The teardrop-shaped tropical island of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean makes for the perfect motorcycle vacation.
Roads wind through dense jungle and green tea plantations. The tropical island has some of Asia's best sandy beaches and abundant wildlife, both on land and in the sea.

We come whizzing down a country road in central Sri Lanka on our motorcycles. Although it's early morning, the sun's rays have already warmed up the air, but we only feel it when we stop. And then the heat really kicks in. Our local motorcycle guide points into a grove where evergreen creepers climb up the gray trunks of coconut trees. This is a pepper plantation, he explains. And here the green, unripe peppercorns hang swaying in the tropical wind under the crowns and orange-red coconuts on the palm trees.

The fresh fruits from the pepper bush are put in a vinegar brine and sold as green pepper. Completely unripe green berries are dried until they turn black and sold, funnily enough, as black pepper. And white pepper, which has a slightly fruity flavor and is suitable for seafood dishes, comes from ripe pepper berries where the outer flesh has been peeled off, removed with a fingernail, so that the spice consists only of the seed. Aha! Now we know. We buckle our helmets and continue the trip, a little wiser about the many gastronomic possibilities of pepper.

A hunger for spices and a desire for wealth and world domination led Europeans to Sri Lanka

In the afternoon we arrive at the small town of Mahiyanganaya, where we park the bikes and after a much-needed dip in the hotel swimming pool, we sit down to dinner. Here our guide tells us more about how Sri Lanka and the history of pepper are connected. We all have pepper in our kitchen drawer at home, and most of us probably don't think twice about where it comes from, it's like tap water, it's just there. But it wasn't always like that. Once upon a time, pepper was worth its weight in gold! In 1492, when Columbus set sail for what would become America, the price of a kilogram of dried black pepper in Europe was about the same as a farmhouse.

The sale of pepper was an extremely lucrative income for the Arab merchants who sold it to Europeans who believed that pepper was a cure for the plague, among other things. Where the pepper came from was kept a secret by the Arab merchants. They sailed to southern India to collect pepper and sold it to the merchants in Venice, the trading center of the time. But the Portuguese also wanted their share of this lucrative trade, and their hunt for pepper led to the discovery of new continents before pepper literally became commonplace. The plan was to find the sea route to India, where pepper grows, to break the Arabs' trade monopoly. Columbus found a new world, but there was no pepper. And a few years later, in 1498, Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India and Sri Lanka. The profits from pepper and the monsoon winds were what drove the ships. It is said that sailors of the time often carried a small bag of peppercorns with them. That way, they could pay for a burial if they were to drown.

German Autobahn and potholed African dirt road

The road network in Sri Lanka alternates between high standard newly paved roads similar to the German Autobahn, where you can cruise along and gaze out over the green and lush landscape. But turn off the main road and the asphalt is replaced by a potholed dirt road that might as well be in Zimbabwe. Fortunately, the first day of driving was planned to be a manageable distance, because as a Danish motorcyclist, you have to get used to the heat, the traffic and the fact that Sri Lanka is a former British colony, so it's left-hand drive. However, not all road users adhere to this and some locals will take some of the journey in the opposite lane if it fits with the shortcut they need to take. Sri Lankans frequently use the horn to signal to other road users that "here I come". And as a starting point, it's a good idea to keep your eyes on the road and not be distracted by the beautiful landscapes.

Animals of all kinds mingle with the traffic, which consists of local buses filled with school children waving, overloaded Indian Tata trucks and herds of golden brown macaque monkeys begging on the side of the road, waiting for someone to take pity and throw some of their lunch out the car window. Dung beetles and meter-long black and yellow monitor lizards dart across the roads, and street dogs snore demonstratively in the middle of the highway. The lowland landscape consists of neon green rice fields where farmers plow the fields with a plow strapped behind a black water buffalo. When we pull over for a sip of fresh, cooling coconut milk, the rice farmers come over to see who we are and ask where we are from.

Misty forest, waterfalls and tea bushes as far as the eye can see

Who would think you need to pack a warm sweater for a motorcycle trip to a tropical island? But suddenly the jungle and rice paddies of the lowlands are replaced by endless cloud forest, conifers and tea bushes. The altitude rises quickly and the temperature drops as the roads take big, smooth turns as we head deeper into the mountains of Sri Lanka's Central Highlands, where the highest point, Mount Pedro, is 2524 meters above sea level. And with the altitude comes cool fresh air, so we have to pull the bikes over and fish a warm sweater out of the tank bag before heading towards the viewpoint, "Lipton Seat", at 1800 meters. Here we can look out over the lowlands and see all the way to the coast.

After driving through the hot lowlands, it's a refreshing change to a cooler climate. The winding mountain roads through the tea plantations are great fun to drive and there are many hairpin bends. In the tea plantations, local women walk around with large sacks on their necks picking the bright green tops of the tea bushes. They pick 15 kilograms of tea a day, that's the chord for a tea picker, explains our guide, Nisal. We all know Ceylon, and Sri Lanka was called British Ceylon when it was an English colony. It was also here in the highland pine forests, with its cool climate and low-hanging clouds, that the island's English upper class built British "Hill Stations" where they lived a recreational life of horse racing and fine tea rooms. As we drive through the town of Nuwara Eliya, located at an altitude of 1800 meters, we see old English hotels, a man-made lake with rowing boats and a horse racing track that, along with the left-hand drive, is part of the British legacy.

