Tour of Sri Lanka 2025 | Day 9 | Ella | 4 kms

I woke up around 6am and got ready for a hike to Little Adam’s Peak. After a short 2km ride, I started hiking around 6:45am, reaching the top in 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the morning fog obscured the views. I waited briefly, but the fog persisted, so I continued along the trail to other viewpoints. By the time I reached the next viewpoint, the fog had begun to dissipate, revealing great views of the surrounding landscape. Ella Rock was clearly visible, though its peak was shrouded in clouds. With the sun now up, the weather was bright and sunny. I began my descent around 8am to catch a 9:50am train. Back at the hostel, I got ready by 9am and departed for a train journey from Ella to Ambewela.

This train journey is very popular among the tourists. I go walking and on the way have a typical breakfast of Sri Lanka. By 9:35am, I arrive at the station. I locate where my coach would stop. We all wait it out till the train arrives. Everyone’s super excited about the journey. The train comes around 10am, we board the train, find our seats and settle down. The train starts rolling in no time. The views are great on the outside and I stand mostly on the door soaking in the views. The train passes through hills covered with tea plantations and the weather is also misty and cloudy. Many, like me are popping their heads outside or handing by the train doors to get photographed. I ask one of the fellow to click my photo as I hang by the door. Later in the journey, we can see people farming with mostly vegetables being grown or harvested. At some point, we even pass through a dense jungle with very big and tall trees.

I even notice some tree which I haven’t seen till now. Overall, it’s a great experience as the train passes through numerous tunnels as we finally arrive at Ambewela station around 12:30pm. It’s the last stop the train can go. All of the people deboard the train. I ask the locals what can I do there to spend 2 hrs before the return journey starts. They recommend, I visit the Ambewela Milk Factory around 2 kms.

I start walking and a few mtrs further, a kind tuk tuk driver offers me a lift to place. I enter the factory, pay the entrance fees and go inside. The tour is self-guided as we follow the directions marked on the walls.

I see buffaloes being milked and at other location they are being fed. I come out and visit their cheese making unit a little walk up ahead. In front of that is the factory restaurant where I taste their vanilla flavored yogurt. It’s totally irresistible as I have 2 nos.

After that, as the clock is ticking and I have a train to catch, I start my return journey towards the station by walk. I reach within 25mins. The train leaves sharp at 3pm. I get to sit along with a German and an Australian family. We get along talking with each other. This time, I skip the doors as it’s pretty much raining for the whole part of the journey. I sit and watch outside the window speaking with my new friends. The train arrives around 5:30pm to Ella covering almost 6-7 stations on the way. I exit the station and head back to my hostel. I take a bath and get ready to move out. I meet Biba from Slovenia and a lady from Israel on the hostel terrace. We get along talking to each other after which, I and Biba along with her other friends, we go out to a restaurant for a Pizza.

There I meet new friends from Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Bangladesh. We have a great time listening to each other’s stories and sharing information about the places we visited and where we can go next. After the dinner, we have some Gelato on the way back to the hostel. We sit on our hostel terrace upto midnight sharing stories of each other following which we bid good night to each other as I make my way down for a good night’s sleep.