After Dambulla and Sigiriya, the next logical stop in the Cultural Triangle is Polonnaruwa. Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa are the two ancient cities in the cultural triangle, and we’ve been told many times that if we had to choose between the two, choose Polonnaruwa. For one thing, the structures are said to be more preserved. Also, the ancient sites are close to each other so it’s possible to see everything in one day if one doesn’t have the luxury of time. From Dambulla, it’s only 1 1/2 hours away by bus. It’s incredibly cheap too. A one way fare only costs 100 Rupees (that’s less than a buck). Getting there is easy because there are buses to Polonnaruwa stopping by the main bus stop on Kandy Road every 30 minutes or so. This is the same bus stop I mentioned in the previous entry, the one that’s 300 meters north of the Clock Tower. It’s hard to miss because you’ll see a lot of people waiting for buses too. But if you’re looking for a landmark, it’s almost directly across the Bentota Bakehouse. Luckily the last row was empty when we boarded the bus so we were able to sit down for the entire trip.
The bus conductor told us to get off somewhere in town. I’m not sure exactly where it was, but it most definitely isn’t the bus station, which was located outside of town. I couldn’t recall seeing any landmarks except for some stores selling souvenirs, but there were lots of tuk-tuks on the side of the road, so I’m guessing it’s one of the main bus stops in town. We showed one tuk -tuk driver the location of the guest house where we made a reservation and he said it would cost 500 rupees to get there. Oh boy. After more than a week in the country, I already knew that majority of Sri Lankans are nice and incredibly helpful. I also knew by then that if a Sri Lankan would try to scam you, that person is probably a tuk-tuk driver lol. We didn’t budge, so eventually the price went down to 400. I think the other tuk-tuk drivers were in cahoots with him and they would most likely quote the same price, so we just shrugged our shoulders and agreed. We only had to pay about 80 US cents anyway.
There seems to be no hostels in Polonnaruwa. I found this quite odd since it’s one of the top tourist destinations in the country. Apparently, most tourists and backpackers just do day trips from Dambulla or some other nearby city so it’s not really a part of the backpacking trail. There were loads of guest houses though. And since we already experienced sharing one room, why not do it again to save money lol. Again we looked for one of the cheapest ones, and we really lucked out since it’s a brand new guest house. It’s called River Nature Park. Honestly, the bedroom and bathroom looked like ones you’d find in luxury hotels… All right, i might be exaggerating a bit, but it really looked great. A young family runs it, and they’re also one of the kindest people we’ve met on our trip. Breakfast was included in the rate, and we couldn’t believe how much food they served. When breakfast is included, usually you only get bread and jam, that’s it. There’s an option to have dinner at their place. It may seem pricey at 600 Rupees per person, but I have to say it was worth every Rupee. Like breakfast, it was also a feast. They would cook a number of Sri Lankan dishes, and each dish was absolutely delicious. I’d say it’s one of the best meals I’ve had in my entire life. Yeah, i might be exaggerating again lol. But it’s definitely the best meal I’ve had in Sri Lanka. Nothing really compares to a home cooked dinner. If there’s one bad thing about the place, it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere so you’d have to take a tuk-tuk every time you want to go to the center of town. And I was about to say the Wi-Fi was pretty much non existent— but it actually worked perfectly. Here’s the thing. A lot of Wi-Fi routers in Sri Lanka rely on cellular coverage. You won’t get broadband internet unless you’re in Colombo I guess. That’s why most of the hostels I’ve stayed at had shitty Wi-Fi. I don’t think even the locals know how to make em work. In a number buildings and houses, there’s poor data reception when you’re inside. The trick is to place these routers near windows or even outside so they can get coverage. Once we placed the router outside, the Wi-Fi worked perfectly.
