The breakfast was indeed perfect with fruit, pancakes, eggs, toasts and a little taste of Sri Lanka with roti, chickpea dip, and a spicy salsa-type dip.
Waiting for Hansi in front of Amanda Hills hotel.
With all our stuff packed, we waited for Hansel (our new German-named acquintance) at 10 o'clock, only to find out that he was either late or was not coming. The train was leaving (at least nominally) at 10.52 from a station far away - so we did not have time to just stand around and hope for little Hansi to show up. So we quickly organized two tuk-tuks to take us to the station. One of them claimed to have the world's best tuk-tuk - a heavily decorated specimen with wooden elephants and the word "Hero" written on the gas handle. He took Philip and Morten and drove like a mad man - quite an exhilarating ride. Philip found it very amusing.
Waiting for the train
It turned out that the train was more than an hour late, so the rush had been completely unneccesary. The train ride was beautiful and we enjoyed the scenery of lush jungle, little water falls, extensive tea plantations, and mountains. We had a very good lunch on board - smoking hot curry (advertised as "just a little spicy" when we inquired whether Michael would be able to eat it). The ride was incredibly bumpy and slow (probably less than 100 km in the 7 hours it took). We had our windows open the whole time (possible because we were going so slowly) and felt like we could reach out and grab the passing trees.
Some pictures of the view from the train.
We got off at the little station between Bandarawela and Ella called Heeloya. A guy with a super-sized tuk-tuk picked us up and drove us to the Hideaway. We could all fit in - even with luggage! We arranged for him to bring us to Lipton's seat tomorrow and be available for a half day tour.
The Hideaway turned out to be very grand - we got a family suite for Morten, Hiroko, and Michael, and a double for Mai and Philip.
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