Why busses in Lanka are awesome and terrible at the same time

I can give tons of advises on taking the bus in this country. It’s a real sport to travel the bus like a proper local, and I’m still not quite there, but I am slowly getting better at it. It's between five to fifty times cheaper than a tuk for the same distance, so that's one of the reasons why I love it.

colourful busses at a parking in Colombo

Every single time it’s an adventure on its own. I’d like to tell you how I take the bus, and some of my crazy experiences.

First step: finding the right bus

Taking the local bus in this country, is a real adventure. First of all, after a total of 8 months in this country, I still don’t know which bus to take where. So I just go to the station and ask the conductors of the busses. I might end up walking around the whole bus station before finding the right bus. I always ask more than one person which bus is the right one. When I am waiting at a bus stop, I will ask someone who’s waiting to point out the right bus, and check again with the conductor or the driver.

There are different kinds of busses; some are ‘village busses’, and they stop about everywhere where someone wants them to stop. Just keep an eye on google maps and tell them where to stop. some are ‘express busses’, they race much harder and stop only at certain places. Even when you have a seat, you have to hold yourself. Then there are the ‘luxury busses’, which are smaller, air-conditioned and a bit more expensive. I don’t like them, because mostly they are pretty old and crappy and you get ill of the dirty air-conditioning. I’d rather sit next to an open window in a local bus.

On some tracks, for example Matara-Colombo and Galle-Colombo there are air-conditioned highway busses. They cost a bit more, compared to the local busses, but they are very convenient and fast. At your hotel/hostel/guesthouse they will be able to give you advice on the best way to travel by public transport.

Second step: figuring out the local price

I try to figure out the right bus price before paying the conductor, because they tend to make up special prices for foreigners. So where a local pays 20 rupees, if I don’t know the right price, I might end up paying 40. This is still only 30 eurocents but it feels like a rip off. I ask a local for the correct price. Just wait for the conductor to come up to you to collect the money.

Third step: Get in

Once I found the right bus, I put my fingers in my ears and get in. Fingers in my ears? Yes. There’s a big chance I am entering a disco-like bus, including flickering Buddha lights (or Jesus or Hindu, depending on the religion of the bus driver and conductor) and really loud Sinhalese bus music. I turn my thumbs (the Dutch way of saying ‘keep my fingers crossed’) that I have a seat, because otherwise I’ll end up standing in the isle and flying through the bus with every hold or go, collecting some nice bruises along the way. Big bags I put next to the bus driver.

Be aware that personal space isn’t in the Sri Lankan dictionary, so people might be standing too close to you in your opinion. As a girl, make sure hands of fellow passengers don’t end up at places they don’t belong, scream at anyone not respecting that. They are not used to girls speaking up so they’ll probably back off.

People don’t get up or aside to let you through. By waiting you won’t be able to go anywhere, so you have to push yourself through. If someone is sitting in the aisle seat and the window seat is free, you can sit in that seat, but this person will probably not move even an inch to make this easier for you.  

Fourth step: Choose a seat

This is where the sport gets serious, because there's so many things to take in account by making a decision which seat to sit in. If I have a choice which seat to get, I check if my window opens (you don’t want to sit next to a window that doesn’t open) and try to sit next to a woman and avoid scary men.

Also, I try not to sit in the front seats. The first seats on the right are reserved for monks and some other seats in the front for pregnant ladies, elderly or people with special needs. Last time I was sitting in a bus, and a monk came in. I got up and aside, like you are supposed to do. Apparently people are able to move aside in the bus, but just for a monk. Next to the monk, the man that was sitting next to me before sat down. There was one more seat, and I wanted to sit down on that one. But the people in the bus told me ‘no no no’ and another person was pointed out to sit on that chair. I didn’t understand why that person was allowed to sit there, and I wasn’t, and I thought it was unfair. Nobody tried to explain this to me. Then I figured that I am a woman (I forgot about that difference for a moment) and apparently as a woman you’re not allowed to sit in the same row as the monk.

Fifth step: Look around you and enjoy

When I am finally sitting next to an open window with earplugs in and a friendly woman next to me while holding myself to not fly through the bus, I look around. I love looking at the view, at the colourful food stalls and interesting shops, temples, paddy fields, the sea, the mountains or interesting tuktuk wisdom.

Just a colourful shop along the road. You see them every few meters but they never get boring to me.

