Our time in Ella is quite short as we arrived at about 5pm and checked in to our accomodation. we stayed down stairs at the Bamboo in Ella a small family run place with only 2 rooms.

The streets are quite busy with lots of food/drink places so quite a bit of choice.

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The weather was cooler than we were thinking and found out that the previous 4 weeks were quite warm with 32 most days.

For dinner we ate t a place called Cafe Chill which seemed to be the business place in town. We got a seat pretty quickly but they then wanted our table to join up a group of 10 which was OK with us so we sat at the bar and decided to stay there for the dinner.

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We had an early start at 5:45am to transfer from the Hotel to the airport and then onto Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Since we missed on dinner last night we decided to have have something for breakfast at the airport. The food court looked good but delivered a bit less although not too bad in the end.


This time we flew Silk Airways (the Singapore Airlines regional Airline) which is a bit of a cut down version of Singapore Airlines.


The food on board was tasty but also a bit more minimal.

Apon arrival Immigration was very simple and we were through in about 2 minutes from arriving at the counter.

We then waited for a quite a while for our bags to show on the the bag carousal, but then were told to use a different carousal.

We had booked a driver to drive us to Ella from Colombo and their representative was waiting with our names on a board at the arrivals area.

Pam went to the ATM to get some cash, since the hotels require cash for payment. For some reason she took out 7000 Sri Lankin Rupees. This is the equivalent of about $70 NZD.

So next we took out 60,000 Rupees in order to pay for our hotel.

I bought a SIM Card with 5GB of data and "more" phone minutes for 1000 rupees.

We were then on our way to Ella, it took a bit more than 6 hours to get there. Also most villages just seemed to merge into the next village for the first 4 hours. The roads are of good quality, but for the first part of the journey about 3-4 hours the roads are just really busy with traffic everywhere.
 

I have seen the Singapore flyer a few times in the past while in Singapore and wanted to go it - but at $33 was never sure. But with our Singapore Stopover that we got at $1 each (hotel, transfers, and attractions) we had to do something in Singapore - so the total cost of the flyer was an Uber from the hotel to the Flyer at about $6.

The flyer takes about 30 minutes to do 1 revolution and costs $33.

There were always people willing to get on so we assume most people where happy to pay the $

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It was a nice trip but not sure I would want to pay the $33 for 1/2 hour ride.

Trying to get an Uber took us ages as we had no Singapore $ and the taxis all wanted cash. We were going to get some food but in the end it was 10:15pm when we left the Flyer and we were too buggered to be bothered. We had our transfer back to the airport at 5:45am.

We had quite a simple morning to leave Christchurch and head to Singapore. We caught an uber to the  airport at 8am ($40)

The flight was delayed for about 25 minutes due to the crew not arriving at the airport on time?

We get on the Singapore airlines flight SQ298 and find that the same crappy entertainment units in place.


Oh well nothing I can do about that. In case you do not know the screens are about 9" which is OK, but the visual quality is terrible. Very low resolution for 9".

The food choices (in economy) sound great especially if you read the menu card.

As far as the food went typical airline food.



We made up for lost time as we were going to land about 20 minutes early but after some time wasting in the air we arrived about right on schedule.

We both felt pretty drained on arrival and went to see if we were eligible for $20 Changi Dollars each for transiting in Singapore. We stood in a queue for about 10 minutes and got our $40 in vouchers. We then went to immigration where there was a large queue of people about 20-30 people per line. You have to have your thumbs scanned now for security reasons and this took about 30 minutes before we completed immigration.

We went to pick up our bags but could not find them on the bag carousal  but we were told they were on the ground in front of the carousal already and indeed they were.

So next was to find the Singapore stop over desk, we asked a security guy who pointed us on a direction but it was wrong. No signs at all and we spoke to another person who said it was now in the opposite direction. We found a little desk and it was the correct place.

So we got our free tickets (hop on hop off bus, and other attractions) and went to wait until we were picked up in the transfer bus to our hotel.

We were picked up and then we ended up going around every other terminal to pick up other people.

We got to our hotel after quite busy streets about 8pm. By this stage feeling quite drained.

We checked into a very small room on the 19th floor...... Sorry no photos....

