The train from Colombo to Kandy

Second day in Sri Lanka, and I'd decided to try and see more than just the capital city. I knew it would be a little bit of a tight squeeze, but it was completely worth it. I went to the main railway station (Colombo Fort) and bought a second class tickets (no reservations) for Rs190 (= $1.76) and walked around the market area in Colombo eyeing all sorts of goodies. Colombo's market area (as well as Kandy's) is amazing. The streets are nice and wide and remarkably clean especially in comparison with those I've seen in India. I walked away from the station for nearly a mile, and turned right. I was in search of an internet cafe, but found none. I did, however, make a fortunate turn down main street and then off a little side street where locals buy their produce. I saw big fresh jackfruits for sale. I didn't buy any because I can't eat that much jackfruit, and I wasn't willing to try and take it on the train for a four hour journey. I was really tempted though. The array of fresh fruits and vegetables was simply astonishing. It was similar to India as one might expect, but the market area was somehow nicer. I passed by a lot of little stalls that gave a very pungent aroma of fish. It turns out, they sell only dried fish, and LOTS of it. Kinda stinky...

I make my way back to a restaurant near the train station and order some more Chicken Kothu Rotty. Delicious! I get some stares, but mostly smiles and waves. I found in Sri Lanka, more people are willing to say hello instead of simply staring. I don't yet know if the staring thing is restricted to the Tamils or not, but so far the stares are the worst from the Tamils. Finally I make it to the train station with about half an hour to go before departure. I see two people with overloaded hiking packs, and decide to talk to them. It turns out they are from Spain, Catalonia in particular. The man spoke some English, and the woman spoke Spanish, Catalan, and French, but not a word of English. I'm not kidding you, she is conversational in French, and fluent in two other romance languages, and yet knows no english. I resorted to communicating with her in a mixture of broken french and spanish. They were taking the same train to Kandy and even staying in my same hotel. So I boarded with them and off we went.

The train ride itself was interesting. The first few stops had the train so crowded we could barely move. I made what I considered a very clever move by standing in the lavatory. It didn't smell bad, because no one used it. It was just an open room with a toilet and a sink and a window. As soon as we start moving a man whips out a wooden flute and begins playing something. My newly made Catalonian friend and I are talking about something and the flutist looks at my friend to signal, "shut the hell up while I play." That was mildly awkward. It turns out he was playing for money. Any donations were accepted. I was annoyed by him more than pleased with his music, so he got no money from me. After a few stops in which the locals were existing to go home, the crowding waned a little. For a long time there was nothing but jungle and little huts and kids playing cricket in any available field. However, after about two hours we started into the mountains. WOW! That's the only expression I heard from most foreigners on the train. We sat in awe just quickly pointing to each other to come see something amazing on this side or that side of the train. Really great scenery.

After our initial shock of "I can't believe how gorgeous this place is" the snacks started coming through the train! I bought a bunch of oranges and distributed them to several people around me. That won me some quick allies. The cameras came out and lots of fun pictures were taken. I'm hoping to get in touch with my spanish friends to get emailed copies of their pictures, since I now have none of my own.

Across some of the mountain passes, the peaks were getting higher and higher, and the valleys deeper and deeper. It seemed everytime we found a higher mountain, there was an even BIGGER Buddha statue at the top almost surely accompanied by a host of temples.

After rounds and rounds of pictures, stopping for snacking and conversation, and pausing to read the guide book, we made it to Kandy. Kandy was the capital city of the kingdom before the british took over. It is marked as a world heritage site and has lots of cool things to see. Mostly, Kandy is famous for its main buddhist temple and being the jumping off point for exploring Sri Lanka's hill country. I sadly didn't make it down to the Tea region this time, but perhaps next go around. Nuwara Eliya is on my list!