Stuff grows up here. I personally think Ella has the best vegetarian food in the country, but posher places insist on trucking in meat. We did have a few interesting things. One was the edible tea tempura at 98 Acres. The other was the usual veggies at Dream Cafe. Some things also feasted on us.

Honestly, just look at the picture. This is a vertical panorama which captures most of the falls. Ravana Falls (there are a few actually) is visible from throughout Ella, most notably from Ambiente. If you follow the rail tracks and turn at the second Buddha shrine, you get there. Go down to the left (or swim across) from the right and you can descend down a few levels. But be careful.

I’m in Ella with Imaad, officially to review this new resort, 98 Acres. It’s damn nice, degrees of magnitude above my usual accom. As in, this is not a place I could usually afford, but if you can, you should. It’s the best place I know of in Ella (IMHO, one of the best places in Sri Lanka) and it’s definitely unique.

I’ve had some shitty bus rides in my life. The Badulla ride was thankfully great. We left Colombo round 11 and got to Ella round 5h30. The ride was expensive at Rs. 585 each, but the conductor didn’t overstuff the bus, the A/C worked, it smelled fine and was cool. The conductors were actually quite nice. So anyways, any bus stops for eats somewhere along the way. These are some photos from our stop, in Lellopitiya.

This is a wet jungi, drying outside the Rawana Liquor Restaurant near Ella. As awesome as this is, I can only paint you the picture inside with words. It’s about 5h30 and the local bar is packed. Men, of course, in sarong and shirt, sarong or scarf wrapped around their heads. It’s cold. People round here drink. A lot.

This mobile office thing is working out fine, except for Imaad, who’s sitting here in a cordurouy jacket with his damn gypsy bag and long hair, making us look like homosexuals. Seriously, he looks like the cordurouy cowboy. We both have tabs which looks odd but efficient enough. He’s just got to take it that extra level.

I’m on the bus out of Colombo, heading for the hills. I’ve got some kit for mobile blogging (iPad, EyeFi card to wirelessly upload photos), so might as well use it. Here’s a photo and an extended, meandering caption.

Apple products use a Micro SIM, which is a smaller than usual phone chip. Most places you buy such a card. In Sri Lanka, this is not how we do. Dudes at some communication kades just take a normal SIM and chomp it through the cutter. Then they trim it down with a box cutter. Like a baas.

I’ve always loved the lottery vendor booths on the road. They look like big penguin monsters. I always thought that they got up and walked around at night, but they don’t. I checked. You know what else they look like? Totoro, from the classic Japanese animated film – My Neighbor Totoro. Seriously. It’s uncanny.

I shared a beanbag pillow with three dudes and the radio was playing all night. Sounded like the Bangles. Hence, I’m not going to write much. Here’s some photos. This is from the Colombo Hackathon. People get together and try to design (and sometimes code) startups, while Indians hover in the corners, stealing ideas and – god forbid – possibly funding them.