Sri Lanka Day 9-13

Day 9 Ambuluwawa
On the second day in the city of Kandy, we decided to go out to climb the Ambuluwawa Tower.
After about an hour's bus ride, we arrived in Ambuluwawa.
We were immediately approached by tuk-tuk drivers who asked if they should take us up to the tower. However, since we are low-budget travelers, we decided against it and chose to hike up the mountain. It was a 1.7 km uphill trek, and we were told at the bottom that it would take us about 45 minutes. One of the tuk-tuk drivers followed us for several hundred meters, repeatedly asking if he should drive us. The tuk-tuk drivers here are often very persistent. After 20 minutes of climbing, a car pulled up next to us. The Russian couple asked if they could take us up. So we successfully saved some money and met new people at the same time!
They told us they were only here for 5 days and came from Sochi.
Once at the top, we thanked them again and went straight to the tower.
The tower has about 11 floors, and the stairs get narrower as you go higher. In the upper area, there are small caves you had to dodge to let people coming from above pass by. The view from the top was truly stunning.
On the way back, I ran into Maria (the Russian woman), and she briefly told me that her boyfriend, like Jan, was too scared to go up.
Afterwards, we headed back and were immediately approached by tuk-tuk drivers asking if they should take us down. When we said that 1000 rupees was too much, one offered to take us down for half the price. Arriving at the entrance, we wanted to take the bus back to the city, for which we would have had to wait over half an hour. Fortunately, tuk-tuk drivers approach you every few minutes. The driver, who had a friend in the car, offered us a ride to the city for 500 rupees.
When we arrived in the city and were waiting for our bus, it of course started pouring. Luckily, we had brought our rain jackets.
A woman next to me offered to share half of her umbrella, and we started chatting. She could even speak a few words in German and told me she was a teacher here.
Back in Kandy, we had lunch and then made our way back to our accommodation.
In the evening, our host cooked for us again, and we had curry and rice once more.

Day 10 Nuwara Eliya
After breakfast, we went straight to the bus terminal.
Once there, we took the first bus to Nuwara Eliya. We drove for three hours through a beautiful mountain landscape.
There were tea plantations and waterfalls everywhere.
Cows were wandering freely on the road, and up in the town, we even saw some horses roaming around.
Upon arriving in Nuwara Eliya, we headed to our homestay.
Nuwara Eliya is situated at a high elevation and is therefore significantly cooler (only 20 degrees) than the previous area. I actually had to wear long pants for the first time in a while.
First, we hiked about 20 minutes uphill to a nearby waterfall. Unfortunately, it started to rain a little on the way there. The rainy season begins here in April. However, we were still lucky at that time, as it only rained in the afternoons.
After that, we walked back down the hill and looked for something to eat.
Once again, we had something quite extraordinary, namely curry.
This time, though, it was served with rotti (a type of flatbread) instead of rice.
Then we strolled around the town a bit, got a coffee and a tea, and headed back to our accommodation.
As always, we saw a lot of street dogs that day, but today there were indeed many sick dogs as well. One dog hardly had any fur left, another hobbled toward us, and yet another had an open wound on its leg.
I always find it very hard to just walk past the animals, and I often think about the dogs long after.
I’m not entirely sure how the people here feel about dogs, but I often see food or leftovers for the dogs on the streets.
What I mean is that this trip is about such things for me. I don’t want to just see the beautiful sides of a country, but to discover and get to know the real country. Unfortunately, this includes the suffering of animals and humans. I think it’s wrong to close one’s eyes to such problems.

