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!
Showing posts with label Train. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Train. Show all posts
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Ella Adventure Day 2
Top of the mini Adams peak, lied under a tree and listening to the swaying of the leaves and the occasional thunder from far away, while the guys are trying to interpret the folk lore of Ella in their own wildest imaginary terms yours truly is trying to make an attempt to summarize how the day progressed.
We decided to get down from the train at Demodara instead of ella, we reached there by about 6 AM. This allowed us to get a view at the famous railway architectural marvel by the name of the Demodra loop or the railway knot or the railway loop. As the story goes, the train lines from the two ends couldn't be connected to each other since the maximum inclination allowed at that time was smaller than the inclination between the two lines. Apparently when the architects were without a solution in hand a kid has suggested the loop like structure using his turban as an analogy. English architects took the cue from his thought and built this railway loop.
After taking a walk along the loop we decided to take a walk along the railway line crossing another iconic railway architecture by the name of nine arch bridge, supposedly built without concrete and it still stands and then reached Ella by continuing to walk along the railway line, it was a long but nice walk with the scenic up country views with a mix of tea plantations and the pine forests. Then we had a nice view of Ella gap, then a bath at Ravana ella and then hiked to the peak of mini adams peak. Since we have covered all the places we wanted to cover, we are considering the option of taking the night mail train for the return trip to avoid the disappointment of having to stand all the way to Colombo as we have been told that since its a Sunday it will be crowded.
When I return will update the posts with pictures and more details. Will keep you guys posted. Now time for me to doze off while gazing at the sky and the valley at the horizon!
We decided to get down from the train at Demodara instead of ella, we reached there by about 6 AM. This allowed us to get a view at the famous railway architectural marvel by the name of the Demodra loop or the railway knot or the railway loop. As the story goes, the train lines from the two ends couldn't be connected to each other since the maximum inclination allowed at that time was smaller than the inclination between the two lines. Apparently when the architects were without a solution in hand a kid has suggested the loop like structure using his turban as an analogy. English architects took the cue from his thought and built this railway loop.
After taking a walk along the loop we decided to take a walk along the railway line crossing another iconic railway architecture by the name of nine arch bridge, supposedly built without concrete and it still stands and then reached Ella by continuing to walk along the railway line, it was a long but nice walk with the scenic up country views with a mix of tea plantations and the pine forests. Then we had a nice view of Ella gap, then a bath at Ravana ella and then hiked to the peak of mini adams peak. Since we have covered all the places we wanted to cover, we are considering the option of taking the night mail train for the return trip to avoid the disappointment of having to stand all the way to Colombo as we have been told that since its a Sunday it will be crowded.
When I return will update the posts with pictures and more details. Will keep you guys posted. Now time for me to doze off while gazing at the sky and the valley at the horizon!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Ella Adventure live blog - Day 1
3 idiots found 2 more idiots and had just started on a trip to Ella. Thanks to the generous ticket buyer we have a one way tickets in hand ;) its sleeper rates 2nd class tickets marked as 343 Rs but the price is 450 Rs, but as it stands now no mode of return and no place to stay and doesn't know what to expect. 3 idiots already declared that they don't have any expectation and knowing Taj mahal train trip how can you expect anything more. If you haven't read it find it under the himalayan heights link on top.
Would be interesting to see how this will go. I will make sure that I keep you updated about the adventures.
The train is expected to head to Kandy and then the through the famous up country route and just now the train started to stroll sharp at 8 PM from Ella.
Would be interesting to see how this will go. I will make sure that I keep you updated about the adventures.
The train is expected to head to Kandy and then the through the famous up country route and just now the train started to stroll sharp at 8 PM from Ella.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Great Sales People on the Kandy Colombo Train
The train journey from Kandy to Colombo is fascinating. I have taken this journey countless number of times but it never fails to impress. The stretch from Fort to Kandy takes you through different landscapes. I have already written a blog about the landscapes and the surroundings click here to read it. The focus of this post is not on the surrounding but on three sales people who impressed me. They are ordinary people exhibiting some strange qualities as per our usual standards.
The vadai seller
Apparently he has been selling vadai (an indian short eat) in the train for the last 8 years. He is a stylish act, the way he handles the vadai impresses everyone. He first takes a piece of paper and places it nicely in his left hand , he uses the tong and picks the vadai with it and embeds it in the paper on the left hand. Then picks the knife and slices the vadai into two. Then he picks the spoon and applies the chillie paste. All this is done with style and grace. Each vadai is prepared in this way and then given to the customer. It has become the most sort after eatery in the train, I know people who have his mobile number and give him a call and inform the compartment they are in, because they do not want to take the risk of not getting a vadai because he runs out of stock very often.
