Unawatuna to Ella

Before we leave the coast and the vicinity of Unawatuna and Galle I should mention a bit of interesting Sri Lanka history I discovered from the Internet, prompted by reading the Galle guesthouse's information file. The colonisation of Sri Lanka gave rise to Eurasian descendants of the Portuguese, Dutch, English and other Europeans. Burghers have retained many customs and influenced the history of the island. Some have achieved world fame. Here is a small selection from the list that may be familiar: Michael Ondaatje, writer; Michelle de Kretser, novelist; Charmaine Solomon, cookbook author; Guy Sebastian, singer.

This was going to be a long day because of the changes I would have to make to reach Ella. It wasn't a long distance but public transport is slow in Sri Lanka. I didn't take any pictures until I reached Ella so till then this will be text.

Bedspace serves a different breakfast every day of the week. For Wednesday it was shakshouka, a Middle Eastern egg dish. After checking out of Bedspace, I met the tuk-tuk driver who had agreed to take me to Matara. So I traversed the stretch between Unawatuna and Matara for the third time. In retrospect, I should have planned better.

At Matara I waited for the 31 bus for Wellawaya, at the gateway to Ella Gap. After some waiting and some investigation (thank goodness for mobile Internet) I found it only ran a few times a day, but I could take a 35 bus instead. Then followed a 4 hour ride via Hambantota. There was a lot of new construction around Hambantota. The government seems to be trying to develop it as a secondary centre.

At Wellawaya, I engaged a tuk-tuk to take me the 27 km up Ella Pass. The terrain was flat at first, but soon snaked into the hills. It had drizzled recently. The petrichor made me happy for no particular reason. Ella town was just a small affair with one main street. I had made sure that the driver agreed to take me up to the Lucky Star guesthouse because I knew it was a couple of km up the hill above the town.

The guesthouse had a couple of rooms, but more were in construction above. My room was clean and neat. A couple of Dutch ladies were in the next room.

I took dinner in the guesthouse, the mother made some rice noodles with chicken curry. Afterwards, I walked downhill, using my phone as a torch. It wasn't a long walk, perhaps 10 minutes but going back up would be harder.

The town consisted of the usual lineup of restaurants and something new, tea shops, because we were now in tea country.

I looked around for a bit and finally ordered an iced tea in the Jade Tea Centre. Lots of travellers were enjoying a meal there; it was well-regarded. It was humid and only cool, not cold, despite the elevation. I had come prepared with a jacket and a scarf for hill country but never had to use them. I was very tired after the long day of travel, so I paid a tuk-tuk to take me back up the hill. And thence to bed.