[2016 斯里蘭卡 Sri Lanka] 火車 Train: KANDY>ELLA/ Hotel Laura/ 茶園 Tea Farm

Written by 原文自 Moritz/ Translated by 譯文自 Trianne

Early Bird catches the worm. In our case, we needed to buy train tickets for the most scenic part of our journey – Kandy to Ella. We were not able to book tickets in advance since it was vacation time. Every pre-sale ticket was sold out. We were worried to not get any ticket, so we woke up at 6am to start our day. Our stay at Pearl House was on the hill top of Kandy and with a spacious public space where you could step out to a terrace and enjoy the sunrise, overlook Kandy.

早起的鳥兒有蟲吃~ 因為假期，預售票已經售罄，昨天未能買到Kandy到Ella的火車票，深怕沒有車票，所以今早我們特別6點便起床前往火車站。Kandy到Ella 的火車綫是最值得體驗的，絕對不能錯過。清晨站在Pearl House廣闊的露台觀看日出，飽覽Kandy全境。

While Trianne was busy with packing her stuff, I did some yoga at the terrace to get started of my day. After that, I prepared my first cup of coffee which I bought from the Kandy Dance event. By the time I finished the coffee, Trianne has well packed and ready to go. We then headed downtown and it was already 6:45am.

當Trianne還忙於整理行李，我已經在露台完成瑜珈，在準備早上第一杯咖啡。咖啡是購自昨天在Kandy Dance場地擺賣的小店。當我品嚐完一杯當地有機咖啡，Trianne已經準備好，可以出發了，時間已經到早上6:45！

We arrived at the train station at 7:15am. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. We were lucky as no queue for the tickets. While we were waiting for our turn to buy the tickets, two middle-aged man offered us 1st class ticket for 1000LKR each. It was because their clients didn’t show up. However, we were able to get the reserved tickets for the 3rd class for 400LKR each.

到達火車站時，剛好7:15！天氣晴朗，陽光普照！很幸運，沒有太多人在排隊。正當我們等待著時，有兩個中年男人說有頭等車票，一個人只需1000LKR。本來的買家失蹤了，所以他們要趕快把車票脫手。但我們選擇3等車票，連預訂座位，一人一共400LKR。

When we were waiting for the train, we met the German couple stayed also in Pearl House. They first stopped at Nuwara Eliya and got themselves the 2nd class ticket. I was mentally prepared for the 6-7 hours ride – endless train ride stuck in between sweating and stinky people.

等車期間，又遇上同住在Pearl House的德國情侶。他們買了2等車票先到Nuwara Eliya。我心理上已經做好準備，接下來的6-7小時火車將會身處於體味濃的當地人和骯髒的車箱之間。

20 minutes later, the train arrived and we started looking for our seats 1 and 2. We were, again, lucky to have the seat next to the window. Two women with a curious looking 5 year old girl were sitting in front of us. As the train started moving, some passenger started to play the drum and guitar which motivated others to dance. It was a nice atmosphere and I started loving this journey. Actually we have enough space to sit and quite comfortable.

20分鐘過後，火車到達，順利找到我們的座位。又很幸運地，座位是在窗邊。對面坐著兩位當地女士和一個約5歲的小女孩。火車開動，有些乘客便響起附行帶來的鼓和吉他，其他乘客便載歌載舞。我開始被感染，喜歡上這一段旅程。而事實上，我有足夠空間活動，而已座位亦十分舒適。

Hawkers walked along the train and sold some food and drink to the passengers. Trianne bought herself a lots of fruit like fresh guava and spicy mango which are really tasty.

Soon the train entered the countryside and the tea fields are all over the valleys, it was stunning. Every time the train crossed the tunnel, the kids started to shout. It was so loud that we had to cover our ear. The little girl sitting in front of us started to imitate this action and she seemed to have fun from this. Whenever we did the same, she followed.

火車上有小販在售賣食物和飲品，Trianne買了許多生果，如新鮮的番石榴和加了辣粉的芒果，十分惹味。火車不久開始進入郊區和茶園地區，在不同的山坡上行走，景觀真的很美。每當火車進入隧道，車上的小孩都會尖叫。他們的叫聲真的很大，我們每次都要蓋著耳朵。坐在對面的小女孩開始模仿我們蓋車朵的動作，看得出她很開心。每當我們把手舉起，她都會跟著做。

It was in fact one of the nicest train rides I ever had. When we finally arrived at Ella, it was around 3:20pm. We could breathe fresh air. We walked towards to our hotel – Laura until we found a tuk tuk offering us a ride for 150LKR.
這條火車路綫的確是充滿獨特的景色，是一直以來的最好體驗。到達Ella已經是下午3:20，這裡空氣比市區清新。在走路前往酒店Laura途中，遇上一個只收取150LKR的Tuk Tuk 司機，順理成章跳上車。

Hotel Laura located on the very top of Ella, and provided nice rooms with stunning view over to the valley. First of all, we headed down to the town of Ella to grab some food after loading off our stuff. Since Ella is a tourist place, it was easy to find some western food – Trianne was eager to have a sandwich because she needed something different to eat, no more curry. For me, I stayed with the curry.
Hotel Laura位於Ella山頂位置，能看到遠處的山谷，景觀一流。我們先放下行李，回到小鎮吃午餐。Ella已經發展成一個旅遊區，所以食肆比較西化。Trianne今天不想再吃當地食物，指明要吃三文治，不要咖哩！而我，繼續咖哩！

We ended up in a nice place called “Café C”. Their curry was good but the sandwich was soso. Then we headed back to the hotel before 6:30pm so that we could have our evening meal and enjoy the sunset. We ordered ourselves soups which were, again, tasty as well.
我們最終選擇了Cafe C，他們的咖哩很有水準，但三文治卻未如理想。吃罷便趕在6:30前回到酒店，因為酒店安排了晩餐和要欣賞日落景色。我們點了熱湯，味道亦是非常好。