish class, it felt like I’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s probably because having 3-hour lessons at a go isn’t very healthy but time does fly when we’re in class.

After class, I popped into one of the supposed “All-You-Can-Eat” places. It turned out to be a Chinese place and sold food by weight.

I picked some of the lighter food: chicken parts with less bones, squid and fried rice. This whole plastic bowl of food was for A$22 (~S$5.50).

It’s not that cheap when compared to Chinese food back home. But here in Argentina where a cheap steak meal would set you back A$45, it’s kind of a miracle that you can find something filling at this price.

The side dishes were quite alright and were quite authentic Chinese cooking. However, the fried rice was a little on the tough side. Maybe Argentinians are more used to not fully cooked rice.

After lunch, I continued filling in the online form for my US visa. There were pages and pages of spaces to fill in. My page kept logging itself out, claiming I had not saved the form for 20 minutes. I had to clear my cache before everything went back to normal.

After I had done the online form, there was still payment of my US$160 visa fee. It was either a choice of paying by cash at the branches of two different banks or paying by credit card.

The only catch for the credit card payment was that it required a 20% charge on top of the transaction due to some rule set by the Argentinian government.

So that makes paying by cash the only option for me. By the time I was done, it was past 3:30pm. I hurriedly packed my things, hoping that I could find one of the Rapigogo branches and pay my fee fast.

Off to pay my visa fee

I set the bank on my Google Map and went off to find it. I assumed that it would be a large bank but it turned out to be something that was smaller than a post office.

At that time, I didn’t have the A$880+ on me. I was terrified of being robbed so I didn’t want to withdraw money before I know where the bank was.

Unfortunately, all the ATMs I went to that were near the Rapigogo branch couldn’t give me the money I want. I decided that I would make the payment tomorrow.

On my way back, I got a few groceries from Carrefour, including two cans of cheap corn in cream. The can turned out to be a hell lot more cream than corn.

Dinner was still brocolli soup but with a can of terrible corn. I also learned the hard way that I should not wash pasta before cooking it. (I assumed it was like rice and need a good rinse.)

How was your day? Did you have good soup?

Tango lesson and show in Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 65 Jun 11]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

[This is Part II of Jun 11. In Part I, I went to La Boca.]

The receptionist at the hostel convinced me to go to a tango lesson and show as it was “cheap Tuesday”.

Everything was A$320 (~S$80), including transportation to and from the hostel, one lesson, a 3-course meal, unlimited drinks and a good show.

My heart did bleed a little when I handed over my A$320. That’s one third of the maximum amount I can withdraw from the ATM at a go. This meant that I will probably need to visit the ATM soon.

My classmate C joined the lesson + show as well, signing up with my hostel. She heard that her hostel was selling a similar package but at A$500.

Pick up to Complejo Tango

My receptionist said the shuttle bus would come at 6:45pm to pick us up. It wasn’t until well past 7pm that the bus actually came.

The bus was half full with very excited girls. Where are all the boys?? [I overheard in my dorm the next day that the guys went to a lesson/show with more guys than girls. Maybe I should have signed up for that.]

When we reached Complejo Tango, we were all sheparded onto a narrow staircase and went one floor up to reach the medium-sized dance studio.

It took a while for the rest of the people to come and for the class to start. Our instructor was Alejandro, a name I will never forget because of Lady Gaga.

Since there were more females than males, some girls had to go to the boy’s side to learn their steps. I manage to hide away at the girl’s side because the boy’s supposed to lead.

Our lesson was short and sweet with lots of footwork. In between, we had to find partners to dance and it was rather awkward. Still, it was a nice break from all the sightseeing and Spanish learning.

Food

After our class, it was dinner time. Our tables were set in a hall that had a stage in the center, against the wall.

I shared a table with my classmates, dorm mates and a lady from Sydney. Our table wasn’t very near the stage but it was a nice distance.

For my three-course meal, I chose empanada for appetizer, steak cooked raw for my main and a creme caramel for dessert.

Since it was a all-you-can-drink, the waitress plonked down three bottles of wine to be shared about the five of us.

The meal was good, although my steak could use a bit more searing to get the fat crispy. (Oh, crispy fat on steak…)

The show started after the main and before dessert…

The show must go on

Surprisingly, there were storylines to the show. In the first one, a man–our instructor Alejandro–kept stabbing the wall where his shadow was. Then his pals came out.

The three of them did a “manly” tango that reminded me of a VideoJug instructional video.

The ladies did come out in the end and that’s when the show got exciting. One of the ladies looked very much like Melisandre with the same sexy red dress but hair that is more copper than red.

