It took two local busses to reach Ella from Tangalla. Each blared local sri lankan tunes from the bus radio as it dangerously swerved up the winding roads to reach the village of Ella, situated in the centre of Sri Lanka in the Hill Country.

We found a place to stay at a friend of the people we stayed with in Tangalla and managed to get a fairly cheap and nice room as Ella is notoriously expensive. The climate is much cooler in Ella and we immediately appreciated the lower temperature.

After settling in, we explored the town and found the local train station to book our onward journey for two days time. We then drank locally sourced tea (Ceylon, which is incredible) and relaxed for the remainder of the day.

The next morning we awoke early and set off on a small hike up the nearby Little Adam's Peak. It was a great walk and when we reached the top we were rewarded with incredible views of Ella village, Ella rock and the surrounding valleys. It was awesome. On returning back to Ella, we had something to eat then set off again on a 2 hour walk trhough the mountains (downhill luckily) to reach Ella falls. They were really beautiful and the local monkeys walked the streets and were not afraid to say hello! A local bus drove us back up to Ella where we enjoyed a great pizza (it had been ages since we'd had one and it was delicious!) and some beer!

We set off the next morning, early again, to Nuwara Eliya on the train. It was the most beautiful and breath taking journey we have been on yet. No photo will do the views we saw any justice - they were out of this world!!

Nuwara Eliya is an expensive part of Sri lanka mainly due to the large amount of te plantations surrounding it. The route in was beautiful - a traditional english race course, expensive resorts, beautiful english architecture. But, the centre was a different story. We grabbed something to eat in a dingy restaurant and got the bus immediately out to make our way to Kandy.