Even though I have done so many trips, I never wrote a blog . This time I have so many things to share about the planning and execution of this trip . A trip is not just visiting the place and take a cozy A/C room and roam around in MERC/BMW . You gotta go out to to feel the true colours and essence of day today life of the local people and be one among them . I realy envy those foriegners who travel to a far country/place and explore it for months together . Well , I wish I will be one such individual in a long time.
PLANNING
It was almost a year and half since I had done my last abroad trip to Singapore n Malaysia . So I was itching to go out on the next abroad trip . Somehow things hadnt worked according to the plan . My friend Kowshik had moved to a new flat in Bellandur , Bangalore . He invited me to his house and we stayed together , his sis is a super cook and she was so kind , prepared nice dinner the day I stayed in his house. We just settled on the bed for a chit chat , and discussion went through so many topics like 'How our friends have changed post their marraiges and visited couple of old memories of trips we all had done together'.
Boooooom ..... Trip, the magical word is sufficient to generate adrenalin in our bodies, In many ways we both are birds of same feather !!! Hence it lead the way to our next trip . We fixed 2nd or 3rd week of JAN 2012 for the trip . Kowshik gave me the idea of Srilanka as an option . I was hesitating a bit initialy thinking Srilanka as some poor country and not so scenic . Plan was on hold for some time . We decided to meet agian after sometime, that day I got a call from Kowshik a bit earlier than the time we had planned to meet . He said he has twisted his ankle and he want me to join him immediately in a clinic near to his house . I rushed and found there is no fracture or any serious damage . So the trip had to be post-poned to FEB .
Kowshik's sister was away in her home town , so I was Kowshik's care taker hence stayed in his flat for almost a week . We got Wi-Fi Broadband connection in his flat . Believe it or not , whole of that week we just googled LANKA !!! Places, people, season, sea, food , stay , money, shopping, activities .... we were mighty impressed at the end of it and said letzzz go LAN KA !!! Checked air tickets, it was much cheaper from Chennai than Bengaluru . On the other hand, my bro n his wife were planning to go to GOA on their successful completion of 5 years of married life :) I told them about our trip and asked them why not LANKA !!! They too got convinced and airtickets to n fro Chennai were booked . All travel plans were made and Srilankan visa arrived to say 'We are happy to accept u guys as crazy trip people ' . We exchanched currency to USD . My boss had approved my leave without any hitch . Yes !!! We were heading to GO LANKA !!!
1st FEB 2012, Day 1 .
Oh my god !!! Its the D day .... All four of us Vikram , Kowshik, Vinay , Rupa Vinay were on our toes . I called Kowshik by 1pm to check how he would come to railway station. We had booked rail tickets to Chennai and train would start by 11pm. All had ample time to windup office work and join in majestic . Kowshik said he would come on his own and join the rest in Majestic. My next call was to my bro, He was totaly pumped-up , their luggage was packed n I hadnt packed anything . He was on a high with his usual punch line 'Done- dana- done' . My atge Rupa Vinay said she would get Chitranna(Indian fried rice) for dinner . I said fine n took the responsiblity of buying curd for Chitranna.
I'm a lazy bum, had thrown my passport somewhere, soon I digged it out of dumped clothes in my cup-board. Packed everything in my back-pack . I Made sure my swimming goggles , sunscreen, swimming shorts , cash, travel documents were not missed . I waited with lot of patience to only to see clock moving sluggish than a country side buffalo . Well well well .... It was 8.45pm , spoke to all to join in majestic , Got into a Volvo bus from Jayanagar bus stop and I joined the rest by 9.30pm .
We all reached platform only to see Train delayed by 15 mins . It was a good news for us, we found a average clean place and loaded our heavy backpacks, I had carried my laptop to copy the snaps from digi-cams . Chitranna packets had names of individuals, because my sweet Mahadevi aunty(My bro's mother in law) had customised it according to the tastes of each person . Curd n pickle added its flovours to chitranna railway station special dinner :) In no time v were left with just packing meterial , everyone were delighted with the food . Meanwhile train arrived and we occupied our respective sleeping berths. We chit-chated for a while and slept with warm clothes on . I had a real tough time as the window had a narrow gap and cold wind was gushing through it . Somehow I managed to get a decent sleep .
So far it was according to the script and we didnt have a clue on the roller-coaster ride we were about to have next day .
Day 2, FEB 2nd 2012.
Goodmorning !!! said my sister-in-law Rupa Vinay, She wokeup everyone. She knew Tamil and in a way she felt like she was in her 2nd home . We were in chennai central station , 5am n we could feel the humidity of chennai weather . My brother Vinay had finished 2 ltrs of water in that one night , I was kidding around saying u get water in my name n endup drinking all of them :) Our next plan was to find a room so that all can freshen-up with bath . We walked through the road opp to station and confronted a agent , after a dog-fight with him he agreed to get a room for us @ 300-400rs for 2 hrs. He took through some narrow gully like roads and we had reached our 5 star hotel :) Oh my god !!! its the dirtiest room on the planet with marks of spitting . We were not left with many options n said yes to it . We said to ourselves we are gona move out in an hour , as the new james bond 'Daniel Craig' had booked the room and he was about to check in :)
We were out of the luxury suite and next thing was to search for breakfast . It was too early in the morning , so breakfast wasnt ready at many places. The ones open were too dirty to eat , We all hate Tamilians, no offence meant but reason for that is, they are MASS people, dirty places n flashy colours every where . So we decided we will have breakfast in ANNA airport . There is a local train station opp to Chennai central station which takes you all the way to airport . Ticket was damn cheap , cost us 8rs per head . Train had all sorts of posters inside with Tamilians sitting comfortably next to them . The characters/letters looked like 'Jalebi' , dancing lines :)
We reached airport and I was thunder struck , shocked to c Chennai airport such a rubbish place from outside . The luggage trolley had rusted and looked like it was used by Indira gandhi . Toilets were smelly with spitting all over the place . International terminal looked like a half constructed Govt building .... it truly was. We had a expensive breakfast in 'Sangeetha' restaurant . Then it was time for check-in .... check in was done in a flash as we all were used to international air travel . Immigration was total mess ... 3 international flight passengers and just 2-3 immigration counters. They were true bastards . All 3 flights were delayed all thanks to stupidity of immigration idiots :) Roopa vinay couldnt stand in the Q for a long time, she rested on old sofa for sometime. It was time when we finished immigration and aircraft was due to take-off. We had opted for two window seats . Seats were good in Srilankan airways . The airhostess was a hot chick , their saree wearing is different. once she comes close to u , ur world is about to change, belly show quite significant . One Kongati (tamilian) sitting in the next seat, he couldnt believe what he was seeing , may be he had seen more stuff than I've explained here !!!!!
