"The town of Anuradhapura was next on my route, and reached after a 2 1/5 hour bus journey from Dumbulla. This city was the ancient capital of the Sinhalese for over a thousand years from 380 BC. Most of the main temples, and the two large water tanks here, were built between 276 and 137 BC, shortly after the arrival from India of Buddhism in 260 BC. Though visiting the remains of the ancient city was the main attraction here, I found the present town, with its population around 25,000, quite a pleasant and clean place. 
 
To get around the historical sites I rented a bike from the guest house. All went fine 'till I got about as far away as I had planned to go, then as I cycled down a quiet lane, that seemed like it was miles from anywhere, the back tyre blew with a bang that nearly threw me off the bike. Such had been the blowout that it left a 4cm split in the outer tyre, and there seemed little I could do but start walking the 6 or so miles back in the heat of the day. I had only been going a few minutes when a boy walking the other way asked me why I was pushing the bike. When I showed him the puncture he just asked why didn’t I get it repaired. My reply "was where would I do that round here?", to my surprise he told me there was a cycle repair shop just round the corner. I thought he was joking, but sure enough, after roundiing the next bend, I found a small row of shops. Despite the damage to the tyre the man in the shop was happy to repair it, first cutting up an old inner tube and sticking it over the large split in my tube, he then did the same with the outer tyre. It took about half an hour for my tyre to be mended, time I was able to spend enjoying a pot of tea in a cafe that was conveniently next door. Though when repaired it was a bit bumpy to ride, I was able to complete my tour of the site and get back to the guest house ok. The repair cost about 50p.
 
The train journey from Anuradhapura down to Talaimannar on the coast was a fairly pleasant, if slow one, the only thing of particular note worthiness being the incredible assortment of different dilapidated carriages used to make the 8 coach train. On reaching Talaimannar I booked into the local Railway Bungalow for 30p a night, then joined some other travellers  for a meal at a nearby restaurant. I don’t know if it was the fish I had there, but by the following morning I felt quite ill, and didn’t really want to get up. Just getting down to the jetty I found hard enough, but once there I had to endure the rest of the passengers all pushing and shoving, first to buy a ticket, then to go through customs. In my weak state I found it all pretty exhausting, and I think had it been more frequent than only twice weekly I would have given it a miss and caught the next ferry. As it was I managed to keep going, but once on the ship I just lay on the deck and went to sleep, oblivious to all the other people around me." - MH