16 Dec 2024
Our guide buys us a second class ticket from Nuwara Eliya to the station after Ella. Train arrives almost an hour later than scheduled and when it arrives the doors of second class are all closed. People start coming in through the windows, so we decide to go up to first class and move immediately to the second, but the controller blocks us and tells us that we need tickets with reserved seats. So we try to reach the non-reserved area but it is overflowing with people so that we can not get into it. Then why do you keep seeing tickets? Looks worse than a cattle wagon. The staff are also very rude and threaten people with calling the police, who then actually arrive at the next stop.
Tourist experience and "Instagrammable" that as always turns out to be among the worst you can do. We don't even enjoy the scenery because it rains, so it couldn't get any worse. Never again.