---
type: Video
title: "I Didn’t Expect This In Sri Lanka 🇱🇰"
description: A 550-metre zipline over the valley at Ella for about $20, a king coconut for 50 cents, and the fastest wi-fi Harry finds anywhere in the country — in a restaurant, after a day of looking.
tags: [sri-lanka, ella, zipline, adventure, coconut, wifi, food]
timestamp: 2026-08-06T15:20:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAAahBHRNrM
video_id: MAAahBHRNrM
upload_date: 2022-02-28
duration: 952
---

# I Didn’t Expect This In Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

The last full day in [Ella](/places/ella.md) before the transfer to Colombo, and
it is a short one: a zipline, a coconut, and a long Western lunch. With
[Mac](/people/mac.md) and [Ali](/people/ali.md), who is badly afraid of heights
and comes anyway.

*Obs: this page is based on auto-generated subtitles.*

## The zipline

The **Flying Ravana Mega Zipline**, on the walk out of town, and the numbers are
the useful part.

- **550 metres long**, run side by side so two people go at once.
- **4,000 rupees — about $20.**
- **A GoPro is allowed**, and Harry uses one.
- **The lift back to the top is free**, which he reads correctly as an inducement
  to buy a second run.
- **The same site offers** ATV riding, mountain biking, air rifle shooting,
  abseiling and archery.
- **Around 25°C, sunny with a breeze** — the best weather of the hill section.

An operator tells him he has run ziplines something like three thousand times.
Harry's comparison is with a zipline off the 43rd floor of a building in Dubai,
and he rates this one higher.

**Ali does it with his eyes shut.** Harry, who has spent the trip talking about
comfort zones, makes a point of saying that for someone with a genuine fear of
heights this is a much bigger thing than it was for the other two.

## The king coconut

An orange coconut, opened with a machete at a roadside stand: **100 rupees, about
50 cents.** His verdict is that it tastes much like a green one but **less
sweet**, which he thinks makes it the easier drink for anyone who doesn't much
like coconut — and there is far more liquid in it than he expects, as usual.

## Getting around, and the wi-fi

- **A tuk-tuk up to the zipline: 300 rupees.** On the way back the driver tries a
  higher number, Harry calls him cheeky, and it gets settled with a joke. He also
  gets to drive the tuk-tuk for a stretch.
- **The best internet he finds in the country is in a restaurant: 61 down, 39 up.**
  His own line is that finding good wi-fi in Sri Lanka is like finding a needle in
  a haystack, and this comes after a whole day of looking. See
  [book for the wi-fi when you work on the road](/tips/book-for-the-wifi-when-you-work-on-the-road.md).

## Lunch

Western food, which he says he needs after a fortnight of curry: penne, a pizza
and a burger with drinks, **5,100 rupees for three — about $25.** The penne was
billed as spicy and isn't, which he takes as evidence his tolerance is finally
building.

## Key moments

- `[00:00]` Walking out past the trail he calls Adam's Peak.
- `[01:00]` The site, and everything else it offers.
- `[02:32]` 4,000 rupees, and 550 metres.
- `[04:12]` Three thousand ziplines.
- `[05:44]` Ali at the top.
- `[06:57]` Better than Dubai.
- `[08:01]` The free lift back up, and why it's free.
- `[08:32]` A king coconut for 100 rupees.
- `[10:36]` Driving the tuk-tuk, and the fare that goes up on the way back.
- `[11:54]` 61 down, 39 up — the best in the country.
- `[14:59]` 5,100 rupees for three Western meals.

## Extracted pages

- [Sri Lanka](/countries/sri-lanka.md)
- [Ella](/places/ella.md)
- [Mac](/people/mac.md)
- [Ali](/people/ali.md)
- [Book for the wi-fi when you work on the road](/tips/book-for-the-wifi-when-you-work-on-the-road.md)