Coconuts to Crampons: Rolling Green Hills of Sri Lanka

This Canadian girl has been finding it tough these last few months, living in hot and humid cities in the summer at the equator. The second I step outside I start sweating. For some reason, Tom seems to have adapted but I struggle...it must be my Quebec blood. When I read about the Hill Country of Sri Lanka, I realized that we would be going to cities up to 2000m in elevation, which means colder temperatures! We were warned by locals that it would get cold at night and could get to 15C; perfect. The main reason to go here though is to to see the lush green hills of tea plantations, tea factories and the amazing train rides.

After our safari we jumped on one of those colourful buses Tom talked about in the last post and headed up to Ella.

We arrived to our wonderful little guesthouse, Waterfall View, in the middle of the hills with a beautiful view of the surrounding hills and a waterfall, of course.

Our first night it went down to 17C and unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) I seamed to have adapted to the hot weather because it felt SO cold that I actually put my down jacket on!

To explore the hills we hiked up Ella Rock, which is a large rock cliff with views of the valley. To get there, we had to first walk along the train tracks,

Then through tea plantations,

Then we got lost...and a were redirected by a "nice" tea farmer who showed us the way through the plantation,

But then once we found the path again, he put his hand out and said "1500 rupee"....we said "no money, how about a bottle of water?", to which he said "no" and we said "ok goodbye". Turns out this is a bit of a money making opportunity for the local farmers. We saw many foreigners being guided by these locals and who actually paid the 1500 rupee. In our opinion, foreigners shouldn't be paying this because a) the farmers are not stating that they are expecting to be paid at the beginning, which they know is dishonest - they know that most foreigners feel awkward so they just pay, and b) 1500 rupee converts to about $15 CDN; a farmer typically makes $5 CDN/day. Relying on the foreigners who hike up this one hill for income is not a sustainable option, what happes when Ella is not "the go to spot" anymore and they've abandonned farming?

After parting with our farmer turned guide, we continued on the steep climb up through a eucalyptus tree forest and arrived at the top of the rock to this view,

We definitely got there right on time because about 15 minutes later, this is what it looked like!

The train ride from Ella to Nuwara Eliya is rated as the route with the most beautiful views in all of Sri Lanka. The old train jostles along the ridge of the mountain range on old tracks (that probably should be replaced soon) with incredible views of tea plantation after tea plantation, for as far as the eye can see.

Tom hanging out the door.

The most amazing part about the Hill Country is that it can really feel like being transported back in a time. The British colonized the country, built trains, stations, post offices and hotels. They brought their "properness" and taught the locals the British way of the service industry. Since the British left in 1949, the country has had its struggles, the biggest being their 30 year civil war that ended in 2009, so things like their train system was litterally frozen in time and never updated. It's a single track and all signaling operated manually!

Manual signal.

Wire leads to train station where someone pulls the lever to change the signal.

Manual switch track.

Exchanging Tokens; a system used for single tracks.

Once we arrived in Nuwara Eliya though, we felt that "frozen in time" feeling the most. It's dubed Little England because it's where the Brits and Scotts would come on holidays and enjoy all their luxuries from home. The cool, cloudy and damp weather must have also felt a bit like home to them.

Golf course with a proper golf club.

Cricket being played at the horse race track.

There were many colonial buildings as well.

And then there is the Grand Hotel, where they serve proper high tea at 3:30pm everyday.

Photo from 1927.

Because we arrived a bit early for tea, one of the managers invited us on a tour of the hotel to show us the snooker room, the piano lounge and even an $800USD a night suite!

The manager told us that he had been working there for 42 years, since he was about 12 years old! He said that he has seen the place change a lot over the years from only British guests to now Germans, French, Dutch, Chinese, Saudi Arabians and even Sri Lankans. He was very proud of his hotel and its history.

High tea was definitely a treat and for $10 a person it was a deal compared to $50 at The Fairmont hotel in Victoria!

Living the high life.

The amazing tiered tray of treats.

While in the Hill Country, you must visit a tea factory of course! Unfortunately we didn't know that the Pedro tea factory would not be operating on the day we visited but we still got a tour and learned about the process. No photos inside though! (Fun fact: there were huge posters up inside the factory that were titled "University of Canada Safety". These posters showed the proper dress and footwear for cleanliness and safety inside a food factory. But, of course, just because there is a poster it doesn't mean it has to be followed. We saw employees in the sorting and packaging area who were barefoot, wearing regular street cloths and no hair nets...)

Black ceylon tea plants.

Rows and rows of plants.

The part of the plant that gets picked for tea.

We learned that all the tea in Sri Lanka gets sent to an auction house in Colombo where companies like Dilmah and Lipton buy the teas and then will make their own blend in house with spices and flavours.

Our final stop in the Hills was Kandy at 500m. Kandy is considered the cultural centre of Sri Lanka because it was the last strong hold of the Sinhalese Kingdom who managed to survive the Portuguese and Dutch but fell to the British in 1815.

Evening shot of the lake.

Some more colonial looking buildings:

We had one full day here! We visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which is where Buddha's tooth is kept inside a gold box, inside a locked room.

We think the tooth is behind here.

Pilgrims bringing flower offerings.

And what's a temple without some monkeys?

Tom didn't even notice them!

And a stuffed elephant?

Tusker; the old King's elephant.

We found the temple to be a bit of a let down. There's really not much to see here and, after seeing so many temples, we were a bit underwhelmed and upset for having paid $10USD per person to enter (Foreigners pay $10USD but locals are free....irritating).

We visited the beautiful botanical gardens, which made us feel better.

Avenue of palms.

Cannonball tree.

So many large trees.

Double coconut tree: the largest seed in the world at 40-50cm in diameter!

Orchids.

One of the coolest things we saw there were thousands of large fruit bats!

That evening we decided to get cultured and watch a Kandyan dance show. Turns out it was a rip off. For $10USD per person, the dancing was uncoordinated and unenthusiastic, there were some backflips which I'm guessing was not part of the original dancing performed for the King back in the 1600's, the auditorium had peeling paint, curtains with holes and plastic lawn chairs for the spectators. The entire organization and atmosphere was something akin to an elementary school talent show. The redeaming quality were the costumes; they were really good!

Can you spot the bats?