From Udawalawe National Park, we moved into the hiking phase of our trip. We traveled by car from Udawalawe to Ella, stopping at Ravana Falls along the way (which was quite dry but still pretty).
We settled in at our guest house, which had an incredible view.
It also had an insane amount of light switches. This is something we'd noticed already in Sri Lanka--each light seems to have an individual switch, rather than having one switch for a room (or even a group of lights). This guest house took the "one light, one switch" principle to a ridiculous extreme.
Later that afternoon, we set off to the top of Little Adam's Peak. It was an easy hike and took about an hour to get from our guest house to the top. There we were rewarded with some beautiful views.
Colin was most excited to build rock piles at the peak.
Emmett and I sat and watched the sun setting behind the hills.
The next day, we set out on a longer, harder hike up Ella Rock. This hike would take about 5-6 hours round trip. It started off with a walk along railroad tracks, something that is mostly forbidden in Europe and the United States. In this part of the world, however, railroad tracks = pedestrian highway. There were lots of people walking along the tracks, including tourists, kids going to/from school, and local people going about their daily business.
In the beginning, walking on the tracks made Colin really uncomfortable, so he preferred to walk along the side. After a while, though, he got more comfortable walking on the tracks, which was much easier.
I have clear memories of walking along railroad tracks in Pensacola as a child with my Dad. When a train would approach, we'd put coins on the rails and wait for the train to smush them. I was SO EXCITED to do this for the first time with my boys. We put 5 coins on the rails and waited.....
Here comes the train (we stood plenty back from the tracks).....
Success!!!
We continued hiking, through tea plantations and, eventually, up Ella Rock.
We got to a clearing where we had a pretty view of the beautiful hillside.
Some more climbing....
Until eventually we made it to the top of Ella Rock! Where we plopped down and rested for a while.
The pictures don't do it justice, but the view from the top was so open and far-reaching. It felt like we were on top of the world.
The hike down went a bit quicker and both boys were happy to reach the railroad track part, where the walk was flat and clear.
The boys got a kick out of these pictures. We went out to dinner one night in Ella and when we asked for a beer the waiter informed us it was a public holiday and therefore the restaurant couldn't serve beer. He then offered to serve us "tea".......we then joined quite a few people drinking "tea" that night with dinner.
Ella was a nice stop for a couple of days but small enough that we were glad we'd only planned for 2 days. We had booked train tickets in advance from Ella - Nuwara Eliya, which is regarded as one of the most scenic train routes in all of Sri Lanka.
The train car included an outside observation area, where we could easily take photos--including ones with us hanging out of the train (something that's also not allowed in Europe or the US but totally acceptable on the Indian sub-continent).
We passed through quaint little stations along the way.
As we chugged up and over hill after hill, the scenery continued to be spectacular. Lush, green tea plantations awaited us around every turn of the tracks.
After one stop, we noticed that there was a contraption attached to our train--with people aboard, nonetheless! We're not sure if this is an "official" attachment or if someone just decided to hitch a ride, but it was definitely one of those "you wouldn't see this at home" moments.
We arrived in Nuwara Eliya, which is considered the capital of Sri Lankan tea country. We walked through Victoria Park, which was one of the nicest city parks we'd seen in SE Asia thus far. I particularly liked this succinct sign.
There was a snake charmer with enormous snakes in baskets.
We found the children's playground, and the boys ran around and had a great time. We've realized how few outdoor playgrounds there are in SE Asia (probably due to climate but also probably due to lack of public funds to maintain them), so this was a real treat.
The next day, we took a day trip to visit Ramboda Falls and to visit a tea factory. We saw more lush, green tea fields as we tuk-tuked our way out of the city.
Ramboda Falls was quite a bit smaller due to the dry season, but it was still a beautiful sight. There were lots of local families out enjoying the day with a picnic and swim in the waterfall's pools.
We didn't take a lot of pictures because, frankly, the Sri Lankan guys were all in their underwear. But as soon as the guys saw our boys getting ready to get in the water, they came over and took them both by the hand to help them in. They all spent the next 20 minutes splashing, swimming, and laughing together. It was one of those spontaneous travel moments that I hope my boys always remember.
When the boys were done swimming and we'd said goodbye to their new Sri Lankan friends, we took a picture to remember our hike.
After Ramboda Falls, we stopped at Blue Field Tea Gardens to see the factory and drink some very fresh tea.
These are the giant machines that dry the fresh tea leaves.
The leaves are crushed, sorted, crushed again (if necessary) and dried further before they become the tea that ends up in our teacups.
On our last day in Nuwara Eliya, we took another early morning trip--this time to Horton Plains National Park.
While Horton Plains does have some wildlife living inside its boundaries, it's most well known for World's End, a sheer precipice that affords an amazing view.
Due to its elevation, there is actually frost in the park in the morning! We began our hike in multiple layers and shed them as the rising sun quickly warmed up the park.
We first passed Baker's Falls, which were small because of the dry season but still pretty.
We made it to World's End after hiking for about 2 hours. From this point, we could see the Udawalawe Reservoir and even farther (almost to the ocean).
Eventually we hiked our way back to the entrance of the park, enjoying the open plains as we went.
We read about and found a restaurant, with all of 3 tables, that served delicious, authentic Italian pizza. Colin accosted other nearby tourists and talked them into playing Exploding Kittens while we all waited for our pizzas. This is what happens when you spend 24/7 with your family....you talk other people into playing games with you so you can have a break from your own people for a while :)
The owners said their dream was to expand their restaurant beyond 3 tables one day. We contributed to the realization of said dream by coming back the next day for lunch, because the pizza was that good (and we were happy for a short break from otherwise delicious curry and rice). The walls of the restaurant had been signed by patrons extolling the virtues of the unexpectedly-delicious pizza, and Colin was excited to add his contribution to the wall.
With yummy pizzas in our bellies, our hiking phase was over and it was time to move on to the cultural sites!
