Ceylon 2018

Early start for the 6:30 intercity express to Jaffna. We were in the flash FCR (first class) but don’t get too excited, it just means we are guaranteed a seat.. no champagne or special Jammies. What a train ride. Roughest damn train I have been on, absolute bone rattler. That was only for probably the first 6 hours after that it was a cruisy 3 or so hours on a new track. The new track was rebuilt after the civil war and this in turn opened up the North to tourism again. There seems to be a genuine sign of reconciliation following the civil war. Absolutely shattered on arrival to Jaffna.  The time passes relatively quickly with most stops bringing on different vendors with a huge variety of bits to eat. Fresh corn, samosas, milky coffee (one part coffee and 8 parts sugar) and lots of other little snacks that I have no idea what they were. On arrival had to walk a total of 100m to our accommodation... winning!! Then losing... walked through a flash foyer only to be escorted straight ...

We are staying here for an unexpected extra night, but in a different room. So we are packed, bags stored, out onto the streets again. Today we explore the markets: manning street, independent federation of self employees, petah floating. Except the floating markets are neither floating or markets. Manning markets..wow fruit, Vegas chaos. Photographic heaven. We have to remind our selves that although this is new and exciting for us these poor and hard working souls will be here again tomorrow, and the day after, and the one after etc. We found a little place for “milky tea” and cake, however something lost in translation. Never mind it was interesting, very interesting, and amusing for the locals. By this time we were a little hot and needed respite from the heat: tourist cafe here we come. After this break we head back to train station to book some further tickets. A point aside: we both are struggling a little with an itinerary. There is not an easy path through this country, lots t...

Liz woke with a start: it’s 3 pm and over slept. Whew, not really. First task of day is to organise train tickets to Jaffna ( up north) as we have heard that this can be difficult, given Liz’s extensive Indian experience, this will be easy... no so. Apparently big holiday in Sri Lanka, as it is full moon and everyone is travelling. We can only get tickets for the 30th and are forced to spend an extra day in Colombo.  With tickets in pocket, we find a cool place for coffee and fruit salad breakfast. As tea is the preference hot drink, coffee is pretty expensive and to be kind, pretty ordinary. We head back on the streets and our first tuk tuk ride...these 3 wheeled vehicles are everywhere here. Everyone keen to take you for a ride, get sick of knocking back offers of  “ tuk tuk Sir”. Of course to stand out various scams have arisen where they make friends with you and offer help to see “ special place on ...special day”. Well we did fall for this once and ended up at a gem shop...

It is hard to work out what our initial thoughts of Colombo are...Liz’s memories of traveling through Asia, especially India, as a young woman in her 20’s continue to crowd her mind: but hang on this is Sri Lanka. I hope that others are not offended by the comparison, but the similarities are endless... Today started early, and was a long day. Peak hour drive up the road to brissy airport to the valet parking; super deal was organised by Liz ( if you are traveling, keep your eye open for these). We left at 12 midday via Singapore to  Bandaranaike International Airport colloquially known as Katunayake Airport and Colombo International Airport, arriving at 9:30. Bed by midnight, just. Chuck in the time difference and we had an exhausting day. Travelling holidays are soo hard 😉.

Where to go on our next adventure? As Sri Lanka missed out to the Camino in 2013, we thought it appropriate to correct this. hence here we are.