Squashed!

Another bus day. It started out well. I got to the bus station to be told that the first bus I needed would be along in about 10 minutes. It was and I got a seat easily. The bus filled up and there were people standing at different points on the journey and then it would empty out again. The bus arrived in Monaragala at 1.45pm, a quick 3 hours 45 mins after leaving Tangalle.

The route I needed from Monaragala to the east coast has fewer buses. I’d missed the 1.30pm bus and the next one wasn’t until 3.30pm. I fended off some pushy tuk tuk drivers who first wanted to take me the 2.5 hours to my destination for an extortionate amount and then offered to chase and catch the 1.30 bus. There’s enough crazy driving here without trying to chase down a bus so I went to a local cafe next to the bus station and had lunch instead. About 2.50pm I wandered over to the bus to check what time they’d start letting people on only to find that it was half full of people and bags had been left to reserve every other seat. The driver’s assistant put my luggage under the bus and then started asking around and he found me the last available seat at the back. Very lucky!


There were about as many people as I thought possible packed in when we left. And we kept stopping for more to get on. I have no idea how no one fell out of the open doors! Those nearest the doors must have extremely good balance. I thought people might get out at the town halfway along the road. When we got there some did, and we stopped for a 30 minute break. But when we left again there were even more people on board. This is a phone shot during the break so only shows about a third of the people who were standing in the aisle. All the men were still outside. The last hour was very uncomfortable – not just the heat but I had an aisle seat and those standing were being pushed into me and I was squashed. Just before we arrived in Arugam Bay I caught a glimpse of a gorgeous, big, red sunset over some fields but the bus lurched round a corner before I could try to get a picture.