I have mentioned recently that I love visiting beaches, oceans, and seas after having spent the majority life without easy access to such places.  Well, I am equally impressed by mountains since in addition to being water-less, Kansas is also literally flatter than a pancake.

We arrived in Ella after an epic train journey in the middle of the pouring rain.  We could barely see where we were going as we rushed down narrow, rocky stairs to our hotel room, but once we reached shelter and were able to look at our surroundings, we knew we were in for something special. Our room was literally on the edge of a cliff with a crystal clear mountain view.

That view, ya!

We decided to take things a bit slower in Ella since we had been rushing so much everywhere else in Sri Lanka.  We had a couple of good days with no planes, trains, or buses to catch and we took advantage of them.  The best part of each day there was waking up next to the emerald green mountains and enjoying a leisurely breakfast.

The town itself is basically built for tourism, but not necessarily in a bad way.  It’s no surprise that such a beautiful place would attract a lot of visitors, and other than the disappointingly bland food designed to cater to the Western palate, guests and locals alike seem to enjoy Ella’s laid back vibes.

The main item on our Ella agenda was to do some hiking.  We decided to hike Little Adam’s Peak as it seemed the most reasonable given the amount of time we had on our hands. Luck was on our side that day as it was one of the few days it did not rain while we were in Sri Lanka.  As for the hike itself…I’ll let the photos do the talking