A lovely cuppa

After my surfing exploits and my now overwhelming desire to liberate myself from sand, I escaped to the hills and slowly chugged - by bus - into enchanting Ella.

Ella is blessed with some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. The sleepy village, which only received electricity in 1984, is nestled in a valley peering straight through Ella Gap to the plain nearly 1000m below. Alongside dramatic mountains, Ella is enveloped by tea plantations, which roll and ripple as far as the eye can see.

And so, dedicated tea drinking commenced. Teapots and teapots of the hot, leafy goodness that calms the senses and clears the mind.

Sipping from chipped china cups and hugged by waves of tea plantations, I could feel the blend of civilisations between the British colonial past, the Tamils who were forcefully moved from India to pick the leaves and the ancient layers of Sri Lankan history far beyond.

To break up the tea drinking and work up a thirst, I took myself off on treks through the hills and plantations - meeting only poverty-wage tea pickers and the occasional rosey-cheeked tourist. The view from the top of Ella rock was worth the uphill scramble (and downhill tumble), as the hills stretched away into the distance, popping up like little islands in the morning mist.

Despite filling up on oodles of tea, I did sample the hill country's culinary creations, tucking into regular banquets of garlic curry (containing 18 cloves of the potent plant - I counted), sweet and sour aubergine, tomato curry, mint potatoes, dhal, beetroot, pineapple chutney, tamarind, spicy coconut sambal and an alien looking vegetable called a bitter gourd which was very tasty indeed.

Now, I needed to find myself a bigger mountain to climb to work off some of those indulgent calories!