So you're about to head to Sri Lanka for a few days of meetings. All your bags are packed, you're ready to go. You're standing there outside your door. And you realize: you have no idea what Sri Lanka is like.

[Note: If you'd like to get an idea of what this app is like, check out the free Sampler app, available in the App Store via search term "ridicsampler".]

Sure, you know where you're staying. Maybe you've got a guidebook that says where to visit if you manage to scrape together a few hours of sightseeing. But what's Sri Lanka really like? More practically:

How should you greet your business partners?

If you're invited to someone's house, what sort of gift should you bring?

Are there any special considerations for female travelers?
Or female business associates?

What do the electrical outlets look like?

Perhaps most importantly: if you order the watalappan, what on Earth is that going to look like?


Sri Lanka: Business Traveler's Passport is an iPhone/iPad app for business travelers. It contains a hundred and seventy pages of information on Sri Lanka, focusing on areas of particular concern to the business traveler. While it does contain a small amount of information on hotels and sightseeing opportunities, these sections are intentionally light. Instead, it has entire sections of information on:

• Sri Lanka Basics: A brief history of Sri Lanka, with some background and historical highlights.
• Country Facts: demographics and other statistical data.
• Doing Business: Greetings & courtesies, meeting protocol, business attire, business entertaining, etc.

• Women: As travelers, are there any special considerations in Sri Lanka? As a businesswoman, are any extra measures needed? How are Sri Lankan women treated in their own country?

• Money: What does the money look like? How much should different service people be tipped, if at all?

• Travel: Visa info, embassy & consulate locations, departure formalities, electrical system, etc.
• Safety: Emergency numbers, notes on street crime, hospital locations, health & medical care

• Points of Interest: Some interesting museums and cultural sites, in case there's time in between meetings.
• City Views: Background on Colombo, with a handful of hotel descriptions.
• Telephone System: The subtleties of dialing to & from Sri Lanka. There's even a section on how to use the different Sri Lankan pay phones (without needing to speak Sinhalese).
• Life Cycle: From birth to marriage to old age, what's life like?
• Gift Giving: A few pages on the subtleties of giving personal or business gifts.
• Holidays and Festivals: Solid background on the popular holidays and festivals.
• Religion: Background on Sri Lanka's varying religious climates.
• Superstitions and Folklore: Common superstitions, along with Sri Lankan stereotypes.
• Food and Recipes: Descriptions of common Sri Lankan foods, along with recipes for appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts, including fish soup, coconut sambol, hoppers, wattakka, and the aforementioned watalappan.

• Terms Dictionary: Over 100 words & phrases translated into Sinhalese.

• Embassies: Embassy locations and contact info for dozens of countries with representation in Sri Lanka.
  

Being part of the Business Traveler's Passport series means that the app also has easy navigation, editable bookmarks, changeable font sizes, is searchable, and has an array of text & background color choices. If you've got any questions, do drop us a note! Shockingly, we actually enjoy talking to our customers.