In between the storylined dances, an elderly man would pop up and sing. He would then disappear and appear in the storyline as The Elderly Gentleman with Great Seduction Skills, or something like that.

The length of the show was great. It didn’t feel too long or too short.

Around the end, some of the girls were drunk on their all-you-can-drink and were very boisterous. They continued being happily loud on the shuttle bus back.

I would recommend going for tango lesson + show as this if you don’t dance. It’s a great way to learn a bit about the dance and you get a certificate at the end.

Have you seen a tango show? Which part did you like best?

Trip to La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 62 Jun 8]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know that I like creepy things, such as places where skeletons are artfully arranged and cemeteries.

When I learned about La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, I knew that I must visit the place. I didn’t have an exact visit schedule so I slotted it in for today.

Since Google Maps does not have public transport directions for Buenos Aires, I did the safest thing and walked all the way from my hostel.

Good thing Buenos Aires has a grid system. I just needed to walk straight and turn when there is a bend and continue walking.

On my way, I stopped by a GIGANTIC Carrefour for a pack of biscuit (in case I get hungry from the terrible hostel breakfast) and a cup of coffee at the Carrefour Cafe.

I found out that raw steak is sold at as cheap as A$22, making me determined to make my own steak instead of spending A$80 outside for a restaurant steak.

Back to the cemetery… I found it easily since the crosses and angels peeped over the high walls surrounding the resting place.

The place was amazing. Larger than life statues were littered everywhere looking mournful.

Many of the mausoleums were exquisite. My sister mistook the crosses for churches when I sent her and mom photos of the cemetery.

I walked for so long that I decided to take a rest at one of the partly sunny benches. I read through several chapters of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban during the wait.

At last, it was time for me to leave. Before that, I visited Evita’s grave. It looked more like a small black marble box, not as glamourous as many of the “houses” in the neighborhood.

After seeing the cemetery, it got me wondering what people nowadays prefer to be placed after they die.

Swindled by a restaurant

As I walked back from the cemetery, I peeped at the different menus. Alas, everything in proper restaurants cost about A$80 (S$20). I was in my miserly mode of mine so I didn’t go into any of them.

In the end, I found a dingy place near my hostel that offered set meals for A$45. I was tempted by the photo of the steak.

When I went into the restaurant, there were 3 men sitting side by side with their backs to the counter. They stared at me when I walked in. Oh well, I guess none of them wanted to handle the foreigner so I grabbed a menu and read the dish, adding a “Si?”

They said, “Si.” I mimed sitting down and one of the man nodded.

He asked, “Frites?” I replied, “Si.”

The dish took a while to cook. When it came, it was decent but not spectacular. If I wanted spectacular, I should have just gone to the A$80 shops.

When it was time to pay the bills, one of the man asked another man something. The other man said what clearly sounded like “30 pesos” in Spanish because the “t” was audible.

But the change I got back from the first man was change for A$45. I stared at the bill, turning it over to see it taped down the middle.

I could have asked the guy who gave me change, “30 pesos or 40 pesos?” I could do these numbers but it didn’t seem worth it making a scene for what is only S$2.50 of change.

I took leave, vowing to have enough guts to confront that swindler in the future.

#Bilingualsummer achievements

O Google Tranlated “Can I buy a SUBE here?”, memorizing the translation and using a broken version of it to ask for a SUBE. Extra points for understanding the lady’s question of how much I want to load into my card.

X Not asking for the correct change during lunch.

Speechless in Buenos Aires [Day 60 Jun 6]

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

I’ve been on the road for about 2 months and not being able to speak the local language hasn’t been that much of a problem for me.

But when I went out on the streets of Buenos Aires, I realized that not being able to understand Spanish is not an option here.

I figured that English is widely used in Buenos Aires. I keep reading stories about how Spanish-learners kept getting responses in English so I thought I could survive a while with only knowing how to count to 10 and ask for the toilet.

But I found out the hard way that the only place where people would speak to me in English is in my hostel. Dios mio!

I did take Spanish-for-fun lessons in Singapore because of a cheap Groupon. My favourite line from the class was, “What is your favorite color.” I suppose it’s good as a pick up line and for buying presents for people.

Let me summarize my Spanish fails in the next segment which I’ve enthusiastically call:

#Bilingualsummer achievement

If you remember, #bilingualsummer is a self-imposed period of intensive learning of a foreign language.

O Asked for SUBE in Spanish, retreat when didn’t understand shopowner.

O Understood 20% of hostel employee’s speech about heater in the room.

