Round 2... Kandy and the North

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February 7th 2015

Published: February 8th 2015

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Fatman

Fastest way to the beach

Mt. lavinia.... Colombo in the background along the coast.

So a nice train ride along the coast sitting in the doorway... Arrived in a cloudy Mt Lavinia. Walked from the train station towards the beach, got a little soaking on the way! Located a very busy dive shop. I had emailed to say i was going but apparently confirmation is needed. A lot of the foreign Colombo residents diving at the weekends!

Luckily found space for me so booked in for 2 dives on saturday, day off sunday and possibly another couple Monday. Checked into Blue Sea guest house. Definitely the most fancy place I've stayed yet! Towels, hot water and everything! Took a walk to galle road but same as further up, noisy, polluted and not much to look at.

So arrived as requested at 7.30am, only to leave well after 9! Apparently the only bad thing bout the dive centre, which to be fair was true but still.... That said, 2 amazing dives, good vis and an amazing amount of fish around! Definitely the best place to dive so far! Lazy evening watching the sunset at the beach and more rice and curry for dinner :D

Uneventful day trip

Mt. Lavinia sunset

to Colombo on Sunday for some shopping, pretty funny to be back again though! Although finding anything worth buying was another story. Another 2 dives Monday but the wind was up so couldnt really go anywhere good! Waste of money really, and a little over priced anyway. Back to Colombo in the afternoon to check in and then headed to the airport. Nelly arrived on schedule... Let the adventuring begin! 1 night in colombo and then took the train to Kandy. Absolutely no tickets left so had to get the regualr 2nd class tickets.... mad scramble to get a seat as the train pulls into the station! Ended up standing next to the door, but prob the best view anyway.

A day relaxing in Kandy, went to see a cultural dancing show - suprisingly good - and visited the temple of the tooth finally... Very strange experience! Ushered into a 'pen' to wait for the viewing to start, and then a mad rush towards the relic. People pushing and shoving their way along, get about 5 seconds - if that - infront of the relic and then off you go! Nice to have a look around the

Route to the beach bar

whole area though, pretty impressive temple!

Thursday, took our day packs for a road trip to Dambulla and Sigiriya. Bus to the cave temples outside Dambulla, quick tour and then another bus to Sigiriya. Nice to see some more of the North, alot more jungly and very wet! Spent the night and then took a tour of the rock the next morning. Quite comfortably completed in around 4 hours, amazing place to visit and definitely worth the hype! Bit shaky on the way down, lazy legs are gonna need some more training before the proper walking begins! Happened upon an a/c van back to Kandy.... Travelling in style! Although only 10 minutes faster than a regular bus!

Picked up a birthday cake on the way back and they kindly wrote a bday message on there... Nice relaxing evening, rice, curry, beer, g + t, and a few games of cards.... Traveller birthday special!

Erand running on Saturday morning before departure. Got pursuaded into a tuktuk ride to Nuwara Eliya, but only 4000 lkr, about 20 pounds, for a 3 hour trip into the mountains, stopping to see things on the way!