Driving in Sri-Lanka: terrified at first, but then got the hang of it
Tuk-tuks, mad buses and invincible pedestrians
In 2014 me and six of my friends went on a trip to Sri-Lanka. We went there mostly for surfing and waves, and everything else had a lower priority. But surfing wasn't the only thing I remember from that trip. Nearly as vivid as the memories of those waves are my memories about driving on local roads...
We rented a house in a small town of Weligama, not far away from the southern most point of the island, about 3 hours drive from the capital city of Colombo. And as soon as we got there, we decided to sort out how are going to get around the place. Somebody told us that the best means of personal transport for us would be a tuk-tuk. Three wheels, steering and gearbox from a moped, driver at the front, three pasengers at the back. Great, that will work for us, we thought. We rented it from some local guy for around $170 for a three-week period and there we are, we have wheels. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, there were one or two things worth mentioning. Lets start with the dashboard. I've heard some people complaining about the over-complicated dashboards and infotainment systems in modern cars. Well here is the perfect dashboard for you:
How do you like that, Elon Musk?
All I could fathom from it was wether or not I had my headlight on. Because the headlight button also switched on the speedometer lighting, but there was no speedo, all what was left of it was that circular mounting point between the handle bars. And there was only one light, and it worked... sort of. It made us visible in the dark, but struggled to iluminate anything that was further then a couple of feet away.
The indicators were there, and working, thankfully. And it also had a horn, which is essntial for driving in Sri-Lanka, as it turned out later. All that stuff is operated by switches on the right handlebar, which itslef is the accelerator. On the left handlebar you find the clutch and the gearshifter. Yes, you shift the gears with your hand, not the foot. The gearbox itself is a bit like on a motorbike, turn the handlebar towards you - it's 1st, away from you - there are neutral, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. And in 4th that thing did go along quite swiftly even with four people onboard. And there was a break pedal, obviuosly.
And now we get to the most exciting part of that thing: a kick start. Or rarther a pull start:
Pull the handle - and you're away!
So, you put the gearbox in neutral, pull that handle, and the hell-knows-how-much cubic inch two-stroke engine shatters the tranquility of the surroundings with its extremely noisy exhaust. Although, in the first few days I had trouble selecting neutral, so instead of starting the whole thing would just rock gently back and forth. One morning we were in a hurry, I couldn't be bothered to fiddle with the selector, and simply pulled the starter handle with all my might. And managed to get going not just the engine, but also the gearbox and the wheels, and the tuk-tuk instantly roared away, having being started in 1st gear.
2nd gear wouldn't always go in properly, so swithcing from 1st to 2nd would often go as follows: off the gas - pull the clutch - engage 2nd - release the clutch - open the throttle - engine overreves violently in neutral - adjust the gear shifter - 2nd goes into place with a distinct bang - the whole thing barrels along.
Over the first few days our three-wheeled stallion stalled several times. First time it happened we simply stopped in the middle of the road. We got out, pushed it aside, and stood there thinking what are we going to do now. But almost immediately a passer-by approached us and asked if we were okay, and did we need any help, and another one, and another... In five minutes there was a croud of local guys surrounding us and our tuk-tuk, and they quickly got to the bottom of the problem: we ran out of petrol. All that I can say in my diffence is that there was no fuel gauge, or in fact any gauge at all. The friendy locals explained to us that these tuk-tuks have a reserve fuel tank, and showed how to switch to it. They also showed us the way to the nearest petrol station, and reminded us that this is a two-stroke, so you have to fill it up with a mixture of petrol and engine oil.
The next time we stalled it was on a single carriageway, so we blocked everynone behind us, and again the local men were there to rescue us, and explain, that after you drove to the petrol station on your reserve fuel and filled up, you need switch back to the main tank. Otherwise you will drain the half-litre reserve tank very quickly, and, naturally, stall. Again. And if you are unlucky, the fuel pump would pick up the gunk from the bottom of the tank, which can clogg the carburater. Okay, got it, thanks a lot, guys. Friendly and ready to help people in Asia had helped us many times in various situations, and they helped us that time too.
Having looked at that amasing machine once, my friends unanimously decided I should be the one to drive it, and noone apart from me dared to get at the helm of it. Needles to say, I was a bit cautious with it over the first several days. But in less then a week I sort of found myself driving like all the locals do: onehanded, relaxed behind the wheel, sometimes with my legs crossed. Well, what can I say, I was young and careless.