O Didn’t understand anything Movistar employee said about getting a SIM card but understand that I didn’t need to pay anything.

X Keep mixing up gracias with grazie. Damn you Italian.

X Keep trying to use French to replace Spanish. Apparently it does not work.

Other strange things that happened

Being person who was raised in the tropic, I am defenceless against cold weather. I didn’t realize how cold Buenos Aires could get in winter until I checked my Weather app.

Uh oh… Somebody is in trouble.

But I do have enough clothes to layer on so I was quite warm when I went out. What I didn’t realize was that the exposed area between the end of my skirt and knee-length socks would be assaulted by the wind.

I tried not to care and went to sit on a bench in front of the congress building. Then something wet dropped on me. I realized that it was bird poop. I should buy lottery because this means good luck.

Thank goodness there wasn’t anyone around me or I would think that it’s one of the bird poop scams.

I took out some money from the ATM (charged a crazy 0.038% transaction fee–on top of my Singapore bank fee) I had to come back to the hostel and type away until past noon when the sun.

At night, the hostel had a BBQ (A$70). The BBQ pit was enormous and was roasting slabs of meat. Slabs of meat, I repeat.

The strangest thing was that I didn’t have as much meat as I thought I could. Maybe I was still jet lagged or the smell of meat was too much to endure.

Until next time!

Which country did you have the most difficult time communicating with locals?

Full day Ephesus tour [YQrtw Day 55 Jun 1]

Location: Selçuk, Turkey

[I am writing this in the airconditioned room my mom and I rented for 4 hours. It was half the price of a full day room but having a bed, electrical outlet and hot shower is so totally worth it.]

Another packed day of sightseeing ruins. Hurray! Unfortunately, we had to check out before our tour bus came to pick us up so there was no more dilly dallying with luggage packing.

Today’s tour group was small, we only had a total of 6 audience. The Brazillian guy from yesterday’s bus ride was on the tour as well. He didn’t seem to talk as much as he did. Maybe he exhausted his conversation topics.

Our tour guide was Ruya and our driver was Ucuk. Our first stop was the ruins of Ephesus which is considered to be second best conserved ancient site after Pompeii. As I’ve not been to Pompeii, Ephesus was rather impressive.

Unlike a lot of ruins which had only a few blocks of building standing (I’m looking at you Temple of Artemis), here, we saw a lot of colomns which were restacked by the archaeologist so we know where they were.

The thing that will be stuck in my head forever was the public toilets. In one of the rooms, they reconstructed what a 45-seater toilet would look like.

Every rich man who can afford the toilet gets a hole. In the ground, there is a small ditch of streaming water so they can wash their hands or their bums.

The toilet seats line up three sides of the wall. In the middle is a fountain that helps with covering up strange noises that comes from everyone’s backside.

The 3km or so walk from the top of Ephesus to the bottom didn’t feel very long because there were so many things to look at.

Ephesus was also home to the third largest library in the ancient times. But the only thing that survived was the large facade which reminded me very much of Petra in Jordan.

Killer souvenirs

When it was about time to leave, Chatty Brazil and friend were still not on the bus. The guide told us that she dare not go and ask them to come to the van. Previously, a guide was beaten up by a mob of shopowners for calling his tour members back. The guide did not survive. Gulp.

After a quick lunch, we were off to the place where Virgin Mary supposedly lived for some time.

There was no actual house to see but a church that was built on top of the house.

Around the area were several taps with spring water. Mom and I filled in half a 1.5 liter bottle of spring water. The water is considered to be holy but I didn’t feel any special effects after drinking.

There was also a wall for people to write their wishes. Whether the wishes were granted, I am not sure.

Our next stop was an old mosque. Inside the mosque, there were a few columns taken from the Temple of Artemis.

Unlike the other fancier mosque where the colors all bloom in your eyes. This mosque had plain walls which gave a relaxed look.

There was only one column left at the Temple of Artemis.

It’s rather hard to imagine how glorious it was, based on this one column.

Souvenir stops

While being on a guided tour is relaxing, the part where they bring you to souvenir shops is really tiring.

Our first stop was after the Church of Virgin Mary. We saw the making of very pretty ceramic but I did not have the luxury of buying them. One small bowl costs US$16!

Our next stop was a leather outlet store. They even had a fashion show where models paraded their collection.

Everything in the shop had a 3 digit price tag in US dollars. Gulp

The leather store did have a really cute puppy that was wandering around lost, looking for its mom.

Selçuk weekly market

Mom and I managed to catch Selçuk’s Saturday market where we bought a few souvenirs and necessities. I now have sneakers for the cold South American weather.