As soon as we arrived at the guest house, the driver offered us a tour through the ancient sites. We were aware that tuk-tuks are ridiculously overpriced for non locals and that some of these tuk-tuk drivers are scammers, but we asked him anyway. He said we only had to pay 4500 Rupees for the 3 of us. That was indeed very pricey so we were about to say no. Then he said we don’t need to pay the entrance fee when we do the tour with him. The entrance fee to the ancient sites is 25 USD or 3850 Rupees per person. You have to buy a ticket at the Archaeological Museum, which is quite far from the sites. This ticket will give you access to all ancient sites for one day. Knowing how much a ticket costs, the tour that the driver was offering us seemed too good to be true. In fact, it felt like a scam. I guess he realized what we were thinking, so he showed us this notebook full of positive reviews from many travelers. He had reviewers from many countries, and each one was writing in his or her native dialect so we figured the tour was legit. I mean, it would be hard to fake something like that. We were still wary though. We just got his phone number and told him we will contact him if ever we decide to do the tour with him.
We asked the owner of the guest house about it. He said yes, it’s definitely legit. He said yes, a lot of travelers have been doing it, but he’s not recommending it. We asked him why, and he gave us two reasons. The first reason: the Sri Lankan government won’t get any of the money. The money would be pocketed by the driver and the guards that he’s in cahoots with. The other reason: even though it’s prevalent, it’s still illegal. There’s a chance that we might get caught. He didn’t think we’d get arrested and sent to jail, but we’d probably have to pay for a ticket with additional fines on top of the money we would pay the tuk-tuk driver. Hence we’ll end up spending a whole lot more. He said if we wanted to save money, we can just rent bikes instead of tuk-tuks for only 250 Rupees a day and visit each site on our own… after paying 3850 rupees each of course.
But we’d save a lot of money if everything goes according to plan and we don’t get caught… so we ended up taking the tour with the tuk-tuk driver. I feel guilty about it, but the offer was simply too temping for backpackers on a tight budget. 
The tour was really good actually. We googled pictures of the ancient sites to make sure the tuk-tuk driver took us to all of the good ones and not some random statues and relics instead. He did take us to all of the more prominent ones except for one site which was undergoing restoration, so I can say that the tour was definitely legit. The driver didn’t try to scam us. In fact, he also served as a tour guide, explaining to us what each site was about. It really felt like a bargain. It felt real shady halfway through the tour though. He parked the tuk-tuk in the middle of the forest and told us to follow him. We walked through a hidden, narrow path through the bushes. The path ended inside one of the sites, just behind a couple of vendors selling snacks. They all gave us knowing smiles— they knew exactly what we were doing.
Before we reached the last site, we got a major scare. there were guards stopping tuk-tuks and they were asking the passengers for tickets! We saw two guys being apprehended because they had no tickets to show. I have no idea what happened to them. When our driver saw what was happening, he made a quick detour to one dirt road and we just parked. He told us to wait while he made some calls. So apparently, not all these tuk-tuk drivers are in cahoots with some guards. Or some of them don’t know enough of the guards so there are times when they can be caught off guard. We waited for more than 30 minutes, mostly just observing the monkeys in the forest before the driver told us that it was safe to continue. One of the people he was talking to just told him that the guards who were doing the inspection already left.
Though we managed to save a lot of money, I wouldn’t recommend doing a tour of Polonnaruwa this way. After that last scare, I realized that it’s really risky. It’s a good thing if the driver you hired has good connections like the one we had, but how would you know for sure? Those other travelers got caught doing the same thing we were doing, and I’m pretty sure their drivers told them such a thing won’t happen that’s why they agreed. Also, I was amazed at the ancient sites in Polonnaruwa. I’d say it’s worth spending 25 USD to see them all. In fact, I think they should be charging more. Everything else is really cheap in Sri Lanka anyway, you’d be able to spare a few thousand Rupees to see such remarkable structures. Polonnaruwa is definitely one of the must visit places in the country, and the government needs all the money they can get to keep the structures well preserved. I was able to save some money by doing the tuk-tuk tour. After seeing all those amazing sites though, I wish we did things differently.
no roads to follow 
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