Definitions:

1.       Foreigner: Mainly person from western country,white colored person,’Firangi’

2.       Tuk-tuk: Auto rickshaw,Three wheeler

“We don’t have sex Sirrrr…I and her is only frrrands…”, a typical South Indian voice laughed in broken English with a mischievous expression.

Mohan, myself and Swati were having breakfast in a small restaurant type tea stall in Kandy. As the train to Ella was scheduled at 11.03 AM, we had little time to roam around in this beautiful hill city of Sri Lanka. After checking out from Hotel Thilanka, Mohan had promised us to show some part of Kandy city. We traveled in his red coloured tuk- tuk with our two backpacks kept in space behind our seats.

It was a typical Mumbai style tea stall cum small restaurant where various snack items like Vadapav, Samaosa are kept in a glass box with yellow electric bulb to keep them warm. Here in Sri Lanka, Vadapav and Samosa were replaced by some different local items. I could recognize veg stuffed triangular rolls, Medu vada and Dal vada.

While going inside,Mohan greeted his friend who was owner of that stall and whispered something in Sinhala language.Pointing us, he probably had said –‘These are my special guests from India.’

This was our fourth day in Sri Lanka.Till then we had become familiar with those typical breakfast items. Hence, we ordered -one plate Medu vada ,one veg roll and tea. Mohan also opted for the same.

“Sri Lanka is very beautiful”, I said.”Off course it is, Sirr.” Mohan asked curiously, “Why have you both decided to come to Sri Lanka?”

“When did you get marry?”

“Are you newly married?”

He asked number of back to back questions. We both looked at each other and smiled. And gave answers to some of his questions-

I always try to do things differently. Since long time, back here in India ,we were discussing about our honeymoon trip. Considering budget and first international travel, we had options like Maldives, Bali, Seychelles.We were against going to Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore. I was constantly comparing different locations for different activities in excel sheet. One fine day Swati from nowhere suddenly said, “Can we go to Sri Lanka?”

Ohh yeah”We can”,I breathed a sigh of relief -“Why didn’t we earlier consider the Sri Lanka option !”

Taking the suggestion on a positive note, I immediately started searching about Sri Lanka. I was aware that a recent series of bomb blasts took place in Sri Lanka. I googled about the country, watched YouTube videos, read different blogs and I started falling in love with the beauty of Sri Lanka.I was collecting every minute details whenever I got time, be it in the local train while going to office or having lunch.

Within a few days -’It was decided that we are going to Sri Lanka.’ I finalized a detailed minute to minute itinerary and booked flight tickets.Though we were on our honeymoon trip, we decided that we would not go as a regular tourist but as a ‘Traveler’ and it should be a backpacking trip!!

Before the wedding, many people, be they relatives or friends, were asking about our honeymoon plans. Perhaps they were also curious that these guys would definitely do something different. Whenever someone asked me about our honeymoon I used to say,’Swati is planning and I guess she is giving me surprise.’

On 17 December,2019, our flight to Chennai was scheduled at 12.10 at night from the domestic terminal of Mumbai airport. After a layover of 5 hours at Chennai airport, the second flight to Colombo was at 6.55 in the morning.

We reached Chennai airport and completed immigration formalities.We were waiting at gate number 24 for our second flight to Colombo.There was a woman who would be in her fifties, sitting next row of seats facing towards us with her daughter. She was intermittently looking at us giving hateful looks for no reason. She was a typical north Indian rich but kanjus aunty who seemed to take pride in her wealth, treating others like beggars and who would always dominate her kids to accept her thoughts. Her daughter, sitting beside ,was playing a game in her  mobile, fitting in that small airport seat weirdly.Bended in her stomach, leaning forward keeping mobile phone almost near to the ground, holding in both hands. Her short hair was covering her face from front, her glasses were on the verge of falling, stucked at the edge of her nose. She was a typical geek rich child who forgets everything around while doing something. Perhaps she was also tired of her mom. 

As soon as the boarding announcement happened they were in queue, going to Singapore. That lady was carrying a small bag as if they were going to the local bhaji mandai (vegetable market).

It was 4 in the morning; we were already tired of waiting. Swati slept on two adjoining seats of the waiting lounge but I couldn’t. There were many people in casual attire and attitude as if they travel daily to Sri Lanka,many of them were South Indian people especially Tamilians,for whom Sri Lanka is their second home. Mohan was one of them.

Finally there was an announcement of our flight, so we boarded the plane. Air travel distance to Colombo from Chennai is very less. It only takes around one and half hour to reach, less time than that of Mumbai to Chennai journey. We reached Colombo airport at around 8.15 in the morning. After immigration, we directly came out from exit as we had scheduled our elephant bathing activity at Elephant Freedom Project  in Hiriwadunna.It was located around 72 km from Bandaranaike International airport commonly known as Colombo airport. This airport is same as that of Chennai airport neither too big nor too small. At arrival, we exchanged currency at Thomas cook counter and took one simcard of Dialog Company which got immediately activated. The guy helped us to put the sim into the phone. 