Mom’s really good at this bargaining thing. My strategy for bargaining is to be stubborn about how much I am willing to pay.

Last week on YQtravelling…

It was mom’s first day in Istanbul. How time flies.

Snowy white Cotton Castle–Pamukkale [YQrtw Day 53 May 30]

Location: Pamukkale, Turkey

Our bus reached Pamukkale town around 6:30am. Fortunately, our hotel had a free twin room and we were allowed to check in ahead of the official timing.

We went for breakfast–half knowing that this probably wasn’t covered in our hotel charges–and ate loads of carbs to give us energy for the day. (Later, the receptionist confronted us about the breakfast. We paid 7 lira each for it.)

Originally on our itinerary, we were supposed to have a free day today and have our tour the next day. I decided that it would be too tiring for us tomorrow to finish our tour at 4pm and hop on the bus to Selçuk 30 minutes afterwards.

So I went out to ask if we could do the tour today instead. I bumped into a person who claimed to be from the travel agency–I found out much later that he wasn’t–who said we could do the tour earlier.

The man also creepily asked me to sit in an empty shop to “chat”. I gave an excuse that I need to bring the Wi-Fi password to mom so I could not stay even for 1 minute.

Later during pick up time, we were approved by the real tour company people to go on the tour today.

I’ll just skip the first two sights that we visited, although they are quite amazing on their own.

First we saw the red hot spring source. The water had a lot of iron in it so the mineral would deposit on the sand and leave red marks. The water did taste like blood, as the tour guide said, due to the iron inside.

Then it was Heriapolis where we saw about 2km of stone coffins, tombs and mausoleums. We also saw the ruins of the city itself, with plenty of columns around.

I was disappointed when the tour guide told me that there were no ghost stories about the necropolis that we were walking through. I want ghost stories, please!

Visiting the Cotton Castle

The highlight of this tour was the Pamukkale terraces. The hot spring water that had much calcium in it would deposit the mineral and leave the side of the mountain looking like it was covered in snow

Pamukkale’s name is Turkish means Cotton Castle, which I think is a really cute name. Cotton Candy Castle will make it even sweeter.

Since we had 2 hours of free time, I took the opportunity to bath in one of the hot springs pool. Entrance fee was 32 lira, a little steep but I felt that it was worth it since I did not have to be in the sun. I hide in one of the shades of the flowers.

* If you want to swim in Pamukkale for free, do it in the terraces where the calcium deposits are.

The walk down from the hill top was treacherous. Mom and I had to take off our shoes so we don’t spoil the pristine white surfaces.

Water kept flowing and parts of the ground was slippery or filled with water that passes an adult’s knees. Luckily, we made it in the end without any major catastrophes. A minor bump during our walk down was when one of my shoes fell into the water.

Later in the evening, I went with the hotel shuttle bus to watch sunset on top of a mountain. There, I managed to slip on a little slope and hurt only some small parts of my hands.

More on the blog:

Last week, I was travelling from Athens, Greece, to Istanbul, Turkey, on an epic 15-hour bus ride.

Sri Lanka: Travel costs & summary

[I always like reading travel cost posts by other bloggers. Now, I’ve finally got started with my own travel cost post. Enjoy!]

It’s been 50+ days into my travels and I haven’t been telling you about the cost and my thoughts on the different places.

Sri Lanka was the first stop of my trip. I’m very glad that I’ve visited Sri Lanka first because it was tough compared to the rest of the places.

For one thing, Sri Lanka’s tourism is not really prepared well for the cheapo traveller like me.

If you have the money, getting drivers/ tour guides to bring you around is easy and very relaxing.

But I have a budget to adhere to so I did everything on my own–even taking the long-distance public transport on the eve of a major public holiday.

Sri Lanka’s travel costs

In April, Sri Lanka’s exchange rate was 101 rupees to 1 Singapore dollar (something like that).

Oddly, getting my money changed at the bank in Kandy gave better rates than the airport did.

Summary

Total spent (rupees)	# of days	Daily average
35,937.5	8	4,492

By Category

Accomo	Transport	Food	Museums/ sites	SIM + data
15,025	3202	5450	7,575	1,210

I’ll be honest, I was trying to squeeze my money in Sri Lanka (even though there’s really no need to) because I want to see if I can spend less than S$50 a day. I think it worked out rather well.

Stat

Duration: 8 days (3 nights in Anuradhapura, 4 nights in Kandy, 1 night in Colombo).

Photos taken: 549 photos

Rice and curry eaten: 7 (On the last day, I had fried rice instead.)

