Top 10 Offbeat Things To Do For The First Time in Sri Lanka

The wonder of Asia, Sri Lanka blessed with many surprises. It was exciting for me to try many unusual but cool things for the first time during my seven days solo trip to Sri Lanka. How about trying something different? So here is the list, you might like ten offbeat things to do in Sri Lanka during your trip.

There are much to see and explore in Sri Lanka. Tourists like to visit popular destinations and always go for some ordinary activities while traveling around Sri Lanka. But you got to explore some offbeat things as well, something you didn’t try before.

Visit Natural Tea Processing Factory

Pluck tea leaves, dry 45% of those for 12 hours and reduce moisture in Dry Room. Send those leaves to the roller machine to crush leaves for 30 minutes in Rolling Room. Go for natural fermentation to naturally maintain the main ingredients tannin and caffeine.

The typical scenario if you visit Storefield Tea Factory in Gampola. This oldest tea factory established in 1930 and still following the natural tea processing system. And they also export quality tea in Russia, USA, and German. It was great to see all the old machines which still they use to manufacture quality tea. I also liked to buy original and fresh tea from here. It will cost you per kilo 5000 LKR.

Drink Eight Kinds Of Tea

Let me tell you I’m not a lover of tea. But in Sri Lanka, I just loved to drink eight kinds of tea at Storefield Tea Factory. 😉 Sri Lankans love to drink BOP or Strong Black Tea. After seeing the tea processing, I enjoyed trying the flavor and taste of different teas. I was surprised knowing the different health benefits of drinking Sri Lankan Tea.

Do you know about White and Golden Tea or Royal Tea? White Tea is like hot water but the most benefited for health. And both White and Golden Teas are expensive and used as medical products. And the rest of the Teas are Green tea, OPA or Yellow Tea, OP or Afternoon Tea, Medium Black Tea, and Breakfast Tea.

Visit A Spice Garden

It was a great pleasure to visit Surathura Spice Garden in Matale. I saw many spice trees here for the first time.  And I liked to know about many health benefits of using natural products from those trees. I didn’t know Curry Leaves can also be used to make cholesterol tablet. Jungle Ginger good for Arthritis problem. Vanilla plants are even using for sugar control in Diabetes. And much more.

Sri Lanka is well known to produce herbal, Ayurveda, and many natural beauty products. King Coconut or Red coconut oil is good for hair than regular coconut. Aloe Vera Gel is suitable for beautiful skin. And you can even like to buy some products from this Spice Garden.

See The Process Of Moonstone Mining

I visited Moonstone mines of Sri Lanka in Domanwila and saw the process of Moonstone mining. I loved to spend some time with the local miners. Moonstone is a beautiful white stone and less expensive compared to Sapphire. Hence more favorite among locals and also they consider this stone as Good Luck.

It needs real hard work to collect stones from the ground. Miners work hard and worship so that they find the real gem. After washing and polishing those stones send to the local market to make beautiful jewelry.

I bought a pair of Moonstone earring from Beruwalage Gems & Jewellery. Here jewelers themselves cut stones to shape and design. Whatever you buy from here, some percentage of amounts will use for the well-being of the miners family. It was nice to know.

See The Traditional Oil Processing Of Cinnamon

Cinnamon is common spice in Sri Lanka. I never knew the leaves of the Cinnamon tree could be used to prepare Cinnamon Oil. There are many health benefits of Cinnamon oil. It is suitable for a toothache. Cinnamon power help lowers cholesterol. Cinnamon Tea is also useful for health.

I found in one room workers kept many dry leaves. First, they put a lot of leaves in one big barrel, after grinding placed those in a wood-fired boiler to extract oil.

Body & Mind Relaxing With An Ayurvedic Massage

Body and mind relaxing with an ayurvedic massage are magical. I loved to take the ayurvedic spa service from Suwamedura Ayurvedic Health & Beauty Culture Spa in Ella.

Ella is a popular destination for taking ayurvedic spa treatment in Sri Lanka. I made a face, body, and hair massage. Some herbal oils have used for massaging. It honestly worked to heal my leg pains after the most robust adventure at Adam’s Peak. But be aware of selecting the right ayurvedic spa center. It will help avoid any unexpected situation.

Taste Red Banana & Avocado [Tropical Fruits]

Tropical fruits are cheaper in Sri Lanka and good for health for the tropical climate. I loved to taste many types of tropical fruits from local fruit markets during my trip to Sri Lanka.

I found that the health benefits of Red Banana or Rath Kesel are much more than the regular banana. Rath Kesel is sweeter than other bananas. It will cost you 30 to 50 LKR per banana but worth to taste. It contains fiber, vitamin C, D, and also good for diabetes, and heart disease.

I honestly liked the butter taste of Ripe Avocado with honey. Avocado fruit can be used to eat in many ways. It contains fiber, carbohydrate, vitamin A, C, and E.

Drink Fresh Strawberry Juice From Strawberry Farm

The cold climate of Nuwara Eliya is best for cultivating Strawberry in Sri Lanka.

It was so refreshing to have fresh Strawberry juice directly from the Strawberry farm. And this is the first time I did visit any Strawberry farm.

As a Strawberry lover, you should try various food items from fresh Strawberry at Adma Agro, the only and favorite place to taste fresh Strawberry juice and much more.

Shop Jewelry Made From Original Sapphire

Ratnapura in Sri Lanka is the famous destination for gemstones mining. And also renowned as the ‘Land of Gem’. The precious Sapphire, and Ruby gemstones collected from Ratnapura only. The blue and yellow Sapphires are famous here.

After watching a gem mining documentary, I loved to shop one blue and white Sapphires ring for my mom from Isuru Gems & Jewellery in Kandy. Here the originality maintained in every aspect. Yes, it was expensive, but priceless as well.

See The Design Work Of Batik On Fabric

I had some pre-idea about Batiks as I saw my mom to do this design work on fabric. I loved to see the same while found many lady workers were busy with creative design works. And giving their best design of Batik on cloth at ArtLanka Batiks factory in Kandy.

Sri Lankan Batik is famous worldwide and much expensive.  I took one Poncho and loved to wear this during my solo travel in the Maldives.  ArtLanka Batiks is an international Gold Star Award Winner Batik shop and worth to shop from here.

I’m loving that my love for traveling is also teaching me many new things from many new peoples around. But this time my love goes to all hardworking workers in Sri Lanka who plays a vital role to make everyone’s life so better and comfortable.

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What did you like to experience for the first time in Sri Lanka and worth to share?