Nuwara Eliya and Ella - the hill country

We started from Kaduruwela at 7am to Kandy by a private bus (LKR 200, 5hrs) going through Habarana-Dambulla-Matale. This was stopping at every 2km and was crowded most of time. You can get down at Dambulla and ride an air-con bus to Kandy. The commercial capital of Sri Lanka didn't impress us much so we didn't stay at Kandy. The next bus from Kandy to Nuawara Eliya (LKR230, 3hrs) was faster air-con bus going through Peradeniya-Pussellawa. Train takes a different route. We met Ravindu who works at Commercial Bank owns Toyota Prius for rent. Kandy to Bandaranaike airport LKR 6000. You can rent this car without drive for LKR8000 per day.

Accommodation at NuwaraEliya is the highest in entire Sri Lanka, thanks for its importance as a tourist location. At an elevation of 1989m, the erstwhile colonial remnants are well maintained at this hill station. Victoria Park Inn, behind Victoria Park offers basic rooms(LKR 2500, Tel: 222 2321, 0776607108) is the cheapest deal we could find. They can arrange mountain bikes for LKR1500 per day and runs tours to Next door New Tour Inn (LKR4000, heater LKR800 extra. Tel 52 2234897, 522223182) is a better option. Ambal's veg restaurant in the main town is the best option fo vegetarian local food.

Walking around the town, you can visit the colonial-era post office, Victoria park. Gregory park on the way to Nanu-Oya railway station is a major attraction. The super-slow goods train to Ella leaves from Nanu-Oya at 9:25am (4hrs, LKR110), just hop on and grab a seat. This train delivers diesel to the tea-factories on the way. Enjoying the misty mountains, tea-estates and drizzle, we reached Ella at 1:45pm.

Ella is tourism on steroids; 100 local families and 500 tourists. At walkable distance from the railway station, you can find guest houses and restaurants on both sides of the road. Dollar-friendly prices and menus, difficult to find a small restaurant. A juice costs LKR 350. We stayed at Soorya Guest Inn (dbl LKR2000, Tel 077 03515662, 0094 572228906)for four nights. Owner Dasith Warnasooriya and manager Gamini were really helpful.

Ella Rock is a must-do walk at Ella and there are many trails leading to this nice place. The easiest is to walk along the railway track towards a tiny railway station Killadella crossing a black bridge. Then turn left to a tea plantation and cross a small stream to walk up the hill. On the way you will find a tea-shop selling tender coconuts and tea. Two policemen were whiling away there, supposedly on Ella Rock Duty. One of them started asking questions non-stop. Name, Country, Marital-Status, Salary, Children and so on…he had a train of unrelenting questions. I am not sure why the policemen are so damned irritating and questions me like an accused. You will get a nice cup of hot tea on the top of the hill though a tad expensive at LKR100. Gawking at the scenic view of Ella, we spent 30min over there before walking to another view point looking over Ravana waterfalls.

Little Adam's Peak is a short walk from the main road and you get a panoramic view the hills and road to Badulla. Ask anyone on Passanda road for the direction and they will guide you, at least pointing their hands on the right direction. There is a deviation near the flower garden. One way might take a little less than 1hr from Ella Gap Hotel. You can visit Nine Arch Bridge on your way back which is a British engineering marvel. We didn't walk on the track to return to Ella Railway station, which many locals do and recommend. Walking on the railway track is illegal and there will be warning signs not to venture into this. 

Another intimidating police guy was present near the nine-arch bridge who wanted to know our name, marital status, job, salary, age and what-not. I raised my voice why does he want to know all these and displayed my passport to avoid further questioning! Maybe he is not convinced that I am not a local guy, thanks to my Kerala looks and features which are close to Sinhalese.

Polonnaruwa - royal ancient city

Our train to Anuradhapura was at 6:10 am and Joseph, owner of the homestay dropped us at the Railway Station. First Class air conditioned train starts at 1:30 pm reaching Colombo at 8:30 pm and the 6:10 am train reaches Colombo by 1:30 pm. En route you will notice tiled roofs of many houses with "Red Cross" written over them. The train reached Anuradhapura at 1:30 pm. Headed straight to New Bus Station to get a bus to Polonnaruwa (160 LKR, 3 hours).  The new town of Polonnaruwa where the main bus station is situated is known as Kaduruwela, 3 kilometers away from the old town. You might see buses having board of Kaduruwela, which will stop at old town before proceeding to new bus station, very few buses will have the Polonnaruwa board. The bus goes through Kekirawa-Habarana-Ritigala-Giritale. Along the main road there are main shops renting cycles, geared cycled are better in this town.

