After the "cultural triangle" visits, we "headed for the hills" -- the mountainous central highlands of Sri Lanka. In constrast to the stifling heat and humidity at sea level, the hills are delightfully cool - high 70s during the day, 50s at night. It's a perfect area for growing cooler-weather fruits, vegetables, and most of all, tea. We travelled by train from Kandy to a hill country town called Bandarawela. The train & stations seemed locked in time - British Colonial, 1940. The stations had "2nd class ladies waiting rooms", "parcel rooms", "station master rooms", and various other class distinctions so important back then (not clear whether they are used for the same purposes today). The train was old & slow, but the view from the window was to die for (as in the topmost picture).

We then set off on a two-day hike through the tea plantations and forests of the hill country. It was quite arduous for two relatively-sedentary middle-agers (carrying a pack with warm clothers, drinking water, toiletries, etc); by the end of the first day (about 6 hours hiking, mostly uphill) we were pretty much exhausted, and our feet felt ready to fall off. The trek took us down railroad tracks, up mountainsides, through conservation lands, jungle areas, across tea plantations and through small villages of rural tea workers (more on the tea industry on the next page). The vistas are incredible: we found ourselves taking dozens of pictures each more captivating than the previous -- but it is hard for them to do justice to what we actually saw "in the whole".

When we were about 30 minutes from our evening destination, a remote and simple inn, we got our guide Bruno to phone ahead, to ensure that our promised beer supply was cold. You've got to picture this: four parched trekkers standing in a tea plantation, anxiously surrounding a Sri Lankan guide (who is 10 years younger and 20 years more fit than either of us). He's trying to make a cell phone call in the middle of nowhere, the connection isn't good: "THE BEER? DO YOU HAVE THE BEER?". "Is the beer cold?" "Please ask Mr So-and-So to please put the beer in the frig". He was shouting at the phone, repeating the phrase a dozen times, in English and Singhala (just for good measure). Ah, the power of modern telecommunications.

The second day we took lunch at a stunning waterfall -- of course we had to hike through jungle to get to it. They only told us afterwards that this was the place they'd alluded to -- where travelers tend to pick up leeches -- but that they were prepared with material to get them to fall off. We managed, leech-free.

We were headed downhill, mostly at this point, which takes its own toll (knees take the brunt; your toes start to hurt, as each step shoves your footware into them). As we descended, the temperature increased and what had been fairly comfortable in the hills was now hitting the mid-20s (mid 80s F), the humidity building.

This trekking was quite rural, where there were driveable roads they were only barely so. Yet all of a sudden we rounded a corner (one of so many switchbacks) and a van is heading up the hill we're going down. This is an odd place for a hotel van. Hey, isn't that the name of the place we're staying tonight? What a coincidence!

As you might guess, our Leader had arranged for us to be picked up around that point (we'd go down, the van would head up, we'd meet when we met). You can't imagine the thrill to realize we didn't have to walk another several hours in the hot sun, jamming our toes the whole way. We were spirited off to another fine-night's rest -- and, more beer. In retrospect Bruno (who neither drinks nor smokes) must have thought us quite the lushes -- but with the bad influences of an Australian and a Brit, what could we do than to partake?

We enjoyed the physicality of this tour (not to mention the views). Motivation to build up more stamina once we get home.

Next Page -- Tamil Tea

Previous Page -- Eating Sri Lanka