From Kandy to Ella

January 29^th

 

Two more days of travelling and amazing sight-seeing since I last wrote this  journal of our holidays in Sri Lanka, and I realise just how important these accounts are going to be, as in such a short while I forget so easily what we’ve seen and done, as so much has happened. I am saved, fortunately, by the many hundreds of photos I’m shooting like a mad woman, on my old iphone. 

Scorpion!

We left Indra’s lovely place at Forest Glen early and went straight to the botanical gardens in Kandy, managing to negotiate the horrific traffic well, thanks to the wonder that is Marcus. He hired us a buggy, which might well be a reflection of what he thinks of our general fitness and mobility levels! It proved invaluable for whizzing round the whole gorgeous estate, which is large and full of so many trees and flowering shrubs. The orchid house was a real highlight just before we came out. From here, back in the lovely comfy vehicle and off to the station on the outskirts of Kandy, to catch the train up into the hills and the tea plantations. The journey up, which took over two hours, was just beautiful. Miles and miles of unending tea plantations covering the stunning landscape of hills and rocks, in terraced fields, in some of which we could see the tea-pluckers working. Andy was designated tour leader for this journey and he had to count the small stations stops to be sure that we alighted at the correct place, where our anxious mother-hen Marcus was waiting for us. As Pam says, she thinks he thinks we are very old and decrepit, but if one can go with it, (and he is after all just doing his job as he sees best), then it is very restful and reassuring to have someone thinking of your every need. I think this says something about my ability to sit back and be looked after, which may indicate that in a previous life I was a princess. Or possibly I’m just plain lazy!

Marcus then drove us just a few kms to Nuwara Eliya, which is full of architectural reminders of its colonial past, and here we took tea and cakes in the down-market café, in the grounds of the Grand hotel. Pam and I sampled the high-life when we availed ourselves of the hotel’s posh loos. Then we were off again to drive to Ella, which was a further interminably winding road. Maybe all credit to Marcus that Pam and I survived this without too much car sickness. The hotel here was called Ravana Heights and is high up, coming out of Ella, and facing Ravana rock. The Hindu legend of Rama and Sita, and Ravana (the baddie who abducted Sita to Sri Lanka) is much referenced in the landscape here and for this reason it is a site of pilgrimage for Hindus. To summarise, hotel top comfort with A/C as well as fan, and lovely food, situation, views etc. Hotel owner arrant snob, self-aggrandising and name-dropping. We took agin, as you might detect, and when we came to leave after two nights here Marcus told us that he had a sign in the entrance to the hotel saying that no Singhalese could enter, only foreign visitors. Owner himself is Singhalese but believes in True British Values and that Singhalese have ruined their own country. Marcus took a photo of the notice, but basically ignored it and came up the drive to help us. 

 Breakfast on the terrace at Ravana Heights and the view across the valley

That first night after a long day of travelling we went down the road into Ella and had a meal in the Chill café, which, like Ella itself, was rammed with backpackers. Lovely European food in a hippy atmosphere and we got talking to a pair of Dutch girls, cousins, who are travelling in Asia. One of them (Lotta)  is mad on elephants, having volunteered in an elephant orphanage last year in Cambodia (I think); the other one, Mariella, is mad on Myanmar, where she spent some weeks, whilst her boyfriend was travelling with her. She had found the people entirely unspoilt by the effects of contact with tourists, and really lovely. So interesting to meet with young and intelligent travellers like this, who appeared to be quite happy to spend time talking to us Olds. 

Pam and Brian, known by their family as 'the Easies'...

January 30^th

Marcus allowed us a bit of a slower start today as we were visiting a tea factory around lunch time. Interesting visit, to Finlay’s factory, to see where they were processing green tea. Lots of drying and pressing and drying again and then picking off the stalks from the leaves by hand. The powdered, dust-looking stuff is what goes into tea bags- unsurprisingly. 

From here we went to the start of the walk to Little Adam’s Peak. The real Adam’s Peak is a walk uphill, up many, many steps for 7kms, which Pam and I had rejected as an idea when we were planning the tour. It is another pilgrimage site and it is apparently common to see able-bodied people carrying elderly or disabled family all the way. Since being here we have met several young people – e.g Lotta from last night- who were still suffering with muscle ache days after doing this walk, so definitely a good decision to just do the Little. This was a beautiful walk and did mean quite enough steps for my liking, but super views from high up of the landscape all around, and sightings of lots of beautiful bird en route- bee-eaters, kingfishers etc. 

Little Adam's Peak

That evening we had elected to eat back at the hotel, where the lovely staff – three always-smiling Singhalese women who are also strong enough to heft our cases up hill- had prepared a wonderful meal of Thai curries. We gritted our teeth and bore the boss who would have liked to engage us in long and one-sided conversations. We had also encountered a really nice couple from Perth, Maurice and Megan (Megan is S African by birth) who had come to S.L to celebrate the 60^th birthday of a friend, and had been a large party of friends and their own family also, staying at the coast and learning to surf whilst here. Megan had an Ayurvedic massage whilst we were there and had broken out in an allergic reaction to the oils, which she said had been mixed with some kind of spice like turmeric. Not a nice experience!