After leaving Kandy, we began the slow drive up the mountain to Nuwara Eliya, or Nurelia as all the locals call it. This drive was beautiful as we climbed up through lush tea plantations and past huge waterfalls. On our way, we stopped at the Glen Loch Tea Plantation for lunch and a tour. Lunch happened on a large outdoor veranda overhanging the road and overlooking more of the mountainous green terrain. To punctuate our meal, we got to watch some men blow up a portion of the rock beneath us as they prepared to expand a parking lot, which thrilled the boys to no end. Then we went on our tour of the warm and fragrant tea factory, where we got to see how all the almost 19th century machines worked as they dried, cut, sorted, and packaged the tea. The factory workers and guides loved the boys and kept putting tea in its various stages in their hands for them to smell and feel and letting them watch the giant machines work for as long as they liked.
After the tea planation, we continued our winding trip up the mountain and, as we went, the air got cooler and cooler and the fog/mist got lower and lower until it seemed like we were driving through a chilly cloud at one point. I loved the change in climate, so refreshing after so much time in a desert. We stopped to sample avocados with honey, a local treat (the husband tried it and liked it, but I was feeling a bit too queasy) and bought some avocados to take along with us because they were so good. We passed many people selling huge root vegetables and all sorts of squash that made me wish I was heading to a kitchen so I could whip up some roasted veggies or thick harvest soup. Eventually, we arrived at Nurelia, which people refer to as Little England because of the cool climate. After some searching, we found our hotel, the Queenswood Cottage, our favorite of the trip. Our room was a two story suite, with a smallish cozy bedroom with a double bed, sitting area, and bathroom downstairs and a second bedroom loft up some log stairs with two single beds and a sitting area. The boys loved this set up and called it the "tree house." We could have stayed here happily for the entire trip! That night, we had dinner at a place which billed itself as an "English country manor type hotel" (this phrase was actually printed on the bill!) where we had sweet and sour prawns and beef with ginger sauce because what else would you have at such a place? I did try the apple rhubarb crumble, but it lost a bit in translation from England to Sri Lanka, not surprisingly!
After a great night's sleep, we set out to explore Nurelia. We had planned to do some shopping on Bale Bazaar street, where they sell knock-offs or seconds of name-brand sports gear but when we arrived, we found most of the stalls shuttered because it was Eid so many Muslims were home celebrating or praying or what have you. We did a little shopping, but then we left and went to visit a local Hindu temple instead and learned about the living stones or lingam the local guru had predicted would eventually find their way to this temple and that they claim are growing bigger every day. We talked through Hinduism and meditation and gurus with the boys, which was a fun conversation. Next, we wandered around downtown some more, making our way to a playground we had seen while we were driving which turned out to be in the middle of Victoria Garden, a huge outdoor park modeled on English gardens. While there, the boys and I rode on the ricketiest, scariest little ferris wheel contraption, by far the most dangerous thing we had done in a long while. The playground was filled with lots of playground equipment in various states of disrepair, but the boys had fun and we bonded with some local children despite the fact that very few of them spoke any English at all. Later, we had lunch at a hotel I am pretty sure our driver forced to open for us, which meant the wait for food was long, but I had some battered fried banana fritters that became the staple of all my meals in Sri Lanka. If it was on the menu, I ordered it, just as J continued to have whatever prawn dish was on offer. This day he had fried prawn rolls, which he loved, so he was once again a happy camper. After lunch, the husband and the driver went to the Nuwara Eliya golf course pro shop while the boys and I went back to the hotel to rest.
During the late afternoon that day, the boys and the husband stayed at the hotel for a while playing games on the iPads to decompress and I walked back into the city for some solo souvenir shopping, to pick up some snacks for the next few days' travel, and to get some cash. There are ATMs in most towns in Sri Lanka, but we found it was smart to use them as soon as we saw them instead of waiting until we needed more cash since almost everything there is cash-only and we didn't want to be caught without. When I got back, we had dinner by candlelight in the rustic lodge restaurant of our hotel where the boys tried really strong hot chocolate and pretty decent pizza and I got still more banana fritters. That afternoon we had watched the mist come down the mountain and reach our hotel, so they had built a fire outside and we were warm and cozy in the restaurant and again in our hotel that night as well. We were sad to leave that place, actually. The husband kept asking me if I could see myself retiring there and I honestly thought I could, it was that tranquil and cool.
The next morning, we headed to the train station to take a local train to another mountain town, Ella. Our plan had been to ride second class like the locals, but when we got there only third class was available. Turns out, there was very little difference between the two, so we were fine with our assignment. As it was, our car was filled with Chinese tourists, a couple other westerners, and two locals. Our car had slatted wooden bench seats with backs and, as I wasn't feeling too well that morning, I was happy to see it even had a bathroom. Happy that is, until I looked inside the bathroom!
The ride to Ella took us through even more beautiful jungle country. The trip lasted four hours, largely because at a few stops we stopped for 20-30 minutes for no real reason that I could see. We had come prepared with snacks and lunch and charged iPads so when the boys got hungry and bored, we were prepared, but they actually enjoyed much of the journey, especially leaning their heads out the windows and letting the wind hit their faces and the pitch-black tunnels. At one point, the fog had rolled in so much we were surrounded by white mist and mist was pouring in the windows of the train car. At another point, it started to rain, and though we tried to pull up the window panes to close the windows, we all got a little wet, which was also fun for the kids. After the long and bumpy but fun ride, we arrived in Ella in pouring rain, found our driver, and headed downhill, stopping for lunch in front of the towering Rawena Falls. We ate at the base of the falls, at another outdoor restaurant that was charming but not quite as yummy as the others we'd visited. And then we started down for the lowlands, the next leg of our adventure.