But I enjoy looking around in the bus as well. I once saw a busdriver picking his teeth with a safety pin while calling his whole family and driving like crazy. Oh yeah, and closing the door again every once in a while because it didn’t close properly. And if the music didn’t make me deaf yet, the horn will. The combination of music and the horn will also make every conversation impossible.

If you’re lucky, you are in a bus with a TV screen, and you might be able to watch the live show of the music playing, a magic show or some crazy home videos which have nothing to do with the music playing, or some dramatic romantic video clips belonging to the music which makes you able to follow the story of the music.

If you pass a temple, there’s a chance that the conductor and some of the passengers pray quickly. The conductor might spray some water on the Buddha on the little altar in the front of the bus, and maybe runs out to put a coin in the giftbox to ensure safe travels.



Taking pictures from the bus isn't that easy, but I caught a nice pic of this temple!

Don't worry if the bus stops at someones house and makes a strange turn. Probably they just have to deliver some rice or so. Also you might get someones bag on your lap if they have to stand. Or a baby. This is all discussed without words but only eyecontact.

And if you think the bus is full, wait and see. At least 40 more people can fit in. With their weekly groceries. And after that, they are still able to move aside when a monk gets in.

Sixth step: Get out and rest

Keep an eye on google maps or ask someone when you have to get out of the bus. You might have to push quite hard to get to the door. Make sure you jump out at the moment the bus slows down, because if you’re the only one getting out, it won’t really stop. It will only slow down just enough for you to be able to jump out of the bus. Walk to where you have to be, and take a nap. Because traveling by bus in this country is interesting and exciting, but also terribly exhausting.

How to cross a road in Lanka without getting killed

A kingcoconut loaded bicycle and some busses

Like in the animal kingdom, the Sri Lankan roads have a hierarchy. If you want to travel ‘like a local’ and you won’t always have a guide or driver around you to help you, you will have to cross a road every once in a while. Also you will experience the crazy Sri Lankan busses. It’s such an adventure, every time again, that I like to share my experiences with you.

The hierarchy of the road:

The lowest place in this hierarchy is taken by the people walking on the road sides, watching their steps because there might be holes in the road. People walk relatively slow in this country, and they don’t really go aside if any vehicle blows their horn. Because it happens every few seconds, and you won't get anywhere if you go aside al the time. But with not going aside, the chances of getting crushed increase.



Also, don't stand in the middle of the road to make the perfect picture

You see quite a lot of bicycles here. Not as much as in the Netherlands, but still. Mostly older men with a lot of baggage, for example a big bunch of kingcoconuts.

The scooters come next, and the motorbikes after that. Very fast and crazy, if helmets are worn, they are mostly just there for decoration. I haven’t worn a single helmet that actually closes up like it’s supposed to. But a creative knot will keep your helmet on your head for most of the time ;) Also it’s the perfect vehicle to transport your five member family and the weekly groceries. At the same time.

Then you have the tuktuks, that fly like colourful birds through every hole and move quite fast. They are fragile as well though, and relatively expensive. To take a passenger tuktuk, will cost you about 50 times the price of the same distance by bus. (about 50 rs per kilometer). They aren't hard to find (except when you need one quickly). They will ask you 'madam you need tuktuk?' every few meters. You also have the bread tuktuks, which are like driving bakeries. You can't miss them because they always play a very loud and false version of Beethovens 'Für Elise' melody. There is a big chance you will wake up with this sound at least once during your stay. I think this is incredible, because this country can't agree on any single rule but the breadtuktuks somehow agreed to all use the same melody all over the country. There are icecream tuktuks as well, with a specific sound. They sell cheap and tasty icecreams. My favorite is the rainbow icecream for 40 rupees.

Nobody cares

The cars are relatively safe and comfortable, depending on the level of craziness of your driver.


How could I forget about the lorries and pick up trucks? There are the beautiful colourfull lorries which are transporting anything you could think of, from fruits to animals to elephants. 

An overloaded lorry in Pettah, Colombo

Then there are the pick up trucks, which also transport anything but mostly with an extra bunch of people. So a truck fully loaden with wood and 5 people standing on top or next to it, is quite common. Also sometimes they're used as a way to transport a family that is bigger than five members, so they don't fit on a scooter. Of course, they need a nice seat. So they just move there livingroom couch to the pick up truck and there you are, luxury open air family transportation!

