More Rocks - Ella

Tuesday, April 16

The power came back on in the middle of the night which meant the lights turned on and woke me up.  Needless to say another night I didn't sleep great.

We woke up with our alarm and headed out. 

Start on the train tracks 500 meters until we see a bridge and turn right before the bridge.  Does this count as a bridge? There does seem to be a small path before it... maybe not let's keep going.

Don't be scared if dogs bark at you. Okay, glad we were warned.

We passed a few people walking which put us more at ease and then saw a definite bridge. We turned right.

Continue until a road for cars and then turn left. We walked up a bit of a hill and found a dirt road so turned left. Some guy who was walking ahead of us confirmed we were going the right direction. We passed someone walking with a few cows. We got to a fork in the road and the guy ahead of us went left, but pointed for us to turn right so we did.  We still hadn't found the water (small like a shower), small temple, or gate.
We kept going and going and going. It was clear we wouldn't make it for sunrise, but we were walking through a forest and the light was beautiful. We finally passed a bit of water. Then we walked into an area that said "This way to a Monastery, going through to Ella Rock prohibited." We took that as a good sign we must be going the right direction.

We got out the other side and a dog started leading us. I thought we should trust him (we are in Buddhist country where resurrection is a thing) but Meir wasn't having it. When we decided to take a different way than the dog, he came back and joined our way.

Another dog joined but we started thinking it was time to turn back. Just as we did we ran into a bunch of locals who confirmed we'd been going the right direction.  We walked with them a bit and then they turned and told us to keep going.

And we finally made it. We think in the end it was 4.5 km. So much for 2.5.

It was definitely beautiful, and we stopped and ate a bit. We also met some people who apparently work for a travel company here. Two were from Holland, trying to create a program for people from there to come to Sri Lanka.  They gave us tea and some advice and we turned back.

The way back was quicker since it was light out and we had a better idea where we were going, though we did make a few wrong turns (we ended up where the dog had tried to take us).  Also a man decided to lead us even though we tried telling him we knew where we were going, and then he asked us for money for leading us. We said no since we'd kept trying to tell him to go home.

We made it back and breakfast was waiting for us. It was 8:30 (we'd thought we'd be back by 7:30 or 8) and we ate and I had to lay down, but our host told us he'd take us into Ella at 9:30, so we didn't have long to recooperate and we were back on our feet!
He drove us to the bottom of Little Adam's Peak and explained how to go to the other places we wanted then he was off and we started yet another climb. (Ella's rock wasn't really much a climb though the way we went, just a nice hike).

We could see Ella's Rock on our way, and about halfway to the top there's zipline that Meir didn't want to do so we skipped.  We saw a kid climbing a tree and he posed when Meir took a picture but then ran after us for money (I tried warning Meir that was going to happen...)

Then the stairs began.  It was hot and sunny and we took it slow but it was so worth it. At the top there are small areas of shade that we made sure to take advantage of. We bought an ice cream cone (thank goodness they sell food everywhere!) and took pictures. Meir doesn't like heights but I love the edge so he took a few photos of me there and there was a Buddha up there! Also tons of dogs and puppies (a lot of people were feeding them) and amazing views of course.

After not too long we decided to head back down.  We ran into locals, one of whom seemed dehydrated and offered them some water.  They don't seem to plan for drinking much on hikes...

Anyway on the way down our host had told us to check out the 98 hotel, a very fancy hotel. It reminded us of the Beresheet in Israel, all villas on the edge of a mountain with awesome views.

From there we saw there was another way to the nine arches bridge, so we took that way.  We passed a tea plantation that was unfortunately closed due to the holiday.  We went through a few small local villages and bought a king coconut along the way. I wasn't a huge fan but I think Meir liked it and apparently it's like a natural energy drink.  When he finished it he wasn't sure what to do and decided to throw it, but we were going downhill and he threw it uphill so of course it just rolled down to us. Finally he threw it to the side as it seems locals do.
Anyway we got to the bridge which was crazy crowded since everyone is on vacation from work. The bridge in itself was pretty (it looks like it's out of Harry Potter) and we found a small shady area to rest a bit. Then we asked someone how to get back to Ella town and they told us to go through the tunnel on the other side of the bridge. So we crossed the bridge and entered the tunnel. Turned out it wasn't too long, but there were people inside playing drums and dancing and basically just partying.

On the other side we realized we'd been directed just to walk on the train tracks, which wasn't quite what we'd expected. Meir was cool but I was a bit freaked out. It was also super hot with no shade (again).  Thankfully there were a bunch of people on the tracks though which made me feel better.  Not far from the station, my fear came to life and the train came! We heard it well in advance and saw people moving off the tracks, so we went with them.  They had a good spot with lots of space so we joined.  From there we could see the station so it wasn't far back.

I was starving so we went to Chill, which our host had recommended. It was really crowded but we took someone's spot as they got up. It was worth it, super yummy and a welcome break. It also rained while we were there so it was good just being under cover.

We decided we didn't feel like going to a waterfall and we realized all tea plantations would be closed so sadly that was out of the picture.  Instead we just walked around the city, but it's really tiny and not much to see other than some cool post cards that we didn't actually buy.  We did learn, however, that Sri Lanka used to be called Ceylon, hence the name of the tea. We also went back to the train station to try to buy tickets for the next day since we knew the train to Colombo was about 10 hours and really wanted to have seats, but it was already too late. At least we learned the schedule.

We decided we wanted a drink, so we sat at a place that advertised happy hour, but when we ordered they told us those drinks weren't included so we left. We tried a few more places unsuccessfully and contacted our host to let us know where we were and that we'd be ready to come back soon. He told us he could get us just then, so we ditched the bar and went to wait for him outside.  As we waited Meir bought us some food for the train the next day (thank goodness).

When we got back to the house we really wanted to shower and we had snacks (sweet of course) waiting for us.  Our hosts had friends in from Colombo (the district, not city), and invited us to come down into their home and meet them.  It ended up being great! We spoke with two university age girls for a while.   They taught us that Sri means prosperous or lucky and Oya (which comes at the end of many town names) means stream. They told us a bit more about Buddhism and we told them about Judaism. Most people here have never heard of it.  One guy asked us if we were Christian or Muslim and when we said no Jewish he said "oh, like Catholic right?"

Our hostess was cooking but wouldn't let us come into the kitchen to help.

Then our host invited Meir upstairs for a drink on our porch with his friends.  We (and the girls we were with) assumed that meant it was a boys club type thing but Meir was immediately sent back down to bring me up. They gave us Carlesburg (which apparently has a factory in Sri Lanka) and brought us another huge dinner of fried rice, what we think was tuna, dahl curry, lots of veggies and fruits. We learned that the drinking age is 18 (though the can said 21) and that locals always drink before eating so they'll get drunk on an empty stomach. 

I was pooped from such a long day so despite enjoying time with them, I ditched and went to sleep.