"Just got back from 2 weeks in SL. Of all the 4 things you mention (rip offs, rubbish, diseases from stray animals, and mosquitos): the top one by far for me is nearly everywhere we went, people were trying to fleece us. Closely followed by the non-friendly locals. The constant attempts at ripping us off, the endless & unsolicited sales pitches, became such a pain in the neck that we couldn't wait to get out of the country. Our last stay was in Kandy. 4 star hotel. A staff member got into my safe in my hotel room and stole $US125. The only reason I know is that before getting to that hotel, we had so many experiences of people trying to fleece us that I decided to count my money in the safe daily in the foreign currencies that I had and never used. Something I never do elsewhere. It was all there for our first 5 nights in the Kandy hotel. On the 2nd last day there, I counted it and US125 in foreign currencies was missing. When we left the hotel, the manager asked us to please write just the good things about the hotel, and not mention the bad things. (!!!) But why cover up the elephant in the room. My second reason to avoid SL is that the supposedly "friendly" locals that one constantly hears about, we did not find particularly friendly at all. Mostly the "friendly" people we did meet just wanted our cash. Many others would often stare in a condescending and even mocking manner. Some I would even call racist, less of the hateful type, more the superior/mocking type. Especially in Kandy. There were a very small number of people we met who were friendly and helpful without wanting anything more. Unfortunately they were overwhelmed by the other types. When people travel as part of a tour group and have a guide, maybe they are less likely to notice this as they are more insulated from it. Take away the guide/the local helper, and take another look. That's just our 2 week experience of SL. It could be the case that the other 50 weeks of the year, people are the opposite of the above. We won't be going back to check."
