Good country, exhausting tourist industry

Sri Lanka is a genuinely beautiful and interesting place. Sigiriya Rock Fortress is worth every superlative thrown at it. The rice and curry is legitimately excellent. extraordinary archaeological sites gave the trip real depth.

What I struggled with: the tourist infrastructure around the headline sites in Sigiriya is relentlessly commercial and road journeys take longer than maps suggest is a genuine friction point. You can feel the gap between authentic Sri Lanka and the packaged version sold to tourists. The authentic version wins, but you have to work to find it.