Sri Lanka Before You Land
The island explained, before your first day
You have booked the flights. Now give the trip its meaning before you board. In twelve short chapters, Sri Lanka Before You Land explains the island you are about to visit: the 2,500 years behind the ruins, the reasons the temple asks what it asks, how the two monsoons set your route, what things should cost, and how to watch wildlife without harming it. Every fact is checked against current sources and dated. You arrive knowing why things are the way they are, so you behave well without worrying, plan with real travel times, and see more than the photographs show.
- Pages
- 118 (A5)
- Formats
- PDF and EPUB
- Language
- English; translations to follow
- Facts checked
- October 2026
Paid ebook. Price to be announced. We will announce the release on YouTube first.
Follow on YouTubeWho it is for
- You have booked a first trip of one to three weeks, and you want it to mean something.
- You want to understand what you see: the story behind the ruins, and why the temple asks what it asks.
- You want to get the etiquette, the route and the prices right without forty browser tabs.
What is inside
- 1 The island in five ideas
- 2 2,500 years in one chapter
- 3 Buddhism and the temples: what is asked of you, and why
- 4 The people: greetings, hands and a few words
- 5 Seasons and the two monsoons
- 6 The route: the classic two-week loop
- 7 Getting around: trains, drivers, tuk-tuks and buses
- 8 Money, prices and fair bargaining
- 9 Food: what to order, and how to eat it
- 10 Wildlife, responsibly
- 11 Photography with permission
- 12 The first 48 hours, and the pages to keep
Read a sample
From chapter 3: Buddhism and the temples
1. Remove your shoes and your hat
Take off your shoes and socks at the entrance to the temple grounds. There is usually a place to leave them, sometimes with a person who looks after them for a small payment. Take off your hat at the same point.
Why: In Sri Lanka, as in many parts of Asia, feet and shoes are thought of as low and unclean. Shoes carry the dirt of the road. Removing them is how you show that you are entering a place that is clean and set apart. People remove their shoes before entering many homes, too, for the same reason. Removing the hat is a sign of respect, in the same way that a man in many countries would remove his hat indoors.
In practice: The ground can be very hot in the middle of the day, especially on stone or sand. At large open sites, such as the sacred city of Anuradhapura, visit early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Some visitors wear thin white socks on hot ground; whether this is accepted varies from place to place, so watch what the people around you do, or ask.
Every fact in the book is checked against current sources and dated. How we research. Also from Lanka Lens: Your First Week in Sri Lanka (free guide).