This mans craft has not only charmed the locals but also the foreigners, who make it a point to taste his 20/= vadai. The best part came last Friday, he walked into the compartment, there was a large family travelling in it. I think they were either first time train travelers or one off travelers. Obviously they were not interested in buying from him, since they didn't know how it would taste and very easily he could have also walked away not worrying about them since it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that he can finish his days stock whether this family buys or not. This brought out the shrewed businessmen in him, he made an offer to one of the family member to try his vadai for free! Within the next 15 minutes I saw the family pay him for that vadai and also buying 7 more from him. I was left amazed and was wondering man didn't he do a (W)hoAreWee.
The kadala seller
The second sales person is a very old person who sells grams, peanuts and other bean packets. He is very chirpy when it comes to selling. One day he showed of his English skill to a group of foreigners. His punch line to sell packets was "Pick One Any One!". Later on I got to know he is a very knowledgeable man, who does this in his old age while being in retirement from a government job.
Train canteen
3rd guy is the guy who runs the canteen in the intercity train, he goes around distributing food items and strangely he is not interested in collecting money immediately. In a nation where, people normally take the money before giving a good, this behavior was very strange to me. After an hour or so he comes around and people call him and pay him the money. I was told that when he is out of change, he refuses to take the excessive money from the passenger and tells the passenger its easier for you to remember me, than for me to remember whom I owe money to, so you may give the balance next time you travel. He plays into the conscience of people and strangely he creates a culture where people make sure that they find him and make the payment for what ever they eat!
Irrespective of the scale you are doing in, Sales is a unique art and not everyone can do it. You should have the skill in you to do it and I guess its a skill you should be born with. If I was in their positions I am sure I would have just walked away not trying to sell the new family and also would have made sure I collect the money before I give the food. But these men think differently and become successful in their own right.
 |
| Train winding through Kadugannwa |
The vadai seller
Apparently he has been selling vadai (an indian short eat) in the train for the last 8 years. He is a stylish act, the way he handles the vadai impresses everyone. He first takes a piece of paper and places it nicely in his left hand , he uses the tong and picks the vadai with it and embeds it in the paper on the left hand. Then picks the knife and slices the vadai into two. Then he picks the spoon and applies the chillie paste. All this is done with style and grace. Each vadai is prepared in this way and then given to the customer. It has become the most sort after eatery in the train, I know people who have his mobile number and give him a call and inform the compartment they are in, because they do not want to take the risk of not getting a vadai because he runs out of stock very often.
This mans craft has not only charmed the locals but also the foreigners, who make it a point to taste his 20/= vadai. The best part came last Friday, he walked into the compartment, there was a large family travelling in it. I think they were either first time train travelers or one off travelers. Obviously they were not interested in buying from him, since they didn't know how it would taste and very easily he could have also walked away not worrying about them since it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that he can finish his days stock whether this family buys or not. This brought out the shrewed businessmen in him, he made an offer to one of the family member to try his vadai for free! Within the next 15 minutes I saw the family pay him for that vadai and also buying 7 more from him. I was left amazed and was wondering man didn't he do a (W)hoAreWee.
 |  |
The kadala seller
The second sales person is a very old person who sells grams, peanuts and other bean packets. He is very chirpy when it comes to selling. One day he showed of his English skill to a group of foreigners. His punch line to sell packets was "Pick One Any One!". Later on I got to know he is a very knowledgeable man, who does this in his old age while being in retirement from a government job.
Train canteen
3rd guy is the guy who runs the canteen in the intercity train, he goes around distributing food items and strangely he is not interested in collecting money immediately. In a nation where, people normally take the money before giving a good, this behavior was very strange to me. After an hour or so he comes around and people call him and pay him the money. I was told that when he is out of change, he refuses to take the excessive money from the passenger and tells the passenger its easier for you to remember me, than for me to remember whom I owe money to, so you may give the balance next time you travel. He plays into the conscience of people and strangely he creates a culture where people make sure that they find him and make the payment for what ever they eat!
