Taking My Dad on Sri Lanka's $2 Crazy Bus
Wow. The streets are empty at 7:30 AM. But good morning guys. We are on the hunt.
No, we're on the move. Really. We have been in Galle for two days and, uh, we're heading to the bus station because we're going into Yala. It's gonna be a fun journey because we don't actually know exactly how to, to get there.
I believe the closest city nearby is called Tisa Mara, I think. And then hopefully from Galle, we can catch a bus directly, but we tried to get a little bit info, um, before. And I don't think it's that plausible. So likely scenarios go to Matara, then catch a bus from, uh, Matara to - These names man, these names. Uh, but we need a tuk tuk.
I swear they're not around when you, when you don't need them they're not here. No? Wow. 30 seconds. What's going on? Oh, he's uh, he's getting his boys. All right.
Anyways, we're headed to Yala for a couple nights, Galle was okay. Galle was, uh, what did you think of Galle dad? Oh, we, we he's coming? What did you think of Galle? Uh, lots, lots of history, which we didn't really dig down too much into have, um, yeah, cute, uh, boutique, uh, west meets east. I don't know it's a mixture of everything. - Yeah honestly. Really fascinating actually. I didn't, uh, film any videos here.
It's an interesting vibe. A lot of jewelry shops. Yeah. So nothing of our interest. We're gonna have a - All right.
Uh, bus station. Galle, 300? It's only like a kilometer away, but paying 300 for that. Let's uh, Get the bags in.
we're just making our way through the Fort and everything was super cool, like roaming around here, seeing all the history and whatnot. Um, but today we make moves. We make moves to Yala and we're staying in a pretty cool hotel once we get there. So I'm excited to show you guys that in the next video, but we are the real journey in today is going on.
Sri Lanka's crazy bus. The buses are crazy here, dad. Like I think. That's it's pretty typical around here.
I think it's a lot of things. Oh yeah. I think in my opinion, they're the craziest in the world. The buses specifically, are Are they crazier than the tuk tuks? Oh yeah. Oh, okay then shit. - But at least we're um, at least we're bigger than the tuk tuks.
That's the rule here. Whoever's bigger owns the road. - Really? Okay yeah. Anyways, we're approaching the bus station. We'll uh, we'll figure it out along the way.
Almost ran over that little Sri Lankan man. It's one bag we're actually traveling pretty light. Well, this is what I always travel with. Just a small bag and another backpack. You paid him? - Yeah. All right.
300 rupees. Let's do it. The journey begins. Should we time it? Yeah what's the time right now? 7:35. I reckon we'll get there by one, one. Oh, okay.
Midday. Maybe 1:00 AM. Depends how crazy they are. Well, that's, that's the thing. I'm, I don't know.
I know I'm gonna be an indication of time and safety. Yeah. All right. So we're looking for Matara.
This is like the bus stand. It's actually reasonably organized. You have all the ones going to different places around Sri Lanka here.
Matara express. Matara is like basically the biggest bus station in the south. No, no, no. You, you buy them on there. Matara? All right.
We're on the crazy bus everybody. Here we go, I reckon right here is perfect, right by the speaker. Oh actually, maybe that's not gonna be good for the copyright music, so yeah, or maybe a three seater. Get a bit of extra space. Oh, wow another speaker. I know.
All right. We'll probably have to pay for three seats. Really? Yeah.
I don't know. Well, it, its kind of just based on how many seats you take up. Oh, is it really? Yeah, they really got the music going today when I had the bus up to Kandy. Yeah.
It, uh, it wasn't that loud music. I think we should sit here. Take out three. Yeah, take out three instead of taking out five and we can chuck some up in there. We're finally set.
We're set for the adventure, but we're being blocked. We're kind of trapped in. We've got that big bus and we've got a big bus ahead of us as well. All right. You ready? Big spread here. I got space here.
Okay. My yoga is not very good these days. My flexibility is even worse. We do have to get comfortable though. I know they are, no, they're honestly very crazy.
That could be a few hours. Good. No, this first one will be like one hour. Oh yeah. And I think the next one's about three hours. So the next one's the important one to get right.
I don't know what it is, but there's something so blissful about sticking your head out of windows, whether it be trains or tuk tuks, having a fresh breeze upon you going by the water, watching the waves break. It's just such a, a blissful experience. You do have to be careful though.
You don't wanna get your head knocked off by another bus or lose your hat. I don't wanna be losing my hat. I wonder how much it'll be.
