The Hill Country

After an absolutely fantastic night of sleep, we struggled to get up and out of bed early Sunday morning. Vacations are not really that relaxing considering how much you want to get done in the limited vacation time. After another great breakfast that included waffles, coconut juice and chocolate crossiants, we piled into Harry's car and headed off to Nuwara Eliya. Unlike Saturday, there weren't any major attractions planned for Sunday since the experience of Nuwara Eliya comes in driving through the mountains and taking in the sights and feel. This area of Sri Lanka, squarely in the central part of the country, is known for its cool climate perfect for growing tea and other plants. The region is full of tea plantations and roadside stands selling fresh fruit and vegetable. I was delighted to find out that avacados, or butterfruit, is a major crop in Sri Lanka. The windy road through the mountains offers great views and several stopping points at natural waterfalls carved out over the years. In fact, the entire journey through Nuwara Eliya was really about the scenery, and so we stopped at random points throughout the way. Our first main stop was the Glenloch tea plantation. There we got a chance to tour the tea production facilities and learn about the process and different types of tea. We also sampled some freshly produced tea which was very satisfying.

After the tea plantation we headed for the main town center of Nuwara Eliya, though along the way we stopped at some waterfalls and overlooks for photos. The road is really winding and at times seems a bit dangerous, especially with all the overtaking that the drivers along the road do. It was actually amusing seeing Harry get annoyed at touk-touks and slow cars in front of us. But we made it to Nurwara Eliya around noon, and spent a little time walking around the city. Since it was the new year, lots of Sri Lankan twentysomethings were in N.E. partying and hanging around, and we saw our fair share of creepy dudes starting at Nima as we were walking around town. There wasn't much to see in the town, but we did stumble across an authentic open-air market that didn't have any tourists, and it was nice for a change to see that we weren't being hassled by the shopkeepers because they weren't interested in tourists.

By early afternoon we decided to just head back to Colombo, because Nima's flight was that night and we wanted to have time for a decent dinner before she left. The ride back took really long because the rains started and driving became difficult. Harry did a great job getting us back around 6:00pm, and we were able to get a reservation for dinner at Beach Wadiya, the world famous seafood restaurant right across the street from my hotel. The food was so good, it wouldn't be right if Beach Wadiya didn't have its own blog entry.