After spending about a week in the famous ancient cities of central Sri Lanka, we spent our last day in the country heading south by train from Anuradhapura to Gompaha, the city nearest the capital's airport, so we could catch an early flight out to southern India the next morning.
To see what it was like in the air conditioned compartment, I walked down the length of the train and opened the door to the carriage. Only then was I relieved we hadn't purchased those more expensive seats as we would have needed not just sweaters but coats, too, as the AC was up too high.
One of the reasons we'd opted to get seats in the second class compartment was so we could open the windows and I could more easily take photos on the four-hour journey south. We appreciated how fans and open doors on both sides of the train helped to maximize air flow because it was pretty stinking hot!
While on the train I got an email saying our hotel for the next two nights in Kochi, our first city we were visiting in India, had cancelled on us. Three days previously, the hotel we'd made reservations to stay at in Aleppey, the second city in the state of Kerala, had also cancelled. We couldn't help but think somebody was trying to tell us something!
To put this in context, this was almost mid-March and news of the coronavirus was ramping up around the world but Steven and I were still in our 'travel bubble' and blissfully unaware of how bad things had already started to be. We had no sense then, despite these cancellations, that we had to rethink any of our travel plans in India or anywhere else on what was supposed to be our four-month long trip to parts of Asia and the Middle East. With the benefit of hindsight being twenty twenty, I am amazed and frankly appalled how ignorant Steven and I were of how the virus would soon impact everyone the world over.
The tracks were so close to the flowers, we could almost reach out and touch them!
Refreshments, anyone?!
I 'loved' the Pacer walking app on my phone as it said I'd walked 3,373 steps or 1.4 miles because of all the jiggling on the train. In reality, there was no way I could have walked more than 200 steps!
When we passed another train, I looked at what were the third class seats and noticed they consisted of wooden benches facing each other. Our second-class seats were definitely a step up as we had plenty of leg room and they were very comfy!
Though we thought we'd reserved seats on an express train south to near Colombo, our train took 30 minutes switching tracks at the Mirigama station. The 'express' train, we'd found out, just meant it didn't stop at every station on the trip south!
Steven was looking through the open door as if to say, "Are we there yet?"
It was a pretty stifling 93 degrees outside and certainly not much cooler inside where we had seats.
After finally reaching Gompaha, we had to lug our duffel bags up and down several flights of stairs in the 90 plus degree heat and then find and negotiate a 40-minute ride by tuk tuk to our villa by the airport. None of that was easy or pleasant but not all traveling is fun and exciting!
On arrival at our villa, we were treated to a moist, scented towel which seemed heaven sent and was exactly what we needed right then. It seemed we were the only guests in the inn which was in the middle of nowhere but conveniently located to the airport. Fortunately, the property had its own in-house restaurant and they weren't stingy with their ice which I took full advantage of! My chicken burger and fries was quite unusual as it had a fried egg in the burger. I am definitely not a fan of fried eggs and as it wasn't mentioned on the menu, it never occurred to me there would be one in my burger!
As we had to be up at 4:15 the next morning for the ride to the airport and our 7:20 flight to Kochi, we turned in early for the next part of our adventure!
Next post: Exploring Kochi's Jewish cemetery, the 450-year-old synagogue, the city's iconic fishing nets, and its lovely Portuguese and Dutch-era housing.
As you know if you've been following this blog recently, I have been trying to finish up the last few posts about our six-week trip to Ireland and the UK last fall. Here's a link to my most recent post on the mummies at the world's most premiere museum in London:
Posted on June 20th, 2020, from Burney in northeastern CA where we came to visit nearby Lassen Volcanic National Park. Wherever YOU are, please take care and be safe.
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