I love tea. There is a rare day goes by that I don't have a cuppa or two. I quickly learned that Ceylon tea is considered among the best. Ceylon? Weren't you in Sri Lanka? One and the same. In 1948 Ceylon gained independence from Great Britain and in 1972 changed its name to Sri Lanka. One of the highlights of visiting Sri Lanka for me was being able to visit a tea plantation.
On my G Adventures tour we visited the Blue Field Tea Gardens just outside Nuwara Eliya. Upon arrival we climbed up through the beautiful fields of tea - the steps were quite uneven and I was glad I had brought along my walking stick. The view from the top was amazing...
Tea leaves
The hills around Nuwara Eliya are full of tea like this
These ladies work from sun up to sun down and get paid for how much tea they pick. Currently, they earn about 600 rupees a day (approximately 5 Canadian dollars) IF they pick 18kg. If less than that they earn half. Unfair? You bet. We gave the lady below money for posing for us for a couple of minutes as it took her away from picking.
We were then taken on a tour of the factory where we saw the tea drying, sorting and fermenting process.
The withering or drying area
This is a fan used to dry the leaves.
Tea leaves are then left to ferment...depending on what type of tea the time varies. Stronger teas such as black are the longest whereas white requires the least amount of fermentation.
Rolling allows some of the sap and juices to leak out which enhances the taste of the tea. The tea can then be shaped into spirals, rolls or other shapes.
I have to be honest here...google tea processing and you will get a better idea of how it is done than me trying to explain it.
We were then invited to sample tea...the best part! I usually have milk in my tea. I know..sacrilege to some...but with this tea you didn't need it...and I ended up buying a big bag of this kind as well as a small bag of the best quality leaves.
Refreshed, it was time to head off to our next stop...
Nuwara Eliya, also known as Little England was just a brief overnight stop and we spent less than 24 hours there. However, I tried to see as much as I could in the short time I had there.
Upon arrival at the Windsor Hotel (grand in its day but faded now) we had free time so a few of us decided to walk over to Victoria Park which our guide Sam had recommended. Well....it was like herding cats. One had to exchange travelers cheques or some such thing (who uses those anymore?) and while that was happening another one wandered into a store and we couldn't find her...stuff like this drives me nuts which is why I prefer solo travel. Then a couple decided they wanted coffee instead of going to the park.. so the rest of us (now down to three) headed to the park. One of our party (who shall remain nameless) pitched a fit because tourists were required to pay more than locals to enter the park. Talk about embarrassing. Duh...we had to pay a grand total of $2.50 Canadian. Oh it's just the principle of it? Really? Doesn't he realize we live like rich rockstars compared to most of the residents of this country?
So my feathers were a bit ruffled when we finally got through the barrier (unfortunately I was behind that person or I'd have paid and been long gone). I had never paid entrance to a park before but obviously, it wasn't a public park. It certainly needed some TLC but it was interesting none the less.
Token dog picture of course. There WILL be posts on the dogs of Sri Lanka and India...you can be sure of that!
There were lots of school kids in the park so we figured it was some kind of gathering.
Had to laugh at this sign. Ok, will do.
All public school girls wear white uniforms which are paid for by the government. They always looked so smart. The boys wore white shirts and navy shorts.
While the park was kind of dusty and a bit on the neglected side these lilies looked happy at least! We then joined the others for a coffee.
That evening after dinner about eight of us closed down the hotel bar...a fun evening which seemed to mostly consist of us ladies (married ones included) eyeballing the handsome hotel manager (even if his trousers were much too short) and making remarks to each other about him that got cheekier as the evening and booze consumption went on. Even one of the husbands played along with us and went to the front desk and asked the poor fellow to come over and talk to us about tourist attractions in the town we could see the next day. Lots of laughs that night for sure.
The next morning most of the group headed off to do the Hortons Plains walk (I kept calling it the Tim Hortons walk) while a few of us stayed behind. I decided after yesterday's annoying incident I would do my own thing. So I meandered around the town keeping track of where I was being as I am so talented at getting "misplaced".
Al-Kabeer Grand Jumma Mosque
British postbox still being used
I see you in there!!!
Of course I had to go into the library!
This is the main Post Office - I loved this building!
I wandered around the grounds of the Grand Hotel and had a cuppa...
It looks like a French Press for coffee but it was tea...honest!!!
Plastic everywhere in the grounds to protect the plants I gather...
This hotel was the poshest place in town.
Obviously a golf course.....
So now you can say you've seen a petrol (gas) station in Sri Lanka! This was right beside our hotel which you can see - my room had a lovely view of this station.