Immediately after coming out of the airport, we booked a cab from pick me app. The pick me app works on a similar platform as that of Uber or Ola. When the cab arrived ,the driver called our just activated Sri Lankan number.We felt relieved that he was able to speak and understand English so it was easy for us to convey our location. I had a nervous feeling on that day as it was a new country and the first day, as per our plan, was a little bit hectic.

First conversation with the driver, for that matter with any Sri Lankan people, was very nice and it pleased us. We were sitting in his new shining dark brown coloured Sri Lankan WagonR car. We talked about general things. Sri Lankan people are gentle and helpful. He was gossiping generously giving appropriate information.

“What is the price of a car?” I asked. “Forty Lakh rupees Sir.” he said. I immediately converted into Indian rupees. The WagonR was really costly. It costs around 15 Lakh Indian rupees.But the car was very specious, much larger than Indian WagonR, it had a big screen of navigation in front of the driver. The dash board was large, and had more space for keeping things. At the door there was little space for hanging umbrellas. Leg room was enough to accommodate a 6 feet tall person easily.Sri Lanka is much cleaner than India. Everybody follows traffic rules. At zebra crossing all vehicles were stopping for pedestrians to cross the road safely giving them priority. For a person like me who lived and saw the driving attitude of people in Pune and Mumbai, it was a cultural shock to see this. Internally it was satisfying to see and it changed the whole perception of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is sparsely populated, and has a calm and soothing atmosphere and everything was at its place, clean, neat and tidy. I felt like we were a developed nation; even roads were without potholes. 

 We reached the elephant freedom project location at around 11.30; the last 200 meter distance to the gate was having around 70 degrees steep slope. I really doubted whether this car would cross that patch but the driver managed it. 

There was a family who owns the elephant and all activities were managed by them. Driver helped us to with the luggage.We entered the house and were greeted by a welcome drink and the caretaker asked us to wait in the hall. There were already few foreigners present who were chatting and making loud noises. Probably they were more excited to spend time with elephant today.Most of them were from European countries and had scheduled elephant activity time in the evening. 

After waiting for about half an hour the same caretaker boy came and asked us for tea or coffee. We were already annoyed by the waiting time but I waved him, “We would like to have coffee.” We asked him for our room as we had already booked accommodation .The caretaker boy asked us to wait for sometime as earlier guests were leaving and vacating the room. I could see Swati was losing her temper but I calmed her.

It was a really well maintained bungalow. Two other girls were sitting in front of us talking to each other in different languages. They seemed very excited. We thought probably none of them had seen elephants in real life .For me it was not new. There was one elephant in Sangli  district Ganpati temple ,called ‘Bablu’.The elephant was very famous all over western Maharashtra, I often used to visit him in Sangli.I could remember my elder sister had cried when ‘Bablu’ passed away. The people were fond of ‘Bablu’ and emotionally attached to him. This time in Sri Lanka, we were not so much excited about this elephant.

After about an hour we both went to talk with that caretaker boy. “Why don’t you allocate the room? We came directly from airport with overnight journey, we are desperately in need of bath and want to take some rest.” Now he understood the seriousness of the situation .After talking with another senior person in the house he said that the room we had booked was not available and requested us to adjust in some other Room. Now Swati got really angry, “That is not fair, we are waiting for about more than one hour and you are saying this now. “He was saying sorry and requesting us to forgive them. I said, “Its okay, at least we may get some rest. “He showed us the room .It was a very small and smelly room, perhaps closed from many days.Room had a common washroom with another. We were getting angry with this kind of service. Ignoring all this, Swati went to take a shower. When she came to know that the door lock of the bathroom was not working, we complained to the caretaker. He said, “Don’t worry, I am here only, I will make sure nobody comes inside.” This was the point when we both lost our control and told him that we were going to cancel this activity and asked him to refund us the full amount. He begged,” What happened Sir and madam”. We again shouted, “We were tired, already booked a room six months back, we were waiting from one and half hours and you are giving such pathetic service.” The boy consulted his senior. He seemed helpful. He said he would refund the whole amount. Told us to drop the mail. We immediately took our bags and were leaving the place when that senior person asked, “Where will you go Sir? Should I arrange a tuk-tuk or car for you?” He said that he was extremely sorry for the mess and arranged tuk-tuk for us. We thanked him and left the place. We felt relieved and took tuk-tuk to our next destination –Pinnawala which was about 9 km from Hiriwadunna.

Tuk-tuk is a very famous mode of transport in Sri Lanka.One can find different coloured, well maintained,decorated and attractive tuk-tuk on every road of Sri Lanka. The foreigners take tuk -tuk on rent and wander the whole Sri Lanka in Tuk tuk.