Aircraft took off, every time take-off amazes me . Soon we were watching dirty picture(chennai city view) from top . In no time we were on sea and clouds kissed as if it was on a romantic date with our aircraft . Airhostess served us some rice biryani kinda stuff with some juice. I refused juice and ordered for LION beer . Chilled beer was awesome . I got into friendly chat with airhostess, she was half srilankan half Malaysian . Her english was better than her counterparts . I told Kowshik to take snap of me n her at the end of the journey . He said she wont entertain that and we both started betting on the same. Almost an hour flight, we landed in Colombo . I won the bet as I took a snap with her . We reached terminal by 12pm, airport is truly international . Its small but very clean . Took snaps in airport . collected our baggage . Currency was exchanged from USD to Lankan rupees with Sampath bank. The exchange rate we got was 1USD=112.30 Lankan rupees. Washrooms(toilets) were plenty and very clean . Airport personnel are smiling always and keen to help people always . We collected simcard from Mobitel shop within the terminal by paying 200LKR . It was time for us to venture out of Airport and get real feel of Lanka.
In one of the blogs we had read , outside the airport we would get a bus that drops us to the nearest bus-stop , from there we can reach Colombo (Bandarnaike airport is 35kms from Colombo) . We saw a board for that bus stop but waiting there for 15mins we didnt see any sign of bus coming. We checked with local people, none could help us as they were not able to speak english neither could they understand. Finaly a bus came but that stood very far from busstop board . We didnt see any local people boarding that bus, we were in doubt whether it was the right bus to board. After a while few foreigners started boarding and we too followed them , we were told it was the right bus . Its a free bus, you dont have to pay for the journey . After a journey of 15-20mins we were in the next stop, An A/C bus guy was shouting 'Colombo Colombo' . We were delighted to board it and occupied our seats. We were astonished to hear '200LKR' fare per person for just 35-40kms !!! He charged us extra 200LKR for our baggage !!! That guy took good 2hrs to reach 'Fort busstop'
We got down at the bus-stop, all were hungry and wanted to start the trip with a good Indian veg food. My brother's travel companion in the previous bus was Watsala , she guided us to RENUKA Indian restaurant on Galle (Srilankans pronounce it as GOL) road . We boarded a city bus and bought tickets to the stop and asked the conductor to inform us when we arrive at the stop. Another English legend, dropped us one or two stops earkier only. We had to catch another bus who didnt stop at the right stop and dropped us further. We said to ourselves we had enough of BUS TAMASHA and got to know we were at walkable distance from that restaurant . We walked and found the restaurant is closed and to our horror all other restaurants in sorroundings were closed too as it was around 3.30pm . We then decided , better to reach the last bus stop, from where we would get a bus to HIKKADUWA .
We again got into a city bus and reached Fort bus stand(Intercity buses are available from here, railway station is at 200mtr from bus stop) . We searched for restaurant and got a decent looking one. Rice was given in one big plate, like common for all . Veg curries were good, dont ask me the name of items we ate . They were strange and accent of the guy who served us, made it tough to even understand . We checked with the hotel guys, they said you can catch a train to Hikkaduwa (Beware train from colombo to Galle arent running due track work ) . When we reached railway station, ticket issuing guy using all his english skills could only say 'NO TRAIN' . Luckily the bus option was wide open and bus stop was 200m away, but walking that distance in humidity with backpacks was a tedious task , I was feeling for my atge but she kept saying she is fine with backpack. A security(police/army commando) guy looking at our language problem, took us personaly all the way to the right bus, we were realy happy to c this gesture from Lankans every now and then .
