Hiking in the tea plantations of Ella

We continued by taxi to Ella, inland. The journey took quite a long time, so we were probably on the road for 5 hours. On the way, we narrowly escaped a head-on collision, which took our breath away. We overtook a truck at a blind spot and suddenly a car came towards us. I thought we were going to crash, but at the last moment, we swerved to the left, narrowly avoiding the truck. I think the driver realized how risky it was and started driving more cautiously. We then drove up the mountains, with monkeys hopping on the sides of the road and other overtaking maneuvers still being risky.

When we finally arrived, we settled into our lovely little eco cottage surrounded by trees. It was a bit cooler, so we enjoyed a cup of tea from our host. The next day, we went hiking to Little Adam's Peak, which was a shorter alternative to Adam's Peak, but still very beautiful, walking through the tea plantations and enjoying the view from the top. We spent the rest of the days hiking, exploring the Nine Arches Bridge, and visiting a tea factory where we learned about tea production. We also found a good massage salon that we visited every evening. However, we didn't dare to try a forehead oil treatment. During the day, we could observe monkeys from our balcony, jumping from tree to tree. After breakfast, which consisted of pancakes and fresh fruit, we noticed that the monkeys were slowly getting closer. We looked around and realized that they were coming from all sides, surrounding us. When the first monkeys reached the roofs of the lower cottages, we felt a bit uncomfortable and decided to go inside quickly. And as soon as we closed the glass door to the balcony, the first monkeys reached our balcony. In a matter of seconds, they jumped onto the table where we had just had breakfast and grabbed our bananas and watermelon. With their loot in tow, they disappeared back into the greenery.