The driver seemed very helpful. He asked if we wanted any room or hotel to stay. We had not booked our Pinnawala stay and we had canceled the plan of staying at Elephant freedom project. The tuk-tuk driver was showing us the places but many were charging too high. Finally, he took us to one place called Suwani Homestay which was owned by his cousin. The owner named Karuna was a very helpful and soft -spoken lady .She was in her forties, had oiled her hair and tied them at the back tightly-Same as that of a typical Indian village lady. She had a dusky face with spectacles; wearing a long skirt and silk top and had a smiling face. She was able to understand the English but wasn’t able to speak properly. We bargained and she agreed to give us the room at our price.

The property was very beautiful having two floors.Each floors having four rooms with a large balcony connecting them and a sitting area with chairs and coffee tables. On the first floor there was a common kitchen well equipped with a refrigerator,Oven,Induction stove and dining area. Suwani homestay was very near to Pinnawala elephant orphanage. This area was surrounded by a number of trees;one could easily hear the chirping of birds, sound of squirrels and monkeys.

After freshening up, we immediately went out to have lunch as we were starving that day.After checking with couple of restaurants ,we settled in one restaurant which was serving buffet lunch but we opted for a-la-carte.In buffet there was rice, typical Sri Lankan thick dal, two to three vegetables and papad.We couldn’t find roti or chapati in buffet lunch. We ordered egg kottu roti and vegetable fried rice.Kottu roti is a very famous dish all over Sri Lanka.They prepare roti of maida and cut it into flat noodle shaped pieces but short in length and cook with some spices, onions etc. I remembered my mom who used to cook leftover chaptis next day morning in the breakfast. Fried rice was served with papad and pickle. I couldn’t recognise the base material of papad.The rice grains were round in shape and  not so delicious. Compared to cost, the food was not that great.

After having lunch we went to nearby supermarket and purchased some stuffs like soap for clothes washing, sneakers, biscuits and some ready to eat food like noodles,pulao so that we could cook in the homestay kitchen. We inquired about the orphanage timing, ticket cost, elephant bath timing .One person at orphanage gate claiming he was guide in orphanage insisting us to visit spice garden with free pick up and drop facility. We turned a deaf ear to him as we were not really interested in spice garden .We explored nearby area. It was a very small town mainly concentrated in and around elephant orphanage and because of this it  had become a tourist attraction in the whole Sri Lanka.

We prepared pulav for dinner. Karuna, the owner of the house, gave us one banana and some Sweet paratha type dish. The sweet dish was very delicious wrapped in some kind of leaf. Sri Lankan bananas are little different from Indian ones. They are quite tasty and a little orange in colour. It seemed it was purely organic .Coconuts and bananas are in such abundance in Sri Lanka that even chemist shops keep bananas for selling. You can imagine the availability! 

Next day, at around 9 o’clock we were at Pinnawala orphanage. The same guide who met us the day before was at the gate and guided us our way to take tickets and further inside the Orphanage. We were exploring the area when it suddenly started raining. That drizzle added a whole new flavor into the atmosphere. It was a combination of rain and clear blue sky. There was a large fenced area in which a number of elephants were roaming. Some were eating bushes, some were waiting to release them for bathing .It’s their daily routine as they were waiting at the gate making noises giving indication to Mahut that they were ready to take bath. At exactly 10 AM the gate opened and all the elephants started walking towards the bathing area which was located across the main street behind our homestay.While walking we were unknowingly coming in the elephant’s path, guards were asking us to move aside politely.

The same guy who was insisting on visiting the spice garden caught us and asked, “When will you complete the watching of the elephant’s bathing?”  I said, “We don’t know .Perhaps we require more than one hour.”He said that he would wait there for us to take us to the spice garden. We both ignored him and started walking. He was following us and requesting us.” Sir it’s a very nice place, please visit.”At some point of time he asked.”Are you on honeymoon?”I said,”not really.”But I guess he was sure that we were on honeymoon.

We were enjoying the elephant bathing activities. There was one wide river section having a low river bed level. This area was surrounded by many restaurants and cafes. At one corner there was big water spray; the guy operating that spray used to spray water intermittently on elephants. People were cheering and clicking photos.The same man came looking for us .At one moment he came very close and asked, “Are you done Sir?” I replied that we require more time and he went away. While I was shooting a video of the whole area I saw him talking with some other guy probably instructing him about us.

After about one hour, we were slowly walking to our homestay looking for that guy not to catch us, and fortunately he was not there; probably he was tired .

We reached our room, and immediately started leaving for our next destination, which was Dambulla.

”Are there any buses to Dambulla?” I asked.”No direct bus.First go to Rambukkana then Kurunegala then Dambulla.” Karuna said.I traced all the locations on Google map.We were thinking of going to Dambulla using a Sri Lankan public transport bus. We waved to Karuna saying bye bye.Immediately after coming on the main road we got the bus.

Most Sri Lankan buses are operated by private parties because of which they are well maintained,decorated and attractive having different colors. All the buses are having music system arrangement playing mostly Orchestra music.Driver and ticket collector were helpful .They directed us to keep our backpacks on the bonnet. In fact they helped us to keep our luggage properly. 

