Sensational Sri Lanka

Posted December 10, 2015

I arrived in Sri Lanka relieved to be in a new country but uncertain with what to expect. I had never thought I would visit this country but it definitely was a nice surprise. Just for a future tip, if you’re gonna visit Sri Lanka, you can skip the capital city of Colombo, there’s not too much going on there. I landed and grabbed a cab to the hostel in Colombo. When the cab was about to arrive it began pouring rain. More like a torrential down pour and the hostel’s address wasn’t visible. A couple knocked on the taxi’s window and introduced themselves as the hostel keepers. Now this was my first time to a hostel so I had no idea what to expect. We climbed 6 floors to the top floor and had arrived to reception area. I was given a quick tour and shown to my room. My first mistake was booking a hostel without air conditioning. It was like walking into the rain forest. I met the girls in the room and was excited to meet new people and hear about their experiences. The thunder at one point had gotten so loud that all of girls started to scream and panic, ha ha. It was definitely the loudest thunder I had ever heard. I had booked two nights at this hostel but realized all I needed was one night after speaking to everyone in the dorm room about Colombo. I met a lovely girl from Mumbai named Priyanka and two Danish girls. Priyanka and I went out for a “first” meal in Sri Lanka and found a place to grab some fried rice. Priyanka was heading to an elephant sanctuary to write an article and the Danish girls were heading to a place called Kandy.

I decided to go with the Danish girls on the train to this mystery destination. I was lucky to transfer my second night’s stay to another hostel in Kandy which the Colombo hostel owned. I got separated from the two girls but happy
to have their company. I arrived to the hostel and caught everyone on
the day they were leaving. I was the only guest at the hostel for the next two nights. I didn’t mind that much because the hostel management had set me up with a tuk tuk driver Prasanna Fernando who ended up being my “Rent a Friend” for the next two days. He didn’t speak much English but was agreeable and pleasant in nature. He didn’t creep me out like a lot of other Sri Lankan men did with the endless stares and gazes..ha ha. He first took me to a beautiful white Buddha, the first I had seen on my travels. We then ventured off to an old tea history museum, Royal botanical gardens, a side street restaurant, Temple of the Tooth, and a classical Sri Lankan dance show. He had paid to come to the botanical gardens with me and the temple which was nice to have the company. The next day he would drive me 3 hours north in his tuk tuk to see the Dambulla caves and climb Pidurangala Rock in Sigiriya. He came to the caves with me and did the hike up the rock with me. He suggested not to do the Sigiriya Rock because it would cost $20 USD and to save the money to do the other hike. I definitely appreciated this suggestion because we were the only two people on the hike and were able to enjoy the view in peace. He would do kind gestures like stop on road side stallsand get me a coconut, or corn, or a meal so that I could try different Sri Lankan delicacies. It was the first time since I started my world trip that I was really happy to be on my own. The next day I thought I would try my luck at the train station and attempt to go to beautiful town of Ella.

