sri-lanka-13-full-pdf-ebook.pdf

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rice- and curry-making class. At Rawana Hol-
iday Resort you can look forward to around
eight different dishes, including sweet-and-
sour eggplant, spicy potato curry, and Rawa-
na’s signature garlic curry, made with whole
cloves of the ‘stinking rose’ (it tastes much
better than it sounds). Just let them know by
midafternoon. Any of the places listed here
will normally let interested visitors join them
in the kitchen to learn the secrets of their cu-
linary brilliance.
In recent years, the sleepy village has
spawned a couple of places that stay open
for a few beers later at night. If you’ve been
walking in the surrounding hills and tea
plantations, you’ve probably earned a cooling
end-of-the-day ale.
Curd (made with buffalo milk) and trea-
cle (syrup from the kitul palm; sometimes
misnamed ‘honey’) is a much-touted local
speciality.

Curd Shop iNTERNATiONAl $
(map p180; main St; meals Rs 200-350; h7am-9pm)
Tiny hole-in-the-wall spot near the bus stand
that’s good for a cheap breakfast before or
after an early-morning stroll to Little Adam’s
Peak. It’s a classic backpacker-style place and,
as the name suggests, is the spot to try curd
and honey or kotthu (rotti chopped up and
mixed with vegies etc). It’s also handy for pick-
ing up sandwiches if you’re walking.

Garden View Restaurant SR i lANKAN $
(map p180; mains Rs 300-600; h7am-10pm) A
wooden treehouse-like place with friendly
staff, great tasting local meals and cheap pric-
es. You’ll pass it as you walk along the railway
tracks between town and Ella Rock.

Little Folly Restaurant CAFE $
(map p180; Passara Rd; cakes Rs 150) It’s 3pm,
you’re in the Hill Country; that must mean
it’s time to have a nice cup of tea and a slice
of homemade lemon or chocolate cake. What
better place to do so than this delightful
forest-side cafe?

Down Town Rotti Hut SR i lANKAN $
(map p180; main St; rotti Rs 190-450; h8am-9pm)
The most popular place in town for a fast
lunch (they also do a takeaway service) is this
place. Its deliciously tasty rottis come in a
wealth of flavours and are among the mostly
amply proportioned we’ve ever encountered.

Cafe Chill
(Nescoffee Shop) iNTERNATiONAl $$
(map p180; main St; meals Rs 500-800; W) This
cool roadside cafe-bar has the traveller-scene

thing down to a tee – there are minty mo-

jitos, cool tunes and easy conversations

around the table. Oh, and the food? Well,

that’s pretty good as well, and you shouldn’t

leave without trying the lamprais (meat and

vegetables wrapped in a banana leaf and

cooked very slowly).

It also has a small selection of second-

hand paperbacks.

Dream Café iNTERNATiONAl $$

(map p180; main St; mains Rs 400-900; W) Mul-

tiple reader recommendations fly the flag

for this main-drag place with a cool, shady

garden. It’s a cosmopolitan wee spot with

good espresso coffee, well-executed Western

dishes such as tortilla chicken wraps, and

smoothies and salads for the healthy travel-

ler. Don’t be too pious, though: the beers are

nice and cold.

7 Shopping

T-Sips TEA

(map p180; %077 788 3434; http://www.expoteas.com;

Wellawaya Rd; h8am-7.30pm) (^) S This fair-trade
tea shop (selling leaves rather than cups of
tea) was established by a Sri Lankan tour
guide to help local tea-estate children. It do-
nates 5% of all money made to community
projects. They sell an array of local teas and
infusions.

8 Information

There’s a post office and the Bank of Ceylon

has an ATm. Almost every guesthouse and some

bigger restaurants have internet access (nor-

mally wi-fi).

8 Getting There & Away

BUS

The road to Ella leaves the Bandarawela–Badulla

road about 9km out of Bandarawela. Buses

change schedule fairly often, so ask for an update

at the Curd Shop (where many buses stop to

collect passengers).

Buses go to Badulla (Rs 53), Bandarawela

(Rs 34) and Wellawaya (Rs 67).

Whether you’re going to or from Kandy, you

must change first at Badulla. Buses to Matara

(Rs 240 to Rs 275 depending on bus quality)

stop at Ella approximately every hour from about

6.30am until about 2.30pm. The buses are likely

to be quite full by the time they reach Ella, though

the buses at around noon are usually less busy.

You can always catch a bus to Wellawaya and

change there for a service to the south coast or

for monaragala (for Arugam Bay). A bus heads to

g alle every morning at 8am (Rs 310).