Where is Rune?

I’m now staying at the Olde Empire Hotel in Kandy. This old hotel from 1848 is the first real hotel I’m staying at in Sri Lanka (the others were homestays, more or less), and this hotel is also one of the more pleasant places. It is reasonably maintained, and I simply like the atmosphere, even though my room is small, and has no attached bathroom. Especially the veranda is great. This is where I’m sitting right now and writing this. It’s economical too, 550 Rs, around 5 dollar. And very central, next to the Kandy Lake and city centre.

On Saturday morning, I will take the train to Colombo. The 06:10 train.

Olde Empire Hotel.

Parts of the veranda, Olde Empire Hotel.

It’s getting boring at the east coast, and it’s time to head for Colombo (for my flight to Singapore). The pleasant city Kandy is in between, so what’s more naturally than making a stop here?

I got here yesterday, after a 6 hours bus ride from Trincomalee. There were two roadblocks en route, and at the second one, everybody in the bus had to step down with their baggage and go through a checkpoint (baggage and ID checks). Except me. The soldiers just greeted and smiled at me.

First roadblock.

Second roadblock.

GPS track log. Some parts are missing because the battery went dead.

I spent 4 days here. My legs needed a rest after Adam’s Peak. On Monday I didn’t do much at all except for a short walk on Uppuveli beach, on Tuesday I went to downtown Trincomalee, and on Wednesday I went to Nilaveli beach and then to Trincomalee town (again). I was invited home to one of the guesthouse staff, in Trincomalee. After all, I was the only guest at Lily Motel, except for some UN people staying there one night.

I didn’t find the beaches very impressive. Grey sand, ruins of old buildings, and lots of trash. Trincomalee town itself was also not very exciting.

Cows are roaming the streets, also in the town itself.

There’s almost no other tourists/foreigners here. This is in contrast to all the other places I’ve been in Sri Lanka.

The most fancy and newest cars in town belong to the UN. I have seen many large, white, 4WD, UN cars driving around here.

The military seems to have a heavy presence here, with soldiers everywhere. They have also blocked parts of the beach at Nilaveli to be used as a navy camp. I was stopped when I walked along the beach and into the “no entry” zone.

There are roadblocks in to and out of Trincomalee. Everybody on the bus had to show ID cards, except me (they didn’t care about foreigners).

Drying fish, Trincomalee.

The beach at Nilaveli.

Soldier, Trincomalee.

Trincomalee.

Well arrived in Vavuniya, I soon went to the bus station and searched for a bus bound for Jaffna. There was one too, extremely crowded and ready to go. I didn’t get a seat, had to stand upright. The ticket cost only 138 Rs (a bit more than a dollar).

My dream about visiting Jaffna was unfortunately shattered to pieces just a few km north of Vavuniya. There was a huge military checkpoint, where every passenger had to go through body and baggage search. I was taken to the side, and after checking my passport, I was asked if I had a permit from the ministry of defence. Of course I didn’t. Well, then they couldn’t let me pass, I was told. They explained that the land crossing to Jaffna was not totally cleared of mines yet, and that they couldn’t take resposibility for a foreigner’s safety. I could go by plane, that was no problem, they told me.

Instead of Jaffna, they suggested me to go to Trincomalee, not so far from Vavuniya. And since I didn’t have any better idea myself, I catched a bus back to Vavuniya, and then another bus to Trincomalee, four hours further east. The road was very bumpy and partly unpaved.

I decided to stay a few km north of Trincomalee, near the beach at Uppuveli, so I catched a three-wheeler to a place listed in the Lonely Planet guide: Lily Motel, a run-down place. This is where I am staying now. Room price is 700 Rs. There is no other tourists here. The place was empty of people when I arrived (but the door was open), and the water was turned off. I had to wait some time until the staff turned up. I am the only guest.

Military checkpoint north of Vavuniya.

The bus to Trincomalee.

Lily Motel, Uppuveli, Trincomalee.

I left Dalhousie soon after returning from Adam’s Peak, even though it was very difficult to walk. I had other plans than to rest. I catched a bus to Colombo (via Hatton), and this time I stayed at the Colombo YMCA for 695 Rs, the cheapest place so far. And it shows. The hostel is founded in 1882, and it looks like it hasn’t been renovated since then. Especially the common bathrooms were not nice, to say the least. But I didn’t care about that, all I wanted was a cheap place for the night near the railway station. The Colombo YMCA is very centrally located, so I found it to be a good deal. The only bad thing to say is that my room was located on the 3rd floor, and those flight of stairs was a real killer to my extremely weak legs.

Next morning at 05:45 (Sunday 7 March), I took a 1st class train to Vavuniya (Rs 700). Even in 1st class there’s no aircon, but you get a reserved seat. Which was rather pointless this time though, since the train was far from full anyway. The train ride took six hours.

Vavuniya is the gateway to Jaffna, my next planned destination. I wanted to check out the centre of Jaffna while it still had the scars of the war, and generally get a feeling of the city.

Train to Vavuniya.