The tiny, touristy town of Ella is in Sri Lanka’s hill country. It’s a lush area, covered in tropical forests and beautiful green tea plantations, and the first place we had been in a while where we needed to wear jeans at night. The town itself doesn’t have much to offer besides some tasty restaurants (where we ate more rice and curry and tried our first “kottu roti:” rotis chopped up and stir fried). The main reason the town attracts tourists is its hiking opportunities and wonderful views down the deep valley, toward the plains below, known as the Ella Gap.
The first hike we did was to a peak called Ella Rock on the southwest side of the Ella Gap. The trail takes you along the railroad tracks (with only six very slow moving trains per day this is a surprisingly safe route) and through tea plantations and agricultural fields before it starts steeply up the mountain to a great view point. On our way back down, Patrick stopped to help some very appreciative locals who had gotten their truck stuck in the mud (and got covered in mud in the process). We also hiked through more tea plantations to Little Adam’s Peak to another wonderful view point. On our last morning in Ella, we visited the Halpewatte Tea Plantation where we took a very interesting factory tour. The process of turning newly picked tea leaves into black tea is surprisingly simple and straightforward, but not something either of us knew anything about. We loved the antiquated building and machinery and the smell of tea that wafted about the building.
From Ella we took a wonderfully scenic train ride, through mountains and tea plantations, often only just below the clouds. The train was crowded with Sri Lankans doing weekend traveling and we couldn’t get seats so instead we snagged a spot in a doorway which proved to be a better place for unobstructed views of the scenery. The train itself was old and slow (the entire Sri Lanka train system is little changed since the British built it in the late 19th century), moving at about 20 kilometers per hour, but it was a fun experience.
Click on the photo below for our Ella photo album.
The first hike we did was to a peak called Ella Rock on the southwest side of the Ella Gap. The trail takes you along the railroad tracks (with only six very slow moving trains per day this is a surprisingly safe route) and through tea plantations and agricultural fields before it starts steeply up the mountain to a great view point. On our way back down, Patrick stopped to help some very appreciative locals who had gotten their truck stuck in the mud (and got covered in mud in the process). We also hiked through more tea plantations to Little Adam’s Peak to another wonderful view point. On our last morning in Ella, we visited the Halpewatte Tea Plantation where we took a very interesting factory tour. The process of turning newly picked tea leaves into black tea is surprisingly simple and straightforward, but not something either of us knew anything about. We loved the antiquated building and machinery and the smell of tea that wafted about the building.
From Ella we took a wonderfully scenic train ride, through mountains and tea plantations, often only just below the clouds. The train was crowded with Sri Lankans doing weekend traveling and we couldn’t get seats so instead we snagged a spot in a doorway which proved to be a better place for unobstructed views of the scenery. The train itself was old and slow (the entire Sri Lanka train system is little changed since the British built it in the late 19th century), moving at about 20 kilometers per hour, but it was a fun experience.
Click on the photo below for our Ella photo album.
No comments:
Post a Comment