Be in Sri Lanka right now

Sri Lanka is the place to be in right now. The World T20 finals will be held tomorrow evening at Colombo and the host country is one of the finalists. And to compete against them is another tropical island country, the West Indies. The atmosphere will certainly be festive and lots of music and dance will be the norm.


Even though the city will be packed to the brim and it will be difficult to find accommodation, I am sure the passion of this cricket-loving country will lift up the mood to high levels of excitement. While the cricket match finals will occupy the highest priority, one can also enjoy the rich culture of Old Colombo, the classy restaurants and hotels on Galle road, Colombo 3, a relaxed walk on Colombo’s marine drive and may be a tropical holiday post the finals.


Sri Lanka is the place to be in right now. May the best team win the finals!

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Sri Lanka’s Heritage Train Journey

A sensational train ride from the warm and coastal Colombo to the cool and misty central highlands where the level ground gives way to steep ground and where the train literally starts chugging and winding through tea estates and pristine tropical rainforests. This is what makes Sri Lanka’s heritage train journey.

 
This journey, which begins at Colombo’s fort railway station is best taken during the day, especially the trains from morning 6 AM through to 9 AM to allow one to enjoy Sri Lanka’s natural wonders from the comfort of the train seat. The sheer ‘GREEN’ effect captivates one and all. Furthermore, it is quite an experience to see a train that is plying at 60 kilometres per hour drop its speed to around 10 kilometres per hour and struggle its way through the steep tracks of Sri Lanka’s central highlands.

 
The ride begins at Colombo and goes on till Badulla, one of Sri Lanka’s tea towns, but most tourists, prefer to get down at Nanu Oya, which is the closest railway station to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka’s tea capital. To know the train timings, one can look up Sri Lanka’s railway site. Currently, online booking is not possible, but one can book tickets from the station 14 days in advance. Typically, 2nd class and 3rd class tickets are available on the day of the journey, but the most sought after seats are the first class observation car ones, which is slightly more comfortable, but provides a 3 side view of the journey. If I remember right, the first class observation car seats cost about 700 LKR, while the 2nd class seats cost about half of that.

 
The first class compartments are non-air conditioned, something which you will prefer coz it will allow you to feel the change in the temperature as the train starts climbing into the mountains. The seats are fairly comfortable and the 3 side view is very interesting. Though, personally, I would have preferred if the observation car view was that of the front of the train and not the rear. But, then I do understand that the engine has to be at the front.

 
As the train leaves the Colombo fort station, the crowd thins out and the stifling humidity is more bearable due to the wind. The train crosses small villages and stops at some stations. In about 3 hours from the start, the temperatures begin to dip as the train slowly begins to ascend. The landscape changes to that of tea estates interspersed with tropical rainforests, mountain streams and waterfalls. Umpteen bridges and tunnels add to the eerie factor. A loud scream from all corners of the train greet one n all when the train passes through the pitch dark tunnels, some of them really long.



As the train approaches Nanu Oya, the train has covered about 180 kms in about 8 hours. Mightily slow one might say, but if you were to account for the 6,000 feet rise in elevation and the rugged terrain, then I guess it sounds reasonable. The entire journey is thrilling with beautiful vistas greeting you at each turn. This is one journey that every tourist to Sri Lanka must do. A road journey from Colombo to Nuwara Eliya is much faster, say 3 hours less, but lacks the nature’s punch of this heritage train journey.



For those who are wondering where Nuwara Eliya is located…Nuwara Eliya is located about 8-10 kms from the Nanu Oya station. One can either catch the bus from just outside the station or take a cab. A bus journey takes about 30 minutes and will take you right into the centre of Nuwara Eliya.

 
Tips: Do remember to carry a packed lunch, some high energy snack items and lots of water as the station and train food leave a lot to be desired. Even though it might be warm while you board the train at Colombo, be sure to pack a thin fleece or sweatshirt to help protect you against the nippy weather of the highlands.

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Hotel Ranmuthu–A good budget hotel on Colombo’s Marine Drive

It is quite a tough job to find a decent budget hotel in any new city. Everybody seems to entice you to stay with them and most of the reviews on the internet seem to be cooked up. Some bloggers help you find good places, but for that we end up spending quite a bit of time on online research. I came across Hotel Ranmuthu during my last backpacking trip to Colombo. I had never heard of this hotel before and did not have any time for an online review as it was a last moment decision to travel to Sri Lanka.

