Time to Head back: Anuradhapura to Colombo to Pune

We woke up quite fresh today, after a comfortable ten hours sleep. A long day was lined up for us - first a train to Colombo, then 2 flights to Mumbai and then by road till Pune. 

For once we didn't have an early start. We got up at 7, had breakfast of eggs bread and fruits. Our train to Colombo was at 10:20. Surprisingly the first class reserved wasn't air conditioned, I mean the third class reserved to Ella was much better. Maybe they have special trains running on that route, considering that it is popular amongst both locals and foreigners. Journey was hot initially, but it got cooler as we headed south. It had been raining in Colombo

Anuradhapura

We wanted to be at Anuradhapura well on time to be able to see the ruins on the same day, as again we had only one day to reach there and see the place. Even with an early start, we could only get a 7 Am private bus, as that was the first bus and the first direct government bus was at 9:45. We boarded the private bus and waited - It was going to be a slowwww and long ride. It was barely 120 or so kms and straight roads, but still we reached only by 11. What I liked was, before the journey started, the bus did a parikrama of one of the temples there in Trinchomalee. This was something unusual, first I thought wow the driver is taking us from near the temple, and we got darshan sitting in bus itself. Next moment I realized he was actually doing a parikrama. Nice !

Roaming around in Trinchomallee

Kinda confused - what to do next day? The famous Pigeon Island seemed to be a costly deal (3000 lkr per head) and I wasn't too keen on doing snorkelling here, having done that at one of the best places, Lakshwadeep. So we decided on going to Trinchomallee instead - see Ford Fedrick, and Swami rock. Heat was a bummer, but we still headed out with our umbrellas. We took the local bus till Trincho and then walked till Fort F and above towards Swami rock, where a Shiv temple is. Hot hot!! By the way, one can see deer here, like we see dogs in our city - just roaming around.

Reached Uppuveli

Again an early start today - We left by 6 for the bus station and soon got a bus to Habarna. An hours journey and we were there. However then we had to wait for almost an hour before the next bus. Overall journey was fine. We reached Trinchomalee/Uppuveli homestay by 10. Here also it was quite hot. We stayed indoors during the day. 

At Habarna - As we wait for the connecting bus to Trinchomalee

The homestay had a very nice sit out, where we sat most of the time and had our meals too. Today was one day, when we had all proper meals - bread eggs for breakfast, chicken fried rice [seemed like the first tasty meal in Srilanka] for lunch and chicken noodles for dinner [not so good, turned out to be sevai instead of noodles].

A day in Polonnaruwa

Got the early morning Government red bus to Polonnaruwa – again very cheap. The local transport is extremely cheap here and in relation to this, food is very expensive. Journey was overall fine with some local songs being played in the bus [ Many of them had same tune as Bollywood songs]

We reached Polonnaruwa in 3 hours and were at our homestay by 10. It looked deserted, we kept knocking and ringing the bell, and finally even yelling "hello anybody there", but in vain. We spotted one more house adjacent to this one in the same compound with door opened. Could recognize it from the pictures I had seen in airbnb. Again this was deserted - We looked for any note our host might have left, but nothing. We were contemplating going to some neighbour house and requesting them to make a phone call to our host. Thankfully just then the mother of our host came in. She couldn't speak English, but we got directed to our room.

A day in Kandy

Thankfully a nice sunny morning [ After yesterday’s heavy rain, we are going to be equipped with umbrellas just in case ]

After breakfast, we first headed to the Tooth temple. Walking along the Kandy Lake we reached a point, from where looking in the direction of the city, we saw the giant Buddha statue on top of a hill, which so symbolizes Kandy.

Next to Kandy Lake

Our train was at 6:40 am, but we were up since 4. In fact I had barely slept, as Ishu wasn't comfortable, kept getting up for water (she hadn't eaten anything since lunch). Finally she puked water somewhere around 4. We cleaned and washed. Forced her to eat one biscuit, finally she slept. I was very worried at this point, cuz she wasn't eating at all.

We finally left at 6, walked till the station & waited for our train - Its such a small quaint station. Train was kinda empty till Nuwara Eliya and we took in the passing scenery once again. We took a more positive approach with Ishu - Played with her, gave her banana one bite at a time. She slept a lot too and seemed to be getting better. In Nuwara Eliya, coach completely filled up - Few students with some musical instruments sat next to us. They sang and played music for almost the entire journey till Kandy.

A day in Ella: Little Adam's Peak

Our home-stay in Ella was amidst the tea estates, so while sipping tea in the veranda, one could take in the gorgeous view. I woke up early to capture some of it with my camera. 

After breakfast of banana pancakes with maple syrup [which was good], some coconut roti [hard and dry] with dal and sambol [made of coconut] and tea, we decided on going to Adam’s peak. May be Rawana Falls via bus if that’s possible?

Ishu wasn’t keen on joining us – she wanted to play with Sethuli and the kittens. Sudhashini (our host) offered to overlook the girls playing, while we go for our little hike. Though little apprehensive initially, we felt that was a better option, cuz she wasn't too well and clearly not interested, so we left her at the home-stay with our host, her daughter and the kittens. 

Colombo to Ella Train Journey - Feast of Greenery and Nature.

Up by 4:45 and ready to leave by 6. Couldn’t rely on public transport at this hour, so got a cab booked with the help of our host to reach railway station [450 lkr]. After the initial slight confusion as to which queue to stand in, we managed to buy the tickets for all planned train journeys. So now we have 2nd class reserved tickets from Colombo to Kandy, 3rd class reserved from Kandy to Ella and back. We were very apprehensive as to how 3rd class reserved will be, but there wasn’t any other choice. And for Anuradhapura to Colombo, we got first class tickets, again no other choice. I wanted 2nd class reserved in all cases. But now we can experience all different classes.

We reach Srilanka

ALL packed and ready to leave! Why Sri Lanka? Honestly this little island country was not even on my “TO GO” list until recently. But when I did consider this place for our family backpacking vacation, and started reading about it - It felt like a place NOT to be missed.

Our cab from Pune to Mumbai airport was in the middle of the night, and we reached airport still in the middle of the night. Next 3 hours after whiling away time at the airport, eating bread Nutella [packed], we slept off the minute we boarded our first flight. Oh how I wished it was a direct flight, but wait, this is budget travel, comforts at bay! J