SHE IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SRI LANKA

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Day 7: ELLA - ELLA ROCK (LAS TIERRAS ALTAS)

Thursday, June 27, 2013

We follow in She in the Highlands of Sri Lanka and we are still getting up early to take advantage of the days we are spending on this trip to Sri Lanka.
At 6 in the morning the alarm clock is ringing and at 7 we are already in the breakfast room, filling the stomach to face the day we will go to She rock.
Once we have had breakfast, we take our backpacks, we leave the Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow and we go in the direction of Ella train station, which is where the road starts following the train tracks to She rock.

Ella train station in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

We will not deny that the idea of going up She rock, mainly it is for the section that has to be traveled on the train tracks, which is something that we have read on many occasions and we have seen photos and we do not see the moment of being able to do it.

Upon arrival at Ella train station we find that the access is closed by a fence, but we continue walking and less than 10 meters, we find an access, among the vegetation, which leaves us next to the train tracks.
First step achieved!

Leaving Ella Train Station in the Highlands of Sri Lanka.

Walking on the train tracks is a unique experience, in which it seems that we go back in time and get fully into a movie ... It is certainly one of the essential things in Sri Lanka, take a walking tour, getting lost between the train tracks.
As we move forward, we meet a lot of local people, who walk, of course with much more security than us on the tracks, with children, with work bags ...
To who The Highlands of Sri Lanka, the train tracks become improvised roads.
The landscapes we see all along the way are spectacular, from those we see in the distance, to those we see in the sections where the roads become wider and we cross small villages and schools ...

Landscapes we have traveling the Ella train tracks in the Highlands of Sri Lanka.

College at the foot of Ella's train tracks in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

To go to She rock, it is best to provide a map of the situation, as we did yesterday and thus be able to follow the directions worse or better.
Why we are not going to lie to you and the map is not that it is too intuitive… also counting that we are not the kings of orientation.

Way of Ella Rock ...

The complete journey, from She until She rock It is about 10 kilometers or so, which are done in about 4 hours.

Landscapes on the way to Ella Rock. She in the Highlands

We, in traveling the first 2.5 kilometers, have taken more than 1 hour, stopping at every moment to take pictures and enjoy the tour. What is that about, right?
After those 2.5 kilometers, we reach a black bridge, which we have to cross and we see a small altar of Buddha, where we have to turn left, go down some stairs, cross a small wooden bridge and there we find a stream and A small waterfall, from where we must follow the path.

Details of our journey to Ella Rock.She in the Highlands

Black Bridge that must be passed to continue towards Ella Rock.She in the Highlands

Stream we found on the way to Ella Rock ... She in the Highlands

At this point, we find a tessitura, the map we bought yesterday, marks a path to the right but, the path on the left seems more logical, do not ask us too much because, but we intuit it this way, so we take that ...
We are ascending and each time the road becomes more difficult.
I have enough vertigo I start to go a little bad and reconsider the idea of reaching She rock if all the remaining path is equal to this.
After one of the worst stretches so far, just turn around, we see that we have phenomenal views of the black bridge that we crossed a few minutes ago and at the moment, we heard the noise of the train ... We could not get here at a better time!

Landscapes on the way to Ella Rock ... She in the Highlands

Here we met for the fourth time with a man who on the train tracks, almost at the beginning of the journey, we asked if we were going well to She rock and when he said yes, he has followed us.
At first we found it a bit weird, but then we stopped giving it importance, although every time, we met again with him, sitting on the tracks, as if he were waiting for us ...
We had already read that some locals had found a kind of business in She rock they had opened new paths among the vegetation, to create confusion and then to appear to be able to guide you and then collect some propinilla ...
And how could it be otherwise, this has happened to us!
The man has told us that we were going astray, that we would follow him and he would take us to She rock.
We have looked at each other a couple of times, but given the uncertainty of knowing if we were going well or not and seeing that the road we were following was not too good, we have turned around following it and we have reached the area of the waterfall bridge, where we had the doubt between the two roads and it has not led us through the one that we had rejected, if not that it has put us down a road, for calling it so, very narrow, full of weeds, that we were moving away with our hands, to be able to continue ascending for an impressive slope!
When we had been climbing for more than 30 minutes, unable to see anything, because the road was only wide for one person, we asked him how much was left and he told us that about an hour ... we have given up, especially me and we have chosen to start descending where we had been climbing ...
When we have reached the creek area, for the third time, after resting for a while next to the waterfalls, Roger, not happy with the result of not being able to see She rock, has decided to try again, this time for the first way we have ruled out the first time ...
It has taken less than 30 minutes to return again because I was not very clear on the way. It is very clear that She rock It is not for us.
The only thing clear is that today we will enjoy the walk along the tracks, which was really what we wanted to do and we will have to settle for yesterday's views from Little Adam 's Peak.
We really do not know if the man has wanted to deceive us, or really wanted to guide us, but to this, we believe that we will always have the doubt, well, when we return to She in the Highlands of Sri Lanka, we will try again 😉

More practical information to prepare your trip to Sri Lanka
- 10 essential places to visit in Sri Lanka
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Sri Lanka

Now we only have to go back to cross the train tracks, this time traveling the opposite way, heading to She.