Afternoon with the wild elephants

You can never get tired of riding a motorcycle in the beautiful highlands of Sri Lanka. There are both good new asphalt roads and small potholed dirt roads for those who want to go off-road. We cruise down the road along the deep gorge of Ella Gap, and it gives you a rush when you let your eyes glide over the grasses on the verge and let them disappear into the black nothingness. And there are so many magnificent viewpoints along the way that we have to keep pulling over and taking pictures. But we also have to stick to our schedule, because this afternoon we're going on a jeep safari in the lowlands of Udawalawe National Park, famous for its wildlife.

We park the motorcycles and a few minutes later we're in a jeep heading into a chapter of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" to visit General Hathi - King of the Elephants. We almost shiver in the tropical heat as the sun sinks into the mist like a big, red blood orange over the jungle treetops, and flocks of hornbills flutter over the treetops, while the wild elephants of the jungle come down to the waterhole by the dozens to quench their thirst.

Rice and curry galore

Thankfully, the long hours in the saddle give you a blessed appetite and thank goodness for that, because there are so many temptations to sink your teeth into here on the tropical island of Sri Lanka that it's almost too much of a good thing. Butter baked crabs at the coastal town of Negombo, and here are two types: a black crab from the lagoon and a blue-gray species from the deep sea. The national dish of Sri Lanka is "Rice and Curry". Curry is a spicy, thick spice sauce with either fish, travel, beef, pork or vegetables and a side of rice. A traditional Rice and Curry should be eaten with your fingers, which we also, somewhat clumsily, try to do, much to the delight of the locals at the restaurant. But as the saying goes, it's a case of follow the crowd or flee the country.

If you're traveling in these parts, treat yourself to "Kottu Roti"; a dish of coarsely chopped flatbread, vegetables with chicken, egg or cottage cheese. Deep-fried samosas with spicy vegetable or meat fillings are also a must. And the quirky Egg-Hoppers, a kind of pancake that is fried in a special pan shaped like a bowl and filled with various spice mixtures. Wash it down with a local Lion Beer, a locally produced lager, or an Arrack Cocktail. Arrack is a brandy made from the mash of coconut palm flowers or other local fruits.

Towards the south coast and marine life

On the final stretch, we plow our iron horses through the rice fields towards the coastal town of Mirissa. The ride takes us along the ocean and overlooking palm beaches, where the waves crash against large black basalt cliffs, in between small azure lagoons with white sandy beaches. We wriggle out of our sticky motorcycle clothes and throw ourselves into the waves of the Indian Ocean. It was much needed after so many days in the saddle. Now it's time to relax and explore the sea. Off the coast, we snorkel in the azure waters where we see sea turtles, corals, tropical fish in all colors of the rainbow, and a couple of medium-sized grey sharks lurking along the reef. And the next morning it's up early: whale watching in a large motor catamaran boat, where flying fish playfully leap from the bow and humpback and blue whales appear on the horizon. Marine life here is just as diverse as on land.

Our farewell dinner is a glorious grilled beef steak with an accompanying Indian ocean of green peppercorn sauce at Restaurant Bijou in the coastal town of Negombo. A meal that in Columbus's day might have cost a whole farmhouse for a long time? It certainly tastes delicious, this last meal of our motorcycle adventure, where the pepper literally grows.

Fact box about Sri Lanka

We rode the Honda XR 250 cubic, Honda Dominator NX650 and Royal Enfield Classic Model 350 cubic.

The international driver's license is valid in Sri Lanka.

The majority are Buddhists, but Christians, Muslims and Hindus also live here.

The climate is tropical, so it's warm all year round. However, it is cool and chilly in the mountains of the central highlands.

The infrastructure is well developed in Sri Lanka compared to many other Asian countries, and both roads and hotels are of a high standard.

The food is spicy and often consists of Rice and Curry. However, in most hotels you can get all kinds of Western food. Along the coasts, seafood is plentiful.

You don't have to fear violence, crime or theft as a tourist in Sri Lanka.

Previous name: Ceylon

Independence from England in 1948.

Sri Lanka is a state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean, consisting of one large island and some small islands.

Area: 65,000 square kilometers, making it more than one and a half times larger than Denmark, which in comparison has an area of 43,098 km2.

Sri Lanka is home to 21 million people, which corresponds to a population density of 323 people per km2. In comparison, Denmark has 5,623,501 inhabitants, which gives a population density of 130 people per km2.

Languages: Sinhalese, Tamil, English.

Population composition: Sinhalese 83%, Tamils 9%, Moors (Tamil Muslims) 7%, others 1%.

Currency: Sri Lankan Ruppies.