After the tea planation, we continued our winding trip up the mountain and, as we went, the air got cooler and cooler and the fog/mist got lower and lower until it seemed like we were driving through a chilly cloud at one point. I loved the change in climate, so refreshing after so much time in a desert. We stopped to sample avocados with honey, a local treat (the husband tried it and liked it, but I was feeling a bit too queasy) and bought some avocados to take along with us because they were so good. We passed many people selling huge root vegetables and all sorts of squash that made me wish I was heading to a kitchen so I could whip up some roasted veggies or thick harvest soup. Eventually, we arrived at Nurelia, which people refer to as Little England because of the cool climate. After some searching, we found our hotel, the Queenswood Cottage, our favorite of the trip. Our room was a two story suite, with a smallish cozy bedroom with a double bed, sitting area, and bathroom downstairs and a second bedroom loft up some log stairs with two single beds and a sitting area. The boys loved this set up and called it the "tree house." We could have stayed here happily for the entire trip! That night, we had dinner at a place which billed itself as an "English country manor type hotel" (this phrase was actually printed on the bill!) where we had sweet and sour prawns and beef with ginger sauce because what else would you have at such a place? I did try the apple rhubarb crumble, but it lost a bit in translation from England to Sri Lanka, not surprisingly!
After a great night's sleep, we set out to explore Nurelia. We had planned to do some shopping on Bale Bazaar street, where they sell knock-offs or seconds of name-brand sports gear but when we arrived, we found most of the stalls shuttered because it was Eid so many Muslims were home celebrating or praying or what have you. We did a little shopping, but then we left and went to visit a local Hindu temple instead and learned about the living stones or lingam the local guru had predicted would eventually find their way to this temple and that they claim are growing bigger every day. We talked through Hinduism and meditation and gurus with the boys, which was a fun conversation. Next, we wandered around downtown some more, making our way to a playground we had seen while we were driving which turned out to be in the middle of Victoria Garden, a huge outdoor park modeled on English gardens. While there, the boys and I rode on the ricketiest, scariest little ferris wheel contraption, by far the most dangerous thing we had done in a long while. The playground was filled with lots of playground equipment in various states of disrepair, but the boys had fun and we bonded with some local children despite the fact that very few of them spoke any English at all. Later, we had lunch at a hotel I am pretty sure our driver forced to open for us, which meant the wait for food was long, but I had some battered fried banana fritters that became the staple of all my meals in Sri Lanka. If it was on the menu, I ordered it, just as J continued to have whatever prawn dish was on offer. This day he had fried prawn rolls, which he loved, so he was once again a happy camper. After lunch, the husband and the driver went to the Nuwara Eliya golf course pro shop while the boys and I went back to the hotel to rest.
During the late afternoon that day, the boys and the husband stayed at the hotel for a while playing games on the iPads to decompress and I walked back into the city for some solo souvenir shopping, to pick up some snacks for the next few days' travel, and to get some cash. There are ATMs in most towns in Sri Lanka, but we found it was smart to use them as soon as we saw them instead of waiting until we needed more cash since almost everything there is cash-only and we didn't want to be caught without. When I got back, we had dinner by candlelight in the rustic lodge restaurant of our hotel where the boys tried really strong hot chocolate and pretty decent pizza and I got still more banana fritters. That afternoon we had watched the mist come down the mountain and reach our hotel, so they had built a fire outside and we were warm and cozy in the restaurant and again in our hotel that night as well. We were sad to leave that place, actually. The husband kept asking me if I could see myself retiring there and I honestly thought I could, it was that tranquil and cool.
The next morning, we headed to the train station to take a local train to another mountain town, Ella. Our plan had been to ride second class like the locals, but when we got there only third class was available. Turns out, there was very little difference between the two, so we were fine with our assignment. As it was, our car was filled with Chinese tourists, a couple other westerners, and two locals. Our car had slatted wooden bench seats with backs and, as I wasn't feeling too well that morning, I was happy to see it even had a bathroom. Happy that is, until I looked inside the bathroom!
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The ride to Ella took us through even more beautiful jungle country. The trip lasted four hours, largely because at a few stops we stopped for 20-30 minutes for no real reason that I could see. We had come prepared with snacks and lunch and charged iPads so when the boys got hungry and bored, we were prepared, but they actually enjoyed much of the journey, especially leaning their heads out the windows and letting the wind hit their faces and the pitch-black tunnels. At one point, the fog had rolled in so much we were surrounded by white mist and mist was pouring in the windows of the train car. At another point, it started to rain, and though we tried to pull up the window panes to close the windows, we all got a little wet, which was also fun for the kids. After the long and bumpy but fun ride, we arrived in Ella in pouring rain, found our driver, and headed downhill, stopping for lunch in front of the towering Rawena Falls. We ate at the base of the falls, at another outdoor restaurant that was charming but not quite as yummy as the others we'd visited. And then we started down for the lowlands, the next leg of our adventure.
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