Kandy – Sigiriya – Kandy
The Kandy to Ella journey by train is often described as the most scenic ride in the world and it truly is. Even those who are not interested in visiting tea plantations will enjoy the ride. It can also be a cheap way to see the country. The train slowly snaked between the hills climbing to the central highlands. The entire trip was 6.5 hours. My husband spent most of that time standing by an open train door and taking photos. No photos give justice to the beautiful views and of course, they do not convey the freshness of the crisp air. The temperature dropped noticeably by the end of the trip.
In was dark when we reached Ella. Only a few passengers got off the train. They quickly dispersed from the platform looking like they knew in what direction to go. We did not. A man approached us and offered a place to stay. Usually, we are wary of such offers. Also after the hotel fiasco in Kandy, we really wanted a comfortable room. Nevertheless, we decided to go with the man. He told us that he owned two houses. We rejected the room in one house. ‘No problem’, he said and took us to his other house with 2 guest rooms on the second floor. One of them looked nice and we paid for 2 nights.
Our host smiled happily, invited us to sit down at a table and in no time we were drinking genuine Ceylon tea in Ceylon. It tasted like heaven! Never ever before I drank tea with such pure aroma. It was refreshing and energizing at the same time. What a wonderful day it was! We went to the Temple of the Tooth, got out of Kandy, enjoyed the train ride, found a place to stay, had the best tea in the world and now could sleep in a decent room. We opened the window and spread the mosquito net over the bed before getting into it.
Sri Lanka is considered to be the place where Adam set foot when he was exiled from the Garden of Eden. He touched the ground on the mountain that is now called Adam’s Peak. The mountain has a rock formation near the summit that resembles a huge footprint. The Buddhists think it was the Buddha who left his footprint on the mountain. The Hindus believe that the footprint belongs to Lord Shiva. This makes Adam’s Peak a holy place for several religions.
Adam’s Peak is rather far from Ella, but Little Adam’s Peak is right there. We went to it next morning. It was an easy and pleasant hike.
Tea plantations are all around Ella. We never saw tea bushes up close before, so we took our time walking among them, smelling and chewing fresh tea leaves. They did not taste like tea.
Tea bushes are not native to Sri Lanka. They were brought from China in the 19th century by the British who thought that the climate of Ceylon highlands would be suitable for growing tea. It turned out to be perfect for that. Soon tea plantations replaced coffee plantations and the existing coffee factories were converted to process tea. Plantation workers are mostly low-paid women who do this job generation after generation. They pick by hand only the top young bright green leaves. No machinery can do this job.
Ella has green and black tea factories. The trail from Little Adam’s Peak passed not far from Finlays Newburgh Green Tea factory and we turned off into the road to it for a factory tour. The facility consisted of a few rooms and the process was really simple. The leaves are dried with warm air and crushed; then the leaf pieces are sorted by size and packed into bags. That is all. The bags are shipped all over the world to other factories that mix tea with various additives, package their products into attractive boxes and sell to us.
For lunch, we had rotti which is a flatbread with meat, seafood or vegetable filling. And of course we drank tea. There was not a trace of chemicals or anything artificial in it; it was pure and natural.
In the afternoon we hired a tuk-tuk and went to a waterfall near Ella for a swim in crystal clear and rather cold water. Local guys splashed in it too and eyed us curiously, especially me in a swimsuit. Sri Lankan women bathe with their clothes on. Knowing that, I put on my least revealing swimsuit that still it was not modest enough by their standards.
After dinner, we walked around Ella which is such a small place that soon we were familiar with its every nook. We asked several people about the bus to Matara. They all pointed to the same spot on the main road and said that the bus stopped there at about 9 am. That spot was not marked in any way with a sign or a bench. It was a regular stretch of a road, yet everyone swore that it was the bus stop. We had no choice, but to believe what we heard. It started to rain and we returned to our room.
We were about to retire for the night when a cheerful young voice sounded outside of our door. A Ukrainian named Tatiana was taking the other room on the second floor and talking with the house owner. Tatiana left her luggage and burst out of the house despite the rain and late hour. From the window, we caught a glimpse of her blond head disappearing down the street.
The rain turned into a downpour, a typical tropical rain that looks more like a wall of water. During the night we could hear the heavy drops hitting the roof and window panes. It cleared by morning, only the damp air and puddles reminded of the rain. Tatiana was outside of the house taking photos. That girl was a bundle of energy! She moved at lightning speed and did not give us a chance to introduce ourselves. Before we could get out of our room Tatiana was gone again.
The day before Sergey spotted a good place to have a buffet breakfast. We ate at the best hotel in town, then walked to the spot on the road that presumably was the bus stop and waited there. We depended on that bus to take us to the South coast. The only alternative to it was to retrace our route back to Colombo which meant a long train ride with nothing to do and a lot of wasted time.
The much-anticipated bus came half empty. We were relieved to see it. It did exist and it stopped where the locals told us it would. Five hours later we were in Matara on the Indian Ocean. We barely had time to take a few photos there and to run to the restroom before catching another bus to the city of Unawatuna.
Great article Natalia!! Thank you for sharing! Vio