Trincomalee (Part 1)

Took an overnight sleeper train from Colombo Fort to Trincomalee on Friday night! It was our first time on a sleeper train in Sri Lanka. I was pretty afraid that I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, but the train ride wasn’t that bad! I actually slept so well that I almost didn’t wake up in time to get off at Trincomalee. Haha, I happened to wake up (naturally) about 15 minutes before reaching Trinco! Haha, somehow the body clock is amazing, it woke me up at the right time...

Trincomalee Train Station

Right after getting off, we made our way to the guest house that we’ve booked for the day. Couldn’t really find the place initially so we called the guest house and the owner came to pick us up in his car. After washing up, we headed to the Trincomalee Bus Station where we took a bus to Nilaveli Beach. The beach was filled with dragonflies (no idea why!) From Nilaveli Beach, you can take a boat across to Pigeon Island where it is supposedly good for snorkeling! However, as we already snorkeled at Hikkaduwa Beach previously, we weren’t interested to snorkel again. We decided to give Pigeon Island a miss as it’s really expensive to go there (tourist price!) We ended up chilling at the Nilaveli Beach Hotel...

Nilaveli Beach and Pigeon Island in the background

Nilaveli Beach Hotel

After that, we took a bus back down south to the Trincomalee War Cemetery.

From Trincomalee War Cemetery, we took a tuktuk for 1000 rupees (I think we overpaid) to go to Velgram Rajamaha Vehera and Kanniya Hot Water Wells. There was some nice scenery along the tuktuk ride to Velgram Vehera but Velgram Vehera itself was quite a disappointment. After visiting Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, Velgram Vehera feels like a repetition of what we have already seen.

Scenery along the tuktuk ride

Velgram Vehera

We headed to the Kanniya Hot Water Wells on the same tuktuk after Velgram Vehera. This place had rows of shops selling merchandises and we got to try some fruit which we have never seen before! Haha, I was very interested in the fruit and I asked someone who was buying the fruit what fruit is it. He very kindly offered 2 huge pieces of the fruit to us to try!!! I asked him if he knows what’s the name of it, and he said its called “Nungu”. I later googled it and the English name of it is called Palmyra fruit. The texture is like jelly but there isn’t really any taste to it. On our way out, we decided to pay 40 rupees for 1 of the fruit but the amount of flesh that we got from the fruit was soooo much lesser than what the guy offered us earlier!

Anyway, so we paid 50 rupees to go into the Kanniya Hot Water Wells area. The water was hot and it felt slimy from the algae haha. I wouldn’t shower in it but… the locals are all enjoying a hot shower with the water from the wells!

Kanniya Hot Water Wells

We got lunch at Parrot Restaurant, somewhere along the Main Street in Trincomalee Town. The menu is really really limited – only fried rice and fried noodles. I got fried noodles and I actually finished the entire pile of noodles! Guess I was hungry but didn’t even realise it. I’m not sure why but in Sri Lanka, I can’t gauge properly how much to eat! Sometimes I don’t feel hungry at all (throughout the entire day) but I just eat bananas or oats because I don’t want to skip meals.

Lunct at Parrot Restaurant - weird name for a restaurant

After lunch, we walked to Fort Fredick. Visited the Gokanna Rajamaha Viharaya which is located inside the Fort. Saw some deers and attempted to take selfies with it!

Area outside Fort Fredick

Gokanna Vehera

View from the top!

My new deer friend!

After that, on our way to the Koneswaram Temple, we saw a big group of primary and secondary school kids. The primary school children were really cute! They kept talking to us and asking us questions like where we are from and what’s our names. I had my own personal tour guide because there was a girl who was holding my hand and explaining to me about the temple!

Koneswaram Temple

70 rupees for my king coconut!

After that, we headed to Uppuveli Beach where we chilled outside Fernando’s Bar. It was evening by the time we got there and the weather was perfect for chilling!!! Haha, it was a good thing we went there in the evening because the afternoon sun is just unbearable!

Chaaya Blue Hotel

#SriLanka #Trincomalee