Our next stop was Nuwara Eliya or the city on the plain. It was definitely anything but ‘plain’, pun intended! It was one of the most beautiful places I had visited. Surrounded by lush green mountains, this is located in the tea country hills in Sri Lanka. It is one of the places from where the country produces a considerable amount of tea to be exported. So the highlight of Nuwara Eliya, needless to say was the tea gardens and the factory. We were given a tour of a tea factory. It was fascinating to see and understand that tea, which is consumed by so many of us so easily, without any second thought, involves such a detailed process. So it starts with drying the tea leaves and then further processing leads to the final product which we get so easily in the market. We were given samples of tea to drink. I realized that the tea we get in India, in Assam and in other areas is much more stronger than the quintessential Sri Lankan tea. We then moved on from the tea plantation. During the day time it was very pleasant. But as we reached the city centre around sunset, it was quite chilly. We were shivering! You can’t miss the Gregory Lake while you are in town. But hey, if you are thinking of a boat ride, make sure your pockets are loaded!But the city is beautiful. It has this lovely feel of a quaint English town. The architecture and the settings transport you back in time, in Britain. The local post office, the Victorian style church, and some other government buildings spoke of a by gone era. We also visited a Buddhist monastery before we headed to the hotel for the night. Sri Lanka has a lot of these Buddhist temples and monasteries. It was almost dinner time when we finally reached our hotel. It was perched atop a small hill overlooking a picturesque view of the city. Quick dinner and some TV surfing later, it was time to hit the sack. An adventure in the form of Yala National Park awaited us.
My Travel Confessions 