After about 30 minutes, we reached Rambukkana and boarded bus to Kurunegala .The bus was empty so I asked the ticket collector, “When will this bus start?”He couldn’t understand a single word of English. I was gesturing  him to my smart watch asking him about the bus timing but he failed to understand. I tried every possible alternative but couldn’t convey the message. As no sign of starting the bus,I asked one tuk-tuk driver that how much he would charge to Kurunegala. He said 1500 it was too much for the short distance of 27 km. After about 15 minutes, one college girl entered and sat on the last seat of the bus. I went to her and asked that when would this bus leave. She also couldn’t understand English. Finally I drew a circle in my palm, made watch with numbers and asked her with gesture using that drawing. She understood and pointed her finger to number 3.That means it was 12 o’ clock now and when the minute hand would come on 3, the bus would leave. I could join the dots in mind and thanked her. Exactly at 12.15 PM the driver came and the bus started. He was driving slowly collecting passengers on the way. Roads to Kurunegala were narrow, single-laned but well maintained.  

We reached Kurunegala bus station after about an hour. We were feeling hungry and were searching for a good restaurant but weren’t able to get one. There were lots of local eateries , however, all comprising beefs, meat.We went to the opposite end of Kurunegala bus station and we found one small restaurant.We ordered masala dosa. In Sri Lanka we observed that in many restaurants they keep one big plate at all tables which contains many dry snack items like dalvada, medu vada etc without ordering. Initially we thought it was complimentary but later came to know that they charged us for that item. After having lunch,we boarded the bus to Dambulla.I was tracking the route through Google maps. We were traveling to Sundaras Spa and resort, Dambulla which was on the outskirts of the city. 

We got down before the main city. I tried to book a tuk-tuk through pick me app but there weren’t any vehicles available. One random guy  on the road asked whether we wanted tuk-tuk. He said with confidant, “Are you Indians?” How the hell they get to know!  We said “Yes”. He called one tuk-tuk driver with mobile phone. He seemed nice and helpful with fluency in english.The Sundaras spa and resort was around 2 km from where we got off the bus.

We went to reception where one good looking foreigner lady was present.She checked our passport, confirmed our details ,entered credit card details for security and completed the check- in formalities. She was very professional; lead us around the resort area. 

As it rained heavily that day everything was drenched. There was a small pool and restaurant,surrounded by small huts with seating arrangement, some playing activities for kids and much more.The resort was covered under dense trees.

We reached our room when it started raining heavily again.It was around 4 O’clock in the evening.After some rest, we were waiting for rain to stop but there was no sign of it. It was already dark ,so we took our umbrella and went outside of the resort. We went to visit Dambulla cave temple which was 5 minutes walking distance from the resort.  

There was a small restaurant across the street in front of Sundaras resort, not much hygienic .We ordered fried rice and egg hopper. Egg hopper is a super famous Sri Lankan dish. It is a concave container shaped dosa prepared in a special oval shaped utensil.Plain Omelet cooked inside that dosa with black pepper and salt. Though it was made up of minimal items, it was yummy. We purchased some chocolates from the counter. This small restaurant was run and managed by ladies and that was a general scene in all over Sri Lanka. Beside the restaurant there was a fruit stall; we purchased bananas and came back to our room.

The resort has facility of giving guided tour to Sigiriya Rock fortress for 15 USD per person. It seemed costly so we decided we would manage it by ourselves.

We woke up early in the next morning as per our plan and started walking down the street looking for tuk-tuk to Sigiriya.One tuk-tuk stopped but there were already three people sitting inside,but immediately after stopping the tuk tuk other passengers got down, we thought they might have arrived at their destination. Later we came to know that the driver asked them to step down as we were traveling to Sigiriya and it was a longer drive for him.We felt little guilty as because of us they had to get down, but they were so egoless and humble people that they started walking without complaining.

We reached the entrance of historic Sigiriya.You can avail the discounted tickets if you are from SAARC nation. The place was full of foreigners.Many guides insisted on a guided tour but we declined. As soon as you start the trek there is open terrain of about 15 minutes of simple walk after that actual climbing starts.

Pieces of superstructure foundation give a glimpse of its glory and it has been preserved with utmost care. One can see lakes, courtyards, fountains and lawns. It was a well maintained monument as it was a cultural and natural UNESCO World Heritage site.

Sigiriya is very beautiful and a must visit place. There were monkeys waiting to feed at various locations on the way. I spotted one foreigner couple who were clicking photos in different poses. Both seemed very fit having athletic bodies and they were giving extremely difficult poses for photos . They requested us to click their photos.Also at mid top at fortress claw, we met one large Indian family from Indore.

We explored different points on the fort and we came down to base and hired tuk-tuk to our resort.

For those with a greater hunger for ancient history, a day trip to Sigiriya is well worth the effort.

We checked out from Sundaras spa and resort at around  1 in the afternoon. This resort is located on the main road to Kandy and we could see many public buses plying on it.We got one. Though the bus was a little crowded, Swati managed to get one seat. After about half an hour I also got a place to sit. It was approximately two hour’s journey from Dambulla ; the route was very picturesque and mountainous.We were heading towards the hilly side of Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka is a cleaner version of South India.We could see the house architectures, hills, coconut trees all were reflections of Konkan.