A 10 minute walk on the main road past clock tower is the Devi Tourist Home (LKR 2000, non AC double), food is available on request here. Renting an air-conditioned room is highly recommended for the hot and humid nights. Johron and family makes you feel at home. This guest house was run by Johron's father and has been accommodating tourists since 1980s. The rooms are tidy and come with mosquito nets. We had the best Lankan rice and curry here -consisting of many Kerala cuisine based dishes -drumstick, jackfruits, plantain flower. Johron will drop you to the bus stand at Kaduruwela (LKR 350)

There is a nice restaurant on the main road, run by Ohseen and family - dishes up Lankan and continental cuisine. He has two rooms for guests (LKR 2200 nonAC / LKR 2700 AC). Two kids nearby were riding good MTB cycles, LKR 18000 for DSI branded 18 speed cycle.

Ancient City of Polonnaruwa is not as sprawling as Anuradhapura. We started riding our Shimano geared cycles (LKR 300)  with Panasonic dynamo from Devi tourist home and had local breakfast of Idiyappam with coconut chutney, lentils (parippu) and coconut milk based gravy in the town (LKR 220 per plate). Tickets for visiting the ruins ($25, for SAARC $12.5) can be purchased at the ticket office inside the Archeological museum. It is better to pay in USD as you get a good conversion rate of LKR154. We decided to cycle back to museum, after visiting the ancient city during the first half of the day. The map provided with the ticket is quite useful.

Royal Palace was a captivating seven storeyed palace of which three are remaining. We were delighted to see a group of young monastery students in orange robes. There are many stalls inside the Heritage Site selling souvenirs, which steals the serenity of the place. Polonnaruwa is a hot place and make sure to carry lots of water and sunscreen with you.  The Sacred Quadrangle consists of many ruins like Vatadage - a circular chapter house where the central dagoba has four statues of Buddha in four directions. Before reaching the central dagoba there are two terraces, of which the second one has fine guardstones at its entrance. Thuparama Gadige - is the smallest gadige (an image house) in Polonnaruwa but also one with its roof intact. Hatadage is a tooth-relic chamber believed to have been built in 60 days under supervision of King Nissanka Malla.

The best part of the ruins in Polonnaruwa has to be the Gal Vihara - the finest of the Sinhalese rock carvings. Separate statues of Buddha has been carved out of one long granite slab. Standing Buddha with arms crossed is not the usual position of Buddha, whereas reclining Buddha has fine detailed carvings on the pillow and a subtle depression where Buddha's head is placed.  Rankot Vihara is the largest stupa in Polonnaruwa and the fourth largest in the country. Nearby are the ruins of a hospital. Unfortunately the exit is to the main road, which has heavy traffic. It was a challenge to cycle back to the Museum. This archaeological museum is well kept and informative too. Spend some time here as it is also a respite from hot and humid sun. 

Jaffna Peninsula- where war-history is buried deep

Reconstructed Railway Station

There are no beaches or many tourist attractions in Jaffna and unless you are anthropologically inclined about the war and the history, you can skip Jaffna from your itinerary. The Jaffna Tamil is no way to close to Tamil spoken in India, still they will understand if you speak Tamil to them. They use red rice mostly to make dosa, idiyappam. Jaffna is peculiar for its educated, hard-working population. After graduation, most of them migrate to Australia or Europe for better prospects. British Council and many UN-funded NGOs are active. You can exchange your INR to LKR at Jaffna. 1INR=2.25LKR. This part is not as prosperous as rest of the country.

First class train to Jaffna from Anuradhapura starts at 9:15am, (LKR1000 per head) reaches Jaffna by 12:15pm. The route is scenic and goes through Vavuniya, Mankulam (famous from the movie Kannathil Muthamittal). The Vanni forest area which isolates Jaffna from rest of Sri Lanka is dense. We stayed two nights at Theresa Inn (Tel: 2228615, 071856 5375, LKR2000 without air-con) next to British Council on Racca Road. Owner Joseph is helpful and he will pick you from the railway station. He has a tuk-tuk for hire and two wheelers for rent. There are many other lodges around the railway station and getting a room with air-con is ideal unless you are counting your pennies, Jaffna is very hot and humid. 

