Temple in the Cave
The good and so far reliable tourist information says there is a cave and inside is a temple for the Buddhists. It's about 2 km on the road south. Just a light drizzle this morning, nothing to prevent any hiking activities, although the shoes are still a little damp from yesterday. Breakfast, again washed down with a gallon of tea. Not bad really, feeling somewhat obliged to take it since I beat the room price down.
Today's mission then, its to go and find that cave without getting lost and arriving back at base in one piece. Heading south away from Ella is also heading down. Theory being the further away from those darn clouds the less wet I should get. Afters yesterday's saturation , a dry spell would be most welcome indeed. The road winds down in a series of very long 'S' bends and pretty busy with those buses their belching out fumes.
It's a track off to the right, clearly signed and in reasonable order - good enough for tuk tuks to zoom up and down anyway. uphill, gently, no great effort required and the scenery is pretty nice looking down into the valley and across to the green terraced fields. Some decent photos despite the gloomy weather! Well, here it is, after 40 minutes of hiking, a fairly inconspicuous construction actually, wouldn't really know it was a cave, just a giant boulder with a small cavity. A few snaps for the album, at the same time, rustling in the
trees above. Monkeys, big ones with some red faces - searching frantically for a sturdy stick as I feel trouble ahead! They kept their distance thankfully and I just carried on, not making eye contact or any sudden motion as advised by a source on the Internet! A further 20 minutes hike and the track ends amongst rice paddies and veggie plots on the valley side. Looking down onto terraced fields and watching how these people manage to irrigate them on these steep hills is fascinating as they harness streams and divert water as needed through a series of pipes and collection pools.
There seems to be quite a number of birds around here, might be a good place to try and photograph these so far elusive creatures. Just keeping still in one spot, occasionally checking to see if those darn giant ants are making a beeline for me. Birds, plenty of them soon flutter in towards the nearby trees. I don't know the names, but I guess at least one of them might be some kind of Tit. Oh, I do recognise a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and the prize catch, a rather vivid black and orange bird, about the size of an Egret. A delightful couple of hours as nature comes and go's. Exotic birds, squirrels, monkeys and some rather vivid flora around too.
Perhaps rather ambitious, but I did hear that there is a waterfall somewhere around here, further along the main road I think. I can probably catch a bus back at some point, so ok, let's go to the waterfalls. Plan thwarted, for a whole anyway as I shelter in under the tarpaulin of a roadside vegetable sand. That darn rain has started again, and heavy!
Eventfully the vegetable sellers invite me to their house, either taking pity on me or to free up space under the tarpaulin - bit of both I suspect. It's a nice house, well constructed on a hillside, until the next landslide anyway. I get tea and three bananas for which I am very grateful, comes just at the right time too. They sell their vegetables straight from the terraced fields, and do a brisk trade with frequent passing customers stopping off for the freshest vegetables imaginable. Carrots, potatoes, leeks, lettuce infact pretty much all the market garden vegetables we get in our good old British Supermarkets, just that these sometimes maybe an irregular shape! Oh, and no sprays remarks the boy, as he try's to sell me a tuk tuk ride back to Ella. Yep, his tuk tuk is a bit of business on the side, seems to be doing alight making enough money out of western tourists to build an extension - "rooms for visitors", he explains. Seems this family at least have an idyllic lifestyle.
Plan to see those waterfalls aborted for today since its now quite late, and since the rain has eased just a little bit, time to make tracks back to the village. No tuk tuk thanks, thinking there must be a bus back. Yes, just by that lane leading to the cave temple there is a bus stand. A grubby red bus pulls up, it's about 10p back to Ella. Well worth it, not to have to hike back up there in the rain.
I don't subscribe to the overcharging going on here, so it's Kottu for tea at the little cafe mentioned before. It's ok actually, but have to say not my favourite meal, but for 200 rupees and 20 rupees for a cup of tea then there's really nothing too much to complain about - but I do need to find something more substantial, thinking hard, thinking next town along possibly.