Okay let's agree Nuwara Eliya isn't the most exciting place in Sri Lanka - in fact I found it dusty and not that appealing so once is enough. Dusty and scruffy can be charming as in Fort Kochi...but not this place! Hmm...why did I even blog about it?
Later that afternoon we headed off by train on our way to Ella which is a whole other story saved for another day....
On my G Adventures tour we visited the Blue Field Tea Gardens just outside Nuwara Eliya. Upon arrival we climbed up through the beautiful fields of tea - the steps were quite uneven and I was glad I had brought along my walking stick. The view from the top was amazing...
Tea leaves
The hills around Nuwara Eliya are full of tea like this
These ladies work from sun up to sun down and get paid for how much tea they pick. Currently, they earn about 600 rupees a day (approximately 5 Canadian dollars) IF they pick 18kg. If less than that they earn half. Unfair? You bet. We gave the lady below money for posing for us for a couple of minutes as it took her away from picking.
We were then taken on a tour of the factory where we saw the tea drying, sorting and fermenting process.
The withering or drying area
This is a fan used to dry the leaves.
Tea leaves are then left to ferment...depending on what type of tea the time varies. Stronger teas such as black are the longest whereas white requires the least amount of fermentation.
Rolling allows some of the sap and juices to leak out which enhances the taste of the tea. The tea can then be shaped into spirals, rolls or other shapes.
I have to be honest here...google tea processing and you will get a better idea of how it is done than me trying to explain it.
We were then invited to sample tea...the best part! I usually have milk in my tea. I know..sacrilege to some...but with this tea you didn't need it...and I ended up buying a big bag of this kind as well as a small bag of the best quality leaves.
Refreshed, it was time to head off to our next stop...
Nuwara Eliya, also known as Little England was just a brief overnight stop and we spent less than 24 hours there. However, I tried to see as much as I could in the short time I had there.
Upon arrival at the Windsor Hotel (grand in its day but faded now) we had free time so a few of us decided to walk over to Victoria Park which our guide Sam had recommended. Well....it was like herding cats. One had to exchange travelers cheques or some such thing (who uses those anymore?) and while that was happening another one wandered into a store and we couldn't find her...stuff like this drives me nuts which is why I prefer solo travel. Then a couple decided they wanted coffee instead of going to the park.. so the rest of us (now down to three) headed to the park. One of our party (who shall remain nameless) pitched a fit because tourists were required to pay more than locals to enter the park. Talk about embarrassing. Duh...we had to pay a grand total of $2.50 Canadian. Oh it's just the principle of it? Really? Doesn't he realize we live like rich rockstars compared to most of the residents of this country?
So my feathers were a bit ruffled when we finally got through the barrier (unfortunately I was behind that person or I'd have paid and been long gone). I had never paid entrance to a park before but obviously, it wasn't a public park. It certainly needed some TLC but it was interesting none the less.
Token dog picture of course. There WILL be posts on the dogs of Sri Lanka and India...you can be sure of that!
There were lots of school kids in the park so we figured it was some kind of gathering.
Had to laugh at this sign. Ok, will do.
All public school girls wear white uniforms which are paid for by the government. They always looked so smart. The boys wore white shirts and navy shorts.
While the park was kind of dusty and a bit on the neglected side these lilies looked happy at least! We then joined the others for a coffee.
That evening after dinner about eight of us closed down the hotel bar...a fun evening which seemed to mostly consist of us ladies (married ones included) eyeballing the handsome hotel manager (even if his trousers were much too short) and making remarks to each other about him that got cheekier as the evening and booze consumption went on. Even one of the husbands played along with us and went to the front desk and asked the poor fellow to come over and talk to us about tourist attractions in the town we could see the next day. Lots of laughs that night for sure.
The next morning most of the group headed off to do the Hortons Plains walk (I kept calling it the Tim Hortons walk) while a few of us stayed behind. I decided after yesterday's annoying incident I would do my own thing. So I meandered around the town keeping track of where I was being as I am so talented at getting "misplaced".
Al-Kabeer Grand Jumma Mosque
British postbox still being used
I see you in there!!!
Buddhist Stupa
Of course I had to go into the library!
This is the main Post Office - I loved this building!
I wandered around the grounds of the Grand Hotel and had a cuppa...
It looks like a French Press for coffee but it was tea...honest!!!
Plastic everywhere in the grounds to protect the plants I gather...
This hotel was the poshest place in town.
Obviously a golf course.....
So now you can say you've seen a petrol (gas) station in Sri Lanka! This was right beside our hotel which you can see - my room had a lovely view of this station.
Later that afternoon we headed off by train on our way to Ella which is a whole other story saved for another day....
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