Digging through my photos... it was the '08 Great Road Trip... and I even took it on my iPhone then which means that I've got all the other metadata info.
Cows don't roam free in Sri Lankan cities, either. You are aware that South Asia is a subcontinent and a whole set of islands, and not one singular city,right?
I have heard many Hindus consider the cow a holy animal and let them roam where they please. And there are many Hindus in Sri Lanka (though there are more buddhists who don't consider cows holy but are vegetarians).
And yes I know the region pretty well. I've lived more than half my life outside my home country (in 3 different ones). Though never been to Sri Lanka no.
Never seen a single cow on the road in Sri Lanka. Though I only visited the western half of the country from about the Colombo to Kandy line down to the very southernmost tip.
However, the other settings seem about right to conservative vs. reality. I literally just got out of the airport in a taxi and thought I was gonna die, so fast and close to an oncoming car was the taxi going. Probably about two atoms worth of "air" between their side mirror and the taxi's.
Traffic lights might as well not exist. Everyone was just going through the intersection at the same time. No elephants on the raods either but an army of Tuk Tuks. Actually preferable to car taxis. Never took one again. Bus travel was interesting as well.
Most Buddhists are not vegetarians. There's a huge gap between Wikipedia stats and real life, as it is the case everywhere.
Using "Knowing the region pretty well" to be confident about a country you've never set foot in is like me assuming alligators are roaming free in corn fields in Iowa because I've been to a few states in US and have seen Florida through youtube.
