So I decided to take a bite of Sri Lanka bureacracy and try to exchange my greek driver licence for Sri Lankan one. I have read online that it is possible to do in Colombo but also some people mentioned that it should be doable in Galle (second largest city in Lanka). We are actually staying there now.
First step is to figure out who is responsible for the exchange. Little googling suggested that it is the department of motorized vehicles. So I searched for it in Galle and found the location. Of course as government service they only open until 15:00 every day. One morning I headed there. 
And there is a nice cue of people waiting to get in and the security guy only lets in one person at a time, so I waited
One I entered the door I spoke with the secutity guy and asked him if this is the right place to exchange my driver licence which the answer was (expected) "NO!", and I should go somewhere else which sounded like the main government building in the city. There I went.
It is interesting to visit such places and I should try to do it more often. As a tourist one is usually (if everything goes well with the vacation) oblivious to the workings of a country and it is usually a lot of fun. Plus one can learn a lot about the country's culture and people by just visiting governmental locations.
I like the hand sign on the board. Very welcoming! Plus notice the 3 languages, Sri Lanka speaks mostly Sinhala and Tamil and I guess between them they communicate in Egnlish. But their English is very poor and even on government websites there are plenty of mistakes made in grammar and words.
Classic example is when Alena booked a homestay and then emailed to them saying that "we are very excited to visit Sri Lanka" and the reply was "Madam, don't be too excited, Sri Lanka is a very safe country..."
Next I was wondering around the building to find who could help me, one place to visit in such locations is the restaurant! I learned that in Greece, usually the food places in gov locations are super-cheap and sell home-made-like food. This one was no exception, I saw their menu everything was in Shinhala but I saw numbers next to the lines which I assume were prices and they were 10 times lower than dishes 500 meters away in the Galle Fort. I didn't stay for food because I had other business :)
Just walking around the building and reading signs is very exciting. They have a place where you can get info on your mother tongue. Cool! 
Or I think every country needs a productivity unit (I hope they are productive in what they do)
I found out that I need to go to the third floor where the motorized vehicles department sits. So up I went and reached the third floor. There are many signs but all in local languages so I just wondered into the room with the most people in, trying to figure out if that's the right department. Then I saw this which confirmed my guess
I have to say that Sri Lanka gov building is very much like greek ones: big room full of people (customers) screaming around, one guy is working trying to deal with the crowd, 4 or 5 more people (employees) just sitting around chatting. I approached one employee sitting around and asked them if I can exchange my licence. She took a look at it and said .... "NO!", you have to go to Colombo!
This is where I had enough of the bureaucracy and was happy that no more local steps need to be taken. I was already fed up with it and got headache (plus it was hot and I had to go pick up Alisa from kindergarten).
the result is that I find a lot of similarities in the bureacracy process in Sri Lanka to south Europe countries (like Greece). I don't know why so, but it is interesting.
I suggest everyone to visit a big government building in the country you are visiting and just look around, read the signs, go to eat in the restaurant on premises. It is fun!