Hiring a Tuk Tuk to drive yourself across Sri Lanka may seem like a bit of a ball ache.
But my balls didn’t ache once.
Catching buses in Sri Lanka is an unpredictable affair most buses don’t stop so you have to run alongside and throw your luggage on and then throw yourself on. You never really know where it’s going or how long it will take to get there.
Self-Driving a tuk tuk gives you so much freedom to go where you want when you want to. You have your own space to gently explore the country. We hired our tuk tuk from a travel company based on Lewis Street in Negombo. After a bit of negotiation we managed to get a nearly new tuk tuk with just 2200km on the clock for $10 a day.
We were taken to a nearby field to learn the controls and have a test drive.
Having not pre planned out trip too well we completely forgot to get an international driving license in the UK. Which meant we had to go back to Colombo to get a Sri Lankan driving license.
We were dropped outside the Department of Driving Traffic by our driver. We were directed into the main gate where we were then left to our own devices. We wonder through security and past the learner drivers parked up to take their test. After about 20mins of confused wondering we found the office we needed. This is a bit of an ordeal, we had to go from desk to desk to pay tiny bits of money to many different people. It’s confusing but if you smile the staff are more than happy to help.
Setting out on the first leg of our journey was terrifying for the first 2 minutes. There are horns, you stall, people laugh at you, people shout at you. Its sensory overload but once you’re up to speed it’s amazing, you’re finally free to go where ever you fancy.
This is my first ever post. I will be posting a new chapter from my Sri Lankan Tuk Tuk Adventure everyday. I would be very grateful for any feedback to help me improve my posts. I hope you've enjoyed the first part :)