Ella

Ella, which means "waterfall"... a very "cute" town of hills upon hills upon hills, punctuated with a sparse braille of  hotels and houses, teeming with jungley goodness. There is sun here through most of the day, then you can watch as a thick mist pours down from the clouds over the whole town, dimming if not obliterating the colored lights that dot the hills. Often there is rain, thunder, and lightning in the evening. There are 2 "main drags", and there are tourists. At 4:30 am it is me and the canned monks and the frogs. As light blooms, it is dogs on rooftops, hundreds of birds. I have been here the past 5 days, thoroughly enjoying, nay, reveling in, the Hill Country cool and variety of diet, as well as beautiful hiking options , to  great heights, waterfalls, temples... I quite like it here, and am cooking up a little plan...
​Anyway, last night teeth-rattling thunder, sky-encompassing lightning, and rain... love it. This morning, breakfast of water buffalo yogurt and papaya, a walk to the falls, and then hop the bus back to Thissa. 

below:
slideshow#1 - through town and tea estate and up and up, to Little Adam's Peak, with view across deep valley to Ella Rock.

​slideshow #2 - along railway tracks skirting town through tea estates and up through turpentine tree forest to Ella Rock, with a view across deep valley to Little Adam's Peak!

ps for some reason i was so pessimistic about my hopes of capturing the spooky beauty of the turpentine forest that i didn't take any photos there. regret. ramrod straight, towering up into blue sky, and ghostly pale blue-white-silver trees rising out of a black soil - and - white pebble/course sand ground, partly scorched from some not-too-recent fire... haven't seen them anywhere else in sri lanka. next time, i will make it my soul'd work to photograph them!