Strategy: It seems that train transportation and hostels are really cheap making a trip to Kandy and Sigiriya worthwhile and practical.

Weather:  Temperature averages for lows/highs is 75/91 with less than 3 inches of rain in March. Oklahoma City gets about 3 inches of rain in March.

Airfare: From Kuala Lumpur to Colombo is about $70 USD during March. Note that the plane arrives at 10:00 at night. Airport is “sleepable” but not good for arrival. Open 24 hours a day. Hostels are cheap. Malaysian Airlines has morning flights from $106. The flight out from Columbo to Madurai costs $92.20 USD and leaves CMB @ 2:00 PM. Note that OneTravel can get me out of Madurai and on to Kolkata for $90.

Transfers: 1,000.00 LKR = 6.86095 USD. Arrives late. Does the airport bus still work at 10:00 PM? Good article for getting around Sri Lanka is here. A good idea would be to email some of the hostels and ask if the bus runs all night.

Hostels: In Colombo – HostelWorld (26 hostels @ $7-16 USD) and HostelBookers (29 hostels @ $7-16 USD). In Dambulla, 1 hostel @$11 USD. None in Habarana. Lots (31) in Kandy.

Attractions: Sigiriya (Wikipedia, Wikitravel) is the big one on Sri Lanka. I think I need to take a train from Colombo to Habarana and then go to Badulla where I can visit Sigiriya. Then, take the Badulla – Kandy – Colombo  back. Or vice versa. See seat61.com. Attractions from 1K Places are the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo and Esala Perahera (Kandy Festival).