Friday, January 31, 2020

Tea Country and Hospitality, Sri Lanka Style



Tea is big business in Sri Lanka, branded as Ceylon tea, accounting for 17% of exports, and employing 5% of the population.    Textiles are the largest export at 52%--check your clothing labels. We spent three delightful days in tea country, not counting what we did in Polonnauruwa a few days ago.  Leaving Kandy, we climbed from 1,000 feet to the 3,000 feet to the city of Nuwara Eliya. (Don’t you just love these Sri Lankan names?) 
Tea factory.  Most of the upper stories are for
drying.  Then the large leaves are shredded and
fermented.



It was a beautiful climb, but for the blight of huge billboards promoting things like Sri Lankan rebar (yes, rebar) and skin care products.  Much of the tea country reminded us of wine country in Oregon.  There are large tasting rooms, well-branded plantations, and beautiful vistas.  Unlike our wine country, there are many tourist busses and vans packed with Indians and face mask-wearing Chinese. 

Tea was introduced here in the mid 1800’s after a colossal failure of the coffee crop.  The British clear cut the jungle to make way for tea, and they planted massive groves of eucalyptus trees for railroad ties, called sleepers. By the 1890’s, Lipton alone was exporting 30,000 tons to London.
Tasting room of large estate













The tea pickers, for their back breaking labor, 
make about $5 US per day, often living in 
places like this.



























Nuwara Eliya is also called “Little England.”  The British planters tried to recreate home with beautiful gardens, polo grounds, golf courses, Tudor-style homes, parks, and club houses for a post-dinner brandy, cigar, and billiards game.  We were unprepared for the cool weather, similar to Oregon in the late autumn.
Bicycling around Gregory Lake Park














A feast prepared by Nadeeka, Easter's wife.
He's Singalese, She is Tamil.  Easter was such
a gracious host in spite of his busy schedule.
Easter's guest house

























We stayed with Rotarian Easter Kumar and his family in a small hotel he owns.  (He had dinner at our home last October.)  It was so fun having a home-cooked meal with his family eating, our best Sri Lankan meal yet.  Like so many other hotels in Sri Lanka, he has been hard hit by the 2018 Easter bombings.  Many new hotels under construction are brick and rebar-stalled reminders of what a handful of delusional individuals can do to ruin lives way beyond those killed and injured.


We got up early for a long trip to Howards Plain National Park, 5,000 feet above sea level  We hiked eight miles among beautiful views and got to see two bull Samar deer in a 20-minute fight for dominance.  You can see a short clip of it on Instagram @Kelemenron.

Near World's End View Point

Baker Falls

Macho Samar deer.  You can see a one minute
version of this 20-minute battle on Instagram
@KelemenRon

World's End viewpoint

On the way back to town, still inside the park












































































We were also privileged to attend Easter’s Rotary club meeting. Just a dozen of us around some clubhouse lounge chairs, followed by fellowship with savory Sri Lankan snacks and coconut whiskey called arak. 

Rotary banner exchange before the snacks and arak


Serendipitously the next day, as we stepped off a local bus from a local botanical garden, two of the club members recognized us and took us to see a building they are renovating for fundraising.  Of course, tea and snacks followed at the local golf course.



Later that day we took a 3 hour trip on the “tea train” high into tea country to 5,000 feet before descending to Ella, where we took a car to the coast late at night.  More about that in our next post. But we will always fondly remember the warm-hearted Rotarians who gave us insights we would never have had as ordinary tourists.  What a trip!

"What We Can, While We Can!"

The caboose of the tea train to Ella


Entry to botanical gardens outside Nuwara Eliya
The gardens were started in 1850 by
homesick British planters

One of many views from the botanical garden

Tea and snacks at the country club

I think it means we are in the Ohiya station,
elevation 1,774 meters

On the "choo-choo express"
View from tea train ride. It was very hazy
due to field and rubbish burning




2 comments:

  1. Again, fabulous photos! Being a big tea fan, the info on that industry is very interesting.

    ReplyDelete