Tea for Two

---

Today we have a 3 hour drive to our penultimate hotel. This part of Sri Lanka produces one of their largest exports, tea. On the drive we pass through tea plantations and see tea pluckers at work. These are local workers that spend their day collecting tea leaves and bringing their load of 20kg leaves to the factory for processing. We stop on route at a tea processing factory for a guide tour. Time has certainly stood still in this part of the country as the factory and its machinery are part of the British colonial era. The tea process has several stages starting with drying the leaves, then crushing, then separating leaves from stalks, then grinding the leaves as the finer the grind the stronger the tea flavour, then packing and shipping. Keith had a taste of Ceylon tea and it was very tasty without milk or sugar and nothing like Sainsburys red label.
We continued on and started to climb up the side of the hills round the hairpin bends and taking in the breathtaking scenery. We had been used to temperature of 28 degrees but now the temp was around 18 degrees and the locals had coats and hats on. We were passing natural water falls where locals were operating a car wash with hose pipes. Just park up on the dusty pull in and hose down your car.
We arrived in Nuwara Eliya which was a favourite retreat of the British in the 19th century due to its cool climate. The town had plantation bungalows, English country style homes, an 18 hole golf club, a race course which is not used much these days and a town that still has a decideably British feel to it. We turned off the road onto a single track lane that climbed through tea fields to arrived at the Heritage Tea Factory, a converted tea factory of the British Colonial Period. Wow !!! when we stepped inside it was amazing with staff dressed in orthentic colonial dress and the place was still in the 19th century design. The lower ground was all wood with parts of the old tea factory machinery in place. The upper three floors were the bedrooms. What a wonderful experience. The next morning we stepped outside the hotel and we're looking over a cloud base that was circling the hill where we were staying. Awesome!!!

---

Photos

Wood burner in hotel
The hotel also had central heating for the cold nights!!!

inside Heritage Tea Factory hotel
View from the ground to the upper floors

view of the drying fan located on 2nd floor
This fan is approx 12 foot in diameter and runs on a daily basis by hotel staff.