It was a A/C bus and we were delighted to be aboard . A fruit seller got into the bus shouting 'Oranges 6 at 100LKR ' , we thought the guy is stupid to sell orange at 15LKR a piece . Later that turned out to be the cheapest deal on fruits in our stay of Lanka . If u hear such deal, go grab it guys . The bus started its journey with all the seats full, within 5 mins he stopped . While boarding we couldnt buy water bottle and soft drink, without those liquids you cant survive in Lanka . I just walked all the way to the door to buy those stuff, when I turned back I realised all passengers were rushing behind me, I wondered how come these people are also getting down . Again a english genius told us, bus has some problem and its not moving further and we had to catch a new bus . We were taken for a ride and fedup seriously by this time. I bought coke 500ml bottle at 100LKR !!! We all cooled down a bit with chilled soft drinks . In a few mins , we got a non A/C bus . Fare was much much cheaper compared to the A/C bus . It was evening and bus had to pass through peak traffic of Colombo . It took bus a good 1.30mins to cross the city . Bus was packed to the fullest and it was uncomfortable as every one was profusely swetting . Once it was out of the city, thanks to some breeze(A bit hot only) we all slipped into deep sleep . I could listen to the my bro's thumping beats of snoring . My sister-in-law(atge) has been listening to these beats from last 5 years . The couple were celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary :)
It was half way we wokeup and still saw a jam-packed bus . We kept talking about the language proficiency of locals and how the day had passed so far . After a tiresome journey of 4hrs(100kms) we finaly reached HIKKADUWA. We checked with 2 autos about our planned guest housees, struck a deal deal at 200rs for an auto . He took us Seetani guest house, no rooms were available there. We checked with Reeta's guest house next to beach, 2 rooms we took for 2000LKR and 2500LKR per night (12-12 checkout) . We freshened with a shower and went for a short visit to beach . We wanted a good sumtuous dinner , wandered the main road to pick our target restaurant. Rates were sky high in most of the restaurants . Finaly settled in some restaurant where sea waves played its melody to the best while we had our dinner. We had seafood (Crab ) which has been rated high and big thumbs up from our team . Chilled beer flew to the mugs . Fried was too tan(no spice in it) , so I ate it with some raw green chillies . We Indians who eat spicy food are too bad, we simply cant eat non-spicy food at all , I feel most of u are gona agree with me. We ate dinner till 12 in the night , our bill reflected 3500LKR !!! On the way we thought we could have been to ROTTY (lankan spelling for ROTI) hotel which was cheaper, where they had listed varieties of rotis. My bro kind of yelled on a lighter note, saying u guys just think of good food while on trip rather than worrying about bill . We reached our rooms and never knew when we fell asleep .
DAY 3 - Hikkaduwa - Surfing the waves was the main agenda
Woke up and saw my roomie Kowshik wasnt there around . I thought he would be there in beach , I was right . He was already in his swimshorts and swimgoggles, water was much clear and waves were pleasant . Two other people from the group came in some time . My brother was reluctant for a breakfast . 2 small slice of bread a bowl of butter cost 100rs, the cheapest of the menu . I bathed in the sea for while n came back to finish breakfast . I had no other choice but have bread, which I usualy hate to eat . I tried mango milk shake which was different . We 3 exept my atge entered water again . We hired a suf board at 600LKR per hour , initialy my brother tried his hand but came to say very tough get riding . Then I tried and I was'nt able to stand but I could lie on the board and surf the waves. It was real fun to balance . Slowly I got used to it . We decided to hire a bigger surf board as other surfers were using that one . The surface area was much much smaller on the long surf board and balancing on it requires a true skill . This surf board has teeth beneath the board, at times the teeth can hit u when you go out of control when ride on a bigger wave . Just watchout for those teeth, to some extent they can cause an injury .
We surfed, swimmed and enjoyed the sea till afternoon . Stomach was ringing the bell . Also it was time for us to checkout the room . Initialy we had planned to move to GALLE(15kms from Hikkaduwa, 120kms from COLOMBO) and visit some beautiful beaches in UNAWATUNA and MATARA . They are a must if you are visiting south Lanka . The plan changed as we wanted to go for scuba diving the next day and facilities for diving and diving schools were numerous in Hikkaduwa . We planned to change accomadation and hire bikes so that travelling to nearby places can be fun . We left our guest house and lucky to find two-wheeler renting shop very nearby . Struck a deal of 600LKR per vehicle per day . In some restaurant we had fried rice, noodles and finger chips .
On the way we had seen POSEIDON Diving school/center which has a international reputation . We had visited their website as well prior to our journey to Lanka . We just paid a visit and we met MENAKA(A guy) who gave us all the details about the dive . There are lot of varieties depending on ones skill level . U need to be a PADI ( Professional Association of Diving Instructors ) certified diver to attempt deeper dives . In the non-certified category, we chose 'Discover- Scuba' , which had diving lesson first, then skill checking in confined water ( It could be a swimming pool or open natural water like sea / pond ) with all gears in a depth of 5-7ft and last was to go for a dive in sea at a depth of 8-10meters . Kowshik was disqualified for it and he too was bit hesitant as he does'nt swim . I'm a swimmer who can swim end to end say 15-20mtrs in a pool . My brother is an expert can demonstrate all sorts of skills . 8000LKR was the cost per head and our instructor told us to report by 9-10am the next day . Me n my bro were pumped up , it was adrenalin pumping for me . I was realy proud of myself for even daring to attempt this .
We had to make some arrangement for the night's stay . Me n kowshik vetured out to find some guest house, searched half the town . Either the rooms were expensive (5000Lkr per room) or unavailable. We saw a room with asbestos sheet on the top, it was clean but basic . We said fine and didnt want to roam for finding rooms . We paid 800LKR per room . We had 3 options , First to go to Bentota for watersports, second was to visit nearby backwaters with an island which has migratory birds and buddist monks meditating in that island and they never come out of it. Third option was to go to Galle and do shopping, dinner and enjoy a bit of nightlife in some disco/pub . Each one of us loved one option we started arguing why my plan is better than the other. We laughed our heart out discussing that . Finaly it was 4.30pm, water sports place was a bit far, by the time we could reach there it would be dark . Buddist monks were too boring for us to visit in the mood we were in . We left to Galle on our two wheelers.
On the way I pulled the vehicle aside as I saw a shop selling tender coconut . I was the first to get a tender coconut opened . This is the funniest incidence of my life . The guy in that shop didnt understand english . The coconut I got had a very thick white layer . I showed that thick layer to shop guy , told him 'Next one small ' . He nodded as if he understood and acknowledged the same . By this time we had realised , if we compose complete english sentences its not going work in Lanka, people love broken english here . More often actions combined with single word works fantasticaly here . Kowshik was already expert in that now.
