The 30th of November we left our safe haven in the middle of nowhere for the relatively short trip to Ella. The rain was gone, but we could see many trees that had fallen over, and power lines that had been knocked down. There were many work crews cleaning up along the road.
At one point it looked like a tuk-tuk had rounded a corner and crashed into a power pole, and large trucks had to scrape under the lines.
Our residence in Ella was a beautiful little place called Waterfall View Inn, and we could sit on our terrace and look across the valley to a lovely waterfall!
The clouds rolled in and out of the valley, again lending that mystical quality to the landscape.
The town of Ella (about 1 or 2 km away from our “inn”, down a winding, steep up and down, single lane, bumpy road) was really only a curve in the main road and an intersection – but it had some ok restaurants and great views all around.
The first afternoon, we went to see the “nine arch bridge” which is a picturesque railway bridge a short distance outside of Ella on the way to Badulla.
Our first full day in Ella, we walked along the railway to the waterfall. The trains were still not running, so we didn’t have to keep looking over our shoulders. The walk to the waterfall and back would normally take about an hour – it took us two. We could also have walked a little further up to “Ella Rock”, which apparently has a wonderful view, but we decided to prioritise familial harmony, and went into town for lunch instead.
In the afternoon we went to see another waterfall called Ravana falls. This was a much higher waterfall a few kilometres out of Ella.
It all looks very nice. Verdant with tropical growth, and you seem now to be having a real holiday without pressure to solve all the problems that came up.