After three days of these shenanigans, we packed up and headed to Tissamaharama. This was roughly a two-hour drive, and we drove with a hilarious cab driver uncle. To illustrate: at one point, we saw a massive construction project and asked him, “Do you know what is being built there?” ”Its a Muslim temple 😒,” he said. “Really? That's weirdly big for a mosque in Sri… oh.” I paused because Niki was staring at his Google Maps having a quiet laugh. “I think it’s a Ritz Carlton under construction,” he mouthed at me 😶🌫️. Uncle was hilarious and very interested in conversing about prices of autos and scooters. Normally this is fine, but this particular uncle was not well-versed in multitasking either. Each time he turned around to talk, his steering wheel also started turning in that direction.
Luckily, we arrived in Tissa on time and in one piece, staying this time for three nights at the Tissa Rainbow. This guesthouse, as well as the town itself, felt like a blip in the matrix—especially coming from Weligama. The host family was extremely warm and welcoming, and their standard breakfast came with a hundred items. At some point, I did have a cockroach trapped in my mosquito net situation, but we were pretty close to a jungle. Even if that cockroach was a snake, I had no right to complain.
We woke up pretty early the next morning for the safari. Another hilarious moment here: I was pretty anxious about how I would get inside the huge safari truck with its very deliberately large ground clearance; these vehicles are not known to be accessible, right? So Niki had asked the Tissa Rainbow uncle to please keep a stool or something ready so we had an additional step. Bless Niki for trying and Tissa Rainbow uncle for completely missing the assignment: he showed up with a very unstable-looking plastic stool, which, when placed in front of the step entrance of the truck, was at exactly the same height as the actual first step on the ladder 😂😂😂. Bless us for being somewhat consistent with our fitness, as we managed to get me into the truck pretty easily (allow me that small brag). And no, we did not use the stool.
With this, and our breakfasts packed, we were on our way to Yala National Park—“one of the best national parks in the world to see leopards” (we saw none), but also 44 varieties of mammals (we saw many water buffalo, some cutie elephants, deer, and that's it) and 215 bird species (We might have spotted one hornbill, one eagle, and some painted storks, but most of what we saw was fancy chicken, or more officially, the “jungle fowl.” Don’t laugh; they are the national birds of Sri Lanka.)
Look, it is no one’s fault that it was pouring when we visited Yala. Most of the locals were taking a rain check and probably sleeping in; it’s not their job to entertain us simply because we woke up at 4 AM and decided to show up at their house. Regardless, Yala is a magical place—one of the best and most ethical spots to appreciate wildlife on their own terms. Back in Tissa, however, we did see a million bats in what was a very dramatic display of their version of the 'rat race'. At exactly sunset every day, thousands of them wake up from their day-long slumber to go on a hunt; it looks like something straight out of a specific Nolan film about bats.
I mentioned smoothies earlier because Tissa is where we had the most interesting—and confusing—smoothie of our lives. We were desperate for one meal that wasn't carb-loaded, and since well-prepared salads aren't really an option in Tissa (and neither do I want Tissa to have those options), we tracked down the highest-rated restaurant nearby, which happened to be a smoothie shop. My god: I have never seen prettier smoothies that tasted worse than the ones we struggled to finish there.
This is where, with a heavy heart, we parted ways with Nibi, who went back to Weligama for some more surfing (we offered to book the same cab uncle that brought us to Tissa, but for some reason, Nibi said “No thanks” 🫡). Hey Nibi, join us again for some more snacks, surf and gossip 😁.
After Tissa, we took a cab to Ella on the 20th, where we immediately ran into more challenges. Although a short two-hour drive from Tissa, Ella is completely different—a proper hill-station town. That, combined with the still-developing, more raw style of “hill infrastructure,” led to some very interesting accessibility situations. The resort we booked was called “Solitary Resort” and came with some seriously stunning views from the balcony (at least that is why we booked it), but upon arriving, we learned that views came at the cost of a “short and chill hike” through some steep, muddy terrain—no big deal for able-bodied humans. But when faced with the possibility that a guest might not be as “able,” the resort owner felt bad and tried to help by putting me in an auto, thinking the auto guy could transport me across. Three minutes later, the auto (with me inside) had to be rescued from the situation, and we had to cancel our stay there 🤦♀️.
Not the best start. We sat for an hour at a cafe with all our stuff, looking for alternative stay options, this time filtering not for glamorous views but for normal-looking access. Another perk with Sri Lanka: we found something new pretty quickly and were able to check in and settle down. That evening, we went on our usual vibe-collection walk, and here are a few notes we made, exclusively for you:
The landscape became greener and more lush, with several waterfalls, misty mountains, and tea plantation views.
Ella town centre is where all the action is—lots of bars, restaurants, cafes, and live music.
The tourist crowd changed as well; this felt more posh, like an “into hiking with the family” type of scene.
Suddenly, a lot more international food options materialized. We found ourselves at The Barn by Starbeans for several of our meals—most notably a Neapolitan-style pizza that actually lived up to the name, followed by some surprisingly solid cocktails and desserts.
At the same time, I stumbled on something called “Lamprais,” and it quickly became my new local obsession. It is an invention by the Dutch Burghers (in Dutch, a citizen is called a “Burgher,” similar to the German “Bürger”), and it tastes exactly how it looks: fluffy rice, crispy cutlet, spicy curry, and my favorite aubergine relish, all wrapped up in a banana leaf and baked until cozy.
We spent five nights in Ella, and for a few of these days, we rented a bike and went to the Uva Halpewatte Tea Factory, the Nine Arches Bridge (wow), and a few viewpoints before heading to Sigiriya for another few days. At this point in our journey, we were once again deliberately trying to slow down.
In Sigiriya, we encountered a poor elephant that was “trained” for tourist rides. He was so visibly sad, suffering from what looked like PTSD; seeing him was another reality check of the tourism industry that I wasn't expecting to encounter, and I spent a good portion of that day wishing I could find a way to transport him back to Yala so he could be with his friends.
While in Sigiriya, we also made time for a day trip to Anuradhapura. Our mistake was that we did this entire trip by tuk-tuk, which took us some 7 hours total. We just didn’t think too much about it before—our resort person happened to be a part-time tuk-tuk driver and made the offer, so we went with it. In hindsight, yeah—we should have taken a car and avoided the unscheduled back issues.
With this, it was already time to head back to Colombo for the next destination. However, I want to take a little more of your headspace and my own time to give some final thoughts on Sri Lanka. In the next and final chapter of the Sri Lanka story, I will try to capture my most important takeaways from this magnificent country.
As always, we love you for sticking around <3
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