Now this shopkeeper went inside n got his big knife , we were waiting to c whats gona happen next . He had couple of straw in his hand, gave me one of them and asked me to hold the straw at one end. He held the other end and cut the straw in the middle to make into 2 pieces . Dipped the half piece in my tender coconut !!!!! Genius .... we all burst into laugh , it truly was hilarious man !!!! Meanwhile Kowshik had managed to take remaining straws from that guy fearing if he is going to cut all of them into halves !!! Luckily I hadnt shown my hand saying 'small' , he would have cut my hand into pieces for sure . We paid 30LKR per tender coconut and left the place.
Ride was gorgeous with beach running paralell to the the road. We reached GALLE, stopped to fill gas . Petrol costs 137LKR a litre . My brother only filled air to the tyres as it was a self help fuel pump. We went to Galle fort , it was majestic . Next day it was Independence day in Srilanka . So whole town had national flags everywhere . The Galle international cricket stadium is small but unique, has lot of tradition attached to it . No wonder it was washed away in Tsunami couple of years back , its so close to sea . Its a laid back small town . We wanted to do some shopping, again struggled with broken english to find the right place in the town . After a few misdirections we reached a road, which had shops but few were open . It was just 7pm and shops were shut down . We went to a shopping complex which had a board ' saree + blouse + soda = 1000LKR . I dont know how soda is related to saree n blouse. We did a bit of shopping there . I bought a cricket bat , it was very light weight and single wood bat . I loved it and price was also ok . We came out and visited few more shops for kids stuff , my brother was looking to buy some stuff for his 2 year old kid. They had left him for 4 days, both of them were missing him so much .
It was time for our dinner . On enquiring about a good veg restaurant, we were suggested to go to 'ANURA'S RESTAURANT ' near Galle fort . It wasnt too far and we reached in a flash . The two wheeler worked perfectly for us to find all these places. We ordered food , I chose pizza, kowsh n rupa ordered veg meal kind of stuff and Vinay ordered something. The veg stuff was totaly a blunder, it was tasting just coconut oil and nothing else. My bro's dish sucked too . pizza was good n tasty . Sky had dark clouds building up with lightening. We decided to give-up the idea of night life, didnt want to get struck in rain . We reached Hikkaduwa and our room even before it could rain . Rupa Vinay had a dreadful enemy in her room in the form of a black big spider which was in bathroom infact . She said she cant sleep even if the spider is sleeping in bathroom .The issue was raised to me and my floater was in my hand in a flash . I had tasted overseas victory and raised a toast of coke to my fellow travellers . The day was just awesome and loads of memories .
DAY 4 - Diving was written all over it .
It was yet another beautiful morning in lanka, the guest house we stayed had a forest look with lots of trees. Colourful birds were making sweet sound , couldnt reach to camera to capture . I wokeup first for a change that day, I usualy am a lazy bum . Knocked the door of other room and they were also amazed to c me waking them up. Ditched the idea of a bath, as I'l be in sea almost full day . So did my brother, other 2 people werent anyway diving . After freshening up we went to ROTTY restaurant,. Kowshik was finaly pleased to be there . I took roti with aloo stuffing. It was alright. Rupa n Vinay stuck with their continental breakfast . Kowshik ordered pineapple honey stuffed roti , He had big smile on his face , he too was happy at the end. It was getting 9.30 and I reminded everyone of the time. We zoomed on our scooters to reach POSEIDON diving center . We had to wait for our dive instructor Menaka . He was a true legend, who spoke english perfectly . Menaka appeared finaly, made some arrangements for video of a dive Instructions. The session in the video is done by some west lady, sometimes we were not too clear with her accent . We basicaly were told about underwater signs u show with ur hand to communicate with each other . I wish I could get that video link here to demonstrate how effective it is underwater .
We practiced them couple of times . We came out and we had to select right gear according our size . Wet suit and fins vary from person to person . U get a mask that covers your eyes and nose from water and gives a good view . You get weights attached to a belt, which you will wear around your waist to help you sink. Then there is a jacket that has 4 pipes . 2 on left and 2 on right . 2 on the left are, one for checking oxygen quantity in the cylinder with a guage, one for inflating and deflating your jacket . Inflating gets u to the surface and deflating sinks u . 2 on the right are, general breathing pipe and one reserve pipe in case of emergency you can give to your fellow divers. We wore all the equipments one after the other , took couple of fotos. We were taken to shallow waters by Menaka , where we had to demonstrate skills .
First was to demonstrate all the signs under water . It took a while for me to get use to oxygen breathing through pipe while submerged . We did this part with ease . Next was to wipeout the fog that forms within the eye-nose mask . We had to open the top part of the mask and let water flow into half of the mask and then blow air through nose so that the water exits through bottom of the mask . Sounds easy right ????? It took me 15-20mins to complete this . Finaly no challenge was too big in front of my will power , I did it . Next was to show that oxygen in my cylinder is over and ask your fellow-diver to give his reserve pipe only through signs . We did it with ease , in one shot we it was over. Our dive instructor was full of prai
Transportation in Srilanka
These buses stop anywhere and everywhere, Traveling on buses in Srilanka is damn slow. Averagespeed you can take as 25-30kms per hour . Taxis are realy expensive here (In the airport we were offered a taxi deal at 30,000LKR for 100kms to n fro ). You find all luxury cars here in Lanka. Toyota enjoys the major share, You have all sorts of models that u dont get to see in India . You have Indian brands too like Maruti-suzuki, Yamaha bikes, Hero honda, Bajaj, TVS, TATA, Ashok Leyland and more. Auto fare is damn costly , even for 2-3kms they demand 200-300rs , bargaining is allowed but to battle with their language is a big mess . Normal non-a/c buses are cheap and affordable, even city buses have reasonable fares.
