Day 17 - May 21, 2018 Kataragama, Sri Lanka

The weather here in Sri Lanka has been hot and sunny in the morning and would get steadily cloudy and then rain or thunderstorm in late afternoon and evening.  Today is the one exception as it starts to rain and drizzle right from the morning.  This is poor timing for our visit to another Sri Lankan landmark: Lipton's Seat, situated at 1800m high with one of the best 360 degree view of the land.

Sir Thomas Lipton visited Sri Lanka in 1871 and was so impressed with its beauty and the tea it produced that he decided to purchase a tea estate to supply his grocery stores back in UK and USA.  He is the first guy to package tea in consumer sized tea bags and let the mass enjoy fine tea.  He is credited with the establishment of the important tea business in Sri Lanka.  On his original tea estate, there is a spot where Sir Lipton would survey the surrounding and enjoy a fine cup of tea.

The tea estate is very scenic even in the rain.  We had to take a tuk-tuk for the final 200m ascent.  There is a certain beauty to the scene of women picking tea leaves in the tea estate but the reality is that these (often Tamil) women only earn meager money for the incredible hard work they are doing.  Our tuk-tuk driver told us that on average, these women have to pick 18kg per day for 750 LKR (about 6.5 CAD) pay.  If they can't make the quota, the price per kg they got paid would be much lower.

Since my arrival, I have really grown to enjoy black tea with milk in Sri Lanka.  This particular tea estate has also started to produce whole tea leaf tea for the Chinese market.

We next visited an impressive waterfall near Ella, Ravana Falls.  This waterfall is especially awesome with the rain we are getting.

Our hotel tonight is at Kataragama which is just outside the Yala National Park where we would do another Safari.  Kataragama is also known for its shrine of Kiri Vehera.  Amazingly, this shrine not only attracts Hindus (this is a Hindu god btw), but also Buddhists (with lots of Buddhas on the ground) and muslims!!  Every day they have 3 ceremonies called "puja" where pilgrims come to offer fruit baskets.

Day 16 - May 20, 2018 Ella, Sri Lanka

We had to get up very early in order to get to the end of the world literally!  Our destination is Horton Plain National Park which sits on a 2200m high plateau.  At the spot called "World's End", there is a straight 900m vertical drop down to the valley below and offers a spectacular view all the way to the south coast.  The problem is that we can only see this amazing view early in the mornings before the cloud rolls in around 8:30a.  Our driver had to fix his brake issues so he arranged a van to take us there.  The van driver was totally amazing in his driving skill and delivered us there in record time.

The weather forecast was iffy at best the night before and we were hoping for the best.  Many tourists had been disappointed in the past.  We were very lucky that the early mist lifted soon after we arrived.  By the time we hiked to World's End, the sun was actually shinning!  The view is as advertised - stunning!  We sat there to take it all in and right on the dot, at 8:15a, we could see the clouds started to form right in front of our eyes and by 8:30a, the view was gone!  We pitied the other people who arrived later as many were huffing and puffing from the hike but won't be rewarded by the view.

We meet up the driver and drive to our next destination, Ella, which is also in the hill country at 1000m and is made famous by its view of the lowland framed by two mountains.  We decided just to enjoy the view from our hotel after a late lunch.

Day 15 - May 19, 2018 Nuwara-Eliya, Sri Lanka

The drive from Mahiyanganaya to Nuwara-Eliya is so scenic that it should be in every guide book.  On the way, there were water reservoirs, canals, tea plantations on hills.  This is a route seldom used by tourists.  Our driver said he probably last drove this road 15 yrs ago!

Nuwara-Eliya is also known as Little England as it's the center of British tea plantations.  Here the British influences is very much evident from the building styles to the migrant Tamil workers they brought in to work on the tea plantations (they now formed part of Sri Lankan population).

Our impression of Nuwara-Eliya is not favorable.  Little England is totally and completely exaggerated.  Only a few buildings have an European look and everything is so commercialized.  There are huge billboards everywhere along the main highway destroying the views.

Tea is very famous in Sri Lanka and I'm now hooked on milk tea.  We went to the Damro tea factory for a tour on how tea is made. 

Day 14 - May 18, 2018 Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Polonnaruwa is the ancient capital of Sri Lanka from twelve to fourteenth century AD and its scale is quite massive.  It kept reminding me of Ankor Wat in Cambodia for some reasons.  The reign of King Parakramabahu I in Polonnaruwa is considered to be the golden age in Sri Lankan history.  The city was later abandoned due to its proximity to India and the frequent raids.

It's a good thing that we had a car to drive us through the huge site in this heat.  We saw some tourists opting to see the ancient city by bicycles.  Hats off to them!  Today is also Museum Day in Sri Lanka so there are tons of students everywhere in Polonnaruwa on field trips.  Many came in school buses from Colombo 6h drive away!

Unfortunately, many of the monuments did not survive the years and only glimpses of past glories are evident.  However, the standing structures and temples that survived are enough to convey the scale of the construction.

Curries and rice is the national dish of Sri Lanka but you can only taste it for lunch.  Most places would stop serving it after 3-3:30p.  We tried it out today in a traditional restaurant and was impressed by the over 15 kinds of different curry dishes served on lotus leaves!

We drove to our next stop, Mahiyanganaya, for a pit stop for the night before continuing to the hill town Nuwara-Eliya.