Nuwara Eliya

From Udawalawe it was a 6 hour car ride north into the mountains and tea-growing region, to the city of Nuwara Eliya. The roads were very winding and very narrow, barely wide enough for one lane in each direction. Watching the driver navigate the roads while passing slow tuk-tuks and trucks, with on-coming traffic on the narrow road, often blind because of the corners, was nerve-racking at first and then kind of interesting. The approach of all the drivers is actually co-operative. For example, our driver would honk when about to pass,  not only to signal to the car being passed, but also as a message to any car that might be coming around the corner. When we started to pass, other cars pulled over to make room. And if a car was coming from the other way, they would slow down and pull over a bit as well. We'd then make it through with inches to spare. This kind of thing happened every few minutes, all the way to Nuwara Eliya.

As we climbed into the mountains the vegetation got even greener, and the air a bit cooler. There were people walking on the side of the road, and lots of little stands selling food. The houses we passed seemed very nice, on good plots of land. The steep hillsides were terraced for rice, or covered with the dark green, low level bushes of tea leaves. It started to rain off and on during the drive.

We arrived at Nuwara Eliya in the early afternoon. There are a lot of English style colonial houses and gardens here. I read that because of the temperate climate it is referred to as a 'little piece of England in Sri Lanka'.

After settling in we went for a walk in town. We didn't go far, as it started to pour rain. Apparently the weather pattern at this time of year is to be nice and sunny in the morning, and heavy rain all afternoon. The town is actually relatively small, and we didn't need much time to see it. I noticed a bit of a cultural change compared to the coastal area. The pace seems faster. The people walk fast on the sidewalk and there is more jostling.

We stopped by a little fruit market. There were king-coconuts there, an orange coconut you often see sold at the side of the road. The vender cuts off the top and you drink the milk, which has  nice light taste.

The next day we caught a tuk-tuk up into the hills to a local attraction called Lover's Leap waterfall. A steep ride of the hill and then a 15 minute walk through tea bushes.

From the waterfall there were great views of the valley.

Next we went to the Pedro Tea Factory for a tour. This is an active tea plantation, and produces many types of tea that are auctioned to the big tea companies around the world. The tour led us through all the steps of tea production. In picking leaves from the bushes,  only the two or three youngest leaves are picked, and the rest are left to fall. Each person picks several kilograms of leaves per day.

I learned some interesting things from the tour. For example, I didn't know that fermentation was involved in making black tea, and the difference between light tea that you don't take with milk, and dark strong tea that you take with milk, was the length of the fermentation. Also how finely the fermented, dried leaves are cut also affects the strength of the tea.

After the tour we were served tea in the lounge, and took in the scenery of the plantation.

By this time the heavy rain had started, so we went back to the hotel.