Day 10 —> Ella to Nurawa Eliya 🚂

TRAIN DAY! 🚂

Mike has been looking forward to this train for longer than I can remember. Probably since he started dreaming up this dream adventure we are currently living.

Up early for some English breakfast, to pack up Winston and then off to the train station to meet up with the Tuk Tuk rental folks. As we head to Nuwara Eliya on the train, Winston will be on his own journey to greet us when we arrive at the other train station.

The handoff of Winston was silky smooth. Mike held onto the keys a little long in the transfer but I assured him Winston was in good hands. 😉 Off went Winston … and off we went to board the Podi Menike train or “Little Maiden”.

Ok … the BIG thing to do on the Little Maiden with the “hip kids” these days, (for the “gram”) is hanging out the rail cars as they fly by the dramatic lush green scenery while someone else snaps their photo. Looks unreal when you see pics but let us tell you … it’s legit! So legit that I actually approved of this shenanigan.

Mike perfectly selected the seats so we would not only sit on the side with the best view but that windows to our train car opened and we’d have a chance to experience what all the “hip kids” are doing too. As Little Maiden departed, anticipation for the photo shoots began and before long doors were open, and people hanging out all along the sides …

But our “train guy” in our train car had us on lockdown. Mike was less than pumped. He sat a bit but mostly wore out the carpet (not really carpet in the train) pacing up and down the car trying to figure out how he was going to persuade the “dream-crusher”. Then he saw his opportunity … He chatted it up with two young traveler girls, telling them the whole story how the grumpy guy won’t unlock the doors, calling the train guy the “fun-stopper”, “train police” and just plain “stupid” … he told them they could try to see what they can do. And voila! Doors open! Pics and videos taken. Dream = reality! ✔️ and ✔️.

Side Note: The guy actually ended up just having a RBF and actually hooked us up with not only photos but some live footage. Mike tipped him too so in the end, they were 🤞🏼.

Was it scary? Actually it wasn’t! It was amazing and felt so free! I mean … I wasn’t doing any tricks but I still feel like Big Ang was really living life!

After we proved we were “hip”, it was time to relax and take it ALL in with the calming chant of the train rolling down the track. The beauty of the Sri Lankan landscape is continuous so very hopeful the pics and videos bring to life this entire experience.

Once we arrived by train, Winston was resting after his journey but ready to head up the way a bit to our homestead for the evening in Nuwara Eliya (meaning “Little England”🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) @ the Westbury Palace.

Entering this quaint hotel … it time warps you back to when the British ruled Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). All the rooms are named after past Ceylon Governors and the lush grounds of the place were definitely getting me excited for high tea time.

Even though this place would have been more than suitable for high tea, we were starved and made our way to the Grand Hotel for Thai food. Yep! Thai! It hit the spot and was a nice change of food. After a tour of the grounds at the Grand, it was high tea time. Super fun experience and they even had a fiddler! Not quite like the infamous French fiddler in LaQuinta but he really was the cherry on top to enjoy our tea and savory —> sweet.

After high tea … back to Westbury for some billiards. Started as a friendly game between Mike and I, but then ended up playing with the two fellas that work here. We took an “L” so I’ll be sure to dock a few stars and make note of this in our TripAdvisor review. 😂 Jk. (kinda). After our loss, I took my ball (or in this case beer) and went to our room. You know what they say about losers … 🤣

Another adventurous day is in the books and off to Kandy (with a K) tomorrow.

Hugs! M&ARead more