Day 2 - Arrival to Sri Lanka/Bus to Kandy

• Departing Dubai 2:45 in the morning with Emirates (flight time 4,5 hours, Boeing 777-300 ER)
• We slept most of the flight.
• arrived to Sri Lanka (Bandaranaike international airport) on time
• exchanged money – got 165 000 Sri lanka Rupiees
• looking for shuttle bus to nearby (3 km) bus station called Averiwatte outside of the arrival hall. All local people/drivers were telling us that there is no shuttle bus and even no nearby bus station and that there is no direct bus to Kandy. Or shouting to us that it is heavy raining in Kandy. Do not belive them. There are buses to most of the cities from the nearby bus station Averiwatte. We ended up taking car to the bus station for 300 rupiees and waited 15 minutes to get the bus to Kandy.

• The bus was old and rusty „TATA“ fully occupied. We had to stand all the way to Kandy (3 and half hours). The bus got even more crowded on the way so we had no personal space at all and the driver was driving like a crazy. Sri Lankan pop/folk music was loudly playing all the way to Kandy. Different sales persons were making their way through the overcrowded bus – selling snacks, water, books, sweets etc.
• Bus from airport to Kandy 3 and half hours – paid 150 Rupiies each.
• Arrived to Kandy after 2 pm – tired and hungry. As we were first time in Asia we suffered from small culture shock from the chaotic but in a way organized life style. And Kandy is very crowded with busy streets and full of people, three wheeler tuk-tuks and old buses. Every vehicle is using klaxon to make its way through the streets.

Buses and Tuk-tuks in Sri Lanka - Kandy bus station

• Checked in to the Sevana Guest house
• Went to a walk around the Kandy lake and had dinner in Devon restaurant which was terrible (paid 1100 Rupiees for both)
• It started to rain so we decided to buy tickets to Sri lanka traditional dance performance (500 rupiies each). It was very nice but as we were tired after the flight we fell asleep few times during the performance.

Performance of traditional Sri Lanka dances in Kandy