Unwind midway

Day 7 (Friday 1st)

Friday was a day of huge travel by local bus from Minneriya to Colombo. A seven hour journey, no A/C of course, and sat next to a young Muslim boy who was very curious about everything to do with us. Most notably asking me if my freckles on my arms were a medical condition. We finished at our friends house for an early sleep. 

Day 8 (Saturday 2nd)

It was the assembly in Kalutara of all the Aussies post wedding and travel and prior to everyone (except us) leaving. We had a huge lunch feast and drank copious amounts of beer, wine and scotch with the party moving to Colombo and continuing into the evening.

Day 9 (Sunday 3rd)

Today was an even bigger day of travel into the hill country from the capital. We were on a nine hour train from Colombo to Diyatalawa and do you think we minded? Not. at. all. This train ride was frickin' epic. This time we bought first class tickets to sit in the viewing carriage. This pretty much involves travelling backwards in the last carriage looking out a giant viewing window. Fear not, first class still had the perks of hanging out the windows whilst winding through the countryside. 

So reasons why this train ride is epic... well you only need to Google it. It is considered one of the best train rides in the world. Weaving through jungles until reaching the hills, diving through the mountains via awesome tunnels beneath waterfalls, sharp turns on cliff faces and all the while the best views of the tea plantations you'll find in Sri Lanka's hill country. It may be slow but the samosas, wrapped in pages from an old math text book, we bought out the train window half way were totally worth it.