Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka 15 - 16 Jan 2014

Labookellie Tea Plantation

It was 2 hours bus ride to Nuwara Eliya, this was the only direct bus from Ella. On the way we pass several big town, plenty of tea plantation and vegetables farms. We are moving high up on the mountain at an altitude of 1,868 m. The mean annual temperature is 16 °C. We arrived during a downpour. It was cold and wet! When the town gets bigger, it get's more confusing. We didn't know where to go to look for guesthouse, so we find a coffee shop to have our lunch. We loved the string Hoppers and curry. The tea tasted better too. Finally we decided to put on our raincoat and go look for guesthouse.

It was still the Tamil new year, the President house is open for public, many locals are flocking toward the President house. We asked some traffic police standing at every junction about any guesthouse recommendation, they don't seems to know. A tuk tuk driver stop us, he offered to bring us to a guesthouse little bit out of town by the lake side, "Free no charge!" we told him no thanks and continue with our search. We have lost any trust to any tuk tuk driver. 

Wattles Inn

Our ancient room

Old light switch

In town, there were just shops after shops. We tried to walk toward housing area, found a Hotel but the guy told us it was full and he brought us opposite to a monastery. The lady showed us a hostel style room with lots of bed and demanded for 1500rp each. It didn't look like it's worth the price. We continue our search. It was really getting frustrated after half an hour of search in the rain with our bags. I decided to ask someone again. This man walking out from a house told us yes there is a hotel he is working with so we followed him. He brought us to a really old colonial house, the keeper told us it is more than 100 years old. I believe him because everything in the house were so old. The furniture, the key, the old light switch, the painting, there is even a chimney in our room. We find the place attractive and decided to take it. The guy told us that the Labookellie Tea Factory is open. Yeah!! We can finally visit a Tea factory. :-)

Mackwoods Tea Plantation

We left to the Tea factory, it was quite easy to get there as there is a direct minibus to the factory from the main bus station. On the way the scenic view of tea plantation was stunning. We arrived at Mackwoods Tea Factory at the last stop. Mackwoods was established in 1841 with currently 27,000 acres of tea. There was a huge 4 story building, a tea house and a tea shop. As this was the only tea factory that was open during this long holiday period, it was packed with tourist. We wanted to get a tour but there were no guide available, so we wandered off ourselves into the factory which they called it museum now. The working area is isolated from the museum, so we could see some of the machine displayed in the museum. The entire process was clearly explain on the TV and the sample of tea was on displayed as well. We didn't have this brand of tea in Malaysia. I don't remember BOH having those tea named the way Mackwoods does. 

Type of Tea

There are 5 different types of teas, below copied from Mackwood website :-
BOP - Broken Orange Pekoe -Well made, neat leaf of medium size without stalk or fibre.
BOPF - Broken Orange Pekoe Fanning -Fairly clean, neat leaf, grainy but smaller than BOP grade
OP - Orange Pekoe -Long well twisted wiry leaf.
PEKOE - Pekoe -Shotty, even, well made grade.
OP 'A' - Orange Pekoe 'A' -Similar in size to OP but loosely twisted and inferior to OP in appearance.
FBOP - Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe -This Medium leaf and tippy.

Weighing Machine

Drying Machine

We stop at the tea house to sip a cup of tea and a cake like an English. It was only S$0.60. :-) I find this a nice gesture so the customer will spend their money buying tea from the shop instead of a getting rip off for a cup of tea and scone like in Cameron Highland, Malaysia. After the rain subside, we went for a stroll to the Mackwoods tea plantation. It was endless. We finished our visit with some shopping, my brother bought 2 boxes of tea.

Breakfast

The cobbler

There is still a lot to do here but we are running out of time. Next day we left early to Kandy. This time we are determined to take the train because we have read that the train route to Kandy is breathtaking. We have pre-book a seat the day before with the help of the guy in the Inn. We had another great breakfast, Anthony found a cobbler to fix his running shoe but the old man was taking too much time. At the end, we had no choice but to get a tuk tuk. I hated bargaining with them. We were quoted 800rp at the bus station. The distance to Nanu Oya Train Station is just 6km. We walked away and stay by the road to flag one down, another one quoted 1000rp. Arrg! Then one of them bargain with us till we agreed to 600rp. Off we go, he told us the road is bad. We didn't expect it to be an adventure getting there. The road was muddy and full of potholes. The poor tuk tuk is bumping left and right avoiding potholes here and there. We finally got to the train station unfortunately the train has left! Well...at least we are here early for the next train at noon. :-) 

Nanu Oya Village

Nanu Oya Train Station

So we now have time to kill, we went for a stroll at the nearby village and found a tea factory up on top of the hill. The kids were so welcoming when we pass the village, they surround us and said "Hello, good morning" even the adults were really friendly too. The Edinburgh Tea Factory is locally owned, it was built in 1934. It wasn't open for public touring, but they didn't kick us out. We took some photos and chat with some workers. They said they are in a process of setting up the factory for tour. That will be good for the company and local community, sharing the info and bringing in more tourist to purchase tea directly from the factory. One thing I realized is that there isn't any souvenir shops where we have been, in a touristic places like anywhere in South East Asia, you will find store after store of t-shirts, key chain, fridge magnet, hat, etc. Not here though!

The ancient Lock-and-block signaling system

Handling over the token

While we were at Nanu Oya train station, we had time to visit the Train Control office. The office looks a bit like a museum, very tidy and neat filled with sets of old furniture left over by the British. Much of the network uses a lock-and-block signaling system. The key is to ensure the safe operation of a railway by allowing only one train to occupy a defined section of track at a time. The officer said it is over 100 years old but still in use. We observed that before a train arrive to a station, the bell will ring with certain code that only the train officer will understand. When a train arrived, one officer will pass the token pouch to the train captain, that ensure the track is lock and block for that one train use only. I couldn't understand exactly how it works but it is interesting. :-)

Accommodation
Wattles Inn Tel : 0770660110 – 2000rp per room/night with attached toilet with hot water.

