Amazing train ride to Ella

Amazing Sri Lanka...

I have done one of the best train rides in Europe last year when i went to St. Moritz. But i think today i topped that ride here in Sri Lanka.
We started the day wt a trip to a tea fabric called Pedro, the harvest and process about 2500kg/week.
We took a small guide tour around the factory to learn about the important steps in the production of a tea bag, from fresh leaves to the package ready tea within 24hours, that goes to Colombo's tea auction where all the tea from Sri Lanka's 140 tea company's is sold to the big world market dealers.

The Journey took us from Nanu Oya to Ella, over the mountains in the middle of all the tea plantations. The views were stunning... amazing... beautiful and mind blowing. A lot of the surrounding mountains are covered wt gras green tea bushes.  The people living along the rail road track always have a smile on their face when we passed wt the train.

The town of Ella is a very small but peaceful town wt a few travelers buzzing around. We will go to check out the water fall the next morning and head towards the beach again.

btw.. di u know!!!
-The green tea and black tea is the same plant, it's just a different way of processing it. Read Full...

Travel from sea level to the highest City of Sri Lanka

Travel from sea level to the highest City of Sri Lanka

So the day has come to leave the camp and travel onward to the tea region in the mountains of Sri Lanka. Stephan was so kind to take our kitebags and bring em down to Negombo for us, so we can travel light.
We took a ride in Stephan’s 1072 VW bus again to get to Talawila junction from there we had to take two public and two AC buses to travel from the junction to Puttalam (1h) to Kurunegala (2h) to Kandy (2h) and finally to Nuwara Eliya(2.5h). So we went from sea level to 1800m the highest City of Sri Lanka.
Up here it all looks a very green and very British. All the tea factories have some British names and the houses are mostly old colonial style houses.

We might skip our plans of climbing Adams Peak due to little bit too much on the schedule hahah

We will take the train for the next leg of the journey tomorrow or the day after, the legendary ride from here to Ella. Then down to Arugam bay, Yala National Park and Galle and if we stay on time we will meet up wt the boys again in Colombo or Negombo next weekend.

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Downwinder to Fabio Lagoon and Puttalam flatwater heaven

Downwinder to Fabio Lagoon and Puttalam flatwater heaven

On Saturday we went to the lagoon as usual but were pretty knackered from the last days of kiting and wakestyle all day long. So when Dilsiri and his friends arrived we decided to do a spontaneous downwind trip to the Fabio Lagoon, the name of the lagoon is actually another one but since Fabio Ingrosso opened a small school at the lagoon all kiters call it that way. The downwinder took us along the coast the first 8km to the corner wt side onshore wind in the shore break, then offshore wt offshore winds towards the Fabio lagoon for 6km and for the good end a bit of flat water riding in the lagoon. The wind here is more gusty than in the Kite Kuda lagoon but the lagoon is much bigger. I guess it’s a good spot for beginner and to teach but advanced rider will definitely like the smaller lagoon better. After all a very good experience and riding in lots of different conditions. We landed the kite just before sunset and took a tuktuk back to our camp.

On Sunday we went out early morning (9AM J ) wt the boats on the Puttalam lagoon, this lagoon is around 70x12km and has lots of small islands and sandbars on it. We stopped at an island which had a few bushes and trees on it, enough to find some cover from the sun when ur not out riding. The spot is amazing, u can ride a few kilometers to the left and right side till u hit land again or u can go downwind around another island and the whole flat water makes it so easy to get back upwind. With the high tide was the water deep enough to jump the tree on the island and perform ur tricks just a few meter from the beach. The water here is mostly around 5cm to 1m deep and warm.

U can see that this place has a lot of wind by all the wind mills that are placed around the lagoon.

Btw… did u know that the people in Sri Lanka wiggle they’re heads to say yes the same way we used to move our head to say no…

Some special thx goes to Leo and Michi from Kite Kuda, Stephan wt his VW bus, Dilsiri and the whole gang that enjoyed to kite wt us.

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lazy dayz at Kite Kuda

After a long trip from Europe to Sri Lanka we took the pace a bit down. So the 6km from the Airport to Negombo took us nearly about an hour wt public bus transportation. We decided to spend a night there and wait for Kathrin's luggage. So next morning.. surprise... luggage still not there.

First thing in the morning was a trip to the biggest fish market of Sri Lanka, supposed to be famous for the cigar smoking old ladies... but we haven't seen any of them. It was just super busy and tons of fish are sold here every day.

We moved on the the kite mekka of Sri Lanka, the region around Kalpitiya. There are several lagoons, few small once and some ginourmouse once. The biggest is around 70x12km.

The windy season here is from Mai till October, so we are lucky and the wind is still on.

The place we stay is called Kite Kuda, a nice basic kite camp in the middle of nowhere. Lot's of good people around here and a very helpful crew that runs the camp. The rooms are very basic but enough for what u need when u kite all day and the view is amazing, u can see the stars in the sky from ur bed. Instead of walls u have some curtains and a roof that would definitely not help much when it rains. But everyone here told us that there is no rain in this region during this time a year.

The Lagoon is amazing, flat water as much as u want and only a hand full of riders on the water at the same time, so more space than u really need. Beginners are up on the board in an instant and pros can learn new tricks on daily basis. All u have to do is to pack ur bags and fly over here.
New accommodations are built all around this area, some basic and some pretty expensive. I guess most kiters will find a place to stay that fits in the budget. Best way to find out about accomodation is to ask the guys who work at the kite stations, they can advise u where to find ur suitable place.

The night time is mostly filled with a delicious buffet and some chat about the new tricks everyone sticked today, on special occasions the guys will start a bonfire and a few bottles of rum will disappear mixed up wt coke.
So we got a trip planned for tomorrow to see some more lagoons and places to kite...
stay tuned...
Stephan Read Full...

Journey to Asia

Journey to Asia

After a few month of workin in Switzerland and meeting up wt last remaining friends… the rest is married and has kidds = no more time for friends (-: , I’m on my way to Asia again.

The journey will take me not straight to Boracay but to Sri Lanka and Hong Kong instead. At first it was planned totally differently as we were supposed to have some earlier tour stops with the KTA, but our 3^rd year seems to be more complicated than ever before. Everything is ready in the pipeline but somehow we cannot get those dates fixed and contracts signed. Still we will not give up and have another great season wt the KTA, some old spots and some new beaches will most likely be on the final schedule.

For now I’m just sitting in London’s Heathrow airport and waiting for a flight to Delhi and Colombo. I will travel wt Kathrin around Sri Lanka, our main plan is to see some new kite beaches, hike a bit or climb a mountain, surf if we find some waves and chillax in the tea region.

I got already contacts in the kite area around the big lagoons of Sri Lanka near Kalpitiya, the pictures look really promising and I think also perfect for some awesome Freestyle action. This will be the end of their season so I’m not expecting strong winds but perfect for my 11…

India Delhi airport; wow surprisingly clean and definitely the most comfortable chairs to rest, while waiting for ur connection flight.

and finally the sand is back between my toes and there is nothing of a long journey that a cold beer couldn't heal.

So long and have a nice winter…

Stephan

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