Sri Lanka expense report for the first day was not very promising. As much as I tried to keep my expenses down, they just spiraled out of control. You would think that $13 isn’t that much so what I’m bitching about. But the thing is, I hardly did anything outdoors all day.
I spend most of the day in the house updating my website and catching up on my writing. I only went out in early evening and that too on foot. I walked a good 2-3km starting from the Perera Mawatha onto the Parliament Road until the Statue of War – the Indian War Heroes, where I visited a sort of a model village at a hefty charge, ate at a no-good restaurant called Silver Spoon again at exorbitant rates, and then got fleeced at John Keells supermarket.
All the Pakistanis who complain about Pakistan being expensive should come and spend a few weeks in Sri Lanka to get to know what expensive really means.
I bought just two bottles of soft drinks, a small chips pack and a couple of biscuit half-rolls, and the grand total came out to be a whopping Rs.360. If that wasn’t enough, the curvaceous vixen at the counter asked me whether I wanted a shopper bag. I said sure. Of course I couldn’t carry all the items in my hands. She then dished out a red cloth shopper and stamped another Rs.50 to the total, bringing it to the grand total of Rs.410.
Unbelievable! I then hung around after paying my dues to see what happens with the next customer. Interestingly enough, she gave him a plastic shopper for free.
So it seems the Sri Lankans have a special love for the tourists, and it doesn’t matter whether you are a Caucasian Gora or a South Asian just like them. They will shower that love to all and sundry. Great.
Again $13 may not mean that much to a European or an American, but to a Pakistani, that’s a substantial amount.
| S.N | ITEM | EXPENSE | |
| Dollar | Sri Lankan Rupee | ||
| 1 | Model Village entrance charges | $5 | 640 |
| 2 | Fried fish at silver spoon restaurant | $5 | 640 |
| 3 | Snacks at John Keells supermarket | $3 | 410 |
| Grand Total | $13 | Rs. 1690 | |
And now the cumulative expenses:
| S.N | ITEM | EXPENSE | |
| Dollar | Sri Lankan Rupee | ||
| 1 | Day 0 | $93 | 11,904 |
| 2 | Day 1 | $13 | 1690 |
| Grand Total | $106 | Rs. 13,594 | |
In terms of Pakistani rupees, the total comes out to be Rs.11,827.
Let’s see how Day two fares and whether my Sri Lanka travel expense go up or down.
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