Day 24 - Ella, Ella, Under my umbrella..

I got up extra early this morning at 6am as I wanted to watch the sunrise over the sea as we were on the east coast, i couldn't sleep anyway it was so hot and sweaty, it was worth getting up for. There was no one around and I strolled down the beach taking lots of good photos of the sunrise, very peaceful, I then went and had a cup of tea to wait untill the others got up. Our plan was to go for a surf this morning however the waves were still pretty small and the only area with big enough waves was on a reef which is far too dangerous for us amateurs so we settled for a beach stroll and swim before breakfast instead!

It was our last day with Yasmin and Jess today so we spent a couple of hours sunbathing and swimming with them before they moved on up north to Trincomarlee. They had recommended a driver to us who they had last week who took them to different places and stayed with them and helped to organise everything, making life much easier with the big bags! He only charges £10 a day which is a bargain so we decided to book him. We are spending untill Saturday with him, he's called Nihal, really friendly guy. He came to pick us up from arugum bay at about 2pm in his nice A/C comfy van and drove us 3 hours inland and into the hill country to the village called Ella. This was a much more sophisticated and less stressful way to travel compared to the sweaty crowded buses, we felt a bit like royalty being chauffeured around! The journey was incredible watching how the landscapes changed from beaches, to rural arable paddy field land to mountainous rainforest jungle! Nihal had called ahead and organised our accommodation in a home stay guesthouse which is newly opened called Rose Garden, really comfy rooms and they made us a home cooked dinner.. Rice and curry of course which was delicious. It is such a nice temperature up here in the hills, still warm but not sweaty or unbearable, By the time we arrived the clouds and mist had gathered around the mountains and we had to get the anoraks out for a walk about town! Having some rain was a nice relief! Got some early mornings ahead of us this week so early to bed!