Ella, Sri Lanka - Home

Peaceful
By the time we reached Ella it was dusk.  Our AirBnB host sent a Tuk Tuk to the train station to fetch us.  We drove down the main drag, perched on the peak of a mountain and not more than a half-mile long and then began a long plunge into an adjacent valley.  As usual, Dodo had booked us a stay in the boonies.  Our AirBnB was a small house built along a roaring river.  This is the view from our balcony.  After we dropped off our luggage, we climbed back up to town on foot for dinner.  It was close to a mile each way and probably a thousand feet of elevation change.

Ella, Sri Lanka - Train Ride

From Hot Soup to Cooler Climes
We came to Sri Lanka to hike and see the countryside.  We were on our way to the village of Ella, which is 3,000 feet above sea level.  There are a few ways to get there - by taxi or train.  For the local experience, we chose the latter.  We booked a second class ticket on a hulking China-made locomotive.  The selling point of second class, though there is no air conditioning, are the big windows that can be opened to take photos.

Colombo, Sri Lanka - First Impressions

Hot and Crowded
The first thing you notice is the heat and humidity.  It overwhelms the airport air conditioning and sticks to you.  Within minutes I felt like I'd showered in olive oil.  While waiting to pass through immigration, I peek outside.  It's early afternoon and the sky is already black, but then the blackness swirls and shifts to blue.  A swarm of crows had blotted out the light temporarily.  Colombo was not our destination, but a means to an end.  We'd soon be taking a train into the mountains to hike.  It looked to be a good plan since this city of five million is a sweaty people stew bubbling under a swollen sun.