WHERE IS THE TRAIN?!?!?! Well, rumor has it that this part of the train ride is the best one yet! Felix and I left the hotel at 7:30...

Ella, Ella, Ella!

/
0 Comments
WHERE IS THE TRAIN?!?!?!

Well, rumor has it that this part of the train ride is the best one yet! Felix and I left the hotel at 7:30am to get on the 9:30am train. When we got to the station we got our 3rd class ticket for 60 rupees ($0.40) and went to platform 2 to wait for the train.

A little old fashioned if you ask me.

Nuwara Eliya station

9:30am… 9:45am… 10am… 10:30am finally the train arrived and it was CAOS!!! People wanting to get in and get a window seat and people wanting to get out! I had been praying for a seat the whole morning so I knew I wasn’t going to stand for hours and hours. I got in and put my bag on the overhead compartment and noticed that all the seats were taken so I quickly got out and grabbed the spot by the door… see, I always get what I want!
Waiting patiently for the train.

After the train came we waited for at least 30 minutes before we left. 
Waiting, waiting, waiting!

 The train was packed, many people were standing and although third class looked rustic and very Sri Lankan it didn’t look much fun for those standing. I ended up by the door the whole ride but stood up and gave people a chance to sit and look out the door.



We made many stops and local people came in and out. Throughout the journey a lot of men came to sell food, some had peanuts, some had oranges, and some other ones had traditional snack foods. 



The whole ride took twice as long as supposed, we had many stops with waiting times of up to 30 minutes. 
Enough time to look at the map and wonder where the heck we were!

 Some people got frustrated at the beginning of the ride and left the train even before we started, some others got off along the way and got picked up by their drivers. I met a lot of people who paid around $150 for 3-4 days for a private driver to take them from Colombo to Ella.

View from the train






Peaking out!




Passing through some town.

How every tourist in that train looked like.
We finally arrived!!!!!

I don’t know if I agree (not even a bit) with the statement that this is one of the best train rides in the world. To be honest the one from Oslo to Bergen is 100% nicer, you go through mountains with snow in the middle of summer and the change in scenery is just spectacular. And the one from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo in Peru is just spectacular!
In this journey we passed some villages and had some pretty cool views but I would say that 60% of the ride was in front of bushes. I enjoyed the ride but don’t think it deserves all the credit its given and definitely not a highlight of Sri Lanka.

We finally arrived in Ella seven hours after the scheduled departure from Nuwara Eliya (around 4 extra hours than supposed) so we quickly dropped off our bags and headed to the famous nine arch bridge.

Going the sneaky way to the bridge!
We found it! Yeay!
Felix walking the bridge!

  As if we didn’t wait enough for trains today, when we arrived to the nine arch bridge we decided to wait and see the train go across the bridge and guess what?!?! The train was late, an hour and 15 minutes late!
Still waiting!

FINALLY!
The next day we had agreed with our new friend Sandy to go to Buduruwagala and see the big buddha. As we were leaving the guesthouse the owner told us we could no longer stay an extra night since the place was fully booked! I couldn’t believe her! Thankfully her brother had a guesthouse as well and he came to pick me up. In the end it turned out to be a good move since the new guesthouse was now 50 meters away from the bus stop.

We dropped our bags and took the bus down to Wellawaya, the route has down hill and very very curvy, it kind of made me a little sick! 
Cool bus today!

 Once we reached the station at the bottom (after 45 mins) we negotiated with a tuk tuk to take us to the temple. 

Quick stop at the lake

Buduruwagala (meaning the rock with the statue of buddha) is an ancient Buddhist temple dating back to the 10th century! The Buddha was gianormous!!!!!


Sandy "praying" hehe

After visiting the Buddha we wanted to go to some falls but the tuk tuk driver recommend a different one so we negotiated the addition for the falls. To be honest, I was very disappointed on the falls, it seemed like very little water coming down but this rainy season has been more like dry season!
We climbed up all the way to the pool and it was pretty nice… Sandy even went in the water.

Well, getting to the fall wasn't easy!

Sandy is in the water!


As we started heading back to Ella, Sandy said she wanted to go to Lipton seat which was in the opposite direction of Ella so once again there was some negotiation with the tuk tuk driver and he took us to Haputale and then up To Lipton’s seat.

Choose your favorite color and go!

Haputale bus stop
Going up up up the Tea Fields in Haputale!










Drying rack = the roof!



I had no idea what Lipton seat was, I honestly thought I was going to the Lipton tea factory and waiting in the tuk tuk while Sandy went on a tour of the factory. 
Well, Lipton seat is one of the most beautiful rides I have had in my life! We went up and up and up and up the hills, passing through endless plantations of tea. It was beautiful, so beautiful that at one point Sandy and I awwwwwed at the exact same time, the views were just breathtakingly beautiful! No picture does it justice!


Unfortunately when we got to the top it was foggy but it did not take away the beauty of the ride.

Our tuk tuk driver was a very nice man, he stopped at least 50 times to let us take pictures. While we were driving to the temple and the falls he would stop and tell us all about the trees and plants that were on the side of the road. We saw cacao plants, pepper plants, coffee, rubber trees, and he even pointed out birds.

As if our day wasn’t long enough, once we got back to Ella I decided to go hike little Adam’s peak… We barely made it to the top to see some light!



Overlooking Ella Rock.

Then, it was time for my last meal with Felix! So long, partner!



You may also like

About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

No comments:

Powered by Blogger.

Subscribe

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Instagram

About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com