Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sri Lankan train ride

To get back to Colombo from Kandy we either had to take a bus or a train. The sweet old gentleman who owned the guesthouse we stayed at in Kandy suggested the train because it is safer and a shorter trip (2.5 hours). He told us we needed the 3pm train which is direct to Colombo. Well, unfortunately, we didn't get there in time to purchase a ticket for that one. So we had to take the 3:30 train out to Colombo which we found out about three minutes into the trip that it did make stops. So we are sitting on the train squished three people to a seat and our knees almost touching the knees across from us, the train left 15 minutes late, and was bouncing up and down and jerking side to side and now we had no idea how long it was going to take us to get to Colombo. Granted we knew it was going to be better than the 36 hour train ride in India but I couldn't help but think "crap, another long and painful train ride".

It was about 15-20 minutes into the ride where I decided I didn't care how long it took to get to Colombo because the view was like nothing I had ever seen before! I was sitting next to an opened window that show cased the rain forest covered mountains, valleys, and rivers of Sri Lanka. There were hundreds of different types of trees, flowers, vines and bushes all over. At times we were so close to the trees where I could have reached out and picked a banana off the tree. Then it would open up to a valley with picturesque mountains in the background. When the trees were close I was on the search for a sloth (Although I failed miserably at finding one, I am still determined to see one in the wild someday!).

Despite the guys walking up and down the isles trying to sell stuff, the random lady completely invading my personal bubble and the fact the back of my legs were glued to the plastic seat with sweat all I could think about was how beautiful God's creation is and how God is so amazing and that I feel so blessed to be experience all of this.

We ended up getting to Colombo in about three hours which wasn't that much longer than expected. Although, I probably would have been okay with it being longer.

-Sarah

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sarah. I love the commentary about the train trip and the photos. It is such an amazing world when we look for the beauty instead of complaining about the inconvenience. I am so glad that you are doing this. Megan, I love the accounts of food and travel. Fabulous! You two are meeting wonderful people. Dad

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  2. Great post Sarah! Love the pictures that accompany the description...such a beautiful country!

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