Sunday, May 22, 2011

Back from Ella

As soon as I finished my last blog and looked around the guys were already in deep sleep on the grass patch at the top of mini Adams peak. I too put my phone away and closed my eyes. The gentle breeze and the perfect shade made it a perfect place to sleep.

What I remember next is hearing a huge thunder and was shaken out of the sleep. I suddenly see that the climate has changed, it has almost got dark, the clouds had set in and the thunder and lighting had got closer. But still 3 guys were snoring and fast asleep without being woken up by even the huge thunder. Since it was my "responsibility", I made sure I took pics of them sleeping before trying to wake them up ;)

When I try to wake up one guy he asked, "where am I?", the other guy said "ah I was feeling like Gulliver being attacked by the ants here", next guy woke up with red eyes and asked "damn it, what time is it?". All of us felt the calm of the place absorbing us. If not for the environment I doubt that people within an hour's sleep would be dreaming, snoring and forgetting the time consciousness.

The locals tell me that when Lord Buddha visited Sri Lanka he has visited the mini Adam's peak, but has supposedly was disappointed that the farmers were working at the fields on a poya day and quipped that the place is with sinners and opted to head to the place currently refereed as Adams peak without staying here for too long.

Right opposite the peak we could see the Ravana rock and Ravana ella. The place which they tell us as the place where ravana hid seetha. Anyway I have no idea about the accuracy of the information.

We made our way downhill in double quick time to avoid getting caught in the rain. We made our way to Ella grand hotel, which was a bit of an expensive place when compared to local standards, but the view and the environment and food made it value for money. We had some snacks and then headed to the railway station. Got 2nd class tickets which cost 350 Rs, which is 100 less than sleeper rates, but the risk was that a seat was not guaranteed. Anyway since it was a Saturday night we managed to get seats from Ella itself.
Train started from Ella at 7 PM and we reached Colombo fort by 7 AM. It was a nice unplanned trip which went to plan. The Badulla up country train trip is worth to be taken at least once in a lifetime!

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