We have a full day here in Ella, the morning dedicated to hiking and the afternoon to leisure time. No one wanted to do the 1st hike of the morning, a strenuous 5 hour hike up Adam’s Peak, and only 8 of us signed up for the 2nd hike to 9 Arches Bridge. It’s a 20-30 minute hike down to where the railroad tracks cross over the bridge, such a popular view that it’s featured on the 50 rupee note.

The 3rd hike was to Little Adam’s Peak but as that was quite strenuous I decided not to push my luck so I came back to the hotel and read by the pool for a couple of hours. I then wandered around town for a bit, town being a bit of a grandiose term for it. Up until just a few years ago Ella was purely a cheap backpackers destination with only guesthouses serving the tourists. Now its 2 blocks have exploded into tons of casual restaurants, bars and small hotels. It has a long way to go to before attracting the monied crowd but it’s a safe, easy, stress-less place to wander around.

Everyone dispersed and did their own thing for the afternoon and evening. I skipped lunch in favor of a chocolate milk and some crackers but ventured out in the early evening for a beer, book, and chicken roti.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Yala National Park to seach for leopards while on safari, reputedly staying in tents (more glamping than camping, i think). We can only take a small overnight bag with us as we’re going in by Jeep so I most likely won’t have such creature comforts such as WiFi for a day or two, so stay tuned for the next installment.