Ella to Kandy- one more train trip!!

Stated as “ the worlds most beautiful train journey” (we decided we hadn’t had enough of trains after the Trans Siberian) so we got tickets on the 6.40am Ella to Kandy train.
I managed to persuade K to get second class reserved seating instead of her preferred first class so we could at least open the windows.... and no I didn’t make us go in third class where there is a high chance u have to stand up for the 6-7 hr journey.
Our host somehow got us, all of our luggage and a packed breakfast into his tuk tuk at 6am and kindly dropped us off at the Ella train station.
At the last minute the v smart station master informed us all the train was coming in on the other track so we had to trudge up and over 50 steps on the overbridge to the other platform.
Our train arrived and we found seats 13 and 14 easily ( although we had to turf out the only person in the carriage as she had managed to sit in our seats- the whole carriage was empty but she managed to sit in our prebooked seats!), and managed to stow our luggage overhead.
What ensued was a v pleasant if not grey 6.5hr journey through huge tea plantations, tidy little train stations, towns, villages and more tea plantations on mind bendingly steep slopes.
We arrived in Kandy at 1.20pm and were immediately assaulted with noise, traffic, people etc on the way to The Station Hotel- our accomm for 2 nights.... to be cont....Read more