As our journey continues we’re seeing so many beautiful landscapes in Sri Lanka and meeting some great people. On the final morning in Sigiriya before our bus journey to Kandy, we went with a few hostel guests for a short walk which took us around rice fields and past some sparkly lakes. We even had a dog join us for the journey and a group of soldiers carrying an AK-47 ask us for a group photo.
After the walk we hopped on a bus with Martin and Max for the journey to Kandy which only took a few hours and we were soon ready to find our next hostel. We were going to stay in the sister hostel of Colombo Beach Hostel and even had a business card which would get us 10% off, but the moment we stepped into the building Max wasn’t happy and to be honest the place lacked any sort of atmosphere and was dark and dingy. We walked back out of the hostel and decided to grab some food and discuss where we’d prefer to go. We settled on the Clock Inn Hostel which wasn’t too far away and wasn’t bad when we got inside.
That evening we wandered around Kandy a little and grabbed some local food in a small chain. Martin and Max stayed out for cocktails but we decided to get an early night before the journey to Ella in the morning.
Another must-see in Sri Lanka that everyone talks about is the train route from Kandy to Ella. High in the mountains you pass through some stunning scenery and the six hour journey disappears in no time. We awoke early in the morning to get our tickets for the train and waited to fight for seats when he time came. There’s not much to say about the journey that you can’t see in the photos, so here you go.
We left Martin at Hatton as he wanted to climb Adam’s Peak, something which we were too lazy to consider doing. Our homestay in Ella was chosen randomly on the way and was a short walk from the station. Once we’d put our bags down and showered we headed back out to find some food and settled into Chill bar for the next five hours. The burgers, curry and cocktails were a welcome treat and probably the most expensive things we’ve had on our whole time away so far. Worth it though.
Through the power of the internet (Instagram in particular) we were also able to hang out with Raechel and Amanda again, who had been out climbing Adam’s Peak that day and were staying just around the corner. This flow of people and random coincidences are making the trip pretty special. When you’re so far from home, seeing familiar friendly faces and experiencing things with new friends is the next best thing.
If we visit Sri Lanka again I’m definitely going to spend some time hiking in Ella. We definitely missed out on some amazing scenery which we caught a glimpse of in the taxi on the way out, so I’m going to have too make my way back here in the future.