Irrespective of the scale you are doing in, Sales is a unique art and not everyone can do it. You should have the skill in you to do it and I guess its a skill you should be born with. If I was in their positions I am sure I would have just walked away not trying to sell the new family and also would have made sure I collect the money before I give the food. But these men think differently and become successful in their own right.
 |  |
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Incredible India: Monument of Love
We woke up on the first of January and set off to the Nizamudin railway station to take the 7 O'Clock Train to Agra. We had to take a connecting bus from the Delhi railway station to the Nizamudin station, we got into the bus. Since we were not sure of the point to get down, JK slowly started a conversation with a fellow passenger.
As usual we were introduced as the university students and then it turns out that they guy we are speaking to is a anchor in NDTV. He was really helpful and was willing to give his number and wanted JK to give his number return. JK was in a dilemma since what he had was a Singapore roaming number and not a Sri Lankan number, although he introduced himself as a Sri Lankan. Somehow he blamed it on the handset and escapes.
We reached the station on time, but we were told that train is delayed by 3 hours, so we didnt have an option but to buy news papers and sit on the ground and read up the paper from end to end. Anyway it was good to do a bit of catching up on current affairs after being totally disconnected with the rest of the world for 8 days.
Then the supposedly 3 hour train journey, takes more than 4 hours and guys wanted a way to kill time and the flirting sessions commence. I think I shouldn't write it here. FULL STOP.
We arrive at Agra and then the three wheeler drivers start dictating terms, it was annoying, we didn't know how long it would take from the station to Taj Mahal and after the first day experience we were suspicious whenever they approached us and tried to advice. Then we found that a three wheel was needed to reach there, so took one of them and arrived at the gate,to find that the queues were really long and it was already almost 3 PM and they do not allow people to get in after 5 PM. The black market tickets was a thriving business, since the ticket selling point was far away. We got 3 tickets, but then it was local tickets, yours truly was really worried about having local tickets and last thing we want to face was to be thrown out for not having foreigner ticket. I think my worrying got to the others and we decided to get the foreigner tickets, so the plan was for JK to get the tickets and come and for us to be in the queue till he comes.
It turns out to be an utter disaster, JK takes more than 20 mins to return (not his fault because the ticket counter has been a few kilo meters away), the non moving queue upto that point starts to move fast, we get almost close to the gate, we try to tell the people and wait till JK comes to get in, but then no one is in the mood to listen to us and we are eventually pushed out of the queue, I tried to explain to the policeman what happened, but it fell in deaf years. It was frustrating, we had gone all through this from morning and seemed as we would miss even a glimpse of seeing this monument.
Then we decide to try our last possible option, we walked upto the officer in-charge and explained to him, he was a nice man, asked us to meet him as soon as JK gets there with the tickets. Then by the time JK comes there, the officer is not longer there, so we got to the sides of the line, squeeze our self at the entry point, telling the shouting policemen that we got permission from the officer, before he could do much we already mixed in to the queue and sneaked into Taj Mahal!
Taj Mahal was even more majestic than what I expected it to be. We were there right at the sunset. It was beautiful, gigantic, memorable, BUT I wouldn't want to visit it again, unless I am forced to.
We come out of Taj Mahal and make it to the railway station and we are told that the train is delayed by 3 hours, we decide to wait, but then slowly we see the delay time starting to increase. We had our return flight in the morning, so had to go to Delhi somehow. So we decide to get a taxi, it costed atleast 50 times the train ticket price. But no option but we had to take a taxi. So once we got into the taxi we breathed a sigh of relief, we now got the belief that we would reach Delhi in time for the flight. But then hopes in India are short lived, as we have met another classic taxi driver again, every 15 mins he decided to take 15 mins naps. Now we started to edgy, we couldn't force a sleepy man to drive and in the same time we had to catch a flight. So we tried to pursue him to drive. Now every now and then he tried to find a reason to get parts of the final amount promised to him. Already we were suspicious of him and this got really annoying, since the agreement at the start was to pay the full amount on arrival. His English was very poor and tries to ask for 500 RS from us and ends up asking for 50,000 RS. We had to tell him to fly a kite, and then at one point we had to explain that we are not giving anything more till we get to the hotel. Finally we reach the hotel in time and get to the airport also on time. All of this being said the experience in India was unbelievable, looking back its so memorable!
