Savage to Sri Lanka. Dummies' Manual (episode 8)
Beer, of course, is not only harmful, but also useful, only access to it was closed. And it's still far from dinner. I had to choke on tea with a chocolate bar lying around in my backpack. They sat down on the balcony and began to pose as English ladies with lords.
In the lobby we found magazines in English, leafed through with a smart look. Photos of Princess Di looked through. Admire the twilight mountains. We moved to have dinner in the hall so as not to get sick in a tidy room waiting for guests. By the way, the villa was not empty. Of the six numbers, only one was free (for our luck). I don't know what we would do if it were 100% full.
Seeing that we were having a dry supper, the owner offered to go get a beer. But I refused. Why drink at night? Toilet one. And she did not tell her companions about this possibility. I know them!
I met the morning on the roof again.
But the dawn was no different from yesterday. Let's go for breakfast. But today's menu is different from yesterday's! Wow! The previous hotel did not indulge us with pickles.
The owner finally brought the bill for the room. I look at the amount in rupees - well, everything is correct, I was counting on this. And the owner turns over the piece of paper, and it says “1100 rupees”, and begins to explain something to me. I thought he wanted so much from above. With a weary sigh, she took out a Booking printout, preparing to give a weak rebuff. But during the discussion it turned out that he was trying to convey to me that 1100 is the price per person for one night, and it's very cheap! But I'm not arguing! Cheap, of course. With incredible relief, I gave him the required plus 200 rupees for taking us to the station by tuk-tuk.
Our train left at a couple of minutes to eleven in the morning. It was only half past seven, and Vadik and I ran for a walk in the direction of Ella Rock.
We didn’t dream of getting on it, but at least go part of the way. We went to the right of the hotel up the road. By the way, buses occasionally passed through it. I have a suspicion that the one we arrived with is also passing by our villa. But who knew?
Fortunately, the traffic was light, and did not interfere much with our enjoyment of the mountain air. Ella rock remained on the left hand, and it was not clear how to get to it. There were some indistinct paths, but we thought that they only lead to a nearby house. The mountain was not marked on the map. But here we saw a rather wide dirt road going to the left. We turned. Around - a pine forest, cones are lying around.
You can never say that you are somewhere in an exotic country. Well, the yucca sometimes looms, or the palm tree.
Although. . . Who is that roaming around there? I looked closely - a flock of peacocks! Blimey!
Find the bird attraction
I heard meowing sounds at night and was even able to identify them ("White sun of the desert" does everyone remember? "Peacocks, you say! "). But somehow I didn't believe it. And here, on you! Exotic! Truth is, it's ruthless.
Mapme showed that somewhere there is a railway station from which you can go back to the road without returning back. Coming to the station, some distance, I had to stomp on the sleepers. A lineman walked ahead and oiled the rails with something (Annushka had already spilled oil).
Probably so that the train slides better, or maybe so that all sorts of people do not roam and slide off the rails. We roamed for a very short time and along a steep path going uphill we got onto the road. We did not even take this turn into account when we left the villa. They thought that he was leading to someone in the yard. Namely, this was the beginning of the trail to Ella Rock (as it turned out later).
We returned home. It was only 9 o'clock. There is still plenty of time before the train leaves. And after the walk I wanted a beer. Having beaten the grandmother, I decided that we can afford it. I gave the owner a thousand rupees and the last pack of cigarettes, and after 10 minutes we were sitting on the balcony, enjoying the cold lion. We were not afraid of the consequences, since the train, unlike the bus, should have a toilet!
Hardly squeezing into the master's tuk-tuk, we left for the station. A good man, our master, not like some! Too bad they never bothered to ask his name.
At the station, we bought second-class tickets to Colombo for 350 rupees. We went out to the platform.
There was a toilet there. Free. I wonder why bus fares are more expensive than trains, and toilets at bus stations are paid? Although qualitatively they are no different from the railway. Mystery of nature!
There are few people. Till.
But with the approach of the hour "X", they began to pull themselves up. And all completely non-native. So, in the second grade. And it's not rubber. A frame from a film about Pavka Korchagin was already drawn in my mind (he climbed in and drags his woman! ). In this case, Pavka was to be me.
A group of Russian tourists walked along the platform, led by a guide, who scared them that they would have to travel as many as 12 stops. To which they noticed that they themselves are from the Moscow region and every day they go to work by train. They are not used to it. The guide led them to the far end of the platform. He probably knows where the second-class carriage will stop. If you remember, we already had the pleasure of riding the Sri Lankan train. So, the trailers there are quite scanty, for 20 seats. So please understand my concern. Firstly, standing up is not ice in itself (10 hours), and secondly, you won’t see anything, and even more so, you won’t take a picture!
Therefore, having heard the whistle of the approaching train, she took her starting position at the very edge of the platform, preparing to jump into the car, like Jackie Chan.
I jumped in. My companions followed fairly quickly. And the car is empty! Almost. It turned out that in the composition of second-class carriages, like dirt. Pieces 5 minimum. And all the people from the platform dispersed somewhere so that there were more than enough empty seats.
We opened the window, getting ready to enjoy one of the most beautiful roads in the world. The speed of the train allowed this to be done. When we walked along the sleepers, then very often there were speed limit signs - 25.15, or even only 5 km / h. At many sites, workers are changing sleepers from wooden to reinforced concrete. Then the train almost completely stopped. So, enjoy - I don't want to!
The toilet in the train is almost the same as in our ancient trains. But there is a slight difference - a toilet bowl without a pedal, with a direct discharge onto the railway track. And sanitary zones are not provided at all. And, since the stations are located quite often, situations are possible.
When the train arrives at the station, the boss in all white comes out onto the platform!
For some reason, the film "Nameless Star" came to mind.
If you remember, when we were driving from the coast to the mountains, I was very worried about the rain. I think we were just incredibly lucky with the weather. Neither before the trip, nor during it, I never looked into the forecast - why spoil your mood? And I didn’t take an umbrella - we flew without luggage. And although there were showers on the coast, they never took us by surprise. We were either at home or on the bus. And in Ella the weather was just fabulous!
But apparently it couldn't go on like this all the time. And the rain came!
I instantly felt cold. The windows had to be closed. But the barrel was blowing from the open door of the carriage. I tried to close it - aha! It doesn't close! Sly Verka put on a blouse, which she had in a separate purse. And our clothes were in a suitcase, and we were too lazy to get them. Fortunately, after some time we left the rain zone, and it got warmer again.
At almost every station, peddlers with all sorts of sweets entered the train. They even sold boiled shrimp.
I don't know, maybe this road is the most beautiful in the world, but I'm pretty tired of it. The second time I would never go.
According to the schedule, the train was supposed to arrive in Colombo around 9 pm.
But I read that in Sri Lanka such a thing as this very schedule is very conditional. Being two hours late is not late at all! Norm! . We had a plane at almost five in the morning - a decent margin of time. But still…
The sun was already setting. Twilight is about to come, and you can hide the fotik.
The train suddenly stopped.