 
It was my van driver who recommended this place when I landed at the Colombo airport in the wee hours of the morning. Even though it was quite late in the night/early in the morning, the reception was very cooperative in helping me check the various rooms and spoke English well. This meant two of my initial hurdles were overcome. The price for the rooms here is between 1000 and 4000 LKR depending on Single, Double or Triple occupancy and AC vs. Non AC. Again, this fitted into my budget. I opted for a single Non-AC room as I was promised that there were no mosquitoes. And true to their word, there were no mosquitoes. May be, it was the lean season for the mosquitoes. But, generally, Colombo is known for its mosquitoes and that’s why most tourists opt for AC rooms or lather themselves in mosquito repellent cream. By this time, the tiredness had got to me and I crashed with not even an inkling of an idea of the specialities of this property.

 
It is when I woke up that I realized that Hotel Ranmuthu is a sea facing property. In fact, my balcony on the 5th floor offered me great views of the Indian Ocean and the beach railway line. And when I walked outside of the hotel property, I found out that I was very close to the main business district of Colombo. All the large malls like the Crescat Boulevard, cinema complexes, five star hotels, the marine drive, the city’s best restaurants, the Fort railway station, Pettah and most of Colombo’s prime sites are a short walk away. And since it is on the Galle road, one can easily find buses and Tuk-Tuks (3 wheeler taxis) to move around. I stayed at this hotel for 3 days and 3 nights and thanks to its prime location, walked across most of Colombo’s prime areas and relaxed watching the open ocean while I was at the room.

 
The only weak link about this place is the lack of an in-house restaurant. But, with so many restaurants a stone’s throw away, I never found it to be a problem. In summary, I would definitely recommend this place to a budget traveller. The rooms and attached bath and toilet are clean and I didn’t face a single problem. Only word of advice is don’t get offended by the old paint of the hotel exterior. The interiors are pretty decent. If you are interested to book your stay here, the contact numbers are 0094 11 2433986 and 0094 11 2433989. And the address is 112, Galle Road, Colombo – 3.

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Travel Summary: Backpacking in Sri Lanka

I got back yesterday morning after a fabulous 6 day and 6 night backpacking holiday in Sri Lanka. The trip was so great that each day was a highlight. After learning some basic Sinhala words during my last trip, I have progressed to forming small, but broken sentences during the course of this holiday. English is still a prized commodity in Sri Lanka and is limited to the major cities and that too in the tourist circles. Colombo is the only exception to this trend. Tamil is quite well spoken in the central highlands, in the north and in small Muslim communities. The rest of the country is pure Sinhala. But, the people are so welcoming that as a traveller, you hardly feel the difficulty in communication. But, learning a local language helps as always.

My backpacking trip started with staying at a budget hotel on Galle road in Colombo 3. This was followed by a long walk through the heart of Colombo fort, which included the marine drive, Fort Railway Station, Pettah and the five star hotel district. The walk was special in spite of the sultry weather as the wide cobbled paths and zero litter environment are pleasing to anyone coming from the crowded and not so clean roads of India. During this walk, I got myself a local Dialog Sim card, explored the handicraft emporium, the old colonial buildings from the Dutch, Portuguese and British times, tried getting myself a train ticket at the fort railway station and walked the entire marine drive stretch.

The next morning, me and my friends reached the fort railway station, got ourselves first class observation car tickets to Nanu Oya. The rest of the day was spent admiring the changing landscapes as this train chugged its way along the steep slopes to the central highlands of Sri Lanka. A local bus then took us from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya, the tea capital of Sri Lanka. The evening and night was spent exploring the markets of Nuwara Eliya.

Next early morning saw us take a tuk tuk (local three wheeler taxi) to Horton Plains National Park, where we trekked 9.5 kms in light rain and significant mist to Mini World’s End, World’s End and Baker’s Falls. Then we headed to the New Zealand milk farm to see how Cheese is manufactured while enjoying a hot cup of fresh farm milk. The evening saw us struggling to find a bus to our next destination and seeing our plight, a local agreed to drive us down to Thissamaharama for a basic cost. The night was spent in a home stay at Thissamaharama, which is fondly remembered by the group as ‘Princess Castle’ as the beds had pink mosquito nets on them.

