Ella To Kandy
Awake at 5:45 AM, changed into some hiking gear, and my tuk tuk arrived right on time by 6 AM to take me to Ella Rock. It cost $1,000 Sri Lankan Rupee for the tuk tuk each way. Once I arrived, I began the solo journey up the mountain; however, it was much more difficult to stay on the trail than I was expecting. There were so many little paths all over, I wasn't sure which one to take. But then Nalaka came to the rescue! He is a guide and has been leading people up the rock for 12 years, and for the last 7 years, he has climbed it daily! I am so grateful for him because although it is possible to do the trek alone, it would have taken me much longer than 45 minutes.
We arrived at the top and had a 360 degree view of Ella and all the greenery she contains. There was a Sri Lankan flag hanging nearby and Nalaka informed me what the colors mean: the green color represents the Tamils, the orange represents the Muslims, and the red represents the Buddhists. The green is the smallest and the red is the biggest because Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. We hiked back down, winding thru tea plantations and we also passed a natural burial site. I paid Nalaka $2,500 Sri Lankan Rupee ($14) and hopped back in the tuk tuk to go to the hotel.
After showering, I woke up Chanaka and we went into town for some brekkie. We chose to eat at Chill, a cute cafe made of bamboo! I had a typical Sri Lankan breakfast, which was string roti, lentil dahl, and coconut sambol with some Sri Lankan herbal tea. Once we finished, we stopped by a tea shop where I purchased Sri Lankan Chai tea, and then Chanaka took me to the train station. We said our goodbyes knowing that it won't be long before we see each other again. I know I will be back to this beautiful land with more time to explore in the future.
I took the 11:57 AM train from Ella to Kandy, which is the one of the most scenic train rides in the world. The ticket costs 320 Rupee ($1.76) and takes about 7 hours. If you search photos of this online, you will see a light blue train surrounded by greenery and tea plantations. However, my train was red. I later found out that the 6:30 AM and 9:30 AM train rides use the blue train while the 12 PM train is the originally red wooden train. Also, the earlier trains go straight to Kandy, but this train stops 25 minutes before Kandy at Peradenia and then there is a transfer to the train to Kandy. If I had known, I would have taken the earlier train because it is more comfortable for a long journey. But I was in for the full experience. I hopped on, my backpack strapped on, and was one of the many people standing in the middle because there was no space to sit (there was barely space to stand). But some of the locals were singing and playing instruments and the tourists were dancing along. It was quite the experience; I couldn't seem to wipe the sweaty smile off my face!
Eventually, people hopped off and I found myself a seat. The windows were down the whole ride, even during the rainy bits, and I didn't mind one bit. I did notice that some of the locals used some paper napkins to wipe the water away from the seat and then proceeded to toss the napkin out the window. Not cool, but that's just how it goes I guess. I did some sleeping, some writing, photo taking, and meditating, and 7 hours later I found myself at the Peradenia. I hopped off with the intention of waiting for the next train to Kandy, but a tuk tuk driver came over and offered a ride for $500 Rupee. I decided to first ask how long until the next train to Kandy and was told it would come at 7:30, a 45 minute wait. I didn't know if I felt comfortable waiting at night by myself, and just then, I saw 2 girls with backpacks strapped to them. I asked them if they were going to Kandy and when they said yes, I offered splitting the $500 tuk tun ride. So the 3 of us hopped in with our backpacks and drove the 25 minutes to Kandy. Daniel and Hila are from Israel but they just met while traveling India.
I didn't know where I was going to be staying tonight but they had found a place in the city center called Charlton Kandy Rest. We went in and Saman, the manager, greeted us with a smile. He showed us the room options and gave us a private room with three medium size beds for $1000 Rupee each. We set our bags down and then I went into town for some dinner. Kandy is a big city, yet everything closes pretty early, roughly 9-10 PM. I stumbled upon Sri Krishna Dosa, a vegetarian restaurant, and sat down for some onion dosa with chickpea masala and coconut chutney. It was delicious, but so much food! I finished what I could and then headed back to the hostel.
I had a quick rinse in the shower then laid down to do some writing. Saman invited me to have a drink in the lobby area of the hostel, which was so sweet, but I was too tired. The hostel has a great location and Saman is amazing, but not many other people were staying there. But I am only staying for the night so I didn't mind the peace and quiet. Plus there is wifi, aircon, and free tea/coffee. Only thing I'd say is when I first turned the sink on, the water came out brown at the beginning. So I bought a large water bottle and used that to brush my teeth and wash my face. Anyways, after doing some writing, I grew tired and rolled over for a sweet nights rest.
