I rode the $1 coastal train in Sri Lanka from Bentota to Colombo. There was a 2-hour delay, and I didn't have a seat on board, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Aluthgama's train station is located right across the bridge that connects the town with Bentota. While Bentota does have its own station, many people choose to come to the one in Aluthgama as it's near several resorts and hostels.

Sri Lanka's railway extends to most parts of the country, and one of its most famous is the coastal rail, which has views of its southern coast and the Indian Ocean. In total, the rail stretches almost 970 miles. Other routes take as long as eight to 10 hours and pass by Sri Lanka's picturesque tea plantations and sprawling rice fields.

I met a local tuk-tuk driver, Suresh, who offered to take me to Aluthgama station, around 15 minutes from Bentota. Suresh, with his thick, curly hair and sporty sunglasses, spotted me walking along a busy street, looking for a restaurant. He ended up being my guide for a few hours.

Getting around by tuk-tuk — a motorized rickshaw popular in Sri Lanka and other Asian countries like Thailand and Cambodia — was the best form of transportation for a budget traveler like me, as Suresh charged me just 200 Sri Lanka rupees or 65 cents for a ride.

It was dry season in Sri Lanka, so the temperature hovered at 95 degrees Fahrenheit that day. The sun was beating down on the dusty, sandy streets. It was so hot that several locals took shelter from the sweltering sun at the foot of the station.

The station was covered in a turmeric shade of yellow, with brightly-colored portraits of locals painted on the walls of the stairs that led to the ticket office. The train tracks, which sliced through the thick jungle and towering palm trees, were built right next to a soccer field and public library.

Compared to other trains I have taken in Asia — including a 13-hour train through Thailand and a two-hour long trip on the Laos-China rail — the station felt dated. Yet I appreciated the vintage charm this helped to provide.

At the time, I didn't realize passengers could purchase a ticket in advance. But many locals appeared to buy their tickets right before the train arrived. I arrived at the station at 3 p.m. and learned the counter only opened 30 minutes later. I ended up waiting for an hour.

First, I met Manvik, a local business owner, at the station. Manvik was in his 40s, bald, and dressed in a short-sleeved shirt paired with slacks. As a solo traveler, I'm often wary of overly friendly people. But I quickly warmed up to Manvik, who invited me to his seafood restaurant the next time I visited Sri Lanka.

While waiting for the counter to open, I got into a conversation with Kalana, a student who was on his way home. He told me he majored in management at a college in Galle, a city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka. Kalana, with his boyish smile and dark hair, said he made the commute every day and spotted a handful of tourists on it daily.

I eventually made a beeline for the counter and snagged a second-class ticket to Colombo Fort for 300 rupees, or less than a dollar. In hindsight, this was the best — and cheapest — way to travel across the country, as a first-class train reservation online for the same route cost 900 rupees, and hailing a car on the local app costs 10 times as much.

The majority of the passengers appeared to be locals, but there were a handful of tourists traveling to Colombo too. The train car was fitted with two rows of black leather seats on each side and a fairly spacious aisle. It was bare-bones, with overhead lights and one tiny fan doing little to quell the heat inside the train.

Right before the train left, several vendors were busy peddling paruppu vadai, a popular local snack that's deep-fried and prepared with spices like red and green chilies, fennel, and cumin. The fatty, oily aroma wafted in the air through the crowded car. Other vendors were selling sodas and sliced tropical fruits like guava and mango.

I met a family of three from Barcelona who had been traveling in Sri Lanka for three weeks. They said that they got around the country only by train and that Colombo was their last stop. We all posted up at the narrow entrance of the car, cramped by the door, tightly holding our belongings.

The train ended up leaving at around 4.50 p.m., which meant I had been waiting for almost two hours. But I was just thankful it wasn't canceled, like the trains in Europe I traveled on in February.

I travel light whenever I'm in Asia, so I flew to Sri Lanka with just a backpack and a 15-pound suitcase. Packing light worked in my favor as it made the trip more comfortable.

I couldn't get a seat, so I simply sat on my suitcase, grabbed whatever I could, and held on. It was a bumpy ride, with one woman even falling on me, almost thrusting me and my bags toward the open door. Nonetheless, I found being by the door the best seat on the train, as the breeze from the sea felt refreshing.

I was right at the mouth of the door and had a front-row view of the coast and the sea. The rumbling of the train and the swooshing of the powerful waves was the perfect soundtrack to the scenic ride.

It was dusk, and the sun's bright orange hue lit up the sparkling, metallic blue waters. The train also passed several villages where people lived in tin-roofed homes on the beach. Nearing Colombo, the train was so close to the water that I could see waves crashing onto the sand.

The train arrived earlier than scheduled, at around 6.45 p.m. Colombo Fort is one of the largest rail stations in Sri Lanka. Built in 1908, over 200,000 passengers travel through the station every day. Several screens displayed the scheduled routes — something that I hadn't seen in the dozen other train stations I passed along the way.

It was bustling, with hundred of passengers getting on and off the trains and staff loading them with several carts of food. Still, it felt calm and far from the rush and chaos I had experienced in Bangkok's main station a few years back.

While my trip to Sri Lanka was last-minute, it turned out to be a memorable one. Not only were the views from the rail spectacular, but the locals were incredibly helpful and welcoming too. And while I've had challenges traveling solo to countries for the first time in the past, in Sri Lanka, it felt easy. It made traveling feel adventurous but safe at the same time.

I'm already planning my next trip to Sri Lanka at the end of the year, and I can't wait to go on one from Kandy to Ella, which passes through the country's central highlands. I'd be happy to take that same ride again as well.