Abandoned house at Punguditivu

We met a local who volunteered with International Red Cross during the war time, despite he had many options to take refuge in foreign countries. He had unbiased views and stories were really gripping about the 30 years without electricity and access to the outer world. Point Pedro is tip of Sri Lanka on the east side, though the beach here is not really accessible or clean. The buses (No. 750/751, LKR70, 45min)to Pedro Point can be picked up from the bus stand near Nallur Kovil. Nallur Bhavan is a good vegetarian restaurant which is close to Nallur Kovil. If this is closed, you can have a meal at the small tea-shop opposite to Morgan's on the same road. Other attractions in the town include Public Library, Dutch Fort. There is a good movie theater at Kargill Square and when we visited, there was an international film festival going on.

KKD ferry to Delft, Nagadeepa

There are a few islands which are scattered around Jaffna. To go to any of these, you can catch a bus from the town bus station to Kurikkaduvan known as KKD (LKR 50, 2hrs) via the causeways crossing Valalai, Pungudithivu, Kayts. The first boat to Delft (named after a place in Netherlands) is at 8:30am which returns at 1:30pm. There are frequent boats to Nagadeepa- famous for the Hindu temple and brand-new Buddhist temple. On your way to KKD, you will see many abandoned houses presumably war-torn. Some of the boats are really old, and the boat we were riding broke down in the middle of the ocean. Another bigger boat towed us to the port after floating around in the waves for some time. 

Jaffna peninsula will continue its social-geographical isolation, unless government does some active integration of this ethnic society to the mainstream. As of now, there are no govt. jobs for Jaffna Tamils. Language is a barrier, but no big deal compared to India. English will be a bridge for bridging the gap between social isolation. Hope there will be more people speaking English in this touristy friendly.

Dambulla and Mihintale - captivating caves and mountains

 

 Cave Temples of Dambulla are very popular and prominent in most of the tourist pamphlets. Buses from Anuradhapura to Kandy go through Dambulla (LKR 200, 1.5hrs), get down at the Golden Temple. If you get down in the town, there is a bus station from where you can take a bus to Golden Temple on Kandy Road. Ticket office is halfway through the steps on the other side. After buying tickets (1500LKR per person) start climbing stairs again towards the Cave Temples. Of the five caves, first two are very large.

The first cave contains a statue of Vishnu and around the wall is the depiction of seated Buddha.  Second cave is the most impressive of them. It contains statue of the Kings, after whom the cave is named. A vessel inside the cave collects water that drips constantly from the rocks and is used for sacred rituals. The roof of the caves are covered with mural paintings that depict scenes from Buddha's life. Third cave contains a charming reclining Buddha. Buddha in the fourth cave is seated in a meditative pose, the small dagoba is believed to have been broken by the thieves, who were under the impression that it contained jewellery. The last cave has statues of Hindu deities and Vishnu along with a reclining Buddha.

It was here that we met a German speaking Sinhala guide. He learned German at the Goethe Institut in Colombo. It was interesting to speak to him in German. The Germans who were with him seemed fascinated to hear two non-Germans conversing fluently in German.  The return bus to Anuradhapura (LKR 110, 2hrs) took a different route going through many villages with frequent stops.

From the New Bus Station in Anuradhapura you can get a bus to go to Mihintale (LKR 30, 45min). Make sure you get down at town next to the petrol pump.  Our bus dropped us at the University of Mihintale and we had to walk almost 2km and reached the ruined hospital where we met a bunch of guys from Hong Kong who seemed to be lost in the ruins. We explored the ruined hospital with them and went separate ways after they decided to visit the museum. There is a huge set of stairs to reach the ticket office, the other entrance by old road on west is easier and avoids the staircase.

Near the ticket office is the Refectory and one story above are the stone inscriptions of Mihintale. Ambasthale Dagoba is where the King and Buddhist monk Mahinda met, which is believed to be the beginning of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Mahaseya Dagoba is the largest stupa in Mihintale. The steps to reach Dagoba are carved in rock. At the foot of the dagoba is a small temple which has reclining Buddha and technicolor modern frescoes. Aradhana Gala - the meditation rock is reached by a steep climb on the rock. You need to face precarious rocks and strong winds but a spectacular view of greenery around. 

