Day 10 - Ella

After a quick breakfast we met up with Jerome and headed to Little Adams peak, which is a smallish mountain in Ella. It was a fairly gentle walk uphill though more tea plantations and a nice view of Ella rock. It probably only took about 30-40 minutes to reach the top where we sat to catch our breath and enjoy the view with some of the local dogs eager to hide in our shade. After enjoying the view we slowly headed down back to the van and drove to Ravana falls which is quite an impressive waterfall, there are also lots of monkeys hanging about and a few souvenir stalls. Bec found our patches that we always get for our backpacks in every country we visit and we got 2 for 400 rupee (about 4 bucks) Bec was also feeling super adventurous and tried some street food even though it was just some corn on the cob, I had a taste too and it was super yum! I got some cut up mango for me and to share with the monkeys, the monkeys definitely aren't shy and don't hesitate when offered food, grabbing it and downing decent size slices of mango in seconds! I fed about 2-3 monkeys before I ran out of food, after that one of the little buggers almost went me! cheeky thing it was eyeing me off and then growled at me showing its teeth! I chickened out and walked away and Bec says it was still puffing its chest up at me... talk about biting the hand that feeds you! Anyway after taking a few more pics of the falls we headed off. We were talking about what to do next considering having an early lunch as there wasn't much more to do and we wanted to go into town for dinner tonight instead of stay at the hotel so didn't want it to be a late one. But then we remembered about the Ayurvedic massage place in town that Jerome's friend owns, so we headed over to try that out. After a small description of what it was all about, we decided to give it all a go! So after putting our valuables in a locker we stripped down to underwear and were led into a warmish sauna, it was nice though as they had some smoldering wood that we couldn't see but that was smoking into the room, it smelt really nice but did sting our eyes and Bec's throat a little. After this we were led back up for a head and neck massage - very relaxing!! dammit I ended up with the guy masseuse as always seems to happen. After our head rubs we laid down on the massage tables and so began Bec's idea of torture, starting with a foot and leg massage which did tickle a little (Bec says she was constantly flinching) then our back, shoulders, arms and hands all rubbed down again very relaxing although I'm not sure if Bec agreed, and I must admit I hate people touching my feet. Both our masseuses got a little full on when we got our coccyx rubbed... hmmm slightly awkward... anyway after this we headed downstairs again for my favorite bit, we walked into a room with what looked like torture devices! a couple of dodgy beds with a pot above the head on a metal bar, we again laid down and were blindfolded (well had some paper towel put over our eyes) and then had warm oil poured on our foreheads from these suspended bowls, it was a really nice sensation and very relaxing! This went for about 15 to 20 min then we headed over to the steam baths, which are wood coffin looking contraptions where your head sticks out and your body steamed with special herbs and spices from underneath! it did get too hot but only in waves apart from that it was again really nice. This was the last treatment and after being dried off and getting dressed we headed out to lunch. We went to the downtown rotti hut, mmmm super yum lunch of kedai rotti (Bec veg and me chicken) After lunch we headed to the local train station and headed down the tracks to the 9 arch bridge, along the way we passed some local kids playing cricket and we decided to have a go, Bec went first and after a dismal attempt at bowling had a go at batting and whacked it for a 6! took the kids about 5 minutes to find the ball in all the grass/plants. Next I had a go and hit the first one but then got bowled out on the 2nd! Dammit!! Then Jerome had a go at bowling and finally I had a go at bowling but the kids were too good, we agreed that Sri Lanka beat Australia and we did our walk of shame. After walking through a small tunnel (a little scary on a live train line) we made it to the 9 arch bridge, had a good look around and took some pics and then headed back. After getting back to the van we drove a little way then I suggested we stop at a dodgy looking little bar for a few beers, Jerome joined in and we had a little chat, then he taught us how to play carrom which Bec or I had never played. I got the bar to put on some Yacht club djs and we had some more beer while playing. After Jerome kicked my ass in carrom we headed on to dinner at the Dream Cafe. We ordered a mini feast Bec with her veg curry and me with beef curry and a chili cashew mix, it was all really good tasty food! we were so full by the end! Finally we headed back to the hotel where I crashed/passed out and Bec I'm assuming played on facebook.