Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Nuwara Eliya


We left Negombo on Friday and headed East, for the interior of Sri Lanka, which rises in elevation by a few thousand feet, providing the perfect climate for their famous Ceylon tea.  In the town of Nuwara Eliya, we rented a bungalow for a couple of nights that was surrounded by beautiful, verdant tea fields and that was run by a couple who cooked breakfast and dinner for us - love the Sri Lankan rice and curries!  We hiked through the tea fields into town, past houses, lounging water buffaloes, vegetable stands, saying hello to families out doing chores (a smile speaks volumes even if one doesn't know the local language).  This hike caused the breaking point for one of my Keen sandals that has seen many miles for the past 5 or 6 years, so when we got to town, I found a cobbler outside of a shop who expertly stitched it up.  I'm sure it will last another 5 years!  At the end of the day, we returned to the bungalow, where a pot of milk tea was waiting for us.  By this point, we all realized that we were lucky enough to visit SL during the off-season, as we saw very few other visitors until we returned to Colombo.
Gathering wood


Our bungalow
Fixing my sandal



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