First Impression | Sri Lanka
- giulia
- Oct 25, 2017
- 2 min read
Sri Lanka - Anuradhapura
Andy still doesn't know how to spell the name of the city but it's quite funny!
First impressions of Sri Lanka: still underdeveloped, trains that tell stories, very smiley people, religion and...papaw omg the papaya or this papaw fruit, a close cousin of papaya(or maybe just papaya in Sri Lankan language) sooo good! Oh and very cheap, a 6 hours train ride costs less than 2$, crazy.
Sri Lanka is a very green island and the trains really are part of the experience. On the last 40 minutes of train ride after 10+ hours around airports I really wished they upgraded their trains but then it would take part of the romance away from the experience. But we did take the regular (non express ) train so maybe the "express" one will be equally romantic and slightly more comfortable. Sweating on old leather seats and feeling like at the end of a roller coaster when the car shakes for nothing is not sooo much fun after the first 3 hours.
I love it though that women look at me, first quite shy, then they look at me again to scan if I also have interest and if I smile at them they give me the biggest smile back and it's a genuine smile, kind of from woman to woman, a really nice feeling. And they're so proud of their kids, both mum and pap hold them like if they're treasure and they look at them with this pride in their eyes.
Last but not least and should have been first in chronological order: the lady on the train. The joke of the 5 hours of train and a unique entertainment. She sits down with her tiny but super hairy legs and starts eating popcorn (and they're not just popcorn, this is popcorn in one of those boxes you get when you buy them at the cinema). The husband is sitting next to her and he has this haircut I can't decide if it's more Elvis or Michael Jackson or maybe a fusion of the two, Sri Lankan version of course. Then starts the come and go of the food vendors on the train, everything she sees she smiles and whispers at her husband what I'm guessing is "do you want some?". Inevitably the husband shakes his head in a way to say he doesn't want anything. But she still buys it. This goes on for most of the trip. I can tell you she bought at least 3-4 different type of snacks including some apples with spicy powder, fried crackers, samosas.. The woman could eat!!! Big times! And the husband always tried a little bit, even though he kept saying no to her. But she ate most of it and it was just amusing watching her eat her snacks just like Harry Potter and the gang, when they get on the train to Hogwarts and they're so excited cause they have money for the first time to buy their own snacks.
Some impressions from the train ride.
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