Returning to Her in the Highlands

On the way back we are lucky to coincide with the schedule of a train and we have to depart in a tiny piece that is between the track and a ledge, to let it go through what is its way and we are invading for a few hours.

Trains in Sri Lanka.She in the Highlands

The tour back to She We do it with the peace of mind of being in a country that has fallen in love with us since we arrived.
We really had high expectations, but we can say, now that we are almost halfway through, that they are more than exceeded, each and every one of those we had in our minds.

Returning to Her in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

Resting on the train tracks, Ella's path in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

The landscapes that we are seeing and the train tracks, do not stop “calling us” to use the cameras and do not stop shooting at any image we have.
It is one of the most beautiful tours we have ever done.

Train tracks, Ella road in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

Resting on the train tracks, Ella's path in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

Almost arriving again at Ella Train Station, we see in the distance, in the tea fields, a small white dot, which after giving all the zoom to the camera, we see that it is a tea picker ...
Today we can say that it has been a full day, although it has been from a distance, we have been able to see a tea picker and we have traveled, all morning the tracks of that special train for Sri Lanka…

Gathering tea in Ella in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

We arrived around 1 noon on Main Street in She and we realize that we have taken the same time to make our journey as if we had reached She rock!! In the end we will have to give thanks for not having found it, that if we are not sure that they give us 6 in the afternoon and we are still traveling the train tracks!
We stop at our usual place these days, Chilli Café, where we have a coke and a banana smoothie to cool off before eating.
Here we have wifi at good speed and the food is pretty good, so it has become one of our usual corners in She in the Highlands of Sri Lanka.
About 2 noon, already rested from our morning excursion, we ordered a fried noodles and a lambprai, which is a rice, with vegetables, meat, sauces ... served on a banana leaf.

Eating in it in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

For dessert we ordered a banana and chocolate pankake and a couple of teas for 2625 rupees all. We cannot complain about the prices we are paying so far!

Desserts in Her in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

And as an anecdote to say that we were just commenting and putting on Twitter that the weather forecasts did not give even one, because we had been watching them for a month and always said that it was raining a lot and since we are here ... we had not seen a drop during the day, just at night.
And just commenting on this ... it starts pouring out on the terrace of the restaurant !!!!!

Living "a little monsoon" in Her in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

We wait a while for amaine and we take a tuk tuk for 100 rupees (this is the price they always give us and the truth is that we do not haggle, we are 5 minutes from the center, but it is raised ... it is little money and the truth is that we don't like to haggle for a few cents), to the hotel in Ella.
We leave the restaurant with a stomach to burst and go straight to the hotel that we deserve a break until this afternoon!
That we are on vacation!
As soon as we arrive at the hotel in Ella, Roger realizes that he does not carry the Iphone 5 in his pants pocket. Without knowing if he has left it in the restaurant or it has fallen on the street or in the tuk tuk we run and on the road we see the tuk tuk boy who climbs towards us with two children, making signs ... he comes with the mobile in hand to return it !!!
This fact has shown us how people are here, without a doubt, very generous.
This remains as another of the anecdotes that we will remember whenever we think about our trip to Sri Lanka and Maldives.
We rest for a while at the hotel and at 6 pm, we walk down to Main Street, where we take the opportunity to buy postcards and stamps for 275 rupees and a package of cookies for 95 and how could it be otherwise, we will end in our usual Chilli Café !!
In the time we spent there, we met several travelers like us, with whom we had a conversation, explaining our trips, both the places where we have already passed, and where we will go ... These types of meetings are the most useful way to meet First hand the reality of a country, lived in the first person and that is why it is good to know a useful vocabulary when it comes to relating.
Tonight we ordered a potato and apple salad and a hamburger plus water and a beer for 1969 rupees.
Before taking a tuk tuk back to our accommodation, we take the postcards, hoping that, as always, they will arrive at their destination.
On the way to the hotel, we meet an elephant and they explain that the ornaments they are putting on the streets and the elephant, are for celebrations that start tomorrow in the city.
Mmm ... a pity that we have to leave tomorrow, it would have been a great experience to have known this celebration firsthand.

Elephant in Her in the Highlands of Sri Lanka

When we arrive at the Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow it is after 10 in the evening. Today has been a very complete day and we have almost no time to comment… we go straight to rest that tomorrow we leave for Nuwara Eliya by train.
While it is time to get up again, we remember our great day at She.