The Sri Lanka circuit (The morning of Day 6) - The train trip from Kandy to Nawaplapitiya - The 10th of December 2011

We boarded a local train at Kandy train station, to soon find out it would be like "travelling back in time" judging from the notice boards, though the train itself didn't look much different from the one I take to my native town in Portugal, at least from the outside.

Once we "settled down" in the carriage we hoped the two hour trip would not have us go to its "toilet", because there wasn't but a hole in the tiny compartment from which we could see the rail tracks underneath.

The idea behind this train trip was to allow us to have a different perspective from the one we have had so far, as we have been crossing the country by bus. After the first stop a few Sinhalese youngsters  joined us and started singing local songs, which was quite interesting.

Then it was our turn to talk to a local family, who sat next to us, whose children learned English at school, making the dialogues easier, though the father spoke good English himself. When they left a little farther at Gampola  I wasconvinced that guides are true in saying that Sinhalese are naturally kind and welcoming.

As the train stopped at Ulapane I caught the attention of some children (presumably of Hindu origin due to the outfits), who approached as I waved with some doll decorated pencils (I always carry with me to hand out to children wherever we stop) and it turned out the oldest boy to whom I gave a differently shaped pencil also wanted a doll decorated one, though I unfortunately had none left.

What a difference a few little things can make in the life of children ... and how happy I was to have them smiling back at me ... even their mother waving back as the train started to pull out of the train station  (a rather composed gesture).

We got off at Nawaplapitiya station to get on the bus again ... on the way up the hills towards Nuwara Eliya.

 

As far as landscape is concerned it was a rather uninteresting trip, as the train crossed various villages, all similar to one another, but in terms of having been able to directly contact the population it was really worth it ...