You Can Stand Under my Umberella Ella Ella Ay Ay Ay

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We left Nuwara Eliya after a well needed sleep. We had booked a train to Ella as this is a recommended route to experience the fantastic views of the hill country.

We visited the local bakery and stocked up on food. The train station, in comparison to Indian train stations, is quaint and peaceful. We could see our train arriving from as far as the eye could see, and when it arrived we noticed that the trains are extremely high up. It is easier to leave the train as if climbing down a ladder.

We found our seats, and were especially impressed that they can swivel to face either direction. We enjoyed he views as the rain came down, scoffed all our food and watched the Disney film 'Rio' on the TV. It made a nice change from traveling in the back of a car!

When we arrived in Ella, Chin suggested climbing the nicknamed 'Little Adam's Peak'. Our legs were still aching but we couldn't reject the challenge. So we set off!

Little Adam's Peak is a popular trekking spot in Ella, which is a very sleepy town high up in the hills. It got its name due to the similar shape to Adam's Peak however is only 1141m high with a good path all the way up (and really nothing to compare to Adam's Peak).

On the way up, the heavens opened. Thunder and lightening. Hailstones. The whole shabang. We were absolutely soaked through to the skin despite wearing raincoats. (And Marc kept the one umbrella we had to himself). This also meant we could see nothing but clouds from the top. We climbed back down a little defeated. However there was a silver lining. A lovely resort at the bottom where we were able to change into dry clothes and enjoy a banana lassi and a beer.

We stopped for some dinner at a lovely rasta cafe before heading to Udawalawe, which has one of Sri Lanka's many national parks.

On the way, Chin told us that there was a possibility that wild elephants would try to cross the road as it was early evening. No sooner had he mentioned this to us, did he have to slam on the brakes as two huge elephants slowly made their way across the road. It was amazing!

We also passed a floodlit cricket match. We pulled over and were informed that it was a match between two school teams. They were being watched by a crowd that Marc could only have dreamed of during Craigmount's glory days. During our short stay we were treated to the infamous roar of a bowler when appealing to the officials that a wicket had been taken. Although neither of us have a great interest in cricket, it was enjoyable to see how much passion there is for Lanka's number one sport, even at grassroots level.

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