Sri Lanka: The Great Tuk Tuk Scam Number 2?

With my previous 3 destinations being full of food and adult beverages, I decided to give either my stomach or my liver a much needed break. (If I deprived myself of both, what fun would there be?) Luckily, Sri Lanka was my next stop, which I planned as my relaxing beach destination.

Some beach shots I took:

Beach side dining

Back of my hotel

Even though a random man asking me to marry a girl from his village did make the beach interesting, I realized that I had as much enjoyment as I could with the beach after relaxing there for an hour by myself. I decided to explore the area for the next two days.

I had originally wanted water activities to take up most of my time in Sri Lanka, but after arriving at my hotel and seeing the beaches, it was not the season for snorkeling or surfing. Not having done any research, I decided to ask my hotel owner about moped rentals and he quickly suggested having his friend take me to popular tourist destinations by tuk tuk (motorized rickshaw), all for the low cost of 3000 Rupees (about $20).

A little background on Sri Lanka and their tourism commerce from what I learned there. They don't cheat you per say, but they will take advantage of you with an inflated price if given the opportunity. For that price, I was told that I would be taken to about 4 destinations over 4 hours. I decided I had nothing better to do so I took it.

The first stop would be a "moon stone mine" where they would show me how they mine and polish moonstones (their "national gem", or so they claim). I was greeted by a suited man who led me on a tour of their mine. Cue my internal scam alarm. I hurried along the tour to what I knew the end held for me: a very nice jewelry store where they would attempt to pressure me into buying stones for the girlfriend they insisted that I had.

This felt exactly like my tuk tuk scam I ran into in Thailand. I put one foot into the store and saw the eager faces of clean cut suited men, then I quickly turned around and didn't give them the chance to talk to me. I adamantly said, "No thank you," and asked my driver to leave. As we left, I decided I did not want to waste my time and confronted the driver about taking me to tourist traps. (I later found out at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. that the moonstone was a real gem, and it was considered their national stone. I felt like an ass after that.)

Sifting for moonstones

Polished moonstone in the Smithsonian

I asked the driver about the other sites he was going to take me to. One was a river boat tour, which would have cost about $60 USD (I quickly said no), but he convinced me to go to a turtle reserve with an admission of around $5 USD. Sadly it was like a miniature petting zoo but I did manage to get a few shots of cute turtles.

I finally was getting a little hungry, and asked the driver to take me to his favorite local spot for food. Despite the feeling of being led around to tourist traps, I paid for his lunch, still most likely being overcharged. It cost a whopping $4 USD total.

Locals restaurant, our utensils were our hands!

Pretty relaxing with me being one of the few tourists there

I was dropped off and decided to walk down to enjoy the beach a little more before it got dark. On my way there I heard an American voice asking "Are you really from Oregon?" ( I was wearing my Oregon ducks t-shirt) and I looked up to see two, definitely American, older couple walking across the street my way. Turns out they were retirees from South Carolina living in Sri Lanka, they were the ones that told me about the overcharging methods. They told me a couple places to check out about an hour south of my hotel, and I decided to do it by moped the next day.

Not only do these points and miles take me places, but I get these chance encounters because I was wearing a specific tshirt at a specific time and place. Next up, my meandering moped adventure!