And I'm also not sure if we're paying for two or three tickets. So 170 back. So it was, uh, quick maths, 330? 330 for two people to get maybe like, 30 or 40 kilometers to Matara. It's like $2.
Yeah. A dollar each with, with all our luggage as well. It's pretty good. Anyways, now that we're paid, we can enjoy the views of the beach towns. I think right now we're going through una or tuna.
Nice couple waves there. Ooh, better keep my hands in before they get chopped off, like my other hand. So I think we're in una with tuna at the moment. I actually stayed here in 2019 for a few nights in UN tuna, before I made my way down to, uh, Marisa, at the time there weren't many tourists here because the eastern bombings had just happened All the tourists kind of, uh, fled the country.
And, uh, I had the beach all to myself. I had hotels all to myself at the time I was staying in dorm rooms, which were empty. So I basically paid like a couple bucks a night for a full 6 bedroom, that was all by myself. Um, so it was an interesting experience to say the least coming here and not really seeing many tourists. Oh, look at that wave there.
Oh, you won't be able to see it, but it's a beautiful break. Good for a bit of surfing, but it's, uh, like it's very comparable or like incomparable to the last time I was here in Sri Lanka, just because the tourism industry right now, obviously with COVID and stuff, it's really picked up a lot. And, uh, back when I was here last time, the, I don't think I saw another tourist, like, a week and a half until I got to Marisa. Didn't see. Uh, didn't see them in Galle.. Yeah Galle was actually, I stayed in Galle for two nights and, uh, that was interesting because there were so many tourists there the past couple days that we were here.
So it's good to see tourisms kicking off again, helping out the local economy and uh, helping out the people. I really hope the camera can justify this base. I feeling, I feel like the speakers are gonna blow out it's so it's like, do, do, do, do, do do, but we're in Weligama. We, uh, just like came through the bus station just over there. This is where I stayed, uh, a couple nights with the boys, uh, a few weeks ago.
Whoa. So it's, uh, it's good to be back in this area for very, very touristy area, very, uh, party central, surf central good beaches, good surfing. Um, but I was driving past like, And man, those, those beaches, those breaks look like absolute paradise. I think, uh, before I leave Sri Lanka after dad leaves. I think. Have to make a trip up to - and get a, a couple good surf days in just because, uh - That's the beach break that it's called.
They look like absolute paradise, but we're going through here, well, we better get our arms in. Don't wanna get chopped off. Wow. Yeah, ambulance is there.
It's definitely not a good situation at all, but it's a common, common occurrence here, unfortunately. Oh, I think it's a tourist. Oh my God.
Wow. Two tourists. Hopefully they are all okay.
That's crazy. All right, everybody after maybe an hour and a half, we're finally approaching the, uh, Matara bus stand. So we're gonna grab some breakfast after we get off here and then we'll catch the next bus over to Yala, which will be significantly, uh, longer in length and time. So. Let's get off this bus and we'll try and find the next one after a bit of food. Hello.
Oh no we're eating. There's a, there's a shop over here that does like rotti and stuff. What should we find out when the bus is usually goes? Uh, I think it's every like 10 minutes.
Really? - Yeah. Well let's eat first. I think it's the shop, right? This is where I had the kottu. Yeah. Do you have egg hoppers? Huh? Egg roti.
Oh, oh, you have egg roti? You can do, uh, egg roti fresh? Maybe we'll ask this machan uh, here's the egg roti. So your hoppers egg roti. That's I think egg something as well. You can do, um, like egg roti fresh? It's okay? Um, do you want, yeah, yeah.
Or you want one or two? Alright. One and. Uh, veggie. Okay. Yeah. Let's see how these are made.
These is my favorite part. He whips it up just like this. So these veggie ones, you like the veggie ones? Don't you dad? Yeah yeah. They're really beautiful.
It's spicy. Yeah. The egg ones I've had before. - Spicey? No, they're not spicy at all.
No. The veggie ones, I find a little bit spicy though, but he's cooking it all up here. So I imagine. Oh, here's the mixture.
That's like, what's involved in a veg, veg roti. So here we go. It's folded up like that. It amazes me how he's able to get it into a perfect triangle every single time. Very good.
Machan very good. I, I love it. He's whipping it around. - Like pizza. Yeah like a pizza. Yeah spin it around.
