Lanka Trip - Colombo to Kandy ( day 1 @ kandy)

Helloooo alll

This post is about the time i spent traveling to kandy. Hope travelers might get some inputs and they enjoy the post.

After landing in Colombo at late night/ early morning i was very tired. Getting out of the flight to airport lobby, i wondered how this small country cares for the events they organize .Airport was decorated with the hoardings and welcoming visitors for the world cup. It was like a festival for them. Really appreciate them for the efforts. After clearing immigration, i came out. Went to the money changers, in airport, u have all SL major banks and u need not worry. But be careful that you are not carrying INR with you. Have TC or any standard currency ( $ or Pound, Euro).

There was a airport shuttle waiting and people note that this airport shuttle drops you to nearest bus stand and there will be 187 bus route waiting to take you to Colombo.

Some points here: No Visa required for Indians to travel to SL. In Colombo getting to bus stand needs to be reached via the airport shuttle and u need not to pay anything to travel in the airport shuttle.

Bus fare in aircon bus to colombo is Rs78. U have to have exact change to give to the collector. If you dont know llocal lanaguage ask fellow travelers, they will help you out if they know English.

After reaching Colombo bus stand in early morning 4, i had the next task in front of me. I had read in blogs and website that travel to Kandy in train would be beautiful. So After asking people for directions, I reached Colombo fort railway station. I asked railway personnel for the train, they said , the tickers to intercity train will be issued at 6AM. the train was supposed to leave at 7AM from fort to kandy.

Since i had 2 hours more, i thought of getting money in nearby ATM by trying to use my ICICI account. I went around and finally i found the ATM after asking some military people there. Near Colombo and around SL, the People are secured by the army people. They ask vehicles to stop and make sure that all is well.

I came back to the station and there was a guy who informed me that the tickets will be issued @ 6 and he himself initiated and formed a queue. Meanwhile army people came and asked for ID proofs for all the people in Q. Security is so strict here that all the SL people carry their ID cards when they move out.

So finally waited for more than an hour to get the tickets and got tickets in 3rd class as 2nd class seats were sold out.

Note: Tickets to any trains in SL is issued before 30mins to 45 mins b4 the train departure.

Ensure that you follow Q system.

There is no reservation in 3rd class bogies. So its better u get the seat or else u travel by standing.

I then went to platform to wait for the train. The fort railway station is old and still they have maintained it beautifully like a heritage structure. Nice to see that structure is maintained in a heritage style.

The train came and the people started rushing in to the bogies, the guy who helped me to get ticket directed me to get into the bogie and told me that catching seat can be easy if you are fast. I followed it and got a seat, window SeatJ. I had chance to take some beautiful shots during the journey.  Subsequently the train was crowded and train left Colombo fort at 7AM to kandy. On the way, it was time to take some beautiful country side shots. This route is so wonderful that it is one of the best. U will move through city side, country side and the Ghat sections where u travel to the top. More than 15 tunnels and beautiful mountains, the train traveled 2.5 hrs to reach Kandy at 9.30. I got some 50+ snaps during the travel. It was so scenic that I suggest people to just travel in the rainy season once, it will be damn good to watch. This route gives Indian western ghats travel , the run for its money.

After reaching kandy, it was the time to find my guest house so that I could have some rest and get ready for the rest of the day. I had Google map and the mail sent by the guest house confirming my accommodation. I started to travel using the map to reach the guest house. I lost the wasy and asked passerby people to get to know the way. Finally after traveling for 30-35 minutes, I found the guest house. Since I was alone and wanted to enjoy the walk, I went by walk not bothering to take the auto.

Note: If you can bargain with the auto guys you can take autos in SL.

I got into the guest house, care taker said that all rooms are booked; I was confused and said that I have the mail saying that my accommodation is confirmed. Then he called his boss and said that my stay is confirmed. I was relieved. Checked in to the room, had a good shower and I was ready to doze for a short while as my body was not allowing me to stay awake. I went to sleep for 2 hours and then got up by 2PM.

Now it was the time to find my food. Since the caretaker told that food needs to be ordered b4 2-3 hours b4 the actual time, I thought I would go to kandy city to have some food. Again started to walk down as there were no autos. Reached the kandy lake in 3 minutes as it was a downhill travel. Had some snacks as I didn’t find any veggie food.

Then got some energy to travel round the city. Did some rounds and got some idea where the roads were. Since 15^th was a holiday all shops were beginning to close by 3PM. Then after making some beats round the city centre, I decided to walk round the kandy lake and have the kandy temple glimpse. Then I reached the guest house by 6PM. Had a chat with the caretaker and got to know some info of kandy city and how to travel to some other nearby places. HE gave some good info and by 8 I decided to have dinner at the nearby restaurant located near kandy lake.

Went there by 8 and found that only veg fried rice and dosas were available for veggie food. So ordered veg fried rice and started to have it . 150 bucks was the cost and it was worth it . t was damn good. During the dinner, there was some altercations going on near the food counter and suddenly heard the glass broke. Families with ladies and kids started to move out. Then suddenly we see that the fight was starting. The guy who broke glass was fully charged and the hotel people came and started to fight.  That guy went out and he came with the gang and he started to fight. Then came the big drama, the hotel people came with all kitchen weapons to hit them, I thought something will go wrong and it did go wrong, the guy who started the fight was hit badly and suddenly the police came , still they were not able to control the guy. Some how it got cool when the big maama ( inspector) arrived. I asked some people there, they said, its was rare here. Strange to see the big fight in place where they preach peace. After dinner at the hotel, it was time to leave. The hotel floor was filled with blood droplets and glass pieces.

Fried rice was too good, but the fight made it sour…. Reached the guest house ,watched TV for sometime and it was time to sleep. The next day’s plan was to go to Dambulla, cover Sigriya and come back to kandy.

Note: SL people are friendly , esp people who are middle aged, they will help you out if you are in search of directions. It will be added advantage if you have a SL person with you.

The second day trip in the next post…