We started the journey in high spirits, after all we were about to embark on one of the most scenic train journeys in the world.
We said a fond farewell to the staff at The Elegant hotel, a place we would certainly recommend, and Suminda took us to the Railway Station in Kandy. We were there at 8.15am ready and waiting for the 8.30 train.
We had tickets booked in first class and we were carriage 1B seat 41 & 42.
On arrival at the station the platforms were busy with lots of tourist all doing the same as us.
At 8.30 a train pulled in….fortunately Suminda prevented us jumping aboard as it turned out to be the one prior to ours which was running late. A lot of the platform emptied on to this train and it looked al1 ready to depart when the green light turned back to red. It appeared that our train was now coming in on platform 3 instead of platform 1 and as it’s a single track line it had to come in before the now very late one could go out. Anyway we changed platforms and at around 9.00 am we boarded our train. Our reserved seats were at the front of the carriage and had a nice little table, reclining seats and loads of legroom…we would be comfortable enough for the next 7/8 hours.
We finally departed at 9.15am. The first hour was spent rattling through the suburbs of Kandy. On leaving this large town behind we began to encounter spectacular scenery. The next few hours were spent very pleasantly looking at mountainside tiers of tea plantations, formidable waterfalls, flat rice ‘ paddy’ fields, vegetable plantations and much more. It really was fantastically scenic as the train meandered hugging the side of the mountains. On our journey we stopped at nearly 30 stations only a few people got on and off until we got to Hatton when a few more joined us and a few departed. At Nanu-oya a lot of people anlighted and even more embarked. The area is popular for visits to its tea plantations and its old colonial buildings.
We got to Ella about 4.15 pm, about an hour late. Suminda had been patiently waiting for us for about 4 hours as the trip in the car is so much quicker…but the train is a real ‘ must do’, something not to miss as it really shows the real beauty of this country. Suminda took us to the bottom of a hill and called our hotel ( perhaps I should put that in inverted commas with a few exclamation marks and a lot of laughing faces). The hotel sent a tuk-tuk down to take us up as the road was too narrow for a car. We pilled an overnight bag and a few bits into the tuk-tuk and up we went. It was very steep and after about 100m the tuk-tuk turned a sharp right and told me to get out saying “next bit one, by one”. So out I got and found myself standing in the middle of nowhere all on my own. What seemed like an eternity later it appeared again and told me to get in….after a very steep climb it pulled off on to what could only be described as the flat roof of an unfinished building. In the middle of this flat roof was a very faded sign saying Eminence Shires Hotel…. I looked around absolutely no sign of John or a hotel….beginning to panic I asked “where is the hotel?” And the driver pointed to a set of metal steps not quite as steep as a step ladder at the side of the roof leading down. As I went over to have a look John appeared at the bottom. There were 3 rooms with full length glass windows and a door, a small patio with two chairs and a table outside each door. The couple on the patio next to ours had been on the train sitting behind us. We were greeted with a welcome drink, shown our room and the “receptionist”!! Booked us a table at his recommended restaurant The White Rabbit. The view from the patio was superb, we could see a beautiful waterfall and the railway line.
At 7.30 a Tuk-tuk came and took us both down to the restaurant. The White Rabbit, it transpired, is a much sort after restaurant for the backpacking fraternity who frequent Ella. I had a Sri Lanka vegetable curry with chicken. This consisted of bean, beetroot, dhal, cabbage, okra, banana flower and carrot curry’s around a mound of rice and chicken curry in a bowl…it was divine, the best I had had so far. John had Coconut curry prawns with coconut sambal and toasted wedges of bread ..it was all very tasty…I didn’t notice until John mentioned it, that we were the oldest in the place by about 40 years!!!.
We returned to our room by tuk-tuk, the first one we hailed failed to make it up the first 100m’s after some discussion we managed to find another one to take us, once again doing the last bit one by one.
What an amazing day we had had, full of so many surprising adventures. There are lots of nice places to stay in Ella and even though The Eminence Shires was only £29 for the night B&B I don’t think we would stay there again…our preference would be somewhere in the town where you don’t risk life and limb hurtling down a 1 in 3 hillside in a tuk-tuk!
2 J's World of Adventure 