We had arranged for a local taxi to take us to Ella – agreeing on a minivan. The first car that turned up was a 5 seater with barely enough room for us, never mind the bags. After a phone call, a decent sized van arrived with a very friendly driver. First order of the day was to find breakfast (breakfast in the hotel was terrible). After a couple of false alarms we found an authentic local joint that cost us $A15 for 5 of. It’s amusing how Sri Lankan’s have the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hoppers / rice; daal, coconut mix and a curry. And a dollop of very strong black coffee.
We originally agreed to go via Kandy for a brief stop but after finding out it was going to add 2 hours to our journey we decided not to – thankfully as we heard it took 6 hours to get from Kendy to Ella. Before arriving at Ella, we stopped briefly at a temple, bought some flowers and wished Buddha the best of luck. The drive was spectacular once we hit the hills – made us a bit sad that the Kandy to Ella train was fully booked. Tea plantations as far as the eye could see. Once again finding our hotel – Misty Villas Ella was a bit of a challenge but we eventually got there. First impressions were good although somewhat let down by the second bedroom in fact being a thoroughfare into the main bedroom. So after some negotiations for we found Conor and Amanda a lovely room in a new hotel across the road (at half the normal rate for birthday boy Conor).
As per the new routine, the first thing to organise was the scooters. Managed to get 3 for 2 days for $A12 per day. After a quick swim we headed back into Ella and to Little Adam’s Peak. First thing we needed to do was fill up the bikes with petrol – weird this practice of the bikes being empty. It was a bit of a ride to the station but made pleasurable by a stop at a local cafe where we all had 2 vegetable rotti’s and a drink (for a total of $A7!!)
The first thing that stuck us driving through Ella was the number of tourists – the place was swamped!! Getting to the car park at Little Adam’s Peak was a bit of a mission on very bumpy dirt roads but we all made it successfully. There was a massive club complex there that would not have been out of place at Ibiza – pools, bars and house music. There was also a big swing ($25) and a flying fox ($125). Certainly not the usual Sri Lankan prices. The climb to the peak wasn’t too bad with some pretty amazing views. Ella is built around quite a decent canyon and its elevation keeps it a bit cooler which was lovely. We finished off the day with a game of cards, a few beers and a western meal at The Barn to celebrate Conor’s birthday.
Our plan for the following day was to cover 3 tourist attractions starting with the Nildiya Pokuna caves around 30km from Ella, then pop in to the secret waterfalls just around the corner before we visiting the Ravana Waterfall on the way back to Ella. We drove past the Ravana Falls on the day to the cave and could see already it was a bit of a tourist trap – it was a nightmare by the time we drove past on our return journey so decided to give them a wide berth.
We turned off the main road and followed a very windy track to the start of the caves. It was $15 per person for a guided tour (not possible to do without a guide – we definitely would have got lost). Taylor was a bit ambivalent about entering the cafes when we saw the narrowness of the entrance and requiring to climb down 2 ladders. We talked her into it but she remained very doubtful for the first 5 minutes as we had to clamber though some very narrow passages before the caves finally opened up. The chambers were really dark – only our poor headlights providing light so we did not really appreciate their splendour. The stillness was punctuated by the continual clicking of the bats in flight. The rocks were slippery and in once instance I nearly slid over a steep drop. We walked for about 800m before coming to the bottom of the cave which was filled with water up to a depth of 5 metres. The water was that clear you would not know it was there until you stepped in it. We all had a very refreshing swim in the cool water – definitely the highlight of the experience. We passed 2 other groups coming down as we left which was a benefit of getting out early.
After the caves we headed a couple of kilometres down the road to the Secret Waterfall. They were a couple of fairly short waterfalls with some decent swimming ponds. We all enjoyed the swim although there was something in the water that brushed against our feet and sort of nibbled on us – not in a painful way – that made swimming too long uncomfortable.
It was then back to the pool and some chilling before heading to the station to grab 4 return tickets (Amanda preferred some chill time) to Bandaraweta – about 20 mins away. It’s called the Calypso Special train and it has 2 open roofed carriages so you can enjoy the beautiful surrounds. They even had a couple of local musicians entertaining us tourists with old legends like “Country Road”. It was a lovely trip to Bandaraweta even if it took twice as long to get there – had to wait 20 min for another train to pass.
Bandaraweta was a bustling town – the busiest we had encountered to date. We had an hour to kill so went for a bit of a wonder around the town. It was a hive of activity and we luckily encountered some sort of religious festival with energetic music with a load of woman ‘pulling’ a tractor which in turn was pulling a float. Not sure exactly what we going on. We grabbed a round of egg samosas before heading back to the station. We grabbed some seats on the train but unfortunately we sat in the station for 45 minutes waiting for the non tourist train to depart. Deryn went and got some drinks – tea for Conor and I and beer for her and Taylor. The tea was undrinkable – the milk and honey – while the beer was warm. Anyway it was a fun afternoon. We were all shattered so it was an early night.
We had a chill morning with Conor and I sitting in a cafe in Ella doing some stuff that required wifi (although it was shite) while Taylor and Deryn did some shopping – one small purchase between them. Conor, Deryn and myself went and checked out the fabled 9 arch bridge. A bit ho hum I thought – the drive on the windy roads was more interesting. We had just returned to our scooters (around 200m from the bridge) when we head a train go past. That may have made it more interesting although probably not!!
We gathered around 3 to head out to climb Ella Rock. It was reported to be quite a tough climb so we wanted to do it later in the day. We also thought, given we had scooters, bike to a spot closer to the Ella Rock trailhead to save 45 minutes. We were all flashing low on petrol so there were a few nerves of running out – although as I pointed out it was 8.4km to the petrol station and a mere 8km return to our destination. After a bit of going back and forward we found our destination. It cost Rp100 each to park our bikes and after some initial directions we were off. 10 minutes in a local pointed out that we had ‘missed a turn’ so pointed us in the right direction – seemed he was heading the same way. He effectively led us to the top via a few ‘short cuts’. Looks like we had got ourselves a guide.
The walk was pretty tough but it was beautiful. Again we were amazed at the vast number of Eucalyptus trees. We literally walked through a forest of them. It cost us Rp930 (A$5) to visit the summit and enjoy the spectacular views. We then walked over to the eastern side of Ella Rock for some more spectacular view up the canyon and across the plains. The walk down was a lot easier – and quicker. Deryn and I were remiss on the fact that we had not used our poles which would have made the walk a lot easier – and the reason we bought them!!
We all made it back into Ella without running out of petrol but decided not to risk returning to our villa before heading out for dinner. So it was a bit of a sweaty dinner but we were all so hungry it really didn’t matter. We headed home all pretty satisfied that we had made the most of our time in this beautiful town. Off to Arugam Bay tomorrow to another tourist hotspot.