Sinhala Greetings and Phrases Yes  Ow No  Naa Hello/good day  Ayubowan Thank you  Istuti Thank you very much  Bohoma istuti How are you?  Kohomadhe? Fine  Varadak neh Please  Karunakerara What is your name?  Nama mokadhdha? My name is....  Mage nama.... OK/very good  Hari hondai Delicious  Hari rasai I don’t understand  Mata terinneh neh Very expensive  Hari ganan No sugar please  Seeni netuwa Please stop here  Metana nawaththanna Where are you going? Koheda yanna? Where is the hotel?  Hootale kohedha? Where is the station?  Stesemeta eka ko? What is this?  Mekeh mokadeh? May I telephone?  Mata call ekak ganda poluwandeh? How much (is this)?  (Meeka) kiyadha? Do you speak English? Ingirisi dannevada? I don’t speak Sinhala  Singhala danna naa Questions What?  Mokadhdha? When?  Kawadadha? Where?  Kohedha? Who?  Kaudha? Why?  Ayi? Days of the Week Monday  Sanduda Tuesday  Angahauwada Wednesday  Badada Thursday  Brahaspathinda Friday  Sikurada Saturday  Senesurada Sunday  Irida Place Names Many Sinhalese place names are long but quite logical as they are nearly always a compound, so remember a few rules and you will pronounce them like a native. island  duwa village  gama river  ganga street  mawatha road  para city  nuwara stream  oya town  pura port  tota, tara temple  vihara lake  weva bank  bank eka breakfast  udee tee clean  pirisidu coffee  kopi dinner  paa kaama dirty  kilutu food  kaama hotel  hotela lunch  dawal kaama small  punchi pharmacy  bet sappuwa restaurant  apana sala room  kaamare soap  saban tea  tey this/that  meke/oya water  watura Numbers 1  eka 2  deka 3  tuna 4  hatara 5  paha 6  haya 7  hata 8  ata 9  namaya 10  daaha 11  ekolaha 12  dolaha 13  daha tuna 20  vissa 30  tiha 40  hataliha 50  panaha 60  heta 70  heddawa 80  assuwa 90  annuwa 100  seeiye 1,000  daha

Tamil Basics Hello  Vanakkam Goodbye  Poyvituvarukiren (Reply Poyvituvarungal) Yes  Amam No  Illai Perhaps  Oruvelai Thank you  Nandri How are you?  Celakkiyama? What is your name?  Ungal peyar yenna? My name is (John/Jane)  Yen peyar (John/Jane) Where is the (hotel)?  (Hotel) yenge? What is this/that?  Idu/Adu yenna? What is the price?  Yenna vilai? That is very expensive  Anda vilai mikavum adikum I want (coffee)  (Kapi) Vendum I like (dosa)  (Dosai) Pudikkum Is it possible?  Mudiyuma? I don’t understand  Puriyadu Enough  Podum Toilet  Malasalakudam Bed  Kattil Room  Arai Bedroom  Patukkai arai Train  Rayil Sari  Pudavai Dhoti  Vesti Towel  Thuwai Sandals  Ceruppu Money  Kaasu Temple  Kovil Verbs Come! (imperative)  Varungal Go (imperative)  Pongal Stop (imperative)  Nillungal Sleep  Tungu Eat  Sappidu Drink  Kudi Buy  Vangu Pay (money)  Punam kodu (literally “give money”) See  Par Wash (clothes)  Tuvai Wash (yourself)  Kazhavu Days of the week Monday  Tingal Tuesday  Cevvay Wednesday  Putam Thursday  Viyazhan Friday  Velli Saturday  Ceni Sunday  Nayiri Today  Inraikku Week  Varam Month  Matam Year  Varutam Numbers 1  onru 2  irandu 3  munru 4  nanku 5  aindu 6  aru 7  yezhu 8  yettu 9  onpadu 10  pattu 11  patinonru 12  pannirandu 20  irupadu 30  muppadu 40  rarpadu 50  aimpadu 60  arupadu 70  alupadu 80  yenpadu 90  tonnuru 100  nuru 100,000  latcam 10,000,000  kodi Health I am sick (vomiting)  Utampu cariyillai irukkiradu I have a pain  Vali irukkiradu I have diarrhoea  irrukkiradu Doctor  Taktar Help!  Utavi cey! The English word “motions” is a common expression for diarrhoea. Food (Sappadu) Water  Tunnir Rice  Sadum Fruit  Puzham Vegetables  Kaykuri Milk  Pal Coconut  Tengay Mango  Mampazham Banana  Valaippazham Coffee  Kapi Tea  Ti Steamed rice cakes  Idli Pancake made from fermented dough  Dosai Thin, spicy soup, usually with a tamarind base  VadaiRasam Dry vegetable curry  Poriyal Chicken curry  Kolikarri Lamb curry  Attukkari Sweet festival dish Payasam Mils  “Meals”, similar to a North Indian thali (a selection of different small dishes), traditionally served on a banana leaf