Transportation
Local bus from Nuwara Eliya to Labookellie Tea Factory - 35rp pp
Tuk Tuk to Nanu Oya Train Station - 600rp
Train (http://www.railway.gov.lk/) from Nanu Oya to Kandy (Class 2 Reserved seat) - 600rp

Recreation
NA

Ella, Sri Lanka 13 - 15 Jan 2014

Ella Train Station

Ella is a little laid back town on the central highland, temperature was cool at the altitude of 1041m. There isn't a bus station, we got off at the junction of Pasara Road. Any of the local on the bus will tell you, that's how we travel in Sri Lanka. Everyone will offer help even when you didn't ask for it.

It was raining again, we quickly head off to Pasara Road to look for a guesthouse. We were approached by 2 local, the first one came to us when we got off the bus. I usually tell them we will have a look first and walk away. You know when there isn't many tourist around, your choice will be more. Another local chap approached us, told us about this new place and price. We told him our budget was lower but he insisted we have a look. Since it was just 100m away, we went to check it out. The rooms are on 2nd floor, above the owner's house, new and clean with an open area to relax and kitchen to cook. We like it and we bargained for the price we wanted for 2 nights. Since there wasn't much tourist, the owner agreed to it. Wasantha works for the owner to find customer, as he speaks decent English, it is easier for him to approach the foreigner. He is very friendly and helpful, he gave us a map and lots of info. He has friends who can rent out motorbike if we need one and he found out for us that the Tea Plantation will be closed for 2 days due to Tamil Thai Pongal Day. Not so good news for my brother because he was looking forward to it.

Morning market at Pasara Road

Ella town is just the 100m stretch of main street, line up with restaurants, cafe, grocery stores and hotel. We found a small cafe to have a snack. We have been having tea everywhere we go since we arrived in Sri Lanka. I tried the coffee here, best to avoid unless you want your mouth full of coffee dust! The best thing is Milk Tea as they use fresh cow milk warmed up for you. We can't find this anymore back home. We also noticed that most of them use brown sugar here, very healthy! Ella is like Cameron Highland in Malaysia, highland town with lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. During dinner my brother tried to order fried vegetables and plain rice. We have to explain multiple times that we do not want fried vegetable rice, they don't seems to understand why we want the rice to be separated from the vegetables. :-) It was funny!

On the way to Little Adam's Peak

Tea plantation

Kids in the village

Our plan for the next day is to hike Little Adam's Peak. We bought some bread, vegetables and sardin to make sandwich. Travelling with my brother is the best, he always bring along a small kettle so we could always enjoy a cup of tea. We started early at 7am. It was a km walk on Pasara Road till we exit the main road onto the tea plantation. The mist surrounding the mountain and tea plantation make it so surreal. We pass a small village who are celebrating the Tamil Thai Pongal Day. There was no sign indicating where to go, so we just kept heading towards the peak eventually we arrive at the stairs heading up. We got to the peak around 8:30am. It was an easy trek. At the top, we enjoy the view of mountains and beyond with a cup of hot coffee and cookies.

View from Little Adam's Peak

View on the way to Little Adam's Peak

Lizard

After the hike we head to the train station to buy our train tickets to Nuwara Eliya. Unfortunately, all tickets were either sold out or pre-booked the next day and the following day. We could either come early at 6am to see if there is any last minute cancellation or take the public bus as a backup plan. In the afternoon, it started to rain again. We chill and rest at the guesthouse. Late afternoon, we decided to head out to Dowa Temple, it is about 6km from town. We decided to try out the tuk-tuk. First one quoted us 700rp for return trip but then we wanted only one way trip. They are stiff with their standard price for tourist. I am sure the local does not pay this much. Finally we agreed to pay 400rp for one way.

Dowa Temple

Dhowa temple is built by King Walagamba in the 1st century, the main attraction here is the 38ft tall Buddha statue carved on a granite rock. A sleeping buddha inside the temple, where the care keeper demanded us to donate a fix amount of money which he scriber on the ticket. We were put away by his request coming from a care taker of this ritual site. My brother donated and told him we wont go in, but he then felt bad and said we could go. I left as I felt that the donation was just a scam for tourist. So unless you have nothing much to do forget about visiting this temple. The bus back to Ella only cost us 20rp per person, we told ourselves never to take a tuk-tuk again.

Local corn

After 4 days in Sri Lanka, my brother missed home cook food. We bought some fresh vegetables, onions, eggs and rice to cook in the guesthouse. That was nice for a change. :-) If not because of my tight schedule, I would have stay here for a few more days to explore the mountain area.

We decided to take a bus to Nuwara Eliya instead of waking up at 5am to try our luck on the train ticket. The bus leaves at 8am from the junction of Pasara Road. No problem to get a seat as there were many people going down at the next few stops. Sri Lankan has the upmost respect for woman, they always start with addressing me "Mam", I like having such privilege and gave them back the same respect in return. My brother was jealous why he didn't hear anyone addressing him "sir". :-)

Accommodation
Little Heaven Homestay, Ella Tel : 0774283386 – 1500rp per room/night with fan, mosquito net, attached toilet with hot water, kitchen, wifi. 

Transportation
Tuk tuk to Dawa Temple - 400rp per way
Local bus from Dawa Temple to Ella - 20rp pp
Local bus from Ella to Nuwara Eliya - 120rp pp

Recreation
NA