A short layover stop near Katunayake airport rather than a full stay — part of the same 2023 Southeast/Central Asia run, between the Kazakhstan leg and the month ahead in Thailand.
December–March is for the west/south coast dry season — though for a short airport-layover stop like this one, the season barely matters; the point was leaving the terminal at all, not chasing ideal beach weather.
That the hedge turned out to be unnecessary. A hostel was booked near the airport as a backup for the layover, just in case — but the real move was leaving the terminal entirely for a private-car day tour, arranged with a tour agent right there at arrivals. Eight hours is usually written off as dead time between flights; here it was enough for a full look at a country that was never meant to be a real stop at all.
That's what actually happened here — the hostel booking went unused, and the day tour was the better use of limited hours.
Airport counters don't always take cards reliably.