The "lava" part isn't supposed to be taken literally!

Nuwara Eliya to Ella

We woke up to the good news that the train strike had been called off at midnight so we would be able to catch the train from Nanuoya to Ella at 1.15pm as planned. Sam picked us up at 11 and we stopped by a temple (still under construction) overlooking Nurawa Eliya, and a nearby waterfall, before stopping for tea and cake at the Edinburgh Tea Stop. 

K selected the hot lava cake, we were waiting for it for quite a while before we smelt something burning. It turns out the person who served us didn't know how to work the microwave and inserted a lava cake still in foil then set the timer on high for 10 minutes. K's chances of getting that lave cake were now zero, yet there was still an attempt to charge us for it!

The train arrived at Nanuoya station only a few minutes late, we boarded (along with the hundred of other tourists) and then didn't move from the station for another hour, maybe the driver took his lunch break? There were some nice views during the three hour trip, and we were also entertained by watching all the people lining up, mainly girls with their pretty dresses, hair and makeup done, to hang out the doorway for Instagram photos. This had us then wondering about the rates of accidents and a quick google search revealed a number of deaths, mainly from hitting their heads on approaching tunnels. Ouch!

Sam was there at Ella station to collect us and drive us to our hillside villa in Ella overlooking the jungle, a nice quiet spot surprisingly close to the main road which had lots of bars, shops and restaurants very much targeted at tourists.