This is a budget oriented trip I have undertaken last April. This comes under "World Tour Project". Everything I mention here are cheap and is great way to travel among Sinhalese culture and lifestyle.
About Srilanka -
The only country which is a neighboring to India and doesn't get affected by it, is SriLanka. It is the brother of India. Buddhism is predominent there. Hinduism too along with Christianity come second in place. People speak 2 languages - Sinhala, Tamil. I managed my entire trip with a little knowledge of Tamil. I met some of the amazing people in SriLanka. They are friendly and always are happy whenever you talk to them.
Recently tourism has increased so much. The places I travelled in Srilanka are - Colombo and Nearbys, Galle, Unawatuna, Kandy, Ella. Due to time constraint, I didnt travel the northern part of SL (well, I saw it through the flight!!!). Also it is hot in the north than the south.
This is my second foriegn trip and the first one which needed a visa. Visa can be applied online for 1200 Rs. You just have to show the letter to the Immigration people.
The cheapest flight is from chennai. Mihir Lanka is the flight carrier and service was good enough for the price.
Day 1
As the Airport is far away from the Colombo city and I reached very early. So, I took a shared mini van to Fort Railway Station. After around 1 hour of scenic travel through Negambo, I came out of the van. It was freaking hot. I never sweat like that before ever in my life, (damn humidity) though I live in the hottest part of the country. I poured some liters of cold water on me (literally on me) to ward off that sweat. I had to book a train ticket in advance to Ella. So i went there and asked a Window seat. And they gave it to me.
Near Fort Railway Station, there was a public toilet, this is good for any budget traveller. You can freshen up there and I visited the Beira Lake, Gangaramaya temple and park. It was amazing experience. With a single ticket, you can visit both the temple and the park. Prices are different for SAARC, Local and Other Countries.
If you need awesome 7 star hotels in colombo, just walk few meters from Fort Railway Station and you can find all the 7 star hotels. It is called Galle Face. It has Indian Embassy too. After spending few minutes in the nearby market, I went to Galle by the bus. Again, friendly people in the bus. There were beautiful people there, talked to them a bit. So, I reached Galle. The main purpose of going to Galle is to have my first Scuba Diving dream fulfilled.
It was around 6pm I did a forest cum Beach trek. There is this huge forest in unawatuna and if you cross it you will find a beautiful beach. The sunset was beautiful, there were logs for you to sit. There are boats if you want to go in. There are boats with glass bottom, so that you can see the fish. I met a lot of people when I was in Unawatuna
And if you have spare time, visit Galle Fort, I visited, It has that European touch to it, connected to the beach. You can go to the Lighthouse if you want.
At Night, i visited this Peace pagoda (japanese) and after few minutes of Sight-Seeing, I went back to my room. This was all just for the big thing I have to do on the next day.
Day 2 -
So, this is my Scuba day. I called the dive master, he told me that I could get there around 11 and with some money to take underwater photos, I took the beginners' Discovery dive. For few minutes, he taught me the rules of underwater diving and gave me some tips if anything goes wrong. After all that, I had put on this tight suit and heavy gear. It is hard to walk with all that. Then we went in for 3 km in and then my heart started to beat. This is for real. I have to swim underwater now. And that too, I have to fall in the ocean on my back. It was one crazy experience, and I would do it anywhere now. (Well No, if there were any Sharks). We saw some rare fishes, Coral, and sunken ships (during the war) and as my Oxygen gas was emptying, I pulled it back up. That was one of the first craziest thing I did.
After spending a few hours on the beach, and having some sea food for lunch, I went back to Colombo for my train to Ella. Unlike India, you are not allowed to stay in the Railway Station. So for the first time, I slept on a bench near the beach with my bag as my pillow. I had good sleep with air from the beach. I had dinner at the Galle Face. It is the cheapest you can get in SriLanka. You can also get breads usually as breakfast or snacks.
Day 3
At 5 in the morning, I woke up, freshened in the Railway Station and took a beautiful train ride to Ella. It is in the Central part of SriLanka and is a hilly ride. I met a couple in the train. They taught me their own kind of "Poker", we played, took snaps of the train ride. Slept, Enjoyed the entire trip.
It was raining a bit, when we reached Ella, and we parted our ways. There I met some Swiss couple, who had the same idea of going to see the Nine Arched Bridge. One of the wonderful railway track trek. We had a great talk about our lifes. Then came the attack of Dogs. I dont like Dogs, same as the couple. We kept some stones in our hand and starting throwing like some monkeys at the Dogs. They are Street Dogs. We were terrified till we found the Police Checkpost, where we told the Police officer to ward them off, (He too used stones!!!). Due to my little knowledge of tamil, I was their translator.
The Police told stories about Thievery, Train attacks and stuff. My mobile battery was dead and so I had very little of the photos in my mobile, but i have a full picture in my head. So, we waited for the train to come through a tunnel, over the bridge and disappear into the forest. That was one hell of an Experience. If you want anything, there is a small chaiwala at the left side of the tracks. Later, we returned to the station and parted our ways. "We are all just passing clouds to one another", There I went to the room I booked via Booking.com and stayed there. My room mates were two Spanish men and 1 Australian girl. We talked and ate and slept and woke up again early.
Talked about cricket and Language with the people where I had dinner, went to a small town 17 kms away from Ella for withdrawing money as there is no International ATM dispenser in Ella.
Day 4
Woke up early, and went to Ravana Falls and Ravana Cave. You have pay some money to get to the Ravana Cave, temple. The cave is tough to walk, so go only if you have good shoes. It will be tiring but turn around your thirst will sway away by the Greenery. A Bottle is recommended though. At Noon, I went to a small trek to Mini Adam's Peak, this is a smaller version of Adam's Peak which is in NuwaraEllya. I met an Indian and Maldova couple. She met him in Rajasthan, and got married. They were nice couple and We reached the top, took some snaps enjoyed the cloudy chilly weather, and came back. For others, who want bit extreme, you can go to Ella Rock from the Railway Station. Then the next day, I left to Kandy. It is a long Journey with great scenic beauty. It passes through Nuwara Ellya, and by Evening, I went to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.
Day 5
At Pinnawala, you have to buy tickets, Usually people flock to see the Bathing of Elephants. Here too, prices are different for Local, SAARC, and other countries. Go straight into the shopping area and you can see the Elephants bathing. they dance and for 50 Rs they will give bananas to feed the elephants. I did that, and took a bus and went back to Kandy and visited one of the buddhist temples in there and completed by journey by travelling back to Colombo and back to Chennai and Bangalore.
Day 6
I had to submit my Major Report on my Project and hence I had to return. This is the short trip around SriLanka. I didnt go to a lot places. But I enjoyed the hell of it. And if I complete my dream of travelling the entire world and I am still alive, then SriLanka (especially Ella) is my choice to live. Lovely people.
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