Run to the Hills

---

Friday 8th - Tuesday 12th April

We rose early for a van to the Hill Country to stay with Roy, the son of Nicky’s colleague Samuel. It was coming at 7, but arrived at 06:30 just as we were breakfasting, the first early thing since we got here! The driver was considerate and safe on the road although we were slightly put off him when after we stopped for breakfast (spicy hot egg Rotis which we were impressed with E finishing) he bought betel and spat regularly for the next hour. This turned to full disgust as over lunch he kept leaning into Nicky declaring “Madam this is the best food you will eat. You cannot buy in Hotel”. His mouth half full of partly chewed food and teeth red with the Betel, his fingers covered in the rice and curry he was eating. Manners are different here but we both struggled with revulsion.
On the way we stopped at a tea factory where Samuel used to work. We were shown round and fascinated by how the leaves are withered, rolled, sorted fermented and prepared and packed. The best thing was the smell as we drove in and from inside we realised we had driven past a fan, inside which a lady was sifting the loose tea leaf. We were given tea to drink in the manager’s bungalow and a packet of BOP (best orange pekoe) to bring away. Jake is loving the tea here and is excited about having a packet of best Sri Lankan tea to drink when we get home. Although he was a bit concerned when he heard that we were posting it home in advance. He fears Granny Mary will have drunk it all before we return!
We arrived at Roy’s to be greeted as dear old friends. Sureshni, his wife, was especially welcoming, generous and chatty. Her mother had come to help for the weekend and was equally friendly. The food all weekend was carefully and considerately prepared and absolutely delicious, although their idea of “no spice” left our mouths burning. We were given flip flops to wear and N a nighty, and at times they were so giving we felt utterly overwhelmed. Occasionally we felt awkward and that we were not contributing. By the end we did manage to share some of the costs, and perhaps more valuably we left digital photos of the weekend on their pc. They do not have a camera.

Their daughters (Aksha, 5 and Britney, 15 months) were cute and entertaining and we marvelled at Britney’s vocabulary. Nicky and I were charmed by being called Aunty and Uncle, and the boys were Ana, which is the Tamil for big brother.

Later in the afternoon a family of 5 friends arrived on a motorbike, and when they left we walked down to the river, amazingly their first time down there. Elliot in particular loved spending time exploring among the tea bushes.

We had no privacy -clearly an alien concept - Nicky warned me to wear something to sleep, something we were very relieved of when we were woken the next morning by the whole family bringing tea in. There was no stage at which someone might not just wander in - no knocking - and changing was a real hazard.

On Saturday we were taken to the Botanical gardens in Hakgala via a strange Hindu temple, and then to Nuwara Eliya where we had a boat trip and the children rode horses, before a picnic (chicken and rice with no cutlery - a challenge) in the park while watching the children play. When we got back we washed (a laborious process with no shower just a series of buckets and taps for which we needed local instruction) ate and chatted before bed.

On Sunday we got up early and squeezed into a bus heading off to Horton Plains. After an hour or so of driving we stopped for a breakfast of milk rice with coconut sambol in banana leaves. Horton Plains is a National Park at high elevation with several ecosystems (plain, jungle, waterfall, cloudforest) and the dramatic Worlds End a precipitous drop from the tops to the plain below. No vehicles are permitted so there is a fairly difficult 12 or 13 km trek over mixed terrain with some big scrambles and they had no specialist equipment. Britney was mostly carried and Aksha walked it all only grumbling in the last km. Jake and Elliot were brilliant especially since Elliot had mild diarrhoea - in the wilderness.

We were searched for rubbish on the way in, and stripped of polythene bags - even biscuits were emptied from packets. We did not mind but a little warning might have been good. It was a faff, but the only place that we have not seen rubbish so clearly worthwhile. We felt that the foreigners prices were a bit steep - we don’t mind a bit, but the discrepancy was too great. It was 40 Rupees (23p) each for our hosts, and 1770 each for us (£10). A supplement is understandable but this is so high that it will make visiting some sights prohibitively expensive, a shame when we have come all this way. The flora was astonishing but the fauna stayed hidden until right at the end when we saw several deer including a few impressively antlered stags. The landscape was the real star, with swirling mists and lichens clad trees and flashes of breathtaking views all the more precious for being there one minute and gone the next.

We got back late and Sureshni in particular was shattered. Luckily Samuel’s wife at home had cooked and we simply had to wash, eat and collapse. Sureshni’s days are tough. She rises at 05:30 to prepare breakfast, then gets Aksha up and ready for school. At 06:30 Aksha catches a bus about 12 miles up to school, and Sureshni continues to prepare breakfast for Britney and Roy. She takes Britney with her to the (only English medium for miles) nursery which she has set up, runs, teaches at, designs costumes for and any other jobs that come along. When she gets home she cooks for 2 hours then washes the children before tea with Roy and the children and bed at 10pm. She is still the jolliest and most generous of people and has found time to check on us every day since we left her.

Our final morning there we rose and accompanied her to the nursery - 4 classes of little children all in cute as a button uniforms - and eventually a driver was found to take us to Ella in Roy’s car. We had been so smothered with kindness that we looked forward to some space. The journey up was frequently punctuated with stops to relieve Elliot’s sickness. We arrived and found the Tea Garden Holiday Inn proudly and justifiably boasting the best view in Ella. As we drank refreshments our host offered us the opportunity of Ayurvedic massages which Nicky and I agreed would be perfect. The boys decided (Jake instantly and Elliot with some vacillation) to sit outside and play on their DSs. Nicky and I sat for shoulder and head massages, then lay for full body massages by the end of which we tingled all over.
Tea was a delectable selection of rice and curries baked in a banana leaf, and we slept the sleep of people far better than ourselves.

Tuesday morning started well with a simple but hearty breakfast and a pleasant walk up to the delightful train station which in Britain would have been in a museum. Sadly so would the train and our already 7hr journey experienced a 4 hour further delay as we sat on it, regularly being overtaken by pedestrians. We had forked out extra for the first class observation carriage which at least we got value for money for. It afforded beautiful views of the mountains and tea plantations until the sun set. Things got worse, and despite the fact that we had bought tickets to Kandy and it said so, the train did not go there. Thankfully we were advised where to get off, about 20 km from Kurunegala, and we got a tuk tuk home. At 10:30pm having left the hotel at 8:30am and done nothing but travel we were finally surprised to be pleased to get to the Kurunegala house. One final twist, the driver had offered us a fare of 600 to get here, but had no change for the thousand note that was all I had. It may have been a tactic, but I was too worn out to argue, and it was probably still our best value per km tuk tuk. Incidentally for those who have asked tuk tuks are a 3 wheeled cross between a moped and a mini metro which serve as taxis, we have seen 7 people crammed into them, but find them reasonably crowded for the 4 of us plus baggage.

---

Photos

Lady sifting tea
And wadfting a glorious scent out

First Class observation Carriage
At least the views were fab