By the way, speaking of the local drivers. They also give for unforgiving memories, and are worth mentioning.
About 3-4 months before that trip I visited Asia for the fist time, having spent a couple of weeks on the island of Bali. Road traffic there is a vast swarm of scooters, motorbikes and mopeds, among which you sometimes spot a car or a truck. It looks very exotic and astonishing for Europeans, especially for those of us who live in a place where motorbike season hardly lasts 6 months. So, when we were flying to Sri-Lanka, I was expecting to see something similar to it there. Oh just how wrong I was...
On the roads of Sri-Lanka there are loads of cars and trucks, there are also motorbikes, scooters, tuk-tuks, and all of those vechiles move around not really bothered by any road rules what so ever, and constatntly sounding their horns. Drivers there honk all the time regardless of the actual situation on the road. It's not just a means of preventing an accident, but also a way of greeting a friend on the road, reminding other drivers about yourself, a way of expressing yourself. On the other hand, not everybody use their headlights at night, and absolutely noone uses them during the day. I tried to drive around with my headlight switched on when during the day, but literally every single person that saw me, tried to tell me I had my headlight on for no good reason. So I had to turn them off.
But the fastest things I've seen on the road there are buses. And also the scariest. Huge, packed full with people, they barrel along the roads, overtaking just about everything else, literally scaring everyone out of their way, not realy bothering about anyones safety, including their passengers'. They don't actually stop at bus stops, they slow down a bit, passengers jump on and off on the move, and the terrifying monster roars on. And woe betide those who shall cross its path...
One day we were going along a winding and narrow road, and as I slowed down on a particulary twisty bit, right before a big hill, a bus had caught up with me. Having got within 2 meters behind me (a safe following distance is not heard of here), the bus driver changed down, making his engine roar furiously, and then sounded his horn. All of that made me actually think that right behind me was either an angry tyrannosaurus, or that mad Frank the Combine Harvester from Pixar animated movie "Cars", the one who chased guys around a field.
I got out of his way as fast as I could, and the bus, two buses in fact, rumbled past. And the best thing about all of that is that you overtake a bus everytime it is slowing down near a bus stop, and then it all happens again, because those things, apparently, always want to overtake you, or in fact, everything else on the road. Loads of fun.
Road rules here are quite flexible, and can be changed and adapted to any particular situation. Someone might be overtaking you by driving on the wrong side of the road, and you are supposed to give way, because he is overtaking you! Sometimes they will give way to you in a junction, sometimes you might sit there for good 5 minutes just staring at the neverending stream of vechicles going past. Sometime you are trying to overtake someone by going on the other side of the road, but noone will give you way, you mad man! As far as we could tell after three weeks there, the road rules here are more like "My vechicle is bigger than yours, so make way!", and "And whoever sounds the horn first, has the priority". And as one of our friends had said, it seems like every single person on the road there thinks he is invincible. That especially aplies to pedestrians walking on the hard shoulder of a busy and unlit road in the night, and suddenly deciding to cross it.
But, as it was with the tuk-tuk, you get used to this madness surprisingly quickly, and in about a week I was quite confident with driving on these roads, going about our business with my friends, sounding my horn every so often. Except I did try to stay clear of those buses, they are just too big and scary.
In the three weeks that we spent on the beautiful island of Sri-Lanka I got sort of attached to that tuk-tuk. Our friends, who were planning to spend about 6 months there, also had one, but it was much younger then ours, wasn't rusty, had comfortable seats, a four-stroke engine, an electric starter motor, two headlights instead of just one, a descent dashboard...
And I found myself looking at it and thinking I wouldn't swap ours for that one. I just got to grips with that starter handle, and the nearly worn-out gearbox, and the brakes that would often either not work at all, or lock up the wheels causing a slide, and the complete absence of any dials or instruments. That tuk-tuk is one of those machines that have character, and personality. They may terrify you at first, but as you drive it around for a while, you become fond of it. I do hope it is still going somewhere, barrelling along with that two-stroke rattle. Way to go, mate!
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Comments (2)
Great post. I never knew you could rent tuk-tuks in Sri Lanka. I don't think we have such services in India, as we mostly rent hatchbacks or scooters.
Thanks mate, glad you liked it! Well, you can rent one quite easily :) I wouldn't call it a service, most of the rented ones just belong to some locals who rent them out. They guy we got ours from only had one, so he didn't have anything to drive at...
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