After reaching Kandy, we went to a small restaurant at one corner of the bus station to have lunch. We ordered Sri Lankan rice and curry. This is another famous dish in Sri Lanka.Even MacDonald’s do serve this dish which contains one bowl of rice at the centre of plate with three to four sabjis placed in circle surrounding rice. I could recognize thick dal, one green sabji or chatni probably made up of palak and two other unknown sabjis.Like many other restaurants this was also managed by ladies omly.We booked tuk –tuk from pick me app to hotel Thilanka. The tuk-tuk driver called us to pick.He was unable to understand English so we handed over the phone to the restaurant owner. She talked in Sinhala and told him the exact location. She was very kind. She told us that she knows Mumbai, India. 

Jenny the receptionist at hotel welcomed us. She was tall and had a smiling face, wearing a velvet coloured Kandyan saree with a traditional kandyan blouse  covering till midriff. The simple, flattering drape of the kandyan saree around her waist was easily graceful and culturally unique. She took our passports for entry into system, gave one form to fill up and handed over room keys.

It was Christmas week; every inch of hotel was decorated. The courtyard was flooded with toys, chocolates, Christmas trees and much more. 

As soon as we settled in our rooms, the rains started. We could see the Kandy Lake from our balcony and the mountains behind it. Due to the rain, this whole Kandy city seemed like paradise.We got ready and went to a hotel restaurant.There was a live Orchestra going on the restaurant floor. The musicians were visiting each table and asking people for their favorite songs in their mother tongue and they sang and played each and every song. We listened to many Spanish songs as well as many others from different countries. The meal was as delicious so as the desserts. After dinner we rested for the day early as the next day we were scheduled to visit the much awaited Ambuluwawa tower.  

Ambuluwawa tower was located around 27 km from the hotel.We woke up early in the morning. As it was raining in the morning also,we were praying for a clearer sky so that we could enjoy the clear view from the peak of tower.We had breakfast at Perera & Sons famously locally known as P & P. Later, we hired a cab for Ambuluwawa hill using Pick Me app. We used same trick -giving phone to shop owner and requesting him to specify our location to the cab driver .Till the time driver came it was raining heavily and bitterly cold in the middle of morning.We were fully prepared; we had our raincoat and umbrella ready which was offered by Jenny.

After about one hour’s drive, we reached the base of Ambuluwawa tower hill. At hill entrance there were a herd of tuk-tuk drivers who were not allowing our cab to go uphill as they wanted their business run.We argued,”Why can’t we take our car upwards?”  One of the tuk-tuk driver said,” The road is very narrow and the slope is acute.” The car driver was helpful. He got down, went to ask the side shop about the road condition and came suggesting that we would go. We were approaching the gate and ticket counter, and once again the same tuk-tuk driver came and talked about something in Sinhala with the car driver. The situation got a little tense. Then the car driver called his friend asking whether the car could be taken upwards or not as he was visiting this place for the first time. After talking over the phone, he said, “Sir we can’t go “. Perhaps he was afraid of tuk- tuk drivers. We got down and asked the tuk-tuk driver whether he would drop us uphill for 700 Rupees .But he was demanding 1000 for 2.7 km only. We decided to walk upwards. We took tickets, started walking slowly when a group of foreigners joined us. It was a really steep slope but the vehicle could go. At the midway, we saw many vehicles were passing .It was all nonsense created by those tuk-tuk drivers for their business.

We were walking uphill, taking breaks and suddenly it started raining. The rains were heavy ,we were struggling to take care of our  valuables like passport, mobile phones and wallet .We were almost wet, our umbrella and raincoat didn’t help much .It was a really tiring walk. We met many people on the way who were covering the distance on foot .After about one and half hour we reached at tower base when rains disappeared. We had already told our cab driver that we would be back till 11 AM but we reached at 11 AM only. We initially thought he might have gone but at exactly 11 AM he called and said he is waiting for us. We told him that we reached just now we would require at least half hour to explore the tower and asked him to come at top to receive us. We convinced him that road was good for vehicle.

The Ambuluwawa tower indeed is beautiful, the architecture is unique. The central strong pillar holds round shaped stairways symbiotically. While the hilltop offers sweeping views of surroundings, the view from tower top is breathtaking and scary. We were literally  into the clouds. Intermittently it was drizzling. We were struggling for clearer shots using selfie sticks. Due to rains it was a little bit risky to walk upstairs.The path at top was so narrow that one had to climb sticking back to the tower wall. There were people ascending and descending and we had to make space for them by reversing our ways to small galleries which were made into the tower’s central pillar wall. I remembered the story from childhood where on wooden plank there were two goats walking facing each other to cross their path where one goat eventually agreed to sit and the other went over to the other. Ambuluwawa tower is such a masterpiece and one of the less explored places in Sri Lanka.

