Sri Lanka 2013
Episode 5: Tea and Walks in Ella
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January 16-18 2013 Ella
How many men does it take to break a lock? By my count it was
20. One to get a hammer, a second to try with a crowbar, a third
to get a mallet from a construction site across the road, a
fourth to try a rock and the others to offer advice. The 2 ½
hour bus ride from Tissa to Ella had been without incident until
Ray and I got off and the ticket seller on our bus tried to open
the compartment at the rear of the bus to access our suitcases.
The bus was old and the roads are often pot-holed. We were not
surprised that the lock was jammed. This became a source of
entertainment and an unscheduled rest stop for the rest of the
bus passengers. It took 15 or 20 minutes until the door was
unlocked. I don’t know how the compartment, containing other
boxes and suitcases, was secured for the rest of the trip. We
didn’t bother to wait around and find out. We got our bags and
walked to our hotel, Dream Cafe, on the main street in town.
New hotels and restaurants are popping up all over Sri Lanka to serve the burgeoning tourist industry. Our hotel, recommended by a fellow tourist, was a new addition to an existing restaurant. We had the biggest room so far. It was actually a suite with a large bedroom opening into a sitting room with doors to a back balcony. It was more expensive than some of the hotels we have chosen but at 6300 Rs (less than $55 CAD) with a big breakfast, it was good value. We have been enjoying the Sri Lankan food. The curries, served with rice, and sometimes noodles, include four or more types of curried vegetables and meat or fish, chutney or sambol and come according to your heat tolerance. We like medium spicy. Breakfast could be Sri Lankan style with String Hoppers, which are nests of noodles, and lentil curry or a Sri Lankan omelet filled with tomato, onion and chilis, eggs of your choice, toast, tea or coffee, plenty to see you through until lunch. Ella had an extra treat for us to try. Two tiny restaurants specialized in rotti, which is a thin pancake wrapped around a choice of vegetables, cheese, meat or even just chocolate or honey. A variation we liked was kotthu rotti. The pancake was chopped into small pieces and fried with carrots, cabbage and other vegetables, meat or chicken if you wished and served with optional spicy gravy. The helpings were so big that lunch was one order shared between the two of us. Dessert at the guesthouses was usually a fruit salad, but at Elephant Camp, our place in Tissa, we enjoyed curd, a type of custard made with buffalo milk and served with coconut or palm honey. A yogurt lassi, ginger beer or Sprite and of course, tea went well with lunch. Lion Beer was usually our choice for dinner. Ella, at 1041M, is notable for two main reasons. It is surrounded by tea plantations and it is a good spot to warm up for the demanding walk to Adam’s Peak, reputedly the place where the Biblical Adam first set foot. Pilgrims and tourists flock to the peak but we had no intention of tackling the climb. You have to start climbing at 2 AM to get the view at sunrise. If you are lucky you will be down by 9 AM and most probably suffer from sore leg muscles for the next few days. Little Adam’s Peak was more our style. We started out through a tea plantation where women filled large sacks with the new growth tea leaves. Men were busy pruning the bushes to the requisite one foot height. We followed an extended family of Grandparents, parents and three small children for the final 20 minute climb up concrete steps to the top of the peak. Obviously, if small children can make the climb, almost anyone can get to the top to enjoy the lovely view of Ella Rock, another pinnacle to bag, more peaks, waterfalls and tea plantations. Although our walk to Little Adam’s Peak wasn’t arduous, I thought I deserved a little pampering. Ella has several establishments offering Ayervedic massage. For 3500 Rs (less than $30) I got a 1 hour whole body massage by a small but strong woman using herbal oils. That was followed by a 15 minutes herbal steam bath in a strange wooden bed with a lid like an iron lung. I laid on a wooden lattice platform covered with a sheet. Herbs were placed on a heating unit under the bed. The heat soon got so hot my thighs were almost burning. The heat was turned down, maybe too much. The experience is supposed to make you sweat and infuse your open pores with herbs. The steam bath wasn’t my favourite part. A shower was in order when I returned to our room as the oils were too heavy to leave on long. I prefer the Turkish Hammam version that ends in a scrub and a soak. Across a valley from Little Adam’s Peak was the luxury 98 Acres Resort. You can stay in one of the thatched roof houses built on the side of the hill facing Little Adam’s Peak, swim in the pool, enjoy your meals in the open sided dining room and walk in the surrounding tea plantation. If you can’t afford to stay there, you can still enjoy a drink on the terrace. I recommend having tea with a thimble cookie in the afternoon. It was a pleasant 2 km walk from Ella town center. We chose 2 of the several grades of loose tea, came in individual French Presses with a tiny dish of dried tea leaves to sniff and determine the difference between the choices. A small hour glass timer ensured that you would infuse the tea no more than 3 minutes. Just beyond the resort was Findlay green tea factory. For 250 Rs you get a private, guided tour. We had to put on disposable shoe covers, hair net and face mask for the tour with our guide. This protected us from all the tea dust produced by the tea processing and protected the tea from any contaminants. The factory was converted 3 or 4 years ago from black tea to green tea, which has gained popularity everywhere for its supposed health benefits. The tea leaves, picked that morning, are heated once at a lower heat than black tea and then given a finishing hot blast. The heated leaves are rolled around and graded for size, from premium large leaves down to tea dust used in tea bags and the type of tea sold by tea wallahs in India. The tour ended with a freshly brewed pot of green tea and a chance to buy their premium grade Gun Powder tea to enjoy at home. Beware the volunteer guides! What was a pleasant walk to Rawana waterfalls and a return trip through farmer’s fields ended up a hassle with our guide over the exorbitant amount he wanted us to pay and what I was willing to pay. Ray and I followed the directions given in Lonely Planet for the walk to Rawana Falls. The approach was along the main railway line, where a troop of Toque Macaque monkeys, endemic to Sri Lanka, climbed bamboo growing next to the tracks and leaped the rails to cross to the other side.
A sign at one end of a rail trestle bridge, one km further on,
pointed downhill to a viewpoint for the falls. It seemed to
indicate a path barricaded by long wooden poles. We crossed the
bridge looking for an alternate path and were approached by a
local man who asked us if we were headed for the falls. He said
he would show us the way. In spite of saying we could get there
our selves, and asking what he charged and getting no answer, he
insisted on leading us. We followed a path under the bridge back
to the barricaded route. Our guide removed the poles and we went
downhill a short distance to a viewing platform. Ray told the
man that we wanted to take a different route back to town. Our
guide said he would lead us, which he did, through all the
farmer’s fields planted in steep terraced beds. His brother,
working in one field, was introduced. Our guide invited us for
dinner at his house, which we refused. Our walk was over when we
were almost back to the main road. That is when the hassling
occurred. I know we could not have found our way easily without
our guide but we were not prepared for the amount he really
wanted. We finally gave him half of the amount he quoted and
left. It almost spoiled a great day. The next time we want to go
on a walk we will either arrange our own guide before we start
out or be more insistent we know what the cost is going to be.
That afternoon we walked a short distance out of town to have tea and a delicious slice of lemon bread at tiny Little Folly restaurant and Guesthouse. The bread was so good we bought a slice of lemon and a slice of chocolate for our train ride the next day. |
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