Day 11 Train Ride to Ella
We started in the morning at 8 am. We took a tuk-tuk to the railway station. During the ride, the driver told us something about the city. We learned that a major Buddhist festival had recently taken place here and that there would be a horse race the next day.
The town itself had an English vibe, and the driver mentioned that Nuwara Eliya is also called Little England.
Upon arriving at the station, we bought our tickets for a total of €1.11.
However, we could only get third-class tickets, so we did not have reserved seats.
The train ride is a real tourist attraction because it is very scenic. To get a reserved seat, you need to book at least one month in advance.
But we had a super nice tuk-tuk driver who showed us the best place to board to get a seat.
After waiting for about 2 hours, the train finally arrived. We are, fortunately, used to delays from the German railways.
Our driver walked over to us and helped us onto the train, so we ended up with window seats.
The train ride was truly beautiful. We passed by tea plantations and through wonderful mountain scenery.
However, the train stopped at some stations for over 30 minutes, making the journey last nearly 5 hours in total.
Once in Ella, we first went to eat something and then made our way to our Airbnb.
The accommodation was about 400 m from the center and was very secluded and quiet. It felt like living in the middle of the jungle.

Day 12 Ella
In the morning we walked to the center of Ella to have breakfast. I had already chosen a restaurant the night before that offered many vegan dishes.
For those who know me, you probably know what I had for breakfast: avocado bread, of course.
That was definitely the highlight, and for the first time here, I also had a coffee, which was truly needed. At home, I drink several cups of coffee every day.
Afterwards, we picked up our laundry that we had dropped off at a laundromat the day before.
Then we headed to Little Adams Peak.
This is a small mountain from where you have a wonderful view of the surroundings.
Because our breakfast was relatively expensive, we decided to walk all day and not take a tuk-tuk.
As a result, we walked quite a lot that day.
After Little Adams Peak, we continued on to the 9-Arches Bridge.
Upon arriving at the bridge, we were both a little disappointed as we had imagined it to be more beautiful.
What did we learn from this? Don’t watch too many videos about attractions, as they often look 10 times better.
Right next to or above the bridge was a small restaurant we went to. We both had kottu for the first time. Kottu is like a wrap but cut up and stir-fried with vegetables.
Then we headed back into town and visited a few smaller shops before finally returning to our accommodation.
Mom, if you're reading this, please skip the next sentence!
At the accommodation, I noticed that I had gotten a really nice sunburn on my back, shoulders, face, and arms. In my defense, I put on sunscreen twice! - Unfortunately, that must not have been enough!

Day 13 Diyaluma Waterfall
In the morning, we went back to the city center for breakfast. I had a traditional breakfast again.
After that, we returned to our accommodation and waited for our high-speed scooter.
At 10 am, our rented scooter was brought to us, and we set off for the waterfall.
The waterfall is just over an hour away from Ella. So we set off with two bars left on the fuel gauge and wanted to refuel along the way.
Maybe we should have checked beforehand where exactly the nearest gas station was!
After about 5 minutes, I looked at the fuel gauge and saw that the last bar was already blinking.
After trying to find a gas station on Google Maps but finding none and also having no cell service, we asked a man at the roadside. He broke the news to us in broken English about the name of a town. After Google Maps luckily worked again, we saw that we still had a 40-minute ride ahead.
Turning back now didn’t make sense, and since the rest of the journey was going downhill, we drove as fuel-efficient as possible, letting the scooter roll whenever we could.
After what felt like an eternity and with many jitters, we finally reached a gas station.
Here we filled the scooter, and the ride was definitely much more relaxed from this point onwards.
First, we stopped at the bottom part of the waterfall and admired it from the bridge.
Then we drove up a mountain and hiked for another 20 minutes through the wilderness to reach the upper part of the waterfall.
It was truly worth it!
There were several small pools where you could swim and another waterfall under which you could stand.
As we started our return journey, it began pouring down rain, and we got completely soaked.
We briefly sat in a restaurant, hoping the rain would let up. When it finally stopped raining, we set off immediately.
During the ride, we did get rained on again quite a bit as it started to rain multiple times.
So we rode our rented scooter through the rain, passing street dogs and several groups of monkeys.
But somehow, it all felt special, like a sense of freedom and a certain connection with nature.
After what felt like an eternity, we finally arrived at our accommodation, and I immediately took a hot shower.
Afterwards, I snuggled into bed and waited until I warmed up again.