A Trip to Little England

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On the way to Nuwara Eliya, we past Castlereigh reservoir which was maybe one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. We also got some amazing views of Adam's Peak, and couldn't quite believe just that morning we had been standing on top of it.

We stopped at the Tea Castle which is a centre to explain the origin of Ceylon Tea, along with a lovely restaurant. (Ceylon was the name for Sri Lanka under British rule). The tourist centre and restaurant is a celebration of the father of Ceylon tea and son of Scotland, James Taylor. Born in Kincardineshire, Taylor brought tea to the island in 1867, which was the catalyst for a new industry which is now the largest in Sri Lanka in terms of GDP.

After some fantastic views of the tea plantations, a pot of delicious ginger tea and some chocolate cake at the castle, we set off up into the mountains towards Nuwara Eliya.

When we arrived we visited the local park where we were joined by families leisurely walking around. There were also big families on the grass taking pictures and children running around. We had to have our jackets on because the climate is so cool. Chin explained that this was the reason Nuwara Eliya is nicknamed 'Little England'. We immediately noticed a craze of colourful Santa hats around us, an interesting local fashion craze. The locals still walk around in their flip flops despite the crisp air though!

We walked round the gardens of what seemed like an old colonial lodge from the time of the British empire which has been maintained as a hotel to this day. As we were leaving, one of the employees of the club ran across the lawn shouting for our attention. At first we thought we were in trouble as we were certainly not dressed suitably for such an establishment. However, he was calling over with a request to show us round. (We guess this was due to boredom with it being off season).

He showed us the extravagant reading room and separate dining rooms for lunch and dinner with a ladies area attached. We were also shown the billiards rooms (smoking and non smoking) and the separate men's and women's bars. There was a new games room added which had a big TV and a huge collection of DVDs too. There was a plate and cutlery on the wall which had been used by the queen, and also a whiskey map of Scotland. We both noticed the musty smell which we agreed smelled very British. This experience really felt like we were stepping back in time to the 'Glory' days of the empire.

In the late afternoon we intended to go out on a boat on Gregory Lake, however the mist was so thick we could barely see the lake. Instead we decided to walk around for a bit. There are many groups gathered around individual drum players, singing (and clearly drinking a lot of alcohol, white diamond being the tipple of choice). This appeared to be a Saturday afternoon tradition, and we joined a group for a little while and enjoyed a hot dog and ginger beer. After discovering a bottle of white diamond in Chin's boot, he informed us that it was a popular coconut liqueur.

On our way out of the park we decided to pick up our own colourful Santa hats. Then we had an early night. It was definitely strange to sleep with big wooly rugs instead of air con and a single bed sheet. In the morning we were to set off for Ella.

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