Kitulgala is a small town located in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and as the crow flies, is 94km east of Colombo. Once directly accessible by rail, times have since changed and the development of the infrastructure in Sri Lanka with broad rail tracks replacing narrow lines, has meant this town in the jungle can only be accessed by road. Travelling by car, tuk tuk or van would be relatively expensive and a local bus would be a long and arduous experience of claustrophobic overcrowding with passengers, while all the time having the enjoyment of watching your life in the hands of the driver as he races other bus’s to pick up customers and get to the next stop. Train-while long and not direct- would be a relatively peaceful affair and with two places to choose from Hatton and Avissawella I selected the latter as it seemed quicker to reach and appeared closer to Kitulgala on the map. I set off for my destination from Colombo early in the morning, carrying my life on my back, from clothes and insect repellent to computer and digital camera, with the knowledge of a certain time a train should arrive that would get me as close to my final destination as I could get by locomotion.
Colombo Fort Railway Station is the main hub for all trains from Colombo and is akin to Kings Cross in London or Central Station in Glasgow, with a similar Victorian iron wrought architecture –on a less grander scale- but the similarities disappear relatively quickly when as a solitary foreigner, with little understanding of Sinhalese in spoken or written form and a lack of information for departures visible makes trying to find the correct train on time quite a daunting but non-the-less exciting proposition. An experience anyone travelling to and around Sri Lanka should not be missed! After being informed that my train would depart from platform 9 at 8:30 (instead of the 8:45 as the internet had informed me) I reached the platform with trains lying empty on either side. After asking some people milling around if one of these were the train to Avissawella and told “no” 8:30 came and the trains went. I knew if I missed this train I would have to wait over 6 hours for the next one and with my reservation booked for a finite time in Kitulgala I was determined to make it there on schedule. Adrenaline rushing, a train pulled up at 10b and asking more people around me they pointed at this very one so I headed for it. What I was not prepared for at this point was the sea of people pouring out of this commuter train for their days work in the capital. There was nothing to do but stand firm and wait for this surge to pass. Getting on the train I asked again if this was the train to Avissawella which people confirmed and after half an hour of waiting the train set off with me on. Hoping that this indeed was the
correct train…
After 3 and a half hours where I gradually passed homes built from an assemblage of materials which barely missed the train’s sides and through the middle of a golf course, I began to break out of Colombo’s sprawling suburbs and into the rice fields. Slowly the country side got more lush and tropical and gentle hills started to turn into ever larger peaks. The train travelled through a variety of places unknown to me such as Kottowa, Godagama, and Padukka but when it pulled into the large town of Waga (a name I recognised from prior investigations of maps) I finally felt assured I was heading in the right direction.
Leaving Avissawella train station I caught a Tuk Tuk and headed to Kitulgala. The three wheeled transportation -reminiscent of a drivable lawnmower with a back seat and soft-top roof- wormed its way along the side of the Kelani River overtaking vans, mopeds, cyclists and cows. After 40 minutes of stunningly beautiful cliff side driving I finally pulled up into the Kithulgala Rest House. My home for the next week and base to discover the memories of the ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’ set location.
The fun could now really commence…