A group of young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 with a burning sense of adventure - would be a loose description of the people behind ‘Sinhalaya Travels’.
Wanting to break away from the mundane leisure activities that Colombo had to offer, around August last year, a group of friends decided to take a road trip to Kandy.
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The desire to do something that wasn’t run-of-the-mill and the spontaneous nature of the trip restricted the wayfarers to footing it around and occasionally using buses and tuk-tuks to reach their destination.
They've asked locals for directions to a seminary, and stumbled across a bathing spot known only to the Kandy folk. Their one day ‘hardcore’ trip of finding their own way about and discovering new places such as the little known bathing spot, has left its mark on the guys. Soon, they decided to write about their jaunt in a blog, sharing their adventures with others and providing them with details of how to reach the destination – and thus the 'Sinhalaya Travels' website came into being.
The concept was put together by a group of friends, and was fuelled by the desire to keep writing and travelling. “Mostly it’s a case of people wanting to go somewhere, and then it’s a matter of figuring out the place and taking off,” says Abdul Halik Azeez (24) who maintains the blog along with Gerald Pereira (20), elaborating about the spontaneity of their travelling.
Bitten by the travel bug and the sense of adventure now pulsing through their veins, they’ve currently been on 8 spur-of-the-moment trips, each a little more hardcore than the one before. What’s different about 'inhalaya Travels' from other local travel websites is that all their outings have a core element of adventure. They get a thrill out of being the crash test dummies for their venturesome travels.
Throwing themselves into the unknown they use what little resources they have, their wits and of course their charm to save themselves from being stuck in the dark gelid hills of Knuckles at night, while it’s raining stair-rods, choleric elephants charging at them and collapsing from dehydration during their journey, to reach home in one piece though a little battered and bruised.
The website also gives a candid review of the places they’ve visited - the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s highly informative with maps, directions with landmarks, cost of the trips and reviews of the restaurants and hotels.
Each post is liberally dotted with breathtaking pictures of the places that the shutterbugs have snapped away at.
Along with the necessary information of costs and pictures, the posts are also filled with a good dose of humour that will have you in stitches- a winning combination for an upcoming website.
Currently the 'Sinhalaya Travels’ rat-pack have been to Kandy, Mirisa, the East Coast- Panama to Batticalo, Polonnaruwa, Anuraddhapura, Nitro cave (Corbert’s gap), in and around Colombo, Kalpitiya, Jaffna and Galle.
Being true to their website's tagline, 'It’s hardcore, maan' -they have cycled long distance on push bikes, backpacked in the hills and camped in places that aren’t suited for camping due to safety reasons (the latter of which they strongly discourage readers from following).
The crew recommend that first time campers pick an easy location, get the hang of setting up a tent and lighting a fire and other basics, before they venture out.
Easy to cook food like instant noodles, a good quality backpack (they insist that packing light is imperative), lots of water, snacks (cream crackers for instance) and sunglasses are a few of the essentials for every hard-wearing budget traveller. Proper disposal of garbage is also important – “Take only photographs and leave only footprints,” they explain.
Diverse in their professions 'Sinhalaya Travels' consist of marketing executives, students, graphic designers and writers.
Their travelling experiences involve basking in the culture, meeting and interacting with people and immersing themselves completely in the places they visit.
From agile bus conductors jumping onto the roof of travelling buses to the generous hospitality of village dwellers – their adventures have been rendered colourful by the wide ranging spectrum of people they’ve met along their way.
“The military presence was very friendly too,” says Gerald, explaining that as they started travelling after the war, the sense of freedom which pervaded the air was unmistakable.
“One of the advantages of Sri Lanka, especially because it’s so small, is that you can get anywhere in practically a day,” explains Gerald, “So we’re quite lucky in that sense.” “What you notice is the amazing diversity. You travel 30 kilometres down a road and you’ll notice the weather and geographical changes. It’s quite amazing,” says Halik.
“People talk about how diverse the country is, but you don’t really see it until you actually experience it,” he added. And what future plans do the crew of 'Sinhalaya Travels' have under their sleeve? “Future plans? Well, that depends on our free time. We’d like to go to Mahiyangana and we really want to see the Veddhas,” explains Halik. “And I’m sure Jerry wants to go back home,” he quips.
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