{"id":75875,"date":"2026-08-12T08:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T00:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75875"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T00:20:00","slug":"three-wheeling-through-sri-lanka-on-a-family-tuk-tuk-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75875","title":{"rendered":"Three-wheeling through Sri Lanka on a family tuk-tuk adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">A reverent hush falls over the already tranquil stupas as the sky turns turquoise, orange, then deep pink \u2013 the silence amplified somehow by the herringbone clouds stretching off over dusky mountains. Orange-robed monks pad quietly to and fro while sticks of incense smoulder in huge pots, wafting scented clouds upwards and turning the warm air above the Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery sweet. An entrancing mantra starts up over the PA and everyone freezes to appreciate this deeply spiritual moment, in this mountain monastery in the middle of the Sri Lankan jungle.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This, perhaps, is the single most serene and magical experience of my life \u2026 until the precise moment our five-year-old decides he wants his shoes back (we have left them at the entrance, as required when entering such a holy place) and has a meltdown. I swiftly whisk him out to the car park to allow my wife \u2013 and everyone else \u2013 a further few precious minutes of inner peace and calm.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-d3pq8q e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sunset over Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery. Photo: David Burden\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/08\/04\/ed3600e6-d5e6-4ec8-82e0-ca01ed6b91de_789afa31.jpg\" title=\"Sunset over Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery. Photo: David Burden\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Sunset over Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery. Photo: David Burden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It\u2019s no revelation that travelling with children \u2013 especially ones as young as three and five \u2013 comes with challenges. Gone are the days of several mai tais by the pool before a late dinner, beach club and sleeping in the next day until noon. Instead, it\u2019s a litany of exhausting airport transfers and difficult menu choices, with maybe \u2013 <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">maybe<\/em> \u2013 a quiet 20 minutes with the Kindle on the balcony after they\u2019ve finally crashed out for the day.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But there is a flip side that makes the effort invested in trips with little ones so worthwhile: swimming with giant green sea turtles; watching a wild leopard slink across a dirt road; and going absolutely bananas at the arrival of the holiday transport. Those are memories that will be cemented forever and were ultimately the reasons behind our decision to give this particular family holiday a whirl.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Fortunately, the temple tantrum is quickly forgotten upon arrival at the parking area, thanks entirely to our hired wheels \u2013 all three of them.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-d3pq8q e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"David Burden\u2019s family in Abu. Photo: David Burden\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/08\/04\/33ae43a2-a866-4b56-9f96-4cabecfeb223_741ac6ff.jpg\" title=\"David Burden\u2019s family in Abu. Photo: David Burden\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">David Burden\u2019s family in Abu. Photo: David Burden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cAbu!\u201d shouts my son excitedly (it\u2019s half of the registration number), as we pile back into our freshly rented tin can \u2013 yes, for this trip, we\u2019ve hired a three-wheeled, naturally air-conditioned, driverless tuk-tuk. This might sound reckless (leave it to the local drivers, surely!) but a growing number of companies can take care of everything you need to drive your very own Sri Lankan three-wheeler. A bonus is that it works out cheaper than a normal car rental \u2013 and so it should, really, with one fewer wheel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/postmag\/travel\/article\/3362897\/three-wheeling-through-sri-lanka-family-tuk-tuk-adventure?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A reverent hush falls over the already tranquil stupas as the sky turns turquoise, orange, then deep pink \u2013 the silence amplified somehow by the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[5945,238,12676,4846,28081,28082],"class_list":["post-75875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-adventure","tag-family","tag-lanka","tag-sri","tag-threewheeling","tag-tuktuk","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}