Started today with a short boat ride on the Kelani River before feasting on some local snacks – cassava crisps, fishtail palm and coconut jelly sweets – then headed up steep, narrow winding roads filled with many local red buses, tourist vans, cars, tuktuks and motorbikes.

We are heading into Tea plantation country (hence the name of our hotel last night). Tea was introduced by the British from China in 1824. The British took land from the locals who didn't have property deeds in order to make way for the plantations. Then of course the locals refused to work in the tea gardens given their land had been taken from them!!!! To this day the tea workers come form south India to work on the many plantations in this area. Ceylon tea is world famous amongst tea drinkers but the industry is a labour intensive process to produce good tea. From the plantations most of the tea is sent to Colombo where it is auctioned off to some of the famous brands we all know – Liptons, Dilmah etc. We visited Glenloch Tea Factory to get a first hand look at the processes involved, had the opportunity to try some tea and of course could purchase form the attached shop. Personally I don’t think it comes up to the standard of Chinese teas so perhaps I’ve been spoilt.

Leaving the tea plantations we headed over Ramboda Pass where we were confronted with the funniest sight. Imagine if you will……we are driving around hairpin bends with small patches of bush in between….suddenly this young man with a huge bunch of fresh flowers in hand starts chasing our bus….one minute he is on the side of the road and next he is scurrying through the bushes to beat us round the next bend and then reappears at the side of the road!!! This went on for about 6-8 bends and we finally took pity on him and got our driver to stop. We all gave him some money but didn’t take any flowers…left him totally confused but he gave us such a laugh along the way!! Of course if he has an enterprising bone in his body he will start doing this caper everyday…..make a fortune from silly tourists in need of a laugh along the road.

Heading over the Pass proved to be too much for our little bus so the AC had to be switched off and windows opened for ventilation. Unfortunately I was sitting at the back of the bus right near the exhaust (unbeknown to me)….wondered why I was feeling sick and having trouble breathing…nothing like a bit of carbon monoxide inhalation to set you off.

We finally arrived in Nuwara Eliya at dusk….much later than anticipated as this was where we were supposed to have a free afternoon to do our own exploring. I really didn’t care as I was feeling very ill and started to wonder what the local medical facilities were like!!! Luckily we have a Dr on our tour who could provide me with some advice. Got settled into our hotel and I rested while the others headed down into the town – seems I didn’t miss much thank goodness. Nuwara Eliya is an old British hill station where officials and planters would head in summer to escape the heat of the plains. It is certainly much cooler up here and is now raining which we are all hopping stops during the night as we have a long trek tomorrow.

Nuwara Eliya
Sri Lanka’s cool hill country offers a welcome antidote to the heat of the coast and low-lying plains. Situated amongst verdant tea plantations and at an elevation of 1990 m, Nuwara Eliya is one of the highest and most attractive towns in Sri Lanka’s hill region. Built by English tea growers, it remained their favourite hill station during colonial times. Nuwara Eliya boasts the best golf course in Sri Lanka and is home to the impressive Hakgala Botanical Gardens

The hotel proved to provide us with even more laughs. Honestly it was like being in an episode of "Fawlty Towers". There was only one staff member who spoke a little English who was trying to do everything – reception, restaurant and bar – running around in circles. We had to order our dinner 2 hours in advance and then go to the bar and drink till we were told it was ready and then we could go to the dining room to eat. We nicknamed him Manuel and he amused us no end all night. He would rush into the bar get drinks for whoever was ready then lock up and rush to another location in the hotel then rush back again!!! We also learned that our guide had trouble communicating with him and his staff as they speak Tamil not Sinhalese…..Irosha says this is the hardest night on the trip. We all ordered simple meals but still waited the 2 hours before being served. No sooner finished and the plates were taken away and we were shepherded back to the bar. Didn’t stay long and only had one drink as we all wanted an early night in anticipation of our very early start tomorrow.