And there's the egg ones, I guess they're premade. Actually maybe, uh, two egg, two veg.. Oh, I'll have one veg. I'll try it. Gotta try it out. It does look spicy though.
In here there's a lot of chili flakes and I'm not the best with spice. I will say guys, Sri Lanka out of all the countries I've been to you guys hold the throne for the most spicy food. Oh. Um, no curry though.
Oh, do you want curry? Yeah. Because they kind of do it like that. Oh, not a traditional Curry. Yeah. Machan um.
Curry no, just plain. All right so we got the egg roti here. The veg roti. Yeah, it's really nice.
And like, plain, we also got some dhal here. Uh, I think that's cold, but what I love doing, it's getting a bit of a dhal on the side there and then kind of like getting a handful of this. And then boom, got some dhal, got some egg roti and then you put it in your mouth. Oh, that's nice.
That's really nice. - The egg roti with that? Yeah, that's actually delicious. What's um, get some of that. Okay.
Yeah that's nice. Really good. I'm a big fan of dhal I like it a lot, but we've had a minute for the veggie roti to cool down. So he kind of like cut it up into the pieces for us. Like when I was a kid, mum used to, uh, chop up my little bits of chicken or bits of steak, I feel like I'm being, uh, parented again. But here we have the, uh, veggie roti.
This is the first time I tried this. I think maybe I, well definitely on this trip. I think I've tried it, uh, in 2019 when I was here, but we got, like, you can see in the middle, the like potato, onions, different like bits of spices and then veggie all that.
So cool. Yeah. That's the perfect bit to get in them out. - And get your water ready. Ooh. It's oh, I was gonna say it's not spicy hot.
It's like physically hot. Wow. I find that really spicy. Yeah. I think I'm going to steal your water. Have you got in? No, Maan I'll have, uh, one water please.
Cool, please. ASAP. It's all in your head. Well, of course the water's all the way at the back. What are the chances? Uh, no Cola. I said at the beginning Sri Lanka has the spiciest food.
I'm not finding it too bad. I don't do well at all with, uh, I'll stick to my dhal and my plain, uh, roti. You can see the little bits of, uh, egg that have been cooked in there. I can see some chili.
As well, but you know, whether you have it like plain, or if you have it with a dhal, it's just so nice. You know, just plain, it's simple, savory a bit just has really nice texture and really nice taste. And of course, if you add a bit of dhal to that, then you get whole combination of flavors such so simple, such a simple meal that tastes so good.
I probably mentioned this in. Other like food video, but I find it funny how in Sri Lanka they add the, like the plastic bag on top. Yeah, what's that doing there? - I think it's just to not get the plate dirty so they can like reuse it. So when, when people finished with their curry and stuff, they just like fold it up and then chuck it immediately. Yeah. So I get that.
I mean more plastic waste - Very good. More plastic waste, but uh, less labor costs. Sorry, taking on one of So it's not just me. Thankfully. It must be an Australian thing. Can we grab the bill machan? Yeah.
Thank you. D okay. 550.
Okay. Thank you. Get the bags on and then we'll catch the next bus.
All right we made a little pit stop to the next door over to get some, uh, some nest cafe coffee, give it a taste test. What is it? - It's good. It's okay. It's just normal nescafe coffee That's good. It's like a cappuccino.
Yeah. Yeah. Coffee. It feels hot.
It's a temperature's oh - Yeah, hopefully we get the, the next bus has lots of good music. Coffee break is over now. It's time to find the next bus to Yala. Well, actually not specifically Yala, but a city that's nearby the city that gets us closest there, I think is called, uh, Tisa Maharama. So we're gonna be looking out for that on these signs.
It's actually pretty good to have like where the buses depart from and where they're going. So if you want to go to Gandara. You go there, but, uh, generally speaking, it's just best to ask a local or an information center. That's the best way to do it.
So I think we'll do that. We're going to Yala. - Yala? No, no, no.
Where are we going? What is it called? You can go that side. Thank you. See, you just asked somebody and they'll help you out the last bus, apparently. All right we got Catagama and then Tissa, I guess they shorten it. So it's called, uh, Tissa here, but it's also known as Tissa Maharama.
Toilet? Sure. How long until the bus leaves? Yeah, yeah. To Yala. Yeah.
Um, three hours, three hours. Okay. And departure time, five minutes, 10 minutes, five minutes, five minutes. Okay. Do you have five minutes to find a toilet? Well it's gonna be three hours on there.
