Robin & Karen Living the Dream: Ella - Cooking Class & the Train

What a morning - we arrived to the train station in Ambewela long before the ticket window opened & we waited in line. And people just kept coming! All the reserved seats were long gone, you could buy 2nd class or 3rd class first come, first seated, cost $1.10 for 2nd class. Another line to wait in, the doors opened & the chaos started - everyone pushing & shoving trying to get a seat! We managed to secure seats, on the “wrong side” of the train, seats facing backwards but a seat no less. When the train departed all the carriages had the seats full, the doorways full, loads of luggage & people moving into the aisles. After several stops the aisle was full - so those folks had no view at all. We had an open window we could stick our heads or phone out of, but couldn’t see across to the other side. The scenery was beautiful, thru the hills, tea plantations, small towns. We arrived in Ella only to have more people pushing & shoving trying to get on the train as we were all trying to get off! We had ridden for 3 hours, they wanted to ride for 10 minutes to cross the famous Nine Arch Bridge.

Gardens, much of Sri Lankan vegetables are grown here in the cooler climate.

Tea plantation

Lots of tunnels

Rice paddies

We had our first trouble with hotels here, we walked up some nasty hills only to find our booking was totally misrepresented & we chose to leave. So I went online, booked another hotel in town, walked there, only to be told that the hotel did not accept bookings from Agoda (has worked well until now), & to top it off Agoda took our money! So online again until we found another hotel, took a tuk tuk there & settled in. Nice place, in the forest, a lovely balcony to watch monkeys, right below the train tracks & included breakfast - MUM Jungle Inn, cost $189 for 3 nights.

Luckily we haven’t needed the mosquito nets, we just tuck them up & out of the way

Ella turned out to be a hilly touristy town, not our favorite, but we loved watching the monkeys from the balcony.

Had some strange deer wander by

Cute little bakery Tuk tuks

We ate at the Matey Hut, some delicious rice & curry and decided to sign up for their cooking class. We were taken to a house set up for large groups, the instructor gave a lot of explanations, including telling us that he would send us all the recipes & then he proceeded to show us how it’s done. We started with red rice, moved on to breaking open coconuts & scraping out the “meat” to then mix with water & blend to get coconut milk, mixing dough for coconut roti & batter for banana fritters, chopping veggies & smelling all the spices. Then came actual cooking, there were 3 instructors who did most of the work, but we measured spices & stirred. Unbelievable how many different spices went into each dish! We cooked in clay pots over gas flame - 6 curries - bean, eggplant, manioc, pineapple, banana, dahl (lentils). And then we feasted!

Getting coconut meat out to make coconut milk

Cooking in the clay pots

Our feast

After a delicious breakfast at our hotel, including curd & treacle (like yogurt & honey but made from water buffalo milk!) we set off walking to the famous nine arch bridge. We walked along the railroad tracks, passing signs telling us that it was dangerous. The walk took about an hour including a stop at a local entrepreneur who had set up benches to sit where he sold drinks & ice cream, complete with a squeaky horn to attract customers. He also offered the use of his outhouse. It was a Sunday so many Sri Lankan tourists out as well. The bridge was built in 1921, started earlier but the steel was redirected to the British war effort so Sri Lankan engineers completed the job with blocks of stone & concrete. It’s 91 metres in length, 24 metres high with nine arches. Impressive! We walked across it, then snacked on cobs of corn cooked over a wood fire while we waited for the next train to cross the bridge. Many, many people out to see it, some even staying on the bridge as it passed by.

A train passed us as we were walking

Oriental magpie robin

The 3 arch bridge

The drink stop

Nine Arch Bridge

Corn stop

Ladies collecting firewood

Chestnut headed Bee eaters

They build their nests in sandy banks

We left Ella via a private driver that our next hotel arranged, a 3 hour journey, cost $57. We made our way downhill on windy roads, passing monkeys, waterfalls, water buffalo & deer, fruit stands, sugar cane plantations protected by electric fences to try & keep the elephants out. Apparently elephants have a much better sense of smell than bloodhounds! We arrived to a small Homestay near Udawalawe National Park, ready for the next adventure! Still Living the Dream.