The lesson learnt, if trying to see the monument of love is so painful, how painful will be/is love! :P
So finally we touch down and the next day I make it to office, where I am asked to take a vaccination and goto Africa within the next 4 days! Life is a journey!
 |
| Views from the Train |
As usual we were introduced as the university students and then it turns out that they guy we are speaking to is a anchor in NDTV. He was really helpful and was willing to give his number and wanted JK to give his number return. JK was in a dilemma since what he had was a Singapore roaming number and not a Sri Lankan number, although he introduced himself as a Sri Lankan. Somehow he blamed it on the handset and escapes.
 |
| Illusive Target destination named Taj Mahal |
We reached the station on time, but we were told that train is delayed by 3 hours, so we didnt have an option but to buy news papers and sit on the ground and read up the paper from end to end. Anyway it was good to do a bit of catching up on current affairs after being totally disconnected with the rest of the world for 8 days.
Finally the train reaches the station and the scene unleashed, was something that could easily make into a classic Maniratnam movie, J re-unites with his lost love and his kid. It was sentimental, beautiful and touching. He was shy and not allowing us to take pictures. |  |
Then the supposedly 3 hour train journey, takes more than 4 hours and guys wanted a way to kill time and the flirting sessions commence. I think I shouldn't write it here. FULL STOP.
We arrive at Agra and then the three wheeler drivers start dictating terms, it was annoying, we didn't know how long it would take from the station to Taj Mahal and after the first day experience we were suspicious whenever they approached us and tried to advice. Then we found that a three wheel was needed to reach there, so took one of them and arrived at the gate,to find that the queues were really long and it was already almost 3 PM and they do not allow people to get in after 5 PM. The black market tickets was a thriving business, since the ticket selling point was far away. We got 3 tickets, but then it was local tickets, yours truly was really worried about having local tickets and last thing we want to face was to be thrown out for not having foreigner ticket. I think my worrying got to the others and we decided to get the foreigner tickets, so the plan was for JK to get the tickets and come and for us to be in the queue till he comes.
 |
| Taj Mahal - Will it be the image we would miss? |
It turns out to be an utter disaster, JK takes more than 20 mins to return (not his fault because the ticket counter has been a few kilo meters away), the non moving queue upto that point starts to move fast, we get almost close to the gate, we try to tell the people and wait till JK comes to get in, but then no one is in the mood to listen to us and we are eventually pushed out of the queue, I tried to explain to the policeman what happened, but it fell in deaf years. It was frustrating, we had gone all through this from morning and seemed as we would miss even a glimpse of seeing this monument.
Then we decide to try our last possible option, we walked upto the officer in-charge and explained to him, he was a nice man, asked us to meet him as soon as JK gets there with the tickets. Then by the time JK comes there, the officer is not longer there, so we got to the sides of the line, squeeze our self at the entry point, telling the shouting policemen that we got permission from the officer, before he could do much we already mixed in to the queue and sneaked into Taj Mahal!
Taj Mahal was even more majestic than what I expected it to be. We were there right at the sunset. It was beautiful, gigantic, memorable, BUT I wouldn't want to visit it again, unless I am forced to.
 |
| The pose |
We come out of Taj Mahal and make it to the railway station and we are told that the train is delayed by 3 hours, we decide to wait, but then slowly we see the delay time starting to increase. We had our return flight in the morning, so had to go to Delhi somehow. So we decide to get a taxi, it costed atleast 50 times the train ticket price. But no option but we had to take a taxi. So once we got into the taxi we breathed a sigh of relief, we now got the belief that we would reach Delhi in time for the flight. But then hopes in India are short lived, as we have met another classic taxi driver again, every 15 mins he decided to take 15 mins naps. Now we started to edgy, we couldn't force a sleepy man to drive and in the same time we had to catch a flight. So we tried to pursue him to drive. Now every now and then he tried to find a reason to get parts of the final amount promised to him. Already we were suspicious of him and this got really annoying, since the agreement at the start was to pay the full amount on arrival. His English was very poor and tries to ask for 500 RS from us and ends up asking for 50,000 RS. We had to tell him to fly a kite, and then at one point we had to explain that we are not giving anything more till we get to the hotel. Finally we reach the hotel in time and get to the airport also on time. All of this being said the experience in India was unbelievable, looking back its so memorable!
 |
| Taj Mahal |
The lesson learnt, if trying to see the monument of love is so painful, how painful will be/is love! :P
So finally we touch down and the next day I make it to office, where I am asked to take a vaccination and goto Africa within the next 4 days! Life is a journey!
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