The Crazy Train by Lucas

Ohhhh the trains of Sri Lanka, some fun times we had on those!  We took 3 trains in total, about 4-5 hours each ride. Which ride was the best varies with who you ask, but my favourite was the train from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya. If you ask anyone else in the family, they will probably tell you that the train from Colombo to Kandy was the best.
I'll start with Colombo to Kandy.  Colombo had the largest train station by far, but it was at the end of the line. So no matter what train you took the train was empty to start. Still though, before the train had even stopped, people were piling on to get a seat. We thought we were prepared, we had found out which side had more beautiful views, and we were right where the door was supposed to stop, but if it wasn't for the man working for the train station, we would only have got three seats. You see, trains in Sri Lanka are not like trains in Canada, or the west period.  If you get a seat, you get to sit, if you don't get a seat, you have to stand.... OR you might be lucky enough to sit in the doorway.

Waiting for our first train in the Colombo train station.

Colombo to Kandy was by far the least crowded train. There were only about 3 people standing in our car and the doorways were mostly unoccupied. When I say sit in the doorways I literally mean IN the doorways. The doors are left wide open and two people sit in each doorway with their feet hanging out!!!  Me and my Sister tried this for a very short time on the ride to Kandy, but we were not sure if we were supposed to or not so we quickly tried it, then went back to our seats.  Also, the windows are wide open and you could stick your head out!!   The bad part about this ride was when we actually got to Kandy. As we experienced, people were bloodthirsty for seats, so when we got up to go, people were passing their luggage through the windows to attempt to get seats. One guy actually tried to pull my Mom out of her seat, but my Mom started yelling at him and held her ground, but no one even noticed because the entire train was in the same chaos. Once we finally all got off, we watched the train depart with not a single place for some one to stand or even hang! The doors were full of people sitting standing and hanging. We were not looking forward to the next ride from Kandy😱😱.

best seats in the house!

For this next ride we planned everything to a tee. Maya and my dad would rush in with their small bags and save us seats, while my mom and I would stay behind and bring the big bags on.  As the train was arriving, we realised that we were standing in the wrong class, so we ran with all our luggage in hand to the right car and jumped on. I think I was actually in first and my Sister and dad came on after, but the point is that our plan totally fell apart. People were shoving to come off the train and no one could get on the train.  By the time we got on, not only were there no seats, but there was almost nowhere to stand.  It was a struggle to find a place to put our bags, and we didn't even get a place close to the door.  We stood between cars where the bathrooms are, with our luggage piled around our legs, with about 6 other passengers sharing the small space..

About halfway through the ride a huge group got off and I got to sit in the door!  Here I got fresh air and it is also just awesome to sit in the door.

I think that about the same time I got the door, the rest of my family got seats and we were all happy for the rest of the ride. Another good thing about being so close cramped is that you meet people. When I was in the door, there was a Sri Lankan sitting next to me. We talked and I made a new friend! At the end of this train ride, I'll admit it, I was ready to get on solid ground.

After staying in Nuwara Eliya for two nights, we got on our 3rd and final train to Ella. This was the most uncomfortable train. There were so many people already in the car when we tried to load. My Dad and I actually barely managed to get on and ended up with a standing spot close to the door, but there were two boys in the doorway and I desperately hoped that they would get off before I did. Luckily one did and I got to sit in the door for about half of the ride, but the other kid stayed. Overall that ride was still good.  At every station I would have to get off the train to let people on and off and then take my spot at the door.

If you want to keep your spot in the doorway you have to get off at every station then

wait by the door until the last minute and be the last one back on

Another cool thing was that every time we went through a train tunnel, everyone at the doors and windows would howl for fun!  It's sort of like when we hold our breath through the tunnels in the Fraser Canyon. All you could hear was howling! It even overpowered the sound of the train!  One train ride we heard there was a forest fire by the tracks. About 45 minutes into the ride, we went through a tunnel full of cadets or military who were armed with rifles. When we came it of the tunnel, we were in a slightly burned and smoking forest with very smoky air. They put out fires in Sri Lanka fast!  But I'm still not sure why they needed guns🤔... anyways, the trains of Sri Lanka were terrible, fun, boring at times, but also interesting. Every time we came off a train we were happy to be off, but we all agreed it was a good experience.