The hills are alive with tea!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
On our night in Kandy was spent at the hotel having the buffet. Yes,Tim normally hates buffets - but he thought it looked good and afterwards wished he hadn't had it. It was a beautiful atmosphere though as we sat outside and listened to the entertainment - it was a crooner singing some ballads.

Next morning, we had breakfast . Since I was on holidays, I figured it was acceptable to have Dahl and rice, some cheese and crackers and a chocolate covered doughnut. It was pretty good and covered many food groups.

We then visited Kandy's biggest attraction. This was the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. A heavily guarded room houses a tooth of Buddha. You cannot see the tooth - it is kept in a gold casket shaped like a stupa which contains 6 smaller stupas. The entire complex is quite large and was quite interesting. Locals wear white and offer much cash and flowers as offerings.

we were then forced (and I do mean forced) to visit a silk shop. Yesterday when we drove past, Manoj asked if we would like to go, wrap ourselves up in some "very nice" silk and take photos. I said we would rather not. So he asked again today, and I said we still don't want to go. So he responded with "I need to go to bank so you go in just for 5-10 minutes it is very nice". Tim offered to stay in the car . No we must not, we must go inside. Quite irritating. And since Manoj made a point of taking us in, he clearly gets some kind of fee just for getting us in there even if we don't buy. Anyway, I made it pretty clear to the pushy woman inside that I was not interesting in anything. Table runners for $100! I told her I can get them in Thailand cheaper. She said that these are made in a Sri Lanka not Thailand. Nice try. Same Same sweetheart. Anyway - got out of there in 6 minutes. Record time.

Lots more interesting scenery on our way to a tea plantation for a tour and tasting. Was very interesting apart from the toilets. I had to walk past the urinals with very bad plumbing, and the lack of working doors and toilet paper did not make for a happy experience! It was pretty gross! Anyway, 1200 kgs of picked tea leaves results in only 150kgs of tea. Only women pick tea leaves and it is really hard work on very steep hills. Tim asked what do the men do? They are supervisors . Well, I told Manoj I would want to be a supervisor - don't think he thought that was cool at all.

We stopped for lunch at a place with incredible views of lakes, hills and waterfalls. 
 
We continued to drive up into the hills for another 2 hours as the weather got colder but the scenery was incredible. Very beautiful and quite similar to Sapa in Vietnam.

As usual, the traffic was pretty bad. I would drive in Cambodia and Vietnam way before I would contemplate such a thing here now that we have been here for a few days. At least there is no road rage which is quite incredible under the circumstances!

We then arrived in Nuwara Eliya. It is often referred to as "Little England" although I did struggle to see the comparison to be honest! But, there are red telephone boxes and it does have a beautiful park and some very nice buildings. And, I've heard the weather can be similar.

About 20kms further (ie about an hour) we arrived at our hotel . Another hotel I was looking forward to as it us one of Sri Lankas original hotels. The Heritance Tea Factory is built in and around a century old tea factory. Much of the old factory machinery is still in situ and working. The service is excellent with the staff dressed in costume. It is quite cold here as the altitude is high (not as cold as Sapa however). The grounds have amazing views and the building itself is incredible. Tim had high tea on arrival, and we also booked our dinner splurge here....a degustation dinner in an old train carriage. It was very good (way too much food) complete with heated seats, a carriage that rocked and a conductor/waiter who was very amusing. We were the only guests.

We are enjoying this hotel also!

 
 

 
 

 
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