Anuradhapura - a fascinating ancient city

After sipping the delicious tender coconut and munching on snacks, we headed to the Fort Railway Station to board our train to Anuradhapura (2nd Class, 450 LKR). Alternatively you can take a bus from CBT, which runs hourly. Train was similar to Indian trains contrarily very clean, comfortable seats, with plenty of leg space and individual food tray. Many locals use train to commute. Friendly station security showed us to our seats. Train Ticket Examiner will promptly check your tickets. Train was delayed by an hour due to mechanical problem and reached Anuradhapura by 4.40 p.m.

Lakeside Tourist Guest House (dbl non AC 2000 LKR) was a 2 km walk from the station, Sharath - a local gentleman stopped by to guide us.  Popular landmark in the area is provincial council building or the walkers bakery. Both are very close to the old bus station.  Manager Ranatunga is a cheerful and helpful person, who speaks English. Tenny and Seba were two friendly dogs, Tenny being upset as the owner had left to Australia a day ago.  The rooms are clean and tidy, with small shared balcony overlooking Nuwara Wewa.  Opposite to provincial council building, Walker's bakery and restaurant was our food source during our stay here. They dished up delicious Sri Lankan meals and occassionally pasta.

Bicycle is a must to cover the vast area of ancient city. Most of the guest houses rent bicycle, starting at 350 LKR a day. Entry ticket costs $25 for foreigners and half the price $12.5 for SAARC countries. You will have to produce your passport at the ticket counter. Some of the main and popular attractions are Archeological Museum - Ticket counter is at the museum and gives a good background information about the ancient city. Shri Maha Bodhi - The sacred fig tree has grown from a cutting that was brought from Bodhgaya (in India) by princess Sanghamitra (who introduced Buddha's teaching in Sri Lanka). On Sundays and poya (full-moon) days, expect large crowds.

Abhayagiri Dagoba - (Dagoba is the Buddhist stupa, a mound like structure with relics, used by monks for meditation) . This massive  Dagoba is a treat to the eyes, the engineering skill of the people back in 1st and 2nd century BC leaves you stupified. Jetavanarama Dagoba - was as big as Abhayagiri when built and it was the third tallest monument in the world next to pyramids in Egypt. Unfortunately it couldn't retain the tallness all these years. It is very easy to get confused between Abhayagiri and Jetavanarama Dagoba. Thuparama Dagoba - oldest in Sri Lanka, was constructed around 3rd Century BC.

Samadhi Buddha is a fine statue of Buddha in the state of meditative consciousness. Ratnaprasada houses the finest Guardstones in Anuradhapura. Other places include Kuttam Pokuna (twin ponds), Elephant pond - not many tourists come to this pond but go to the twin ponds. Near twin pond we saw a lady selling Beli Mal Bomu - Beli is Sinhalese for Bael fruit and Mal is the flower. The fruit is said to be indigenous to Lanka with plenty of nutrients. It is known to cool the body from inside. Sun dried Bael flowers are brewed in boiling water. Jaggery enhances the taste of this drink. 

Elephant pond is situated in the middle of woods and a nice place to relax and take a break from cycling around. The spell of rain had made the pond look fresh and full of life. You can spend some time exploring around. Uttara Moola nearby the Elephant pond has lot of ruins of the monastery and again not many come this side. You get to see the greenery and if lucky you will spot a peacock or a monitor lizard too! Vast expanse of ruins garnered moss and spread out to the jungles behind is riveting.

 A short spell of rain brought the temperatures down and the green hue of the surroundings was enhanced. We stopped by a small shack to enjoy black tea and coconut roti, while waiting for the rain to abate.  Isrumuniya Vihara has a separate entry fee for the rock temple. It has a small museum which has the collection of some nice carvings. From the top you get a good view of the city and the Tissa Wewa behind. 