The good and so far reliable tourist information says there is a cave and inside is a temple for the Buddhists. It's about 2 km on the road south. Just a light drizzle this morning, nothing to prevent any hiking activities, although the shoes are still a little damp from yesterday. Breakfast, again washed down with a gallon of tea. Not bad really, feeling somewhat obliged to take it since I beat the room price down.
Today's mission then, its to go and find that cave without getting lost and arriving back at base in one piece. Heading south away from Ella is also heading down. Theory being the further away from those darn clouds the less wet I should get. Afters yesterday's saturation , a dry spell would be most welcome indeed. The road winds down in a series of very long 'S' bends and pretty busy with those buses their belching out fumes.
It's a track off to the right, clearly signed and in reasonable order - good enough for tuk tuks to zoom up and down anyway. uphill, gently, no great effort required and the scenery is pretty nice looking down into the valley and across to the green terraced fields. Some decent photos despite the gloomy weather! Well, here it is, after 40 minutes of hiking, a fairly inconspicuous construction actually, wouldn't really know it was a cave, just a giant boulder with a small cavity. A few snaps for the album, at the same time, rustling in the
trees above. Monkeys, big ones with some red faces - searching frantically for a sturdy stick as I feel trouble ahead! They kept their distance thankfully and I just carried on, not making eye contact or any sudden motion as advised by a source on the Internet! A further 20 minutes hike and the track ends amongst rice paddies and veggie plots on the valley side. Looking down onto terraced fields and watching how these people manage to irrigate them on these steep hills is fascinating as they harness streams and divert water as needed through a series of pipes and collection pools.
There seems to be quite a number of birds around here, might be a good place to try and photograph these so far elusive creatures. Just keeping still in one spot, occasionally checking to see if those darn giant ants are making a beeline for me. Birds, plenty of them soon flutter in towards the nearby trees. I don't know the names, but I guess at least one of them might be some kind of Tit. Oh, I do recognise a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and the prize catch, a rather vivid black and orange bird, about the size of an Egret. A delightful couple of hours as nature comes and go's. Exotic birds, squirrels, monkeys and some rather vivid flora around too.
Perhaps rather ambitious, but I did hear that there is a waterfall somewhere around here, further along the main road I think. I can probably catch a bus back at some point, so ok, let's go to the waterfalls. Plan thwarted, for a whole anyway as I shelter in under the tarpaulin of a roadside vegetable sand. That darn rain has started again, and heavy!
Eventfully the vegetable sellers invite me to their house, either taking pity on me or to free up space under the tarpaulin - bit of both I suspect. It's a nice house, well constructed on a hillside, until the next landslide anyway. I get tea and three bananas for which I am very grateful, comes just at the right time too. They sell their vegetables straight from the terraced fields, and do a brisk trade with frequent passing customers stopping off for the freshest vegetables imaginable. Carrots, potatoes, leeks, lettuce infact pretty much all the market garden vegetables we get in our good old British Supermarkets, just that these sometimes maybe an irregular shape! Oh, and no sprays remarks the boy, as he try's to sell me a tuk tuk ride back to Ella. Yep, his tuk tuk is a bit of business on the side, seems to be doing alight making enough money out of western tourists to build an extension - "rooms for visitors", he explains. Seems this family at least have an idyllic lifestyle.
Plan to see those waterfalls aborted for today since its now quite late, and since the rain has eased just a little bit, time to make tracks back to the village. No tuk tuk thanks, thinking there must be a bus back. Yes, just by that lane leading to the cave temple there is a bus stand. A grubby red bus pulls up, it's about 10p back to Ella. Well worth it, not to have to hike back up there in the rain.
I don't subscribe to the overcharging going on here, so it's Kottu for tea at the little cafe mentioned before. It's ok actually, but have to say not my favourite meal, but for 200 rupees and 20 rupees for a cup of tea then there's really nothing too much to complain about - but I do need to find something more substantial, thinking hard, thinking next town along possibly.
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