Everyone had told me this is the most beautiful train ride in the world. I went early to the train station and they told me tickets were sold out. First class tickets get sold out 1 month in advance. I begged the attendants to give me a ticket and they gave in. While waiting for the train, I bribed two train attendants. I told them if they could get me a seat on the train, I would pay them. This second-class train was pretty much standing room only and those who were lucky could nab a seat. The attendants jumped on the train before me and tried to find a seat but unfortunately they were already taken from people who got on the previous stop. I stood for 3 hours before an opportunity presented itself. Two people were getting off the train and I was right next to them. The man next to me suddenly jumps over the seats, sits down and blocks me from gettng into the seats with his body. Umm…what?! I told him there’s two of us and two seats so no problem, we could both sit. Then from a far, I see this his son was on the other side of the rail car making his way to his dad. He kid was about 7 and the three of us could have all sat comfortably in the seats together. He refused to let me sit down and after using some choice words on him, I decided to give up and let it go. I eventually did get a seat on the train next to a local Sri Lankan girl. The problem is, the locals all speak Tamil to each other, and they tell each other when they are getting off, so they can all quickly get seats. The Sri Lankan girl was trying to get another girl that when she gets up to leave the train, the other local girl can have her window seat. Oh no, I wasn’t gonna let that happen. I realized that this train ride is like Hunger Games, and you need to fight for what you want. When she got up, I slid into the window seat and the local girl who was about to sit down gave me the dirtiest look. I couldn’t care less. I’m glad I did, because I think it is the most beautiful train ride in the world. You see endless amounts of waterfalls, never ending bright green tea plantations, and mountains of such beauty. Kind of feels like you’re in Jurassic Park except the dangerous dinosaurs and replaced by crazy human beings. When I finally got to the town of Ella, I hitched a ride with a lovely couple from Germany who suggested I stay at their guesthouse and take a tour with them. Once I got there the prices were far too high to stay at the guesthouse but their driver was nice enough to drive me into town. Once I got out of the van, a local guesthouse owner immediately spotted me and said he had a place for me to stay. I was a bit weary but agreed to follow him up a huge hill to his guesthouse. I had reservations at another place but hadn’t put down any deposit and enjoyed the fact I’d get my own private room. It was a lovely spot and the owners were both so friendly. They would make meals for you, fresh breakfast and tea with biscuits. I became friends with an Australian couple next door and they gave me some tips on what to do in this area. I wanted to climb a popular mountain called “Adam’s Peak” but on the path way to this mountain, I saw a sign that said “Beware, thieves might attack on this road.” I decided it was best just to enjoy the green views of endless cascade of mountains from my guesthouse and do some much-needed laundry.

After two days or relaxation and eating local delights, I decided it was time to go to the beach town of Mirissa. Now there aren’t any real designated bus stops in this town and you just have to hope that a bus will come. I woke up in the morning, asked the owner of the guesthouse where I should stand for the bus. He pointed out an area on the bottom of the hill. As soon as I arrived, a bus appeared, and it was on it’s way to Mirissa beach. It was a long 6-hour, windy road. For the people who had to stand because no seats were available, I felt very sad for. It was a vomitey unstable ride, ha ha. We got to the bus terminal and had to catch another bus to Mirissa beach. The situation reminded me of India, walking up to buses and shouting at drivers asking them where they were headed. I got onto the right bus and headed to my hostel. Wow, what a cool hostel I thought. I checked into a mixed dorm room and head out to make friends. I met Rayaj from the U.S. and he told me stories of his trekking in Nepal. He introduced me to a group of people he had been hanging out with and we head to the beach, which was across the road. It was super hot here, I missed the coolness of mountains but the beaches were pristine and beautiful. At night we headed to a beach restaurant and shared drinks while playing card games. The next day I had booked a whale tour with Raja and the whales, which was a bit of a sham. It was super pricey and the reason why I went on the tour was to see a great blue whale. They guaranteed sightings of at least one whale or your money back. We wandered around the ocean for hours without seeing a thing. Then I realized towards the end of the tour, none of the tour boats had seen a whale and they all started to frantically communicate with each other through the radio. A fisherman had seen a small pod of whales and all of the tour boats kicked into high gear to chase the whales. I wasn’t impressed with this behavior and type of animal cruelty. We got back to shore by the evening and I went back to my hostel. I ran into Priyanka again who was staying at the hostel that night, it was lovely to see her again. At night, I was awoken by my bunkmate on top of me. He had been puking for 8 hours straight into a bucket. His buddies told me he had drunk an entire massive mug filled with various liquors and now he was paying the price. Was he or was I? That morning I checked out and Rayaj and I decided to take a bus to the airport to catch our respective flights out of the country. Rayaj was great and showed me how I could set up a VPN which I am forever grateful for! I wish that I could have spent a few more weeks in Sri Lanka as there was so much more to explore. It definitely was a hidden gem of a country, which I’m looking forward to going back see more of. I only had ten days in Sri Lanka because my next trip was to Singapore to see my dear old university friend Nikhil in Singapore. I haven’t seen him in ten years so I can’t wait to see what he’s been up to! Good bye for now Sri Lanka 🙂