The king of the road is definitely the bus. The express busses race. Not just fast, but highspeed. They blow their horn if something doesn’t get out of the way immediately. Some busses are slow, but still you shouldn’t ever get in their way. They win, I promise.

Crossing the road


Crossing the road in Colombo at sunset

Keep in mind this hierarchy. Depending on the speed of the vehicles, you can cross the road just by showing enough attitude. If you act like you are going to cross anyway, even if they wouldn’t stop, they will stop. BUT DON’T EVER TRY THIS WITH BUSSES. Jump aside, hide, run away. Don’t ever try to get in the way of a bus. It’s like getting in the way of an angry elephant. Just don’t.

As soon as you don’t see any busses, hold your hand up like a stop sign, close your eyes, take a deep breath and walk.

You will probably survive.

 

*The author is not responsible for any accidents or damage on account of this blog.

**I love this country. This blog is just meant to be funny and informative. 



Trying to carry the world

Hoping the wind will create some space in my head

When you try to carry the world, but it feels like it is so broken and messed up that you can only carry a couple of pieces. When you pick one up, you drop another. And you will have to walk over all the pieces you didn’t pick up to carry on following your path. But you can’t choose, because all the pieces feel equally important.

WARNING: Heavy blog

Everyone who knows me personally, knows that I am always trying to make this world a better place, and striving for that with everything I have in me. So I had a mini-identity crisis last week. When you travel, you face yourself more than being in your own environment. On one hand it’s good, because you are the only one to decide who you want to be and what you want to do. On the other hand, it can be hard, because who is it exactly you want to be? Which values are the most important to you?

I enjoy writing my blogs, and I had a feeling in this way I was creating some awareness between both Sri Lankans and western people, or in general between people from different cultures. And that’s what a lot of comments were about, people liking my blogs, being inspired.

But some people didn’t like my blog. They told me I was generalizing too much, because “not every house has those flipflop rules”. Or they told me I didn’t check my white privilege; “This country is ruined by colonialism by countries like yours, and now you come bashing that our country isn’t well organized. But that’s because colonialism messed up our country.”

And I thought, naively, that I was only creating some awareness by sharing my view… But apparently I was criticizing and hurting a lot of people, creating the opposite of what I wanted. I wanted to create a positive flow of respect and understanding of people with different views, cultures or habits. I didn’t want anyone to think I was bashing about this country, I didn’t want to hurt them by making them feel like I know better because of my skin colour.

Because I don’t know better, I just know different.

So it made me feel like I should never write anything again. I started to doubt all my values and choices, feeling insecure about everything. I didn’t know how to do good anymore…

How can you strive for equality if you are only looking at one side of the story? But how can you change inequality if you don’t recognize it and don’t pay attention to it?

I don’t want to exclude or hurt another goal or value equally important.

It’s the same with feminism. I truly believe that everyone should have the same opportunities, and women all around the world still don’t have the same opportunities (also in Western countries, send me a personal message if you don’t agree ;) ). So we have to empower them. But by only striving for feminist goals, I feel like I am separating women and men even more, which is the opposite of what I want to do. So how can I ever strive for something without creating another bad thing, in my own eyes or in the eyes of others?

And for the Dutch under us; this is the same with black Pete. Read my four year old but still up to date Dutch blog about that here http://nynkezandhuis.blogspot.com/2013/10/vijftig-tinten-bruin.html.

Life isn't always about roses

Conversations help to sort out your thoughts and worries. After doubting my whole existence on my own, I luckily started talking (and crying ;) ) with some friends. They helped me to figure out the following:

I can’t pick up more pieces of the world than I can carry. I try to pick up as many pieces as possible of this world. I am aware that I am only picking up some pieces. Only by following my very own path with confidence, I can be strong enough to carry some pieces and make a change. And I might generate some strong responses with my choices, but at least I make people think. I might make mistakes, but I can make at least a small difference.

Respect is the key.

Everyone has a different version of a better world. Only with a combination of striving for your values and respecting other values we can reach something. Listen to both your heart, and the heart of that other person who is trying to pick up one of those other pieces of the world. This doesn’t mean your pieces aren’t important.  It just means that other pieces might be more important for other people.
By respecting and understanding the other side of a story, you might be able to learn something and to see where your pieces connect

Because it is impossible to carry all those pieces of the world alone, but together we can!