2017 Sri Lanka – Ella
24th January 2017
Our next stop was Ella. One of the main tourist attractions in Sri Lanka was the Kandy to Ella train journey. There were three classes of travel and we had to stay an extra day in Kandy to get a 2nd class ticket. After the uncomfortable Colombo to Anuradhapura train journey, I wasn’t looking forward to it but on arrival at Kandy station I was pleasantly surprised at how much better it was than Colombo. The train arrived an hour late and we made our way along the platform looking for our seats. The first few carriages were 3rd class and looked horrendous. For young backpackers, it would have been all part of the fun but there were people our age with expressions like Satan had just led them to their final resting place. Imagine an underground train with people crushed together like sardines, intense heat and the knowledge that you would be stuck there for six hours and that is what it was like. Tickets in the better carriages had to be booked well in advance which fortunately we had done through an agency.
The third-class carriages seemed to go on forever and I was concerned that there had been a mess up and there was no 2nd class but at the front of the train, I saw one carriage for 1st and one for 2nd. We were relieved to find our seats were not only empty but comfortable. We even had a little table in front of us. Unlike the Colombo train, nothing was obscuring our view out of the window and this time we were facing the direction of travel. The scenery was extraordinary with oceans of tea plantations filling every inch of land. I was mesmerised by the armies of workers hunched over tea plants, slowly filling the baskets on their backs. To my surprise, Federika told me that tea had been introduced to Sri Lanka by a Scotsman and what an extraordinary legacy he left. 
During the journey countless children were walking alongside the railway tracks, returning from school in pristine uniforms. We stopped at one station and saw a young boy walking by himself in a strange manner. When he got close we realised the sole of his shoe had become detached and was only held on at the heel so his shoe flapped as he walked. The only way he could stop from tripping himself up was by raising his foot vertically before stepping forward which looked so comical but he seemed happy enough. At most stations, children stood in front of the windows with their hands out. They weren’t asking for food or money but pens. Federika managed to find a couple in her handbag and drop them through the small gap at the top of the window. Education was free in Sri Lanka and children were even given school uniforms which were compulsory but schools weren’t given any funding for supplies so parents had to provide books and stationery from their meagre income. Some parents simply didn’t have the money so sadly their children had to stay at home as they were not allowed into school without shoes or books. 
At Kandy, nearly everyone got off which wasn’t easy because the train was a metre higher than the platform. It was comical watching people hanging off the train as if they were trying to get down from a high wall. There was no warning so there must have been occasions when people stepped off the train without looking down and hurt themselves.
A tuk-tuk was waiting to collect us from the station and we struggled in the rain to load our suitcases onto the tiny space at the back. They were shamefully heavy and more suitable for juggernauts than tuk-tuks. It was a short drive to our hotel and what a relief it was to get into our room after all those hours of being thrown around on the train. The room was large and eccentric. Very high ceilings allowed for huge windows that gave a magnificent view of the mountain range from anywhere in our room, even lying on our bed. It was a new building and being made entirely of wood still had that lovely freshly cut wood smell. There was a balcony with two lounge chairs where we could sit and look at the mountain. 
From there it started to get weird. There was a very narrow bathroom that stretched the entire length of the room. A basin at one end, a toilet in the middle looking very lonely and a shower at the far end right in front of a huge window. Whether anyone could see us showering through that window was questionable but certainly anyone climbing in the tree opposite would have had no problem. In between the bedroom and the bathroom was a large window and although it was frosted glass you could still see what someone was up to in the bathroom. It also meant if the bathroom light was turned on in the middle of the night, the whole bedroom was flooded with light. There were no hand or towel rails of any kind. No wardrobe, just a weird wooden structure where we could lay our clothes. It was a king-sized bed but two single blankets had to be strategically placed in order to cover the bed. The bath towels were really worn out and had stains on them.
I looked out our window and saw an infestation of what looked like large flying ants but the owner said they were termites. We asked for another blanket and when he returned a few minutes later and opened the door, our room filled with termites which took half an hour to get rid of. The extra blanket he gave us was half the size of the bed and was obviously a child’s blanket so we were concerned that one of their children would go cold that night because of us. Despite the eccentricities and it being quite overpriced, we loved the room. When I booked the room I paid $15 extra for a “welcome meal” but the owner said they were bed and breakfast only and didn’t serve food at any other time. When I asked him why did he charge me for dinner then, his English suddenly deteriorated so that was the last I saw of that $15. It was still raining so we took a tuk-tuk to town and after a very filling roti, we returned to our room exhausted.
Next morning we woke up to the sound of pouring rain. The weather forecast said 100% rain all day and it would stay like that for the next few days so things weren’t looking good for our stay in Ella. After breakfast the rain seemed to stop so although it still looked bleak we took our inadequate fold-up umbrellas and set out for our morning trek. Adam’s Peak was the main tourist destination for the area where at the summit there was an impression of a footprint that was originally claimed to be the Buddha’s footprint but was then later claimed by other religions. At over 2000 metres it was far too much for me to handle so we went to the less demanding Little Adam’s Peak.
Along the way we watched women working in the tea plantations. It must have been back-breaking work but they all waved and gave us a friendly smile and they looked happy enough.
We passed two old women struggling with piles of firewood who offered to let us take a photo with them in return for a few rupees and who could refuse an offer like that? I did wonder if they used the firewood or if it was just a stage prop. 
