Sri Lanka - Across Island through Ella and Kandy

While we were in Arugam Bay we met a few kitesurfers, they said that Kalpitiya on the Western coast of Srilanka was a great place to learn. Nick has been wanting to try for ages, he actually went as far as buying a kite to learn with. So we decided to leave Arugam Bay a little early to do a few days of kitesurfing lessons.

To get there we went through Ella and Kandy, two very beautiful cities. Ella is known for tea and is up in the mountains, we went from 37 degrees in Arugam to a breezy 24 degrees in Ella. We did a nice hike, saw the 9 arch bridge and went to a tea factory for a tour. We learnt some fascinating facts, before the British came most of the tea plantations were coffee plantations. They dry the tea leaves for 12 hours and then at 3 am when the temperature is right they roll the tea, sifting at different intervals for the different grades of tea. They even had a machine that was sorting tea by the colour.

We then went through Kandy which had some nice temples and stunning botanical gardens.

In Kalpitiya we got some very light wind conditions, with gusts so it was a little challenging for learning. But we both managed to stand up and go along in the water for a decent amount of time before face planting in the water!

Views from our accomodation in Ella

9 Arch bridge

Tea field

Tea roller

Tea out of the dryer

Colour sorting machine

Fresh tea leaf

Grades of tea for tasting

View from Kandy

Found a safe place after a hectic market

Giant buddha statue