We hired two wheelers(Herohonda pleasue and tvs scooty pep ) for rental of 600LKR per day in Hikkaduwa .
PLANNING
It was almost a year and half since I had done my last abroad trip to Singapore n Malaysia . So I was itching to go out on the next abroad trip . Somehow things hadnt worked according to the plan . My friend Kowshik had moved to a new flat in Bellandur , Bangalore . He invited me to his house and we stayed together , his sis is a super cook and she was so kind , prepared nice dinner the day I stayed in his house. We just settled on the bed for a chit chat , and discussion went through so many topics like 'How our friends have changed post their marraiges and visited couple of old memories of trips we all had done together'.
Boooooom ..... Trip, the magical word is sufficient to generate adrenalin in our bodies, In many ways we both are birds of same feather !!! Hence it lead the way to our next trip . We fixed 2nd or 3rd week of JAN 2012 for the trip . Kowshik gave me the idea of Srilanka as an option . I was hesitating a bit initialy thinking Srilanka as some poor country and not so scenic . Plan was on hold for some time . We decided to meet agian after sometime, that day I got a call from Kowshik a bit earlier than the time we had planned to meet . He said he has twisted his ankle and he want me to join him immediately in a clinic near to his house . I rushed and found there is no fracture or any serious damage . So the trip had to be post-poned to FEB .
Kowshik's sister was away in her home town , so I was Kowshik's care taker hence stayed in his flat for almost a week . We got Wi-Fi Broadband connection in his flat . Believe it or not , whole of that week we just googled LANKA !!! Places, people, season, sea, food , stay , money, shopping, activities .... we were mighty impressed at the end of it and said letzzz go LAN KA !!! Checked air tickets, it was much cheaper from Chennai than Bengaluru . On the other hand, my bro n his wife were planning to go to GOA on their successful completion of 5 years of married life :) I told them about our trip and asked them why not LANKA !!! They too got convinced and airtickets to n fro Chennai were booked . All travel plans were made and Srilankan visa arrived to say 'We are happy to accept u guys as crazy trip people ' . We exchanched currency to USD . My boss had approved my leave without any hitch . Yes !!! We were heading to GO LANKA !!!
1st FEB 2012, Day 1 .
Oh my god !!! Its the D day .... All four of us Vikram , Kowshik, Vinay , Rupa Vinay were on our toes . I called Kowshik by 1pm to check how he would come to railway station. We had booked rail tickets to Chennai and train would start by 11pm. All had ample time to windup office work and join in majestic . Kowshik said he would come on his own and join the rest in Majestic. My next call was to my bro, He was totaly pumped-up , their luggage was packed n I hadnt packed anything . He was on a high with his usual punch line 'Done- dana- done' . My atge Rupa Vinay said she would get Chitranna(Indian fried rice) for dinner . I said fine n took the responsiblity of buying curd for Chitranna.
I'm a lazy bum, had thrown my passport somewhere, soon I digged it out of dumped clothes in my cup-board. Packed everything in my back-pack . I Made sure my swimming goggles , sunscreen, swimming shorts , cash, travel documents were not missed . I waited with lot of patience to only to see clock moving sluggish than a country side buffalo . Well well well .... It was 8.45pm , spoke to all to join in majestic , Got into a Volvo bus from Jayanagar bus stop and I joined the rest by 9.30pm .
We all reached platform only to see Train delayed by 15 mins . It was a good news for us, we found a average clean place and loaded our heavy backpacks, I had carried my laptop to copy the snaps from digi-cams . Chitranna packets had names of individuals, because my sweet Mahadevi aunty(My bro's mother in law) had customised it according to the tastes of each person . Curd n pickle added its flovours to chitranna railway station special dinner :) In no time v were left with just packing meterial , everyone were delighted with the food . Meanwhile train arrived and we occupied our respective sleeping berths. We chit-chated for a while and slept with warm clothes on . I had a real tough time as the window had a narrow gap and cold wind was gushing through it . Somehow I managed to get a decent sleep .
So far it was according to the script and we didnt have a clue on the roller-coaster ride we were about to have next day .
Day 2, FEB 2nd 2012.
Goodmorning !!! said my sister-in-law Rupa Vinay, She wokeup everyone. She knew Tamil and in a way she felt like she was in her 2nd home . We were in chennai central station , 5am n we could feel the humidity of chennai weather . My brother Vinay had finished 2 ltrs of water in that one night , I was kidding around saying u get water in my name n endup drinking all of them :) Our next plan was to find a room so that all can freshen-up with bath . We walked through the road opp to station and confronted a agent , after a dog-fight with him he agreed to get a room for us @ 300-400rs for 2 hrs. He took through some narrow gully like roads and we had reached our 5 star hotel :) Oh my god !!! its the dirtiest room on the planet with marks of spitting . We were not left with many options n said yes to it . We said to ourselves we are gona move out in an hour , as the new james bond 'Daniel Craig' had booked the room and he was about to check in :)
We were out of the luxury suite and next thing was to search for breakfast . It was too early in the morning , so breakfast wasnt ready at many places. The ones open were too dirty to eat , We all hate Tamilians, no offence meant but reason for that is, they are MASS people, dirty places n flashy colours every where . So we decided we will have breakfast in ANNA airport . There is a local train station opp to Chennai central station which takes you all the way to airport . Ticket was damn cheap , cost us 8rs per head . Train had all sorts of posters inside with Tamilians sitting comfortably next to them . The characters/letters looked like 'Jalebi' , dancing lines :)
We reached airport and I was thunder struck , shocked to c Chennai airport such a rubbish place from outside . The luggage trolley had rusted and looked like it was used by Indira gandhi . Toilets were smelly with spitting all over the place . International terminal looked like a half constructed Govt building .... it truly was. We had a expensive breakfast in 'Sangeetha' restaurant . Then it was time for check-in .... check in was done in a flash as we all were used to international air travel . Immigration was total mess ... 3 international flight passengers and just 2-3 immigration counters. They were true bastards . All 3 flights were delayed all thanks to stupidity of immigration idiots :) Roopa vinay couldnt stand in the Q for a long time, she rested on old sofa for sometime. It was time when we finished immigration and aircraft was due to take-off. We had opted for two window seats . Seats were good in Srilankan airways . The airhostess was a hot chick , their saree wearing is different. once she comes close to u , ur world is about to change, belly show quite significant . One Kongati (tamilian) sitting in the next seat, he couldnt believe what he was seeing , may be he had seen more stuff than I've explained here !!!!!
