Day 13 - The Hills are Alive...

09:00
Sri Lanka is in the midst of (coming towards the end of, hopefully) an horrific financial crisis. Doubtless COVID had a part to play, but for me, much of the blame rests with the previous President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

This guy sunk billions into vanity projects that make white elephants look like good value. There’s the international airport about 50km from where I sitting writing this, that attracted 4 airlines initially, but which has not been used in 3 years. There’s the deepwater cargo port on the South coast, which completely ignored that Colombo has one of the busiest deepwater cargo ports in South East Asia. There’s the enforced switch to organic farming in 2021, without giving local farmers any guidance or training to switch to these new techniques, leading to a crippling failure of the crops in both 2022 and 2023, requiring huge outlays to import basic fundamentals like rice and grain. Honestly, the guy’s a fuckwit.

And then - his crowning glory. HUGE tax cuts in 2019 - abolishing income tax for more than 1/3 of the Sri Lankan population, reducing VAT from 15% to 8%, and the abolition of the 2% ‘Nation Building’ tax that paid for nationwide infrastructure improvements. Are you listening, Jeremy Hunt? Honestly, this guy makes Liz Truss look, well - a little bit less of a lettuce.

As a result, Sri Lanka’s inflation rate has been insanely high for the past few years. We, in the UK, feel like double digit inflation has been painful, and rightly so. Sri Lanka’s inflation rate peaked at 70% in 2022, and has since come back to something slightly more manageable at 11%. The average across the past two years is 45%.

The result has been that prices have comfortably doubled over a 4 year period. Sri Lanka still represents great value for a Brit traveller, but that is changing. If the inflation rate doesn’t come back under control, it won’t take long for the prices to feel a lot higher, and for the local population to be incapable of paying for basic needs like housing, food and energy.

I mention it this morning because I had a long conversation with Mohamed, the manager of Smoky Kitchen, a great little restaurant in the North of Tissa, where I ate last night. My rice and curry here is just about the best version of this staple that I’ve had in Sri Lanka, and Mohamed is at pains to apologise for what he feels is the sky high cost - 1800LKR, or £4.50 to you and me. He sold this dish for 800LKR as recently as mid-2022. Mohamed tells me how difficult it’s become to provide for his family. He thinks prices are about as high as they can go before they start to dissuade tourists from visiting. I might disagree slightly, but I understand his sentiment. Mohamed is a Muslim, and he shares with me that it’s got so bad that he’s seriously considered adding alcohol to his menu, something conspicuous by its absence currently. It’s a high margin product that would lighten his financial woes, but directly contravenes his strictly held religious beliefs.

In other news, it’s moving day. I’m heading up into the hills to Ella, many peoples’ highlight of Sri Lanka. It promises to be noticeably cooler - late 20s, but without the humidity of the lowlands. Loads to see and do. Couple of hours in a cab to get past first…

12:30
This one, at least, appears to be sober. I’m not overly sad to leave Tissamaharama. The close proximity of Yala National Park aside, there’s not a huge amount to recommend it. After only fifteen minutes on the road, we’re already out into some lush green surroundings. We meander through some small villages, but most of the scenery is thoroughly rural.

After a little over an hour in the car, we start to rise into the hills. There’s some beautiful mountain scenery to look at. The slight downside is that the road becomes quite twisty and turny - like a red rag to my rally driver of a cabbie. I should have packed the gin in my daypack to allow for easy cab-based access.

13:15
Well, this is staggering. I've arrived to new accommodation, and not immediately felt the need to turn on the AC. There’s a blissfully cool breeze, and I remind myself that we’re at 1100m above sea-level. If my memory of Geography GCSE serves (it probably doesn’t) it’s a c. 1C drop in temperature for every 150m of elevation, so a good 6C cooler than the coast. Finding Third Eye was a touch tricky. My driver clearly had no idea where he was going. Google Maps tried to send us up a very steep path, but I’m wise to the little fucker’s antics after our near-death Death Valley experience of 2022. Sadly, it transpires Google Maps was right. Up the ascent we go, round a couple of very tricky hairpin corners. My rooms is up even further up the hill - another 3 or so flights of stairs. It doesn’t matter though, because the views are spectacular. Mind-blowingly, jaw-droppingly, eye-poppingly spectacular. I can see Ella Rock in the distance, the highest point in the region. I can see waterfalls rushing down the green coated hills of the valley. I can see lush, tropical trees. I can see a man picking his nose. There’s a Sri Lankan home just off to my left. Going forward, I’ll be sure to look eyes front, and to the right…

I’m sitting on my v cool and v cool balcony enjoying a beer, and trying to muster up the energy to go out and do stuff.

13:25
I have reached an executive decision. I’m sacking off my afternoon plans in favour of hanging out in, and getting to know Ella instead. I’ve got most of an empty day tomorrow, which feels like a much better option for exploring. I am getting pretty peckish though, as decided to forego breakfast earlier. Off out in search of scran and beer.

15:30
It’s fucking lush up here - BUT, it feels more like a resort town than Tissa or Tangalle, in both of which I was amongst the few white faces. In Ella, it feels like at least half the people I see are Western tourists. As a result, there’s a lot competition for the tourist dollar. As I walk down main street, I’m encouraged to try several different restaurants - “Cheap beer, I give you good price, fi’ dollar” and the like. I may have made the last one up. I end up La Mensa, and have the most amazing chicken and cheese kottu - just a big bowl of stodgy hug. About a third of the way through my food, the server asks if I would like some chilli chutney, and I say yes. The kottu’s tasty, but it’s anything but hot. What he brings back is my old friend from one of my first meals in Colombo, and I realise now how different it is to the coconut sambol I’ve been eating around the island. This is a properly fiery chilli purée, with some dried fish and fried garlic added to the mix. Lovely stuff. I have my first glass of wine in a few days, quickly followed by my second. Top lunching.

00:00
Back at Third Eye, I spend a blissful couple of hours on my balcony in the company of a G+T or two, my book, and the sounds of the hills. A train clatters past - if that makes it sound like it’s moving at pace, think again. 20 mph tops. On Monday, I’ll take the famous Ella to Kandy train, which takes around 8-9 hours. As the crow flies, it’s around 120kms. Intercity, this is not.

I’m not really hungry, so not too fussed about grabbing dinner. Having a flick around the TV channels, I find that the Six Nations games are being shown. It’s probably a bit too much to try and make the France vs England that kicks off at 01:30, but the first two games are manageable. Italy beat Wales in a scrappy game, and Ireland edge a game against Scotland that should have been far more entertaining. I briefly consider cracking open the gin, and making a night of it, but I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, so hit the hay instead.Meer informatie