 The driver arrived at the base of the tower and called us. We said that we would come within 15 minutes. We only got about half an hour to see the tower as it was raining again.We opened the car door  and settled in the car.When he started the car and suddenly from somewhere smoke was coming with a burning smell. I immediately opened the door and we both came out. The driver was also trying to locate the source of smoke but he couldn’t. Perhaps some of the wire was burnt due to excessive heat of braking. The rains and blue smoke made people around us gather for help. After some time the smoke went off. We both were still in trauma as I had heard stories of sudden fire in the car, but as he drove it was all fine. We thought he would demand more money but he was such a nice person he took as promised.It took another 1.5 hours to reach hotel Thilanka. 

 

In the evening we went to Bahirawakanda Vihara Buddha Statue .It was around 5 km from the hotel. Temple was really well maintained, calm and newly coloured.We met one Indian uncle and aunty who were from Delhi,exploring the statue.

 Later in the evening we came to the temple of Screed tooth, located near to Kandy Lake. When we were exchanging change with tuk-tuk driver, one person from behind said, “Hello Sir, I am from India settled in Sri Lanka”.We surprised that how people recognise we Indians.He is Mohan, an Indian origin tuk- tuk driver settled now in Sri Lanka.

He was very much happy to see Indian people .He looked young in T-shirt and wearing white coloured plastic kittos with Bali in ear.A dark skinned moustache man, confidently talking in fairly good English, impressed us. He was very talkative and told us that he is fond of helping tourists . He told us how he settled in Sri Lanka and his journey from India to Sri Lanka.His dad married to a Sri Lankan woman and thus he grew up in Kandy. He was fluent in Sinhala and can speak Tamil as well. He was typical Indian looking young tuk-tuk driver from Sri Lanka. He said he would come tomorrow to pick us at hotel and take us to Kandy city tour. He seemed so gentleman and helpful we couldn’t deny. We explained our tomorrow’s plan that we are heading to Ella by train but our ticket is not confirmed. He suggested catching the same train from Peradeniya junction as a lot of people get down there.The train comes from Colombo first stops at Peradaniya and then to Kandy. But still he promised us he would go to Kandy station while going home and would look whether he could do something for the ticket. Fixing time of 8 in the morning we left. As per his recommendation, we had dinner at Balaji Dosai, a very famous veg restaurant, situated next to the temple of tooth relic. We ordered roti sabji and spring hopper. This was first time we were having roti in Sri Lanka.The roti was not so good but the chaatni and spring hopper was delicious. I had coffee after the dinner.

Next morning we were getting ready when Mohan called. He was half an hour early; already waiting for us at hotel entrance.Sri Lankan people are way more punctual. This was our second experience of their punctuality, first was at Ambuluwawa tower.

“Hey, Mohan, Can we have some breakfast?” Swati uttered. He took us to his friend’s restaurant, where we ordered medu vada and veg stuffed triangular Indian Samosa type snack.

“Where did you learn English? What is your education?” We both questioned respectively.

“Talking with tourists Sir.” I was surprised. “What exactly do you do? How do you approach tourists?”

“Usually I stop at famous tourist places, and like a normal tuk-tuk driver I drop people, mostly foreigners, to their destination” “Then?” Swati asked.” “I try to talk with them, my helping nature and sweet talks help them to connect with me.” I thought he was boasting but overall he seemed very passionate about guiding and helping the tourist. “Sir, I don’t even have a Facebook or Instagram account, however I am planning to open soon. I want to start my own tourist company.” He had big dreams and the right attitude. He was 40 years old but seemed 30.He was married and had a son. His kid was top in the entire Kandy district in football and he was selected to go to Barcelona to play football next month.”Wow isn’t that amazing “, I said. He showed his photos. Mohan was hardly educated but had developed himself a lot. He said “I have a very good friend from Germany.”He showed her photos; her name was Emma who regularly visits Sri Lanka. Whenever she is in Sri Lanka, I accompany her all the time. She even visits my house; she regularly does video calls from Germany .I was thinking –‘She and he must be…….He interrupted suddenly and said,” “We don’t have sex Sirrrr…I and her is only friend!!!” we all were laughing.

Yesterday, while going to home he had gone to Kandy railway station and requested an officer at the counter to keep two tickets for tomorrow.  He said there are two tickets available; however both are from different bogies i.e. one in second class and other in first class.

He took us to the Kandy city view point from where the sprawling city of Kandy could be seen .Later he took us to Gem stone workshop .On the way he showed us the bungalow which he wanted to buy. It was his dream house. We saw Gems and jewelry made from stone. They showed one video clip explaining how various stones can be extracted from earth doing traditional mining, and what different types of stone are available.We didn’t buy anything though. 

As the train was scheduled on 11.03 AM, Mohan took us to station. We clicked his photograph with his tuk-tuk saying we would publicize him on social media. He accompanied us to the ticket counter, talked with the officer and helped us to take reserved tickets. As told by him there were exactly two tickets available. We were excited and happy to get tickets. I gave him my silver coated ring as a token of remembrance and gave him 600 rupees for driving. He was denying taking any money but we forced him to take it. He said bye and then left.  

