Heading back (Kandy and Colombo ~ Sri Lanka)

January 2020

From Sigiriya we headed back to Kandy for one night and then back to Colombo for a night before heading out to Singapore. Decided to opt for a "taxi" from Sigiriya to Kandy and found one online for a reasonable price - about $70 for the three hour ride.

Quite funny as the car we were driven in was reserved for use by the director of one of the Government Organizations. This was evident by the "Director" and "VIP" sticker in the front window, red and blue lights build into the grill, tinted glass on all windows and the flag stand on the front bumper.

Back in Kandy we stayed at the "Cinnamon Citadel", the same hotel we had stayed in when in Kandy a few days earlier. When we were researching Sri Lanka we found reference to the fact that is not as cheap as nearby places such as India, Myanmar, Thailand etc... and fair to say it isn't. Even so it is still quite cheap. Cinnamon Citadel for example was about $80 a night (including an amazing buffet breakfast). Very nice large room with a/c and balcony.

Very nice pool on the river side.

We ate there, mainly because it was easier then trying to get a tuk tuk into the center. The nightly buffet dinner was superb at $25 each, and this was just the deserts.

From Kandy it was a rather pleasant 4 hour train trip back to Colombo through some great scenery. Prior to catching our train had a wander round Kandy station. The board showing departures, platforms and times. Looks like it has been there forever

The equipment in the Station Box I think is original and about 150 years old and still fully functional. A good handful of levers need to be pulled for each track change. i.e. levers to signal track change, lever to make the track change, lever to stop you accidently undoing another lever...