Aircraft took off, every time take-off amazes me . Soon we were watching dirty picture(chennai city view) from top . In no time we were on sea and clouds kissed as if it was on a romantic date with our aircraft . Airhostess served us some rice biryani kinda stuff with some juice. I refused juice and ordered for LION beer . Chilled beer was awesome . I got into friendly chat with airhostess, she was half srilankan half Malaysian . Her english was better than her counterparts . I told Kowshik to take snap of me n her at the end of the journey . He said she wont entertain that and we both started betting on the same. Almost an hour flight, we landed in Colombo . I won the bet as I took a snap with her . We reached terminal by 12pm, airport is truly international . Its small but very clean . Took snaps in airport . collected our baggage . Currency was exchanged from USD to Lankan rupees with Sampath bank. The exchange rate we got was 1USD=112.30 Lankan rupees. Washrooms(toilets) were plenty and very clean . Airport personnel are smiling always and keen to help people always . We collected simcard from Mobitel shop within the terminal by paying 200LKR . It was time for us to venture out of Airport and get real feel of Lanka.
In one of the blogs we had read , outside the airport we would get a bus that drops us to the nearest bus-stop , from there we can reach Colombo (Bandarnaike airport is 35kms from Colombo) . We saw a board for that bus stop but waiting there for 15mins we didnt see any sign of bus coming. We checked with local people, none could help us as they were not able to speak english neither could they understand. Finaly a bus came but that stood very far from busstop board . We didnt see any local people boarding that bus, we were in doubt whether it was the right bus to board. After a while few foreigners started boarding and we too followed them , we were told it was the right bus . Its a free bus, you dont have to pay for the journey . After a journey of 15-20mins we were in the next stop, An A/C bus guy was shouting 'Colombo Colombo' . We were delighted to board it and occupied our seats. We were astonished to hear '200LKR' fare per person for just 35-40kms !!! He charged us extra 200LKR for our baggage !!! That guy took good 2hrs to reach 'Fort busstop'
We got down at the bus-stop, all were hungry and wanted to start the trip with a good Indian veg food. My brother's travel companion in the previous bus was Watsala , she guided us to RENUKA Indian restaurant on Galle (Srilankans pronounce it as GOL) road . We boarded a city bus and bought tickets to the stop and asked the conductor to inform us when we arrive at the stop. Another English legend, dropped us one or two stops earkier only. We had to catch another bus who didnt stop at the right stop and dropped us further. We said to ourselves we had enough of BUS TAMASHA and got to know we were at walkable distance from that restaurant . We walked and found the restaurant is closed and to our horror all other restaurants in sorroundings were closed too as it was around 3.30pm . We then decided , better to reach the last bus stop, from where we would get a bus to HIKKADUWA .
We again got into a city bus and reached Fort bus stand(Intercity buses are available from here, railway station is at 200mtr from bus stop) . We searched for restaurant and got a decent looking one. Rice was given in one big plate, like common for all . Veg curries were good, dont ask me the name of items we ate . They were strange and accent of the guy who served us, made it tough to even understand . We checked with the hotel guys, they said you can catch a train to Hikkaduwa (Beware train from colombo to Galle arent running due track work ) . When we reached railway station, ticket issuing guy using all his english skills could only say 'NO TRAIN' . Luckily the bus option was wide open and bus stop was 200m away, but walking that distance in humidity with backpacks was a tedious task , I was feeling for my atge but she kept saying she is fine with backpack. A security(police/army commando) guy looking at our language problem, took us personaly all the way to the right bus, we were realy happy to c this gesture from Lankans every now and then .