The fourth day provided us with a great wildlife experience at Yala National Park. The highlight of this wildlife safari was us seeing 2 different leopards, one in the morning on the tree and the other in the afternoon on the jeep track. We were also treated to the sights of a 14 foot Tusker crossing the jeep track and that too at not more than 10 feet from our jeep. In addition, we saw plenty of bee eaters, land monitor lizards, peacocks, raptors, crocodiles and deer. This safari was a full day safari, which meant that we spent a good 12 hours inside the wildlife sanctuary. Lunch was spent on the Yala beach, which faces the wide open Indian Ocean. The evening was special too as we stayed in a tree house facing the jungle. This place was illuminated only by Kerosene lanterns and had the basic of facilities. The highlight of the evening was us sipping on some Old Arrack, a local coconut brew.

Two buses in the morning took us from Thissamaharama to Matara and then to Unawatuna Beach on the South West coast of Sri Lanka. Here, we decided to go for some luxury and stayed at a beach facing bungalow. This gave us great access to the beach. Rest of the evening was spent swimming in the waters and exploring different corners of the beach. It is here that I spent my 30th birthday.

After a relaxed wake up next morning at 8 AM (every morning, we were up by or before 5 AM), we went to explore the nearby coastal city of Galle. The day was spent exploring the fort, the coastline, the colonial buildings, the churches and the Galle International Test Cricket Stadium. After lunch, me and my friend parted ways and I headed to Colombo in a AC bus, while they returned to Unawatuna Beach.

At Colombo, I met Heminda Jayaweera, my local Sri Lankan friend and fellow trekker and he was kind enough to drop me at ODEL Fashions for some souvenir shopping. I spent close to 3 hours at the ODEL showroom and after spending a lot of money, I came out, had dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant (first Indian food in the last 6 days and nights) and then took the local Bus to Pettah and then the Airport. The return flight was less than 30% full, but much better occupancy considering the fact that only 4 of us passengers were there on my onward flight. Overall, this trip was physically tiring, as we faced variety of weather (rain almost everywhere, chilly nights and mornings in the central highlands and high humidity on the west coast), but then ain’t that the beauty of backpacking trips!!

This trip was much richer than my last one and I have loads of information and tit bits to share. I am sure you are all eager to see the photographs, but please hold onto for some more time as I am travelling today to Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra and haven’t yet gotten enough time to process my photos. Do stay tuned to read more on my Sri Lankan experience. I am sure backpackers, vacationers, budget travellers and others will find it helpful.

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8 Random Things about Colombo Airport

Earlier this week, I spent quite a decent amount of time at the Colombo airport (Bandaranayake Airport). First, the van that was supposed to pick me up at 3 AM arrived at 7 AM and second I was dropped at the airport at midnight for a 4 AM flight. In essence, this delay and advance of sorts gave me 8 hours to kill at the airport.

During this 8 hours, I tried to explore the airport as much as possible. It was during this exploration that I noticed some interesting yet random things about the Colombo airport. They have been mentioned below for your reading.

1) Sri Lankan Airways employees need to get a class in customer service. They even threw a racist comment at me saying you are travelling in an Indian Airline, hence we cannot help you. I nearly lost my head, but calmed myself by walking away. Sri Lankan Airlines have lost me as a customer forever.

2) There are more security checks at the Colombo airport than in any large airport of the developed Western World.

3) In spite of having a ticket for a flight 4 hours later, I was not allowed to enter the immigration chamber of the airport and made to wait in the outside visiting area. This is in stark contrast to rest of the airports across the world that let you clear immigration and security and allow you spend your time and money at the duty free shops, at bars, at lounges, at restaurants and other interesting places.

4) The Colombo airport is small in size, but is definitely packs a punch in terms of design and beauty. It is well lit, very clean, well designed and finally it smells good and not stuffy at all.

5) For the number of limited passengers in the Colombo airport, the security personnel were struggling to cope up. The security lines were short, but the waiting time was long. I was just thinking…what will happen if they are made to work out of Indian airports…guess they will get a heart attack on the very first day.

6) Alcohol at the duty free shops of Colombo airport are more expensive than the Chennai airport.

7) The duty free shops pack quite a punch with a great deal of variety – Chocolates, Alcohol, Cigarettes, Local Artefacts, Local Fashion, Gift Items, Sri Lankan Tea, Electronic Goods, Travel Accessories and many more.

8) The shops in the airport visiting area were selling the goods at a much cheaper price than the duty free shops. But, they were more expensive than the city, but then that is pretty normal and understandable.

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