Tea factory & Ravana falls

Our second day in Ella we decided to rent a scooter. We drove randomly towards the next village when we saw a sign for the Halpewatte tea factory.

Visiting a tea factory while in Sri Lanka kind of is a must. We decided to follow the signs. Chris drove up the tiny little roads that bent around the mountains.
On top of the hill overlooking the tea estate was the factory. Unfortunately it was Sunday and so the production line was closed. As it’s dry season in Ella they pick tea leaves a couple of days a week and only have the fans (to dry the leaves) running a couple of days a week.
After a walk through the factory we drove the beautiful but steep road back down to Ella.

The delicious food the night before had inspired us try a cooking class. We drove to Ella Spice Garden and signed up for one the next day.
This meant we had to extend our stay in Ella; we were more than fine with that as we loved it there.

In the afternoon we drove 5 kilometres down the mountains towards the Ravana Falls. It’s a waterfall located right next to the main road. Many people (tourists and locals) stop here to swim in the pools and get a shower. We are both not to keen on these kind of showers and the sign telling us how many people had died trying to climb the rocks and sliding down the waterfall put us off. So after a coffee (by the way Sri Lankan coffee is nothing like coffee) watching the monkeys trying to get food of the tourists we decided to drive back.

On the way to the scooter we saw locals selling fresh mango chips and corn on the cob. The mango chips were delicious with chilli powder sprinkled over them.
The corn we happily passed as they were cooking it on what seemed a half melted bowl of plastic. (Burning plastic doesn’t seem to worry Sri Lankan’s very much.)
The rest of the day we spent cruising around and looking at some tourist shops. After a chicken burger for dinner (sometimes all the curries just get too much) we went home.