It was a A/C bus and we were delighted to be aboard . A fruit seller got into the bus shouting 'Oranges 6 at 100LKR ' , we thought the guy is stupid to sell orange at 15LKR a piece . Later that turned out to be the cheapest deal on fruits in our stay of Lanka . If u hear such deal, go grab it guys . The bus started its journey with all the seats full, within 5 mins he stopped . While boarding we couldnt buy water bottle and soft drink, without those liquids you cant survive in Lanka . I just walked all the way to the door to buy those stuff, when I turned back I realised all passengers were rushing behind me, I wondered how come these people are also getting down . Again a english genius told us, bus has some problem and its not moving further and we had to catch a new bus . We were taken for a ride and fedup seriously by this time. I bought coke 500ml bottle at 100LKR !!! We all cooled down a bit with chilled soft drinks . In a few mins , we got a non A/C bus . Fare was much much cheaper compared to the A/C bus . It was evening and bus had to pass through peak traffic of Colombo . It took bus a good 1.30mins to cross the city . Bus was packed to the fullest and it was uncomfortable as every one was profusely swetting . Once it was out of the city, thanks to some breeze(A bit hot only) we all slipped into deep sleep . I could listen to the my bro's thumping beats of snoring . My sister-in-law(atge) has been listening to these beats from last 5 years . The couple were celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary :)
It was half way we wokeup and still saw a jam-packed bus . We kept talking about the language proficiency of locals and how the day had passed so far . After a tiresome journey of 4hrs(100kms) we finaly reached HIKKADUWA. We checked with 2 autos about our planned guest housees, struck a deal deal at 200rs for an auto . He took us Seetani guest house, no rooms were available there. We checked with Reeta's guest house next to beach, 2 rooms we took for 2000LKR and 2500LKR per night (12-12 checkout) . We freshened with a shower and went for a short visit to beach . We wanted a good sumtuous dinner , wandered the main road to pick our target restaurant. Rates were sky high in most of the restaurants . Finaly settled in some restaurant where sea waves played its melody to the best while we had our dinner. We had seafood (Crab ) which has been rated high and big thumbs up from our team . Chilled beer flew to the mugs . Fried was too tan(no spice in it) , so I ate it with some raw green chillies . We Indians who eat spicy food are too bad, we simply cant eat non-spicy food at all , I feel most of u are gona agree with me. We ate dinner till 12 in the night , our bill reflected 3500LKR !!! On the way we thought we could have been to ROTTY (lankan spelling for ROTI) hotel which was cheaper, where they had listed varieties of rotis. My bro kind of yelled on a lighter note, saying u guys just think of good food while on trip rather than worrying about bill . We reached our rooms and never knew when we fell asleep .
DAY 3 - Hikkaduwa - Surfing the waves was the main agenda
Woke up and saw my roomie Kowshik wasnt there around . I thought he would be there in beach , I was right . He was already in his swimshorts and swimgoggles, water was much clear and waves were pleasant . Two other people from the group came in some time . My brother was reluctant for a breakfast . 2 small slice of bread a bowl of butter cost 100rs, the cheapest of the menu . I bathed in the sea for while n came back to finish breakfast . I had no other choice but have bread, which I usualy hate to eat . I tried mango milk shake which was different . We 3 exept my atge entered water again . We hired a suf board at 600LKR per hour , initialy my brother tried his hand but came to say very tough get riding . Then I tried and I was'nt able to stand but I could lie on the board and surf the waves. It was real fun to balance . Slowly I got used to it . We decided to hire a bigger surf board as other surfers were using that one . The surface area was much much smaller on the long surf board and balancing on it requires a true skill . This surf board has teeth beneath the board, at times the teeth can hit u when you go out of control when ride on a bigger wave . Just watchout for those teeth, to some extent they can cause an injury .
We surfed, swimmed and enjoyed the sea till afternoon . Stomach was ringing the bell . Also it was time for us to checkout the room . Initialy we had planned to move to GALLE(15kms from Hikkaduwa, 120kms from COLOMBO) and visit some beautiful beaches in UNAWATUNA and MATARA . They are a must if you are visiting south Lanka . The plan changed as we wanted to go for scuba diving the next day and facilities for diving and diving schools were numerous in Hikkaduwa . We planned to change accomadation and hire bikes so that travelling to nearby places can be fun . We left our guest house and lucky to find two-wheeler renting shop very nearby . Struck a deal of 600LKR per vehicle per day . In some restaurant we had fried rice, noodles and finger chips .
On the way we had seen POSEIDON Diving school/center which has a international reputation . We had visited their website as well prior to our journey to Lanka . We just paid a visit and we met MENAKA(A guy) who gave us all the details about the dive . There are lot of varieties depending on ones skill level . U need to be a PADI ( Professional Association of Diving Instructors ) certified diver to attempt deeper dives . In the non-certified category, we chose 'Discover- Scuba' , which had diving lesson first, then skill checking in confined water ( It could be a swimming pool or open natural water like sea / pond ) with all gears in a depth of 5-7ft and last was to go for a dive in sea at a depth of 8-10meters . Kowshik was disqualified for it and he too was bit hesitant as he does'nt swim . I'm a swimmer who can swim end to end say 15-20mtrs in a pool . My brother is an expert can demonstrate all sorts of skills . 8000LKR was the cost per head and our instructor told us to report by 9-10am the next day . Me n my bro were pumped up , it was adrenalin pumping for me . I was realy proud of myself for even daring to attempt this .
We had to make some arrangement for the night's stay . Me n kowshik vetured out to find some guest house, searched half the town . Either the rooms were expensive (5000Lkr per room) or unavailable. We saw a room with asbestos sheet on the top, it was clean but basic . We said fine and didnt want to roam for finding rooms . We paid 800LKR per room . We had 3 options , First to go to Bentota for watersports, second was to visit nearby backwaters with an island which has migratory birds and buddist monks meditating in that island and they never come out of it. Third option was to go to Galle and do shopping, dinner and enjoy a bit of nightlife in some disco/pub . Each one of us loved one option we started arguing why my plan is better than the other. We laughed our heart out discussing that . Finaly it was 4.30pm, water sports place was a bit far, by the time we could reach there it would be dark . Buddist monks were too boring for us to visit in the mood we were in . We left to Galle on our two wheelers.
On the way I pulled the vehicle aside as I saw a shop selling tender coconut . I was the first to get a tender coconut opened . This is the funniest incidence of my life . The guy in that shop didnt understand english . The coconut I got had a very thick white layer . I showed that thick layer to shop guy , told him 'Next one small ' . He nodded as if he understood and acknowledged the same . By this time we had realised , if we compose complete english sentences its not going work in Lanka, people love broken english here . More often actions combined with single word works fantasticaly here . Kowshik was already expert in that now.
