The license plates in Sri Lanka are yellow on the rear of the cars and white on the fronts of the cars. They are also less elongated than other license plates from around the world. If you happen to see the first two letters on the license plate then you can work out what Sri Lankan province you are in as these letters represent the provinces eg WP=Western Province. Palm trees are scattered across most of the country and the majority of the time there will be many visible. Narrow, paved paths are common. These paths can be found across the entire country. The houses that are adjacent to these paths generally have concrete walls separating them from the path. Sri Lanka has the black and white striped poles that are fairly rare around the world. They also have a huge fleet of rickshaws that are often freshly painted red, blue, green and some other colours. The Sri Lankan written language of Sinhala stand out as each character resembles a piece of fruit. The Sri Lankan plates are also almost square shaped. Sri Lanka also has these black and white stripes on some poles. Sri Lanka has a very tropical feel. Almost the entire country of Sri Lanka is covered with palm trees. These extremely narrow roads are particularly common in Sri Lanka. The most common form of Sri Lankan road lines feature white, continuous edge lines and a dashed, white, centre line. Sri Lankan houses most commonly feature terracotta tiles on their roofs. There are concrete walls typically separating Sri Lankan houses from the narrow, paved paths that are found everywhere in Sri Lanka. These tiny, cramped rickshaws are a common feature of Sri Lanka. They have three wheels and a black covering. These small, white bollards with black bases are found near creeks, rivers and other water sources in Sri Lanka. A wide range of utility poles are found across Sri Lanka. The most common pole contains three thick, upward facing ‘pine cones’ on top. Regarding the pole itself, probably the most common type of Sri Lankan utility pole is concrete and square shaped. It also features small dots running up it however these dots are only near the top of the pole. This distinguishes the pole from Thai poles which have the dots running all the way to the ground. Sometimes you will see Sri Lankan utility poles with large holes in them, like Hungarian, Polish and Romanian utility poles. The Sri Lankan primary written language of Sinhala looks to me like pieces of fruit. 

Vehicles in Sri Lanka have long white front plates and short yellow rear plates.

In Sri Lanka, you will see two scripts: Sinhala and Tamil. You will also sometimes see English, written in Latin script. 

Sinhala is most common, and can be found throughout the entire country. It has a very curvy, ‘rounded’ look.

Tamil is more regionally limited. It has straighter lines. 
Sinhala is unique to Sri Lanka. However, Tamil can also be found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Sri Lanka typically uses concrete utility poles. Two pole types are common and distinctive:

Square poles with small pinholes in the sides. These pinholes are limited to the top part of the pole.

Poles with large see-through holes in the lower half of the pole (“holey poles“). These poles are unique to Sri Lanka.

The square poles with small pinholes can look very similar to those found in Thailand. However, in Thailand the pinholes extend all the way to the bottom of the pole.

These short, wide stone bollards are unique to Sri Lanka. They have a tapered shape, with a black base and a white top.

Sri Lanka commonly uses black and white striped signposts.

Within South and Southeast Asia, such signposts are also found in Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Rural roads often have outside lines, but no middle lines. In the absence of other clues, this can sometimes be a way to decide a tough 50-50.

Most small roads lack road lines entirely.

Sri Lanka is a tropical country. It usually has very lush, green vegetation. It is densely populated and many parts are covered in a patchwork of agricultural fields.

Many parts of Sri Lanka have reddish soil. 

Less commonly, you may encounter white, sandy soil.

Palm trees are very common in Sri Lanka, more so than many other Asian countries.

Palm trees are also very common in the Philippines.

Houses often have orange or red tiled roofs. Due to wear and tear, these tiles often have an almost brown tint to them.

Similar roofs are also common in parts of Indonesia.

The country is majority Buddhist: 70% of the population practise this religion. Throughout the country, you will often see signs of the religion, including temples, Buddha statues, stupas and the Buddhist flag.

Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are also majority Buddhist.

A substantial minority of the population adhere to other religions: Hinduism (13%), Islam (10%) and Christianity (7%). These religions have strong regional distribution patterns.

A style of tuktuk is common in Sri Lanka: it has a bulky shape and a black roof. They are usually coloured green, yellow or red, though other colours appear as well.

