Day 108 Kandy to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

Day 108 – Hers.

Another terrific breakfast at the Devon Hotel in Kandy and an 8:30 departure for the hill country and tea plantations – known as ‘Little England’ apparently.  Up in the hills, on the outskirts of Kandy are a good number of hotels ‘with a view’ and many shops selling silks, batik, gems and tourist tat.  We stopped to photograph the spectacular view....I would have liked to explore the shops as well, but on we went.  I don’t know if we’ve mentioned it – but Rob’s great grandfather was born in Kandy.  His great-great grandfather was posted here with the British army.  From the hilltop, it was easy to pick out Kandy prison – what had been the barracks for the British soldiers and possibly Rob’s ancestral home?

As we climbed along a well-paved but very winding road, the scenery changed from sub-tropical to evergreen forests and terraces of tea, with the odd waterfall thrown in.  As the climate became more temperate, the vegetation began to look more familiar – we even saw a strawberry farm with a little jam factory by the roadside. 

The mood on the bus was jolly – some ‘Fanny’ sweets caused a considerable amount of hilarity and Deva led us in a Sri Lankan song (called ‘La la la la la la la’ as well as I could figure) comparing the beautiful landscape to a beautiful woman. 

We stopped at one tea plantation to photograph the women picking the tea – only two young leaves and a bud, we were told, and each field harvested every week.  A tea bush can produce good tea for 45-60 years.  Tea was introduced into Sri Lanka by the British in 1834 – it is still the country’s third most important source of income.

We stopped at a second plantation for longer.  The Mackwoods tea company has been in operation since 1841.  It produces fine specialty teas (a very special ‘gold’ tea was produced for the Queen’s jubilee) and huge amounts (literally tons and tons) of the ordinary commercial stuff that is blended to make the tea that we buy at the supermarket.  We sampled one of the specialty teas, served from an enormous pot – with a delicious piece of chocolate cake – and then toured the factory, of course finishing in the shop.  It was actually very interesting – the company is amazingly eco-friendly.  They produce all of their own power from small hydroelectric plants within the plantation area – and they have a reforestation project for areas not used for cultivation.  It was quite interesting to note that the demographics of the other tour groups at the tea plantation were noticeably different from those we have come across earlier – older and much more ‘British’......

From the tea plantation, it was only a short drive to Nuwara Eliya and its planted roundabouts, 18-hole golf course and mock-Tudor hotels.....ah, that’s why they call it ‘Little England’.  We stopped for lunch at yet another of the ‘local’ restaurants and then had a walking tour of the market (nothing English about those fruits and spices....) and the town.

We drove a few kilometres out of the town centre and around a lake to our guesthouse for tonight.  The Aussie guys joined in a local game of cricket – we just chilled (literally) in the refreshingly cool mountain air.

Day 108 – His

The guesthouse is a little basic – but no worse than some places we have stayed in and certainly better than some. After mentioning to our tour guide that we were a bit sick of having twin beds (we are married after all) he managed to get us a room with a double bed and because of that the room is huge. Some of the other guys on the tour are complaining that their rooms are little more than box rooms. Still, ours is huge and has two – yes two balconies. We are being spoilt.

It wasn’t long before we were due at a kitchen of another hotel to be given a cookery class in traditional Sri Lankan cuisine. The chef showed us how to make four dishes the details of which escape me – luckily Patti was taking notes so I paid more attention to the coconut grater than anything else. An interesting machine consisting of a lot of rotating blades- I wonder how it would perform if it were attached to a motor – scarily I imagine.  All I can tell you is that they had a lot of coconut and spices in them. The dishes he showed us how to cook were then served up to us as a buffet along with half a dozen other dishes that, in good form, he had prepared earlier. We finished dinner around nine and then went to bed – we have to be up at 5 in the morning as we are due to go hiking along the Sri Lankan mountain range for most of tomorrow. Did I mention this was supposed to be a holiday?