One Last Thing About The Train

"Please allow the departing passengers to exit the train" Friendly recorded woman's voice that plays in the Washington Metro trains.

Arriving at the station I could see the crowds. Judging by the group building up in back of me both the departing passengers and those awaiting to get on board were anticipating a quick turnover.

As the train slowed down to a safe speed I grabbed by bags and stepped down from the train, that's about as far as I got. The crowd at the station was attempting to board the train, of course hardly a soul had left the train. It was mayhem. I thought Chris would turn to fist a cuffs but she just pushed through as did I.

On a small note when you reach the exit there are two men who take your ticket, which results in a traffic jam of sorts as tourists start digging through purses and pockets looking for tickets that they never though they would need anymore.

What fun!

The Train Experience

As promised I would post a little bit more about the train trip south. We have found the trains to be a very affordable mode of transportation to near most any part of the island. There was some hesitation at first, mostly how confusing it might be to purchase the tickets and figure out the schedules etc, but as it turns out there was nothing to worry about. Purchasing the tickets is easy enough as it's just a matter of deciding what class seat you want, and even the, that doesn't matter (More on that). And regarding the train schedule, pretty much anyone you ask has a little bit of knowledge of when the train is coming or going. There are some web sites with the schedules but we find them kind of questionable.

So after you buy the ticket you head for the train. At smaller stations that could be just a matter of heading towards the one and only track, but at the bigger stations like Colombo Fort you have to know which track to go to which usually means dragging your bags up and down a flight of stairs that goes over the other tracks, did that make sense? I really need to take pictures.

There is no one to take your tickets or show you what car to get into, it's pretty much spelled out for you in big numbers on the door, 2 and 3, 2nd and 3rd class. Thus, anyone with a 3rd class ticket can enjoy the comfort (sic) of the 2nd class cars.

Comfort? Hardly. Think Washington Metro, more dirty, no climate control and open windows. The2nd class car has 2 seats per row the 3rd class car has a bench seat on each side. The cars get very filled, 2nd and 3rd. Standing (Squeezing) room only.
When the whistle blows and the train starts rolling people will jump on board and fill in and nook and cranny on the train.

I have found the best spot to be is in the doorway, just sit down with my legs on the stairs, grab a hold of one of the hand rails and enjoy the breeze.

Now I'm not the only one who knows about sitting in the doors, in fact, it's a coveted spot. So if we get on the train when it's crowded I have to wait for the cars to thin out before getting a seat, until then it's sweat and be miserable.

Of course getting to the station early will afford us a seat and we do plan on that next time.

The nest thing about sitting in the door is I get to take it all in. Listening to the train increase in speed, seeing all of the cars as the train goes round a bend, waving at the children along the tracks, occasionally smelling food being cooked, watching orange peels being thrown out the windows of the train (Men go through the cars selling oranges, water and other snacks).

The sad thing is seeing all of the tsunami damage and people living in shacks or barely that. I often gripe about the sounds of the rains that go past our apartment, we are 5 floors up (4th floor apartment + ground floor) and the sound of the trains can rattle my nerves sometimes. Well the train was passing by a shanty-ville and I realized that some of these shacks were less than 10 feet from the tracks! Actually it seemed I could just reach out and touch some of them. I could hardly even fathom what it much be like to live in them. That pretty much humbled me.

Matara the Train Ride

Talk about catching up! Lest I forget I meant to blog a little about the train ride back. We see (And hear) the trains on a daily basis, not hard to miss right under our window. The train track below us is the North-South route, the only one.

When we left Matara we had the driver take us to the train station. We never rode the train so this was going to be a new experience. To make it easier on us Matara was the end of the line.

The driver pointed out the ticket counter and things already started off easy, one ticket window for 3rd class tickets, one for 2nd class. There was a handwritten sign with the departure times.
I purchased two 2nd class tickets for 230 Rupees apiece, about $2USD.

We went to the passenger platform and was directed to a bridge that went over the tracks to the other side. I'm not sure what, if any accommodations there are for handicapped people. It was fun carrying our bags up the stairs.

It was easy enough to figure out where to sit as the doors of the train are painted with a 3 or a 2. Being that it was very early in the morning there was practically nobody on the train.

We grabbed our seats, initially sitting in seats that faced backwards, but before the train departed we found another car with seats facing towards the front.

After a blast of the horn the train left the station.

The best that I can describe the trip would be a very low tech, noisy, dirtier version of the Washington Metro. The train stopped at many stations heading towards Colombo and it became more and more filled up.

Vendors walked throughout the passenger cars selling different snacks which was a nice treat.

It was interesting to see the flora of the countryside, but sad to see all of the tsunami damage and the slums.

A little over two hours later we were passing our apartment building on the left hand side, we could see our cats waving hello (Just checking to see if your still reading, LOL).

The train arrived at Colombo Fort station. I had lost my ticket stub somehow and they checked for them as you left the station, Chris explained the situation and there wasn't any problem.

As we exited the station there was a small army of trishaw drivers vying for our business. We negotiated a price with one of them, don't give us the tourist price we live here!