I bet you can’t guess how my sleep went last night.... I’ll give you a hint. I look like I’ve been punched in the face again this morning. Ellie’s eyes look a little the same. Marrying to think about it too much but it’s getting on my last nerves now. I’m not great without sleep!!

We had a 8am breakfast the usual fill with toast, eggs, fruit and Sri Lankan pancakes then headed up to Little Adam’s Peak before we left today.

It was little and had a nice terrain going up towards the enormous amount of steps which stared half way up the mountain. We reached the top from our guesthouse in 35 minutes which was pretty good and ahead of average time apparently.

The views of Ella and Ella’s Rock were awesome and we finally beat the clouds and fog!! Quickly take some photos to prove we made it to the top and take in the views, daring as ever I wanted to stand out on al the rocks that were hanging over the cliffs edge. Ellie did well too conquering her fears of heights! :)

Back down at around 10am and a stroll back to the apartment for a quick freshen and a walk down that very steep hill with our rucksacks on (don’t ask me how we didn’t fall) if Ellie fell her turtle shell would protect her haha.

Onwards to Udawalawayway...Udawalaway...Udawalawe! Got there in the end... Ellie has to say that word I can’t quite get it.

First the very empty public bus to Wellawaya (wellawayway) quite a few backpackers on this one going to different places after this bus, Ellie was on the side of the bus that was dangling over the sheer drop over the cliff, and of course he was going super slow to make sure we weren’t prone to accidents like falling over the edge.... not!

We just missed the next bus onwards to Udawalawe because I needed to pee (as always). So we had a cheeky egg and veg samosa each from one of those super dirty and grotty shops that have them sat in their little glass containers but with the tummy still strong we weren’t saying no!
Stood under the bus stop waiting for the next bus I’m pretty sure we had a big fanzone surrounding us with around 6/7 different men asking us the usual questions “where you go, you take tuk tuk, where you from, you take my tuk tuk you get there faster, next bus from here, next bus at this time”

Safe to say ladies and gents that Emily Bethan Lewis has officially mastered the resting b**** face!
Place: Wellawaya bus station
When: 12pm, 16th September whilst eating two greesy samosas, nursing her sunburnt shoulders.
Very proud moment haha!

By the time the bus came we ran over in the rain and so did half the population of the bus station... so much to Ellie’s concern we had to put of backpacks in the boot of the bus and stand up for the journey To Udawalawe. Crushed in the aisle whilst I was almost hanging out the door it was quite pleasant, (i thought so anyways) think on the bright side... there was a great breeze and we didn’t have to sit down on a toddlers seat eye line with people’s crotch with their rice bellies falling into our laps.

After one of the major stops we managed to sit down on two seat in the very back row behind the back door, one by the window and one next to the aisle.
A fairly middle aged man got on and started to chew tobacco that was wrapped in a banana leaf and stood in front of us giving us the usual look up and down to inspect the foreigners. Then pointed at us to get up and move because he would need to spit out his tobacco on the way. I just looked at him (trying very hard not to have my resting b**** face on). CLEARLY..... he doesn’t know me! Ellie just stared at home blankly and shook her head as if to say “mate, your asking the wrong foreigner. She isn’t moving for you”
We got to Udawalawe in record timing, actually so fast that my location pin couldn’t keep up with us on offline google maps. We tapped the bus and chaired at my bus friend that was hanging on the bus door to stop the bus so that we could run off and grab our bags. The bus driver always seemed to have a problem with waiting until either all the bad were off or everyone was back on the bus, resulting in lots of the men shouting ‘heeeeeey!’

We walked around 500m down the road to our little £6 per night guesthouse (not expecting much) only to find an amazingly clean and huge modern room with two double beds, a rainfall shower, air con and our own WiFi router (westerner problems as they say here!)
It was bloody bliss, we chilled for a while before heading to the Elephant orphan transit home where they feed orphaned baby elephants from the national park milk through a funnel four times per day. And then release them back into the national park, they look after them if their mothers disown them or get injured and can’t produced milk to help them grow until the ages of 5 years. After this they put a loose tracker necklace on them so that they know if they are still well and interstates within the herds. They have saved 119 elephants so far and are caring for 50 at the moment. 16 females have already had babies of their own now aswell. It was so amazing!!!
They did have a poor elephant there that only had three legs so he was being cared for in a separate area of the national Park which was closed off to other elephants because he was being treated to help him walk with a prosthetic leg with a German veterinarian hospital. It made me so happy!!! :) I want to adopt one!

We headed back to the guesthouse with an hour left to wait for the home cooked Sri Lankan curries dinner they were preparing for us! It was delicious, and so much food with a bottle of beer and curd with real bees honey for desert. We were stuffed like fat little Christmas turkeys, a quick FaceTime and sleepy byes for bongos! Not sharing a bed tonight so we can Star fish, and I have two pillows finally! (One to sleep on and one to hug :) )

Not sure one night is enough here!! Haha.