We were on the platform. There were numerous people; mostly tourists who were huddled alongside the benches waiting for the train to come.

We were standing at the location of the second class compartment where one railway police was doing his duty. We requested him to take our photos. He said, “India means Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Virat Kohli.” and smiled.

Train arrived 20 minutes late, so we boarded 2nd class bogie. We had only one ticket of 2nd class so requested fellow passenger to sit in 1st class. He was Sri Lankan and happily agreed.

It was a Chinese built blue coloured train. When it started, it gave a sudden jerk. “It is going to become a more exciting journey”, I said. Whole bogie was filled up by travelers, backpackers, mostly foreigners. When the train used to stop at the signal or in between stations we used to go to the door and take photos. Almost everyone was doing the same thing. At one point of time TC scolded us not to do this as it would be dangerous. 

In neighboring row two seats behind, one foreigner couple was kissing constantly.They looked ganjedi (person who takes occasionally drugs specially Gaanja). The train runs through lush green tea farming. There were hills and valleys filled with different type of trees. After some time it was drizzling -what a scene it was! Fog, rains and chilling winds- It was undoubtedly one of the beautiful train journey I ever witnessed except the jerk of train.

We reached Ella at around 5.30 PM.It was altogether a very different atmosphere. When I came out of station I felt like I was in some town of Uttarakhand.It was freezing cold, a typical hill station. The road had dozens of cafes where many foreigners were chilling out with coffee, beer, whiskeys and cigars. Restaurant guys were calling out to each of the passengers. It was bursting with the creative energy of attracting tourists to their café playing music, offering free drinks. We bought some snacks from a local shop- Maggi, sneakers and hired tuk-tuk to our hotel called Ella Sisila view. When we reached, it was almost dark. It was very cold; we had our dinner and slept away. 

We woke up early in the morning, got ready and had complimentary English breakfast offered by the hotel. Nine arches bridge was visible from the hotel; however, we had to trek down for about half an hour to reach the actual location.

It was a small trek to the nine arch bridge; we reached the site very early in the morning and there were hardly any tourists. We met that foreigner ganjedi couple. They were also staying at the same hotel.

Nine arch bridges is a very famous place in Ella. As its name implies, it is supported on nine arches made up of stones, supporting a single railway track built by Britishers. The curved architecture of the bridge is best for photography.We got a chance to see a train passing through a bridge.This valley is surrounded by lush green tea farms making it a unique place.

We explored the nine arches bridge,took photographs and returned to the hotel. There was a small house just beside our stay which provided bikes on rent. We rode our bike on rent for half a day and went to Ravana falls and Ravana cave. The route was scenic; we en-routed tea farms with steep slopes including hairpin bends. Intermittently it was raining , making the atmosphere soothing.

Rawana falls is a very touristic spot where a large number of tourists took selfies in front of the grand backdrop of the waterfall.We could identify many foreigners present at Rawana falls who accompanied us on the Kandy to Ella train journey.  

We even spotted that energetic couple whom we met at Sigiriya rock fortress. Here also they were doing stunts,going beyond the restricted area and taking photos on a big rock just beneath the waterfall.The policemen present there whistled and instructed them to get down ;still they were clicking photos,ignoring people and police. 

It is a usual scenario in Sri Lanka that travelers can meet again and again at some point of their journey.

The half day rent of the scooter was 800 LKR.After spending some time at Ravana falls,we returned and handed over the scooter to the owner and requested him to reduce the rent as we didn’t use the full half day. After the pause of 20 seconds, he reduced the cost by 100 LKR.  

We sat in the evening chatting at the edge of a hill, in the open space of the hotel. The two storey hotel was located on the edge of a valley from where we could see the top view of a nine arch bridge surrounded by valleys on all sides. All the hills were covered by tea farms.

 There was a small kitchen and sitting area in the hotel. We had coffee. It was the best relaxing time we spent on this entire trip. After sunset, the atmosphere became extremely cold, so we had dinner and slept early. We had cheese macaroni pasta for dinner, prepared by the hotel cook. 

Next day in the morning, after checkout from the hotel, we were searching for tuk-tuk to go to the bus stop but didn’t get one. We walked down the street; we saw a couple of tuk-tuk standing on the main road but we continued our walk with heavy backpacks on the main street as they were charging more money. After some time the same tuk-tuk driver came and agreed to take us at our price. We came to the bus stop from where we were supposed to board the bus to Mirissa .It was the school holiday season so all the buses were full .We decided to opt for a cab which would take us to Mirissa in four hours.  

 The cab was nothing but a small tempo traveler having a capacity of about twelve people of which all were foreigners . It was air conditioned and equipped with a TV screen on which the famous Sri Lankan Orchestra was live.

The route was not that hilly; in fact gradually we were heading towards the plain terrain of the ocean . After about a nonstop 4 hour drive, we reached Mirissa.The vibes in the coastal area were totally different. There were a number of restaurants showcasing seafood menus, playing loud music when humidity welcomed us .It was way more than a tourist place. Many foreigners were walking in swimsuits, bikinis with surfing boards in hand. It was like a Florida type feeling- the main road, the sea, the people having full body tattoos and the exotic Mirissa beach!  

