Kamikaze Canuck

The train to Ella squealed down the rusty tracks through “Lord of the Rings” type scenery.  The train was right full – meaning we had to find a place to stand.  So we decided to stake our claim right beside the open train car door to enjoy the scenery.  The cool breeze from the open door made the heat more bearable.

 

 

After 3 hours we arrived in Ella to find a man waiting near the train station to take us to our guesthouse.  Our new home was called Village View Inn and was run by a extremely hospitable and hard working young Sri Lankan couple.  Our room was spacious and clean with excellent views of the surrounding valley and waterfalls.

The amount of home cooked food served to us at night was nearly double as much as Megan and I could eat! (without exaggerating).

One of the interesting moments of our stay was when a mongoose decided to make an appearance near our guesthouse.

This prompted our guesthouse owner to tell us about the time a mongoose and snake got in a fight on the roof of the guesthouse in the middle of the night.  The fight was creating such a racket that none of the guests could sleep.  After 4 hours of listening to this go on our guesthouse owner lit a torch and went to the roof to break the fight up.  I could picture this comical scene in my mind as he was telling it.  If you’ve never seen it before, try youtubing snake vs mongoose.

After a hike to Little Adams Peak in the pouring rain we took a bus to the South Coast town of Tangelle.

Here we decided to shell out some cash and do a Safari in one of Sri Lankas many National Parks.  We were pleasantly surprised.  Around every corner was a different kind of wildlife.

 

At one point the male elephant walked so close to our jeep that Megan started to get a little nervous.

 

 

At about this point Megan nervously yelled at the jeep driver:  “Time to go!”

The Safari surpassed our expectations.  It was far better than either of us expected actually.  Our next stop is the beach town of Mirissa where we will be heading out to watch some Blue Whales.  We’re tucked in the back room of some stuffy, sweltering local printing business writing this blog.   Flies are buzzing around our heads and a super creepy doll sitting next to us.   I think it’s time to get some fresh air before we go a little kooky.