Day 621 - Tea trails

We got up nice and early today to make sure we made the bus in time! We made the 2.5km walk along the shoreline to the station to get our legs moving as they would be stuck in the bus all day. It was a good thing we left early, as our bus filled up and left half and hour early!

Our destination is Ella, a quaint wee village tucked amongst tea fields in the hill country of Sri Lanka. The first half of the journey was an enjoyable tiki-tour along the southern shore, in and out of fishing villages and past beaches. As we turned inland and begun climbing, our conductor jumped out at a roadside temple and gave a donation and made a prayer - not sure if this is a good sign or bad?

When we arrived in Ella we were immediately glad of our decision to come here. We found ourselves in a beautiful guesthouse completely surrounded by pine forests, that reminded us a lot of being home. We almost feel like we have the world to ourselves up here, it's so peaceful.

After we settled in we made our way up to small Adam's peak where a local guy took us under his wing and guided us through the trails that lead through the millions of hectares of tea fields. He parted at the base of the hill, and left us for the climb - even though only 10 minutes up we got amazing views out over a lush land with a view of the Ravana waterfalls we passed on the way up in the bus.

On the way down we watched as gleeful ladies with delicate hands picked the leaves and buds of the trees and laid them into the sacks they balance on their heads as they move along.

We found a little restaurant for lunch where the friendly cook told us of another trail to follow through some more fields, which we did after getting our fill!

As we had a huge lunch we elaborated on our bread and banana diet by throwing in a huge pot of buffalo curd and a mango, which we devoured for dinner, after watching the sun slowly set on this green paradise.

Adlibing Ella's tea.