Day 18: Living the High Life

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We were up and out of the hotel by the crack of dawn (I’m talking 6am) and at Ella train station. We were finally going to sample the world famous Sri Lankan railway system. We were travelling from Ella to Nuno Oya, which we were told was he most beautiful part of the journey, and the early time meant that whilst there were lots of tourists, there were substantially less than there would have been at half 9 which was the next available train.



It may have been the early start coupled with the colossus of yesterdays expedition, but the train journey itself was a mixed bag. I will sum it up like so.



The Good:



1. I know it’s a repetitive thing for Sri Lanka but again the journey itself is beautiful, it doesn’t really matter which side of the train you sit on as there is plenty of scenery available on either side.



2. The train journey itself is 110 rupees, which equates to 50p, which for a 3 hour train journey is absolutely insane.



3. The train itself is nice, no one is expecting Virgin trains but there was plenty of space and it was suitably clean, people walking up and down the carriages often selling food (our breakfast consisted of a samosa each for 100 rupees.)



The Bad:



1. There’s a lot of tourists moving around you constantly, going to look out of the door, and then coming to sit back down, and then coming to look out of the door again, and then going to sit down, and then going to look out the door again, and seriously now mate sit down or stand up you’ve been back and forth 5 times in the past 10 minutes.



2. Another tourist gripe. There are a lot of tunnels through the route, which is fine, I have no issue with that. But seriously, why do European travellers feel the need to “woo” hysterically all the way through every tunnel. The train averages 20km/h it’s hardly as if you’re riding Nemesis is it? Pipe down.



3. Our mates from yesterday with their drum were also on the train. Dickheads.



Having read that back I have come to the conclusion that I am officially an adult, as I’m pretty sure if I was the age of a standard traveller, I would find all of the stuff on the “bad” list absolutely fine. But there we go.



We arrived in Nuno Oya at half 9 to be met by our driver, who would take us on our final trip to Negombo. The trip itself was about 4 hours, and we stopped at a couple of view points on the way. We were staying at “The Beach” Hotel in Negombo. Which was particularly fancy. We did change this from our original plan simply as we felt we’d earnt a rest. We had our lunch at the hotel (chicken Tikka wrap) before going for a walk along the beach. Negombo is known for its beach and is (in peak season) a tourist hot spot, also due to it’s proximity to the airport. However, in off season the beach itself is disgusting. Chicken heads and feet were coming out of the sea (that’s not a weird expression that’s literally what there was) and litter was scattered around our feet. The odd man peddling necklaces and trinkets would try to sell us things. About half a mile up the beach was more than enough before we cut back onto the road to walk back down. Soon we were back at the hotel and playing around in the pool until the sunset.



After a shower we headed back down the road to source some dinner. There are a variety of restaurants all the way down that differ in price. Meg had a vegetable curry whilst I had a Tuna Steak. The price was more than reasonable and after taking an extended walk home to reach our step goal (just the 12,000 odd today), which was justified by meeting an amazingly tiny kitten that Meg had to be stopped from packing into our suitcase, the day was done and we headed to bed.







Steps taken: 12,467



Bites: 33

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