Hug the Backpack: Day 1: Chennai -> Colombo -> Anuradhapura

Day 1: Chennai -> Colombo -> Anuradhapura

Immigration at Chennai questioned me about 15 min and had to refresh whole biography in the early hours, as the officer wasn't captivating all i wanted to ask him "Do you have a son?!!" hmmmm!

With a short nap in the flight, landed Bandaranaike airport beforehand in the midst of coconut & palms trees. A small airport where you can comfortably exit within 15 min of immigration check & baggage collection. As soon as you cross the airport entrance there are several intercity buses to Colombo. As I reached earlier around 7.30, decided to visit pinnawala against the plan.

Bought a Dialog SIM Card and water and ventured in to the bus to pinnawale – Kegalle bus stop. Unexpectedly the buses in Srilanka[SL] are pretty slow, reached around 11.30 near kegalle, though hurried to orphanage ended up with disappointment as by that the giant mammals have finished the daily bathing ritual.

With a glimpse of few elephants took the bus from kegalle to Kandy and reached the Kandy bus stop which took around 2 hours. Took a stop for lunch at bus stop and tasted umbrella curry (tasted like amla with a blend of potato), found an intercity bus to Apura. Intercity buses are AC and very quick, next 3.5 hours was at Apura & whole stretch was dominantly green. The moment I spotted the sign board of Anuradhapura, had a huge smile, the person next to me peeped into the window and wondering what was I enjoying. Had some data setting issues with dialog, but he provided me the helpline number to call. Found TT to reach stay place and managed to buy in dinner closer by and the long & tiring day came to end.

How to reach Anuradhapura to Colombo

Katunayake bus stop is 1.5 km from airport, took Tuk Tuk (TT) to bus stop.
Found the bus from Katunayake to Kandy & then to Anuradhapura, as per the initial
plan was about to take bus from Katunayake to Kurunegala & there to Anuradhapura
(Apura)

Expenses

Tuk Tuk to Pinnawalla : 300 LKR

Bus from Kandy to Apura - 320 LKR

Bus from Kattunaiyke to kegalle - 180 LKR

Food: Lunch: 350 LKR/Dinner: 250 LKR
SIM card - 800 LKR

Total: 2038 LKR

Caution:

Don’t buy sim card in airport for 10$, Was able to fetch a good dialog deal at Katunayake bus stop for 800 LKR with 2 GB data card, 300 LKR calling card which is worth for 600 LKR & activation charges, free dialog to dialog. In fact, made few calls to US, INDIA & Australia and data lasted till last day, but primarily used for maps. Dialog is the best buy. Had good connectivity all through srilanka even in train/mountains.

Stay at Apura: https://www.booking.com/hotel/lk/kingdom-tourist-resort-anuradhapura.en-gb.html

Photos for the day