Colombo- remnants of the colonial past

It was the first time, someone was waiting at the airport holding a placard with our name. Officials at the airport were cordial with a smiling face.  After the formalities of  immigration we headed to exchange the Dollars into Sri Lankan Rupees. Our chauffeur, Rohita has worked in Oman and is back home after retiring. Chatting about myriad topics -including religion, war, car prices, economy, education, waste management - we reached "Stay with Travel Writers" homestay. We were surprised by how clean the city was, and thought it must be because it was late night. The following days we realised that cleanliness was part of culture and people are not used to littering.

Stay with Travel Writers is owned by Shehan, who will gladly help you with places to stay and visit. This nice house is tucked away in a quiet residential area, 10 minutes' walk from the IDH bus stop at Gothatuwa. Rooms are tastefully furnished with clean toilets. There is a big drawing room, where you can meet fellow travellers, some useful books to refer. If you are not keen on staying inside the city, this is an ideal location.

There are frequent buses to Pettah (Fort area) from Gothatuwa, route number 152 (LKR25, 45min). Perera and Sons bakery at IDH was our first taste of Sri Lanka. It is very easy to find a bakery in Colombo, than to find a restaurant to eat a proper meal. People are very busy, who stop at bakery for a quick bite. Walking around in the Pettah market - where each passage has its own specialty, ranging from Ayurveda medicine to home appliances to jewellery and gadgets - we came to an old restaurant by name Neelagiri. It is here we had our first Sri Lankan meal, veg biriyani washed down with EGB ginger beer. Fort Railway Station and Central Bus Station - from where you can get connected to any part of Sri Lanka - are close to Pettah market.

Fort area is a nice place to explore on foot. Few authorised money changers here give a better rate ( 1 USD = 152 LKR approx) than airport. Vehicular traffic is less and you can walk down to Galle Face from here, passing through Clock Tower, Central Bank of Ceylon and so on continuing until Kollupitiya. From there a tedious bus ride in rush hour traffic brought us back to Pettah, through Slave Island and South Beira Lake. Seema Malakaya Meditation Centre is almost in the lake and seemed to be an apt place for meditating.

Viharamahadevi park is a sprawling greenery bordered by Town Hall, National Art Gallery and Natural History Museum. One can enter park from three streets [Mw- Mawatha is the Sinhala word for street] - Ananda Coomaraswamy Mw, Dharmapala Mw and FR Senanayake Mw. Get into route number 138 bus from Pettah, to get here. There is a canteen where you get meals and snacks, and many push carts selling tasty Elephant House Ice-cream.To get back to Pettah, take the bus 120/122. Coincidentally we boarded the same bus on Gothatuwa-Pettah route for the third time, and by now the ticket collector was used to us and would give us the ticket to our stop. We bought a new local mobile connection from Hutch, only document required is the copy of passport. From the Fort Station we booked our train to Anuradhapura ,which was not difficult to get. There was a serpentine queue for the Kandy train though.

 At Gothatuwa, very close to the homestay, a serendipitous finding - Red Leaf Fruit Corner - was a relief in a place popular with non-vegetarian restaurants. This place is an excellent way to enjoy fruit diet.  Relishing authentic Sri Lankan food,  delicious coconut rotti and Wellawahum (Sri Lankan pancake) for dessert, we shared travel stories with the owner Weerakone, he recommended to add Jaffna in our itinerary. Popular for the fresh fruit juice and pickled fruit salad, Red Leaf is busy in the evenings. 

Sri Lanka for Dummies

Sri Lanka is a beautiful island country with less hassles of travelling in a third world country. Clean cities and villages, less population and good roads. Here are a few pointers to ponder before travelling to Sri Lanka.

Visa: Indians get a visa-on-arrival at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo. Fee is $25 per person. You can obtain this visa in advance by applying online - http://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/ and pay $20; provided you have an international credit/debit card to make the payment. The airline staff at Jet Airways insisted that we should have this visa before issuing the boarding pass but we could talk to the supervisor and got confirmed that, if we have a return ticket and confirmed accommodation immigration officer will let you board the flight. On arrival at Sri Lanka, you will need to fill up the address of your first day's accommodation.

Flights: There are frequent flights from Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai. If you opt weekdays the price is going a lot different. We paid INR 10,200 for round trip for one person.

