Hanuman 2018

Back to the Indian subcontinent for two months in Spring 2018.

With Sri Lanka, Mumbai, the Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Amritsar and Delhi on the menu, we had many sweet experiences sprinkled with some sour ones.

Read on to learn how we fared.

Full map of all Hanuman 2018 pages

Other Things

Thinking of our next destination: Italy and Portugal come to mind, or maybe the time has finally come for a US road trip…

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Train Travel in Sri Lanka

(vero;2018-Oct-11)

We covered quite a lot of ground by train in Sri Lanka, travelling unreserved and third class. We took the train from Negombo to Galle via Colombo, did the obligatory scenic ride from Ella to Kandy, stopping en route in Haputale and used the train to travel from Anuradhapura to Jaffna and from there back to Negombo via Colombo. We also walked quite a bit along the tracks when we were in Ella and Haputale, a good opportunity to survey their state of repair…

Outside Negombo's railway station. Be warned: highly wasted high rail!

Evening train waiting for departure at Ella station.

The famous nine-arched bridge near Ella.

While walking along the tracks we saw many loose screws, there were often bolts lying on the ground, not to speak about the state of repair of this rail. Fortunately trains are driving slow…

Many tunnels were built to cross the Hill Country. Most of the ones we had to go through while walking along the tracks were inhabited by bats.

Milestone along the tracks. This is an “old” sign showing distances in miles. We noticed that the new signs are showing distances in kilometres, which can be sometimes confusing.

The railway line cuts through the Beauvais tea estate near Haputale.

Yet another tunnel, but an other type of locomotive.

View of the Beauvais tea estate as we walked along the tracks between Haputale and Idalgashinna.

The mountains of Horton Plains seen from the train between Haputale and Kandy.

Hill country trains run on single tracks. Our train is waiting at the station for a train coming from the opposite direction to clear the track so that we can continue.

Adam's Peak seen from the train en route to Kandy.

Mountain scenery seen from the train on the way to Kandy.

View of our third class unreserved carriage.

An old timetable board at Kandy's train station.

The Art Deco train station in Anuradhapura.

Small station between Anuradhapura and Jaffna.

Elephant Pass station on the causeway connecting the Jaffna peninsula to the rest of the country. It is named after the elephants which were herded through this place before being shipped to India.

A suburban train running between Colombo and Negombo. This one is nearly empty, it was early afternoon but we took a similar train in the early morning rush hour: an other proposition… The orange design and the cattle-like transport reminded us of a well-known European airline ;-)

Go back to The Lipton Tea Plantation or go on to Dambulla's Wholesale Market or go up to Photos