Road to Ruins (Arugam Bay to Batticoloa & Polonnuruwa back to the beach))

Curtis: "what have you got to look so fed up about, I'm stuck in this thing!". A tank in Polonnuruwa

So the next morning we had breakfast (Porridge & Banana, no eggs, heaven!) and around 9am hopped in the back of Fiona & Nilanka’s car. The day turned out to be one of the most enjoyable so far, much better than we though it would be. The drive from Arugam Bay to Batticoloa was very easy, the road was very new and a vast improvement on the old one, so the journey only took us around 3 hours. There’s nothing really in the guide books about this area at all, being under LTTE control for so long it was kinda unknown territory, so we had no idea what it would be like. We did think it would be little villages and towns, maybe slightly poorer than the South coast, when in fact there were lots of fairly big and quite nice towns en route. As we left we passed some very unusual ‘Tsunami’ houses of a type we’d never seen before. They were like giant teapots, or Hobbit houses, built supposedly to withstand another wave should Sri Lanka be unlucky enough to be hit again.

Strange tsunami houses on the East coast. "Bilbo, are you in there?" OK, a token designer photo. Roof in Polonnuruwa.

In fact, inbetween the towns there is still a great deal of Tsunami damage still visible all along this section of the East coast. From buildings still left as they were, to great swathes of completely flat countryside, with little shrubbery or trees, the only trees growing are post tsunami, less than 8 years old. This side really did get hit bad, in fact, Sri Lanka as a whole was very badly affected in 2004, with around 75% of the coastline reduced to rubble, over 40,000 people killed, a million people displaced and half of the islands fishing boats destroyed. 

Another leftover from the war, a Save The Children building and a 'No Weapons' sign. Curtis and our Bus-train driver.

We arrived in Batticoloa (Batty) a couple of hours before our train was due, and once gain Curtis became the centre of attention and practically the whole of the station staff came out to say hello, including our next driver. We were getting the 2.30pm Bus Train, which we were informed was a half train, half bus hybrid. I imagine like some kind of transportational she-male, but I’m guessing I’m alone on that one.

Batticoloa station. Station workers form an orderly queue for a bemused Curtis. This is how train timetables should look.

Anyway, we grabbed some Rice & Curry and a few pastries in the local curry shop and headed back to the station. Sure enough, into the station & dead on time rolls this very strange contraption. Basically, it’s two bus chassis welded together and the wheels adapted to fit the train line. Brilliant! A Bus-Train. A Brain? Truss?

The Bus-train. Errr.OK... View thru the train front window, not quite the 8.15 from Victoria. Two very happy passengers.

It was all very open and we sat at the front with our driver & conductor friends and had a great view thru the front window. The only snag was, this beast could only travel at around 20mph, so the journey was very slow, but absolutely beautiful, and we learned a lot about this section of the coast and inland area. Again, a lot of damage still visible, and land flattened and not rebuilt as yet, We had several herds of cows on the line, peacocks, people, even we were assured wild elephants cross in certain areas. Less appealing was the minefield clearly marked out either side of the train lines that we VERY slowly trundled through, another left over from the war, and a sharp reminder as to how relatively recent these events were.

The eerily barren landscape left after the tsunami on the East coast. A minefield, another sad legacy from the war. Both sides of the track I might add. Best not hop off here then.

Some of the ‘stations’ along this stretch were little more than bus shelters next to the line, and I think there were 6 passengers including us for the whole journey. And, to be fair, the suspension on this thing left a lot to be desired, so after the initial thrill of travelling on such an unusual beast for an hour or so, for the last hour we were numb in the wrong places and keen to get to the hotel. Although, seeing the sun go slowly down while trundling thru the Sri Lankan countryside was something very special.

Polonnuruwa - This is how I dance after a few Lion beers. Well, well, well. Old carving. Nice hat.

On arrival in Polonnuruwa, we got a tuk tuk straight to a hotel, which wasn’t great, but was close to the ruins and would do for the next two nights. After some very bland food and a cold beer (sadly still only Lion, no sign of the very drinkable 3 coins for some weeks) we went back to the room, killed as many mozzies as we could and hit the sack. Next morning we headed off for the Polonnuruwa ruins, via the very interesting Museum. After the usual haggling with the tuk tuk driver (and the eventual heated discussion when they try to charge you more at the end), we spent most of the day driving round the ruins. The site itself is very interesting, not cheap at $25 to get in, and not as beautiful or stunning as Angkor Wat, Chichin Itza or Palenque, but definitely worth seeing.

Is it me or does this ancient carving look like one of the Banana Splits? Co-incidence? Ruins in Polonnuruwa.

Polonnuruwa - Temple ruins, or UFO. You decide. Temple dedicated to Otto, the German helmet god.

We went for a rice and curry buffet at the Rest House, where Queen Elizabeth stayed fact fans, turns out it was way back in 1954. Unsurprising, as judging by the state or the restaurant toilets, I couldn’t see Prince Phillip taking a Royal leak in those! Still the setting was stunning. More below par food, a couple of 30 Rocks and sleep.

We ordered a full breakfast for 8am the night before, and surely enough at 8.05 it arrived, all of it stone cold, including the fried eggs and toast. Still, we were hungry so we wolfed it down and headed off to the train station to get the train back to Colombo. We discussed it and decided against going to Nuwara Eliya, mainly because we would be spending 2 days and nights going back on ourselves just to travel the very beautiful train journey from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya. You can’t do everything, even in 6 weeks.

Susan (or is it The Penguin?) in the walls at Polonnuruwa. 1 train track, 2 levers, 2 directions, I can just see the job interview now... Doing the commute from Colombo. 

So the next morning the hotel has added an extra 12% VAT onto our food bill, first time that’s happened in 6 weeks, but after a couple of minutes I realise I can’t be bothered to question it anymore. Our laundry bill was also ridiculously high, and when I questioned it the bill miraculously went down hugely, a ‘mistake’ they said. Sri Lanka is like that, the local people you meet, who aren’t after anything, are really lovely, we’ve meet some very kind people, but the rest just see you as tourists, as ‘money’ and are always trying to find another way to get some more out of you. Not in a nasty way, it’s just nothing comes free in Sri Lanka, if someone offers you a lift, or stops to chat on the street there’s always a cost or a hidden agenda, and it gets you down after a while. Were leaving at then right time I think…

The train journey the next day was fine, pretty uneventful, around 6 hours to Colombo, where we got a connection back to Althaguma and a short hop to Ypsylon Hotel on Beruwala Beach one we passed on earlier in the trip, for a bit of relaxation before we leave Sri Lanka. It’s a nice enough mid-range hotel, fine for doing nothing in, and whilst not perfect, it allowed us to switch off for a few days.

From there we went back Negombo to get the early flight to Bali the next day. We stayed the night (our last) in a nice home stay, highly recommended on TA The lady who ran it was very friendly, the room lovely, and after I said about getting a tuk tuk to the airport, said her husband was going past the airport the next morning and could give us a lift. How very kind we said. Next morning sure enough a 1200r Airport transfer appeared on our bill, the tuk tuk would have been 600r. Oh well, who cares, were off…..