Day 9 - Train to Ella!

We said goodbye to our lovely hosts JP, Raj and Loga and headed for Nanuoya Train station. We had been told by many people how lovely the train ride was so we were very excited. The station itself was lovely surrounded by mountains and tea estates. After a few photos at the station we heard the train coming from a mile away about 1/2hr early. We went to suss out if it was our train and sure enough it was so we jumped on board...first class! We were very lucky as the carriage was almost empty. Two English couples, a french family and one local man for part of the way. We had allocated seats but since it was so empty we opened up all the windows and seat hopped as there was so much to see from both sides of the train. The mountains and tea estates were beautiful, the locals we passed all gave us a huge smile and many waves and we enjoyed hanging out the window and door taking it all in. The train went over quite a few high bridges and through many dark tunnels, some longer than others. During the journey when we stopped at one of the stations Rudi decided to buy some vadai from a man selling them through the train window out of a basket. He lived to tell the tail but there were a few tears from the fried chili! I tried to make friends with some of the railway dogs but they just wanted food and didn't like vadai. It is crazy how much tea there is...everywhere you look and as far as you can see. We passed many tea pickers hard at work but who didn't hesitate to stop and smile and give us a wave. Such beautiful people all throughout Sri Lanka. We chatted to the english couples a fair bit on our 3hr journey and we ended up inviting them to join us and our driver at the other end to drive into Ella. Our driver was more than happy and they gave him a tip so a bit more money for him! We went and checked into our guest house which had an amazing view of the waterfall in the mountain just straight out from our balcony. We then headed into town and decided to stop at the Chill bar for some lunch. We went up two flights of stairs to hang out in a cubby house style loft sitting in beanbags drinking beer and eating lunch. We decided to have dessert as well and shared a banana fritter with hot chocolate and coffee. We left here and decided to walk through the tiny town and check out Ella train station. We couldn't come all the way to Ella on the train because of the heavy rains they had the tracks had been damaged and covered from land slides. I very quickly started to feel quite sick so we headed back to the car and started to head home. Not realising how sick I felt the driver stopped off to chat to one of his friends and try and find himself a room for the night. We made it back to the hotel and I was very happy to see a toilet and a bed! I slept for a couple of hours while Rudi went for a 'little walk.'I woke and it was dark and started to worry a little when there was no sign of Rudi. As I started to plan the rescue operation in my head in he walked saying "I just went on the most epic walk!" So he ventured off on foot with camera to check out the mountains and try to get to the waterfall. Along the road he met a local man who offered to show him the way. After originally refusing and being followed Rudi gave in and agreed for the local farmer to show him the way as it was a little dangerous to walk as it was slippery and muddy. Anyway hours later after walking well past the waterfall and after the local farmer took many photos of Rudi he returned safely! I was feeling a little better so we sat and had dinner at the guest house and tried some curd and palm syrup for dessert. Was quite yummy!