Random

Best room: While my room in Colombo was pricey and had all that you want in a modern hotel room, it was the Kandy hostel single room with shared bathroom that rocked my trip. For the price of a dorm bed, I got a whole room to myself. Woot!

Not-so-good room: My room in Anuradhapura was large but the only electrical socket was deliberately hidden behind a dressing table. The socket was falling apart and I was afraid of killing myself every time I plugged my charger in.

Best meal: Khotu, I LOVE YOU! This stir-fried dough stripes has the right amount of charred taste from the pan and the generous chicken bits are so tasty. I want to eat more of this!

But I like khotu a lot more than hoppers.

Most valuable item bought: Umbrella. Do you remember how I got sunstroke from Sigiriya? If I had bought an umbrella, I would be as healthy as a bull.

Favorite part about Sri Lanka: The price of 3G! It’s so damn cheap and quite fast.

Biggest surprise: Christian shrines at the roadside.

Jesus loves you and wants to give you a hug.

Best experience: Kids boldly saying, “Hi.” to me and asked me where I’m from. Also, a kid asked me in a temple if I was from Japan or Korea and if I knew a particular Korean popstar.

Worst experience: Sitting in crowded third class train carriage with a monk sitting on the aisle across. The old monk’s hands grabbed at the sides of my seat, leading me to squeeze away uncomfortably as I did not think that it was proper for any parts of my body to touch his hands.

Later, some passengers had a shouting match with the monk. One guy offered me his his seat next to his mother.

Another man in purple shirt asked, “Did [the monk] harass you?”
“I don’t know,”I answered honestly.
“If he did, we need to report him,” he said, looking very pissed.

I know that monks are given reverence in Sri Lanka so I wasn’t very sure if I was taken advantage of or just too silly and not just let the monk grab parts of my seat.

Biggest rip off: Anuradhapura scared city entrance ticket for US$35. I know the money is used for conservation but the actual sites that you need to show the tickets are not that splendid. I could have listened to advice on the Internet and cycled in for free.

Biggest regret: Staying for too long in Anuradhapura and not staying a night at Dambulla.

Is Sri Lanka suitable for a solo female traveller?

Before I set foot in Sri Lanka, I asked two girls who have been to the country alone what they thought about solo travel there. Phebe from The Travelling Squid and Stephanie from Pearls and Passport both liked the country and felt it was OK for a single woman to travel there.

After being in Sri Lanka, I think that it’s quite safe to travel as a single woman in Sri Lanka, but some sights are better suited for this than others.

For example, I was more comfortable in Kandy than in Anuradhapura where I didn’t see another East Asian-looking tourist. The beach areas should be tourist-friendly too.

However, the journey to Sigiriya from Kandy was very tiring since I was one of the few single female walking about. Standing on a cramped local bus for 3 hours didn’t help with my level of comfort at all.

In conclusion, I think Sri Lanka is a place that is best visited with a buddy to look out for you. If you really want to travel to Sri Lanka alone, I’d say, “Go ahead!” It’s a safe country but as some of the places are not as lazy-tourist-friendly as Thailand.

Tag: #YQrtw

A coffee at Cafe Tortoni [YQrtw Day 71 Jun 17]

Trip to Cafe Tortoni

Preparing for my visa run/ Streets of Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 69 Jun 15]

Streets of Buenos Aires

Poked fun by a jerk

On Ave Corrientes, Ave 9 de Julio

How was your weekend?

It’s steak time! [YQrtw Day 67 Jun 13]

Have you cooked in a hostel before? What’s your best dish?

Chinese food by weight in Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 66 Jun 12]

Off to pay my visa fee

How was your day? Did you have good soup?

Tango lesson and show in Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 65 Jun 11]

Pick up to Complejo Tango

Food

The show must go on

Have you seen a tango show? Which part did you like best?

Trip to La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires [YQrtw Day 62 Jun 8]

Swindled by a restaurant

#Bilingualsummer achievements

Speechless in Buenos Aires [Day 60 Jun 6]

#Bilingualsummer achievement

Other strange things that happened

Which country did you have the most difficult time communicating with locals?

Full day Ephesus tour [YQrtw Day 55 Jun 1]

Killer souvenirs

Souvenir stops

Selçuk weekly market

Last week on YQtravelling…

Snowy white Cotton Castle–Pamukkale [YQrtw Day 53 May 30]

Visiting the Cotton Castle

More on the blog:

Sri Lanka: Travel costs & summary

Sri Lanka’s travel costs

Stat

Random

Is Sri Lanka suitable for a solo female traveller?

If you are interested in reading more about my days in Sri Lanka, check out the archives.