We left Dalhousie after a big breakfast and headed to Kandy. Our guest house has a wonderful view of Kandy lake and the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and was a great place to relax after a busy day with a pot of tea. We headed to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in time for the evening puja. The temple houses Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic - a tooth of Buddha. The tooth was said to be snatched from the flames of the Buddha's funeral pyre in 483 and smuggled into Sri Lanka during the 4th century. The heavily guarded room was opened at 6.30pm for the followers and tourists. The tooth itself is kept in a golden casket shaped like a dagoba which contains a series of six dagoba caskets of ... read more

We left Ella and caught the train to Haputale. It was only a 10km ride but we were in the observation carriage and it was a lovely view out the huge back window of the train, through the tea plantations and around the hills. From Haputale we jumped on the local bus to go to the Dambatenne Tea Factory. It is 11km out of Haputale and the rough road clings to the hills as it weaves around and passes through all the tea estates. Tea plants are grown as far as the eye can see. When we got to the factory, they were not giving any tours that day so we wandered around the estate and spoke to a couple of the tea pickers. The Tamil tea pickers, who are mainly women, move through the bushes, ... read more

As if we could not be relaxed enough, we jumped on the train to Mirissa. The trains are so bumpy we almost felt sick. It was packed and incredibly hot. There was no respite from the heat despite the windows being open and fans on the ceiling down the isles. Plenty of hawkers selling everything from mandarins to fried prawns paraded up and down the isles. Mirissa is just along from Unawatuna which was devastated by the tsunami. This area was not affected so badly but it is sad to see that they have continued to build right on the water’s edge, which while beautiful will spell another disaster if something similar happens again. We stayed at Palm Villa - it is literally on the beach and the most beautiful stretch of coast. It truly is ... read more

After an epic bus journey from Kumily to Kochi, around the hills, past tea plantations, canals, coconut palms and forests we finally arrived at Kochi but then had to catch a rickshaw, ferry and another rickshaw to our accommodation in Fort Cochin (Kochi is made up of a series of islands). It was worth all the travel, Fort Cochin is a laid back backwaters town with plenty of funky cafes, top class hotels (which we did not stay in!) and cantilevered Chinese fishing nets. These nets line the island and are huge. It takes at least four men to operate the counterweights. Unfortunately they are not used often because modern fishing techniques have become more profitable. We headed out to watch traditional Kathakali which is the dramatised version of a play stemmed from 2nd century. Traditionally ... read more

An 8 hour ferry ride from Kollam to Alleppey was the most relaxing day we have had. The sun was shinning and a nice cool breeze followed us all the way. There was nothing else to do but kick back with a good book and watch life in the backwaters go by. Alleppey was a sleepy, laid back town which was very refreshing considering where we were staying in Kollam. Our accommodation in Alleppey was the pick of the bunch, only four rooms, set far away from the road, with a great patio and fan where we spent most of the day chatting to our neighbours on their way to live in NZ. Alleppey had a lovely golden beach but the sea was rough and we decided not to brave the strong current. Instead we found ... read more