Sri Lanka Trip = Post #6 (30 Dec 2008 to 2 Jan 2009)

This is my last posting about my trip to Sri Lanka.

I spent 3 days in Hikkaduwa but I wished it could have been longer. For someone like me who constantly needs to do "something", spending 3 days on a beach quickly becomes boring. But I liked the slower pace in Hikkaduwa. There was not much to do except walk along the main road after breakfast. After that I read some books, go out to Lunch at the best restaurant (REFRESH) in the area. After lunch, continue reading and later take a nap. In the evenng at about 5.00 pm, I go running on the only road in the village where the guest house was located. But I had to return to Colombo on the 30 Dec. because I had reserved 31 Dec as my shopping day.

I took the train from Hikkaduwa to Colombo. It was not going to be a comfortable journey. The trip started badly with the train arriving 45 minutes late at noon. Secondly the train was full and there were no empty seats left for anyone boarding at Hikkaduwa. Here I have to explain that for all train classes except for the Observation Coach for the Colombo-Kandy-Colombo route, there are no eserved seats. Basically you have to scramble and hustle to get a seat after you board the coach. I had to stand up near the door for the entire 2 hour train trip to Colombo.

In Colombo, I only stayed one night at the same guest house (Mrs. Mendis) but I decided to move out the next day as more people were going to stay and I was taking up the whole room which had three beds.

The next day (31 Dec.) I moved to a hotel in Colombo city. This was my last and only day for shopping in Sri Lanka. Immediately after I had checked in and left my bags in the room, I went to two shops Barefoot and Odel to shop. I am not much of a shopper and in less than 2 hours I completed my shopping errand.

On 1 Jan 2009, the day of my return flight to Malaysia, there was one last surprise and inconvenience. My taxi had to stop near a military check point located 500m away from the airport terminal. It turns out that no public vehicles were allowed to drive to the terminal. Everyone get down from their vehicle, open their luggage for manual inspection and after every bag has been checked allowed to board a bus to the terminal.

After spending 3 weeks in Sri Lanka, I can conclude that it is a generally safe for tourists despite the ongoing war between the government and the Tamil Tigers. There are lots of things to see and do.