I don't know. I don't, I don't, I don't trust five Sri Lankan minutes. It could be two minutes. It could be 20 minutes. Oh, that's what I was told Galle.
I don't know if I trust that either. All I know is the more we have this conversation, the more time we're waiting. I, I know, I know we're gonna make quick decision. I can jump on.
I reckon I can hold. Okay yeah. And you can hold it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right let's do it. Yeah. Everyone here helps out. All right. Oh, it's a different bus.
It's a two seater. What do we think? Take the back. Uh, it's just, the back is always the bumpiest.
All right we got our seats on the crazy bus. I'm not sure if this one was as crazy as the one we have before, the music seems to be a little more mellow. Um, but. We're we're moving.
Do you think you could have gone, found the toilet and gone to the toilet in that time? Uh, I would've missed the bus. That's a good decision. - I would be chasing it. You would've had to meet me there. At least I know the right bus to get on. Yeah.
Anyways, oh, over the bump we go and off we are to, uh, Tissa or Tissa Terama or whichever one you want to call it, but we're heading in that direction. That's all I know. All right guys. So we got two tickets, 235, uh, rupees each it's like a, like over, just over $1 per person to go, what 100 kilometers or so three hour journey over to Tissa Matarama. So you might as well give, uh, dad's ticket. Here is your
ticket and here's my ticket. And we're officially on the journey to Yala. Let's do it. We are absolutely flying along. We have just passed a, uh, little town called Tengal, it's, uh, actually a little bit further on from Dickwella where I spend a lot of time, but, uh, the climate here, it's kind of.
change a lot. You know, it's a lot more barren and dry, you can feel different kind of heat. It's not as humid as it was. It's definitely a dry heat and a little bit more of a dryer. It's kinda like surrounding it's more dead shrubs around. And I imagine the further we get into the, uh, kind of like the east side of Sri Lanka, the hotter and all drives going to get.
So it's gonna be interesting seeing like the transition from, uh, what we were experiencing in like Galle, uh, and then parts of Matara where it's like you know, pretty green versus what we're witnessing now. So we are flying by look at this. Wow.
We're picking up pace now. This is the fastest I've ever been in a bus, this crazy. Oh my goodness. I don't know.
I don't know if the camera's, uh, I don't know if the camera's justifying the speed that we're going. But it's crazy. Oh my God. Got a, uh, little bit of a traffic jam.
Oh, prison bus. It's prisoners. Oh really? It literally said prison on the front of it. And it was all like caged and everything.
Oh, there's a first for everything, right? All right guys we're at another bus station. There's a little market over that way, but at all, like the major bus stations, you'll notice a lot of people come on and sell their goods and services. This guy's selling some lottery tickets. I was hoping there'll be like a peanut seller or a nut seller that would come on and I'd buy something.
Because I'm really like craving, you know, a couple of like peanuts, unfortunately not, but I'm sure we'll be able to find something. Over there, but I don't, I don't think we're here for, uh, for that long, but that's a pretty market over there, but it's just interesting seeing like the change in kind of the landscape and change in, uh, like facilities and everything as you make your way around the south coast, then up towards the east, you know, it's very, like, it's just a different vibe out here. It's very like dry. It's very interesting. Um, yeah, it's just like a completely different world on the, on this side. So interesting to see.
They're lottery tickets, lottery, lottery, lottery. there's so many different ones. It kind of reminds you like scratchies back in Australia.
We have them scratch tickets where you scratch with a coin. And then if you get like three matching symbols, you win that or something like that. But we're on the move again. Machan is gotta jump off the box.
Bye bye. And off he goes, oh man. When I was on the crazy bus, uh, with Ali up to Kandy, I was like hanging out the side. No, just remember, like, it's just like a train. You can just kind of like sit on the side here and watch out.
Make sure you're holding on. You might be filming my death. I might be on, you've done. Oh man, this is cool.
Well, there is a truck coming up, but you know, you always gotta hold on and. This guy is getting off. But that's fun. You know, you just like, don't get these opportunities, uh, in Australia at least, you know, gotta make the most of it while you're here.
Enjoy the fresh breeze of the Sri Lankan air. As we run around the streets. Okay. Welcome to Tissa Mahara everybody. Thank you.
Thank you. Oh my goodness. Bus number two Done. Where do we go now? We need bus number three. Yeah, Corinda. We need to get on that one.
