7th – 8th September

So this was a few days ago now and sat in Colombo Airport I’m thinking back to the hills and tea country of central Sri Lanka with a big grin 😁 – it’s amazing, a must do!

A very short night in our hostel in Kandy and the next morning we jumped up to catch our train to Ella…… little did we know that so had hundreds of other people….. There were no seated tickets left and although we bought second class, we could only just squeeze into a third class carriage – it was rammed. (Not quite as bad as the train around Colombo at rush hour but still pretty full). Now this is a 6-7 hour train ride and standing up that whole way was pretty tough going! Not to mention they have no toilet access, not that you could get to it if they did! So my TIP here may be to book your seat in advance. But if you haven’t, don’t worry, it’s all about the experience 😂.

Another couple of TIPS would be to; buy some food before you get on – there was some options on our train but I wasn’t too sure about the bread, chillis & nuts that had been sitting out since Colombo! And also sip as little water as you need! (Maybe an obvious one).

Despite the lack of space and seating, this has to be one of the coolest train journeys in the world, the views are incredible! And there is always the option to try and get a place through the wide open doors, which is what we did. We had a little go at sitting and dangling our feet out the train door too! Health and safety is interesting here….. Tea plantations, jungle, palms, big bridges and beautiful valleys – you can almost ignore your sore back & full bladder!

Arriving in Ella was a dream after that journey! We had literally booked our guesthouse on booking.com an hour before we got off the train! So to get our bearings we stumbled staight into a Bob Marley themed cafe straight by the station and got a cold fruit juice 👌.

Eveyone I’ve spoken to since has said the same thing, ‘we love Ella!’ and we were no exception. The vibe up in this hill town is so cool and relaxed, with fun bars and beautiful mountain views. Far away from the hustle & bustle of Kandy. We ate two nights in a row at the awesome Cafe Chill, having cocktails sat on the beanbags upstairs. And my curry came in a banana leaf!

We did the usual tourist stuff here, but sometimes there’s a reason things are touristy! We went by tuk tuk to the 9 arches bridge (and thought we were going to dive by tuk tuk of a cliff on the way down! Next time I’d walk!). Then hiked little Adam’s Peak, easy enough but fantastic views! (With allllll the sweating of course, so ignore the shiny forehead!).

On the second night we met up with 2 of Nina’s friends and had a great last evening! Nina and friends stayed on one more night before heading east to Arugam Bay (TIP: sounds amazing – if you’re a surfer try & fit this in!) and I went down south heading for a different beach vibe!