Now this shopkeeper went inside n got his big knife , we were waiting to c whats gona happen next . He had couple of straw in his hand, gave me one of them and asked me to hold the straw at one end. He held the other end and cut the straw in the middle to make into 2 pieces . Dipped the half piece in my tender coconut !!!!! Genius .... we all burst into laugh , it truly was hilarious man !!!! Meanwhile Kowshik had managed to take remaining straws from that guy fearing if he is going to cut all of them into halves !!! Luckily I hadnt shown my hand saying 'small' , he would have cut my hand into pieces for sure . We paid 30LKR per tender coconut and left the place.
Ride was gorgeous with beach running paralell to the the road. We reached GALLE, stopped to fill gas . Petrol costs 137LKR a litre . My brother only filled air to the tyres as it was a self help fuel pump. We went to Galle fort , it was majestic . Next day it was Independence day in Srilanka . So whole town had national flags everywhere . The Galle international cricket stadium is small but unique, has lot of tradition attached to it . No wonder it was washed away in Tsunami couple of years back , its so close to sea . Its a laid back small town . We wanted to do some shopping, again struggled with broken english to find the right place in the town . After a few misdirections we reached a road, which had shops but few were open . It was just 7pm and shops were shut down . We went to a shopping complex which had a board ' saree + blouse + soda = 1000LKR . I dont know how soda is related to saree n blouse. We did a bit of shopping there . I bought a cricket bat , it was very light weight and single wood bat . I loved it and price was also ok . We came out and visited few more shops for kids stuff , my brother was looking to buy some stuff for his 2 year old kid. They had left him for 4 days, both of them were missing him so much .
It was time for our dinner . On enquiring about a good veg restaurant, we were suggested to go to 'ANURA'S RESTAURANT ' near Galle fort . It wasnt too far and we reached in a flash . The two wheeler worked perfectly for us to find all these places. We ordered food , I chose pizza, kowsh n rupa ordered veg meal kind of stuff and Vinay ordered something. The veg stuff was totaly a blunder, it was tasting just coconut oil and nothing else. My bro's dish sucked too . pizza was good n tasty . Sky had dark clouds building up with lightening. We decided to give-up the idea of night life, didnt want to get struck in rain . We reached Hikkaduwa and our room even before it could rain . Rupa Vinay had a dreadful enemy in her room in the form of a black big spider which was in bathroom infact . She said she cant sleep even if the spider is sleeping in bathroom .The issue was raised to me and my floater was in my hand in a flash . I had tasted overseas victory and raised a toast of coke to my fellow travellers . The day was just awesome and loads of memories .
DAY 4 - Diving was written all over it .
It was yet another beautiful morning in lanka, the guest house we stayed had a forest look with lots of trees. Colourful birds were making sweet sound , couldnt reach to camera to capture . I wokeup first for a change that day, I usualy am a lazy bum . Knocked the door of other room and they were also amazed to c me waking them up. Ditched the idea of a bath, as I'l be in sea almost full day . So did my brother, other 2 people werent anyway diving . After freshening up we went to ROTTY restaurant,. Kowshik was finaly pleased to be there . I took roti with aloo stuffing. It was alright. Rupa n Vinay stuck with their continental breakfast . Kowshik ordered pineapple honey stuffed roti , He had big smile on his face , he too was happy at the end. It was getting 9.30 and I reminded everyone of the time. We zoomed on our scooters to reach POSEIDON diving center . We had to wait for our dive instructor Menaka . He was a true legend, who spoke english perfectly . Menaka appeared finaly, made some arrangements for video of a dive Instructions. The session in the video is done by some west lady, sometimes we were not too clear with her accent . We basicaly were told about underwater signs u show with ur hand to communicate with each other . I wish I could get that video link here to demonstrate how effective it is underwater .
We practiced them couple of times . We came out and we had to select right gear according our size . Wet suit and fins vary from person to person . U get a mask that covers your eyes and nose from water and gives a good view . You get weights attached to a belt, which you will wear around your waist to help you sink. Then there is a jacket that has 4 pipes . 2 on left and 2 on right . 2 on the left are, one for checking oxygen quantity in the cylinder with a guage, one for inflating and deflating your jacket . Inflating gets u to the surface and deflating sinks u . 2 on the right are, general breathing pipe and one reserve pipe in case of emergency you can give to your fellow divers. We wore all the equipments one after the other , took couple of fotos. We were taken to shallow waters by Menaka , where we had to demonstrate skills .
First was to demonstrate all the signs under water . It took a while for me to get use to oxygen breathing through pipe while submerged . We did this part with ease . Next was to wipeout the fog that forms within the eye-nose mask . We had to open the top part of the mask and let water flow into half of the mask and then blow air through nose so that the water exits through bottom of the mask . Sounds easy right ????? It took me 15-20mins to complete this . Finaly no challenge was too big in front of my will power , I did it . Next was to show that oxygen in my cylinder is over and ask your fellow-diver to give his reserve pipe only through signs . We did it with ease , in one shot we it was over. Our dive instructor was full of prai
Transportation in Srilanka
These buses stop anywhere and everywhere, Traveling on buses in Srilanka is damn slow. Averagespeed you can take as 25-30kms per hour . Taxis are realy expensive here (In the airport we were offered a taxi deal at 30,000LKR for 100kms to n fro ). You find all luxury cars here in Lanka. Toyota enjoys the major share, You have all sorts of models that u dont get to see in India . You have Indian brands too like Maruti-suzuki, Yamaha bikes, Hero honda, Bajaj, TVS, TATA, Ashok Leyland and more. Auto fare is damn costly , even for 2-3kms they demand 200-300rs , bargaining is allowed but to battle with their language is a big mess . Normal non-a/c buses are cheap and affordable, even city buses have reasonable fares.
We hired two wheelers(Herohonda pleasue and tvs scooty pep ) for rental of 600LKR per day in Hikkaduwa .