Karinda, why are you going there? Uh, we're going to Karinda. Where are you going? Uh, I'm also going to Karinda. Very good. Well, you can, you can join us now. Yeah.
Half an hour? Yeah yeah, yeah. Oh, I don't know if I believe you guys. Yeah. 30 minutes. Oh no, I don't think it's actually half an hour.
Huh? - I don't think it's. It's like leaving soon. That's the old uh, tuk tuk scam. No.
We'll hop on. All right. Karinda here we go. Oh, wow it's a hot one. We'll go down the very back.
I'm gonna go out and around. Oh no the bus is going. We go get on? - Yeah yeah.
They told us half an hour. I knew it. The good old rickshaw scam.
This actually, this happened to me. Uh, When they start the bus up, everyone. Yeah. Come and jump on. It is hot in here, but you are everybody. You have to be careful like at these, uh, points where buses like switch, when you have to get two or three buses.
A lot of the times there's like rickshaw people there or taxi people saying that, oh, the bus doesn't come. Um, the bus isn't here, you know, et cetera, like, uh, keep going forward, dad, if you can. I can't mess up for someone we're on a crazy bus part three anyways. That's good. Yeah, maybe we should have just paid for the tuk tuk. No, it's all about the experience, but honestly, be careful, um, with the timings and everything, because some people say, you know, buses, don't go for 30 minutes.
You heard him say, uh, and you know, usually you trust the locals. This is crazy. How are you? Good. I'm good. How are you? I am working. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Safari. Oh, we don't need no safari. You don't make it? No, we don't need, we have hotel.
They organize. They organize the tour. They keep the commission, they send someone else.
How much is your safari? We are, you have to do half safari or full safari? - Half day. We don't make it five hours. We make it seven hours, two or four - $35. Yeah. I don't know if I can believe you anymore, because you said this bus didn't leave for for 30 minutes.
Bus half, half hour. That's why I tell you. - When I get to Karinda, I'll let, I'll let you know. Yeah you can take my mobile number. You can call me. Ah, maybe I'll decide soon you have, uh, mobile.
Yeah, but I'm a little bit preoccupied with this bus. At least we got, at least we got music to come with it. Oh, wouldn't you like to know? It's okay. I'm glad I put a good load - Yeah. That guy that was talking to me, he just jumped off the bus.
So that's his whole, uh, that's his whole scam slash tout slash uh, ah, tourist trap. Be careful. Karinda two. It's a good experience.
What'd you say? Great. A great experience? A great. All right we finally got a seat on the crazy bus. Dad got a seat up there. I got a seat here, but I don't think we actually have much longer on here. Maybe.
Five minutes. We were already halfway, uh, between Tissa and Corinda. Maybe like we, we're probably like three quarters of the way there, so not too long to go, but here's the look of, uh, Corinda, everybody. Safari vibes, you know, you got the, the nature kind of the dirt and everything. The, uh, the best explanation I can give at the moment, but I'm sure it was, we make our way.
Make look further deeper inside. It'll be, uh, a beautiful, a beautiful area to hang out in How much you go to, uh, cinnamon. Cinnamon? Yeah.
1,500. Wow. that's double what my friends paid. Yeah.
Yeah. And 12 kilometers. Yeah, but my friends, my - Kilometers, two kilometers jungle..
Yeah but my friends, they pay a lot less. And that my friends only paid 800 when they came. - 800? From the beach from the beach. - Beach?
Yeah. I swear, I swear, but we don't really have any other options do we? 1,300? - 1,300. Thank you. You take my number if you like, you can, because - ask how much the price very expensive.
Yeah, I know. It will be more expensive. I have already three people.
Yeah. I want do tomorrow morning, then I can pick you there. No, tomorrow morning. We don't.
Do you want to go next day? We're not sure. You take mine number? No, it's okay. We just, uh, we go through the hotel. He was, uh, just trying to sell his, uh, safari tour, which is very common here.
But, um, like I don't, I don't wanna waste his time. I don't wanna waste my time. So that's why I'm like, Maan I just, I just don't. I'm sorry.
I'm not going in his safari. but, uh, yeah, we're gonna finish out the video here, everybody. And, uh, the next video will be going to the resort. So I'm gonna split this into to that's a crazy train. No, not train crazy bus. Crazy buses! Three buses we got all the way from Galle to get to here to the, uh, Yala national park.
Anyways. Thanks for watching. Chase your dreams.
We'll see you all in next one. Goodbye.
2022-06-28 06:44