We made it most of the way but there were still a lot of steps to the summit and Federika was finding it difficult with her injured leg. It was just as well because up till then the rain had held off but the minute we got to the bottom and sat down to lunch it started to pour down. It only seemed to rain for short periods and was not that heavy so our umbrellas were adequate but the trouble was the constant temperature change. When the clouds were thick and the rain was drizzling I was happy to have my thick jeans and trainers on but when the sun came out I was so hot I had to take my shirt off and walk bare-chested which must have made it difficult for the female tea pickers to concentrate on their work.
Next morning the weather was bad again but during a lull in the rain, we set out for the other main attraction, Ella Rock. There seemed to be a lot of confusion about how to climb this rock. Some people said we shouldn’t go on the walk without a guide because there were lots of wrong paths that could be taken. Others said that was a story put around by guides. A few years earlier they put up signposts showing the route but they mysteriously disappeared. Even where to start the walk was controversial so we followed the advice in the Lonely Planet and hired a tuk-tuk to drive us six kilometres to a disused railway station. From there we followed an old railway track which was brilliant as it made me feel like one of those ancient explorers looking for the source of the Nile.
In front of us were a couple of young Swedish boys who seemed to know where they were going so when they turned off we followed them blindly. We walked around a farm and started to ascend a steep path when a local told us we were not allowed to walk up there because it was private land and that we should walk down another path he was pointing at. Thinking it was just another scam we all ignored him but it got so steep and difficult to climb we had to turn back and so the old man was right. When he saw us retreating he gave us the internationally understood stupid bloody foreigners look.
We found the right path and walked as far as we could before it got too steep for us to continue with Federika’s bad leg. Going up wouldn’t have been such a problem as getting back down. The path back to town was pretty obvious as there was a steady stream of tourists doing the same thing so it was nonsense to suggest a guide was essential. We were going to take a tuk-tuk back but when we got to the station someone told us if we continued to follow the tracks it was only three kilometres to town so although we were already pretty tired we decided to walk. We had only walked a few steps when the same man shouted at us “Train coming, train coming!” The tracks looked so old and unmaintained that it never occurred to us that they were in use. We got off the tracks and stood by the side but a few metres behind us there was a lone walker with headphones on. We all shouted at him to get off the tracks but he couldn’t hear us because of the headphones. I expect it was the vibration that made him turn around and get to safety but it could have been very nasty.
We really enjoyed the walk through the middle of a valley with spectacular scenery on either side. It was surprising how many other people were doing the same walk, most of them being locals including a lot of schoolchildren. Nearly all of them smiled and said hello in a way that said we were welcome in their country. By the time we got to town, I don’t remember my legs ever being so tired. We headed straight to a restaurant for lunch and the minute we sat down, the heavens opened with monsoon-like rain. Again, if it hadn’t been for Federika’s bad leg we would probably have been somewhere near the top of the Ella rock when the rain came.
On our final day with a lack of much to do, we booked a taxi to take us to another tea factory and then back to town where Federika went for an Ayurveda massage while I sat in a café and did some writing. That evening we went to a Sri Lankan Curry cooking course that was recommended in Tripadvisor. I was a bit concerned when we arrived at the property as it looked too basic to even make a cup of tea but the first thing he did was show us a book with very impressive reviews of his previous clients. I wondered if I should warn him about my history of kitchen nightmares and check that he had adequate fire insurance but as the only English he knew was “2000 rupees” there was no point. Memories came flooding back of my attempt at warming up a muffin in a Los Angeles apartment when it caught fire and I set the building’s fire alarm off.
We were the only people on the course. He led us to a small, open mud hut where the walls were a metre high and the non-existent windows reached the ceiling which was supported by more mud. The floor was also made of mud. There was an open fire burning with two hobs all made out of clay. I estimated that they were violating approximately 1.6 million EEC regulations on commercial food preparation but as we would only be cooking vegetables, none of them were important and in fairness, there were still half a million regulations that they complied with.
We had done a cooking class in Vietnam where we all had our own cookers and aprons and did the cooking ourselves while we followed the instructor who had an overhead project. You will probably not be surprised to hear there was no overhead projector or even electricity. It soon became apparent that the instructor would be doing most of the cooking while we watched and learnt. We were relegated to stirring the odd thingy and cutting the odd whatsit and it must be said that I removed the skin from the hot potatoes with great skill. As always, some of the potatoes jumped out of my hand but I picked them up from the floor well within the three-second rule. He threw in dozens of spices and odds and sods, including a curry leaf. Although our instructor didn’t speak a word of English I had to admire his mastery of positive response.
Federika. “Are we going to get a book with these recipes?”
Instructor. “Yes”
Federika: What vegetable is that?
Instructor: “Yes”
Me: How many side dishes will we be making?
Instructor. “Yes”
Derek. “Do you think England has a better cricket team than Sri Lanka?”
Instructor. “Yes”
No matter what the question was, the answer was always yes and we never did get our book of recipes despite it being part of the deal.
We finished the cooking and as claimed in the sales literature we ended up with six different curries although I had my doubts that a papadum was a curry. Federika was a little disappointed that there was nothing interesting in the main ingredients. It was cabbage, onions, potatoes, dozens of spices and lots of what we in the trade call “other stuff.” It looked and sounded boring but I had to admit it tasted amazing. It was the perfect vegetarian curry and the only thing that might have improved it was a little sprinkle of lamb.
2017 Sri Lanka