Our pre-booked homestay was very near to Mirissa beach. We checked into our room. The lighting in our room was very low so we complained about it to the owner .The owner lady seemed kind.

Later in the afternoon, we freshen up and headed to a restaurant for lunch. It was again the famous Sri Lankan curry and rice! However the rice was paired with totally different types of vegetable and side dishes on the table, the flavors were bold, memorable and mouth-wateringly delicious.

 When we returned to our room, the owner had kept a brand new LED bulb at our door. After about an hour’s rest we went to Mirissa beach .Mirissa Beach was very large, less commercialized, beautiful, not so populated and it was the cleanest beach I ever witnessed. We walked the whole beach barefoot. Many people were surfing and playing in the water. We went to coconut hill and spent time till sunset sitting on a rock observing people surfing and engaging our mind into the sound of the sea.It was beautiful and relaxing. We had dinner at the Beach restaurant and returned to our room. While coming we booked a whale watching ticket for the next day as all the whale watching cruise boats leave early in the morning .     

We had a great whale watching session next morning booked through Yamuna whale watching club. We returned to the harbour at around 10  and headed to a secret beach. The route for secret beach was really secret. It was not paved;local people directed us to the beach. It was truly deserted; nobody was there except one foreigner lady who was having sunbath . The beach was indeed beautiful and felt private; we had the place entirely to ourselves. There were many safe water basins naturally made due to rocks where one could enjoy the sea water. After some time one family came to visit this place.The couple undressed and applied sunscreen and went into the water. Two kids, a couple and her in-laws were playing and enjoying .The man from that group was writing something in his diary by looking at water hyacinth .After some time the couple came out of the water,the lady removed all upper clothes and slept on a towel facing back upwards. Till then the beach restaurant opened, we ordered pizza and cold drinks. We rested for more than two hours listening to the sounds of waves and winds. The Secret beach was truly a memorable treasure!   

Our next destination was Unawatuna.The tuk-tuk driver carrying us used to work in a drafting company; he had a diploma in engineering,but due to recession he lost his job and started driving tuk-tuk. He left us at Hiru resort Inn near Unawatuna beach at around 3 in the afternoon.

We immediately went to the beach, into the water.We felt that Unawatuna beach was small as compared to Mirissa.We kept our valuable belongings like wallet, phone in a small sling bag and kept that near to us on the beach so that it could be easily visible from water. Later we came to know that it was not really required because it was very safe there.Overall Sri Lanka can be considered as safe for tourists.We didn’t even come across any beggar in the whole trip!

Later in the evening we went to a Japanese peace pagoda which was walking distance from our stay.This route was short cut passing through dense jungle.

The pagoda was really beautiful and peacefull.It was located between jungle on one side and beach on the other. As it was dark we decided not to go through the jungle, we took tuk-tuk to our homestay.

On the way back to our room we found a place called ‘Jina’s vegetarian restaurant’. The manager was very friendly;while chatting he told us that he had lived in Pune and Mumbai .He even spoke some words of Marathi. He told us that there was an accident yesterday on Colombo highway and three Indian people were killed. We felt sorry for them and decided to go to Colombo by train.

 Next morning having English breakfast at Hiru resort inn we checked out and with all our backpacks we went to Galle .The Galle light house was extremely beautiful and one of the main attractions in that area. It is closed for tourists to go up, but the tranquil water at Galle beach and the winds makes it a tourist point. The beach was beautiful and clean.  

Spending about two hours at the light house, we went to Galle train station to catch the next train to Colombo. As it was unreserved, it was very crowded, we barely could get a place to stand, reminding me of the Pune-Mumbai journey. We, including a few foreigners, were standing near the toilet. There was a old lady from the US, in dark brown attire as if she was going to the office ,with a yellow coloured trolley bag standing, smiling, clicking photos with her digital camera. She looked like character M of James bond movie.

The train route was astonishing; highway that parallels the rail track, and both making competition with sea water and beaches; it was immediately apparent why people take this train journey to Sri Lankan capital even though it is crowded. At many places the train runs liti through the beach, a few feet away from sea water. It was a really beautiful train journey. We were standing the whole journey but the view outside made our journey delightful.

After about two hours journey we reached Colombo fort station .The crowd and old architecture reminded me of Mumbai’s CSTM.We booked tuk-tuk to reach Marino Beach hotel for the last day of our journey. The area was the samesas Mumbai’sColaba, CSTM with old Gothic architecture and place for many government offices. 

We spent one day in Marino beach hotel. Our return flight to India was scheduled next day at 5.05 in the evening. We reached Chennai and went to check in for connecting flight to Mumbai. We came to know that the flight had been cancelled .We really got frustrated but we had no other option than to stay at Chennai for one more day. Air India arranged our stay and gave us next day morning flight to Mumbai.