Currency: Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR) is approximately 2.25 times against INR. So INR100 = 225LKR or INR 44=100LKR. It is a dollar friendly country, so it makes sense to carry currency in USD from India. 1USD = 151LKR approx. There are many counters at the exit gates of airport to change the currency and all the counters offer the same rate at a given time. These counters work 24hrs. In case you don't change at the airport, there are many shops and banks throughout the country to change the currency. INR can't be changed at the airport and there are limited options - Colombo city and Jaffna are two places we found authorized money changers for INR. In a nutshell, carry enough USD- change at the airport and on the way back home change LKR to USD.

Expenses: Sri Lanka is not a dirt cheap country to do a backpacking trip like India. Accommodation generally boasts a minimum standard and the prices start at LKR1500 without air-con, with attached bathrooms. Mosquito nets and tissue rolls are provided at most of the guest houses. More expensive options with creature comforts are easily available at LKR3500 onwards.

A good meal (rice and curry)at a normal restaurant will cost you LKR300. Plain Tea is LKR20. Fresh fruit juice is LKR100. A cream bun will cost LKR50.

Ancient Cities and temples have a hefty entry fee for the foreigners, Dambulla cave temple entry fee LKR1500 as an example. Calculate these expenses under a separate head on your daily budget. 

Transport: Mass transport is generally very cheap in Sri Lanka- buses and trains are not crowded, thanks to low population. You can get a reserved ticket on a long distance train as early as 10days in advance. We booked our tickets mostly 2 days in advance. The tourist rail between Colombo-Kandy-Nuwara Eliya-Ella can be full, so please plan ahead.

A 3hr bus ride costs LKR200, well maintained Ashok Leyland buses are comfortable and trouble-free.There is no advance booking for buses. All the buses sport a board in English and a route number. State run buses are red in color and bears an emblem of SLTB. Private buses are painted white. Both have the same prices and they stick to a regular timetable, enforced by punching stations en-route. Air-con Toyota Coaster buses are more costly and faster, as they don't stop anywhere other than the big towns.

Tuk-tuk and taxi cars are easily available and generally more expensive. A taxi from Colombo Fort Rly Station to the airport will cost a minimum of LKR1500 whereas bus fare is LKR100, for a comparison. While hiring a tuk-tuk, it is a good idea to fix the fare. Expect to pay a minimum of LKR100.
Guest houses offer bicycles on rent, expect to pay LKR300-500 for a day. There are many other options to rent the bicycles at Ancient Cities, in case the bicycles from the guest house are not good enough.

Roads are excellent across the country and divided as A for highways and B for smaller roads and so on. Most of the highways are two-lane.

Language: You are going to have a tough time unless you are on a package tour with guide. You don't find many people speaking English when you want to ask for directions or vegetarian food. Sinhala is the main language and Tamil is spoken in the Hill Country(Kandy and further up). Jaffna Tamil is totally a different language and knowing Tamil helps here. Official boards are in Sinhala, Tamil and English.

Food: Mostly non-vegetarian food and many don't understand the concept of vegetarian food. Buddhism doesn’t mean vegetarianism. Don't be surprised if you find tiny chicken pieces in your vegetarian kothu rotti. Rice and curry is the staple diet where curry can be dal fry, vegetables, egg, fish, chicken, pork etc. Fruits are really good and cheap. You will find a lot of sugar and salt in food, so asking for less sugar in fruit juice will save you from high glycemic index. Bakeries open at 6am and locals flock there for a breakfast on the way to work or school. String hoppers (idiyappam) is a common breakfast menu and is served with dal fry and coconut chutney.

Weather: Sri Lanka has tropical climate, making it a hot and humid place, except the hill country - though precipitation is pretty high.The sun is up early and it is bright daylight by 5.30A.M. South and west get rain between May-September, North and East during Oct-Jan. Carry sunscreen, hat, umbrella or rain poncho.

Civic sense: People are well behaved, not throwing waste on the road, diligently following traffic rules, stopping for pedestrians to cross and everyone wears a helmet including the pillion. Garbage is well managed. Waste is segregated at source, then collected and processed. You don't see people multitasking with their mobile while on wheels.

Civil war and related stuff: If you are flying to Colombo and stick to the tourist circuit, you will never come across anything related to the past war. So there is nothing to worry about the security across the country. Military presence in the country is very less and we were never asked to show ID proof. Yes, you can travel to Jaffna and further to the islands -Delft, Nainativu. No special permit required.