20.09. - Tuk-Tuk Safari through the tea plantations 🍵

After over 11 hours of sleep, the alarm went off at 7:50 am. But I could have slept even longer :-) Later than expected, we went down for breakfast, where the disguised Italian was already waiting for us and very kindly asked for our egg order. As is usual in Sri Lanka, there was a fruit plate in advance and toast with jam. A bit late, we hurried into the car and headed to the tea plantations at a rapid pace. Today, a Tuk-Tuk Safari with a subsequent cooking class was on the agenda. I was really looking forward to it. However, our good mood was clouded by bad news. The train drivers were planning to go on strike tomorrow. Just when we had planned to take a small part of the journey by train. We thought, this can't be happening, why always us? It is one of the most beautiful parts of the trip and now it's going to be canceled because of a strike? Didn't Lufthansa and the Chinese government already annoy us enough on our vacations because of strikes and political dissatisfaction?! Stephan's mood dropped to freezing point. I think this is one of his absolute highlights of the trip.

Arriving with the Tuk-Tuk driver, Stephan rushed past the nice gentlemen and demanded to speak with our travel agent Viktoria from MaiGlobe Travel. But our driver had a better idea and inquired about the current situation at the train station. We were lucky, nothing was fixed yet. Therefore, the railway officials assured him that only the evening trains would be on strike. Phew, we were relieved and Stephan was very happy again. Now we were ready for a tour through the green paradise of tea. We zoomed down the mountains on adventurous paths and found ourselves surrounded by tea bushes, whose shape can be compared to bonsai trees. As far as we could see, everything was planted with tea plants. An incredible and impressive expanse of green that impressed us a lot. Our nice guide occasionally stopped and let us walk through a few rows, which was a welcome change for us after the many car rides. Of course, my flip-flop broke right at the beginning, so I couldn't walk with them anymore. Our very kind driver insisted that I wear his sandals so that I could enjoy the adventure to the fullest. Stephan said: 'Now you're even taking away the poor people's shoes.' Actually, he walked barefoot through the plantations for the rest of the tour. Yes, this time I really felt guilty. What would a vacation be without mishaps?! Well, during our ride in the motorized trishaw, we were able to observe some tea pickers and learn a lot about tea, when it is harvested and that it is still completely done by hand. The goal of the excursion was the former residence/viewpoint of Sir Lipton and his empire. Unfortunately, a part of the plantations was completely covered in fog. So we took a break, drank tea served with a local specialty (the red paste was very spicy) and ate fruit provided by our driver. That is really very kind. He chatted animatedly with us and time flew by. So suddenly the clouds disappeared and we could enjoy the whole beauty of the viewpoint. It was definitely worth the wait. Back in the Tuk-Tuk, we headed back downhill. But not without getting a feeling of being a tea picker ourselves. So we stopped at some women and I was able to lend a hand. The two women smiled and probably thought that the fine lady wouldn't be able to do it. And they were right. Not only because of communication problems (head nodding means agreement, but I initially interpreted it as a no) but also because of the work pace. In hindsight, I hope I didn't hold them back too much. Because the yield of the female workers is weighed and a minimum quantity must be reached. Everything above that is paid extra. So my dear colleagues, I will definitely come back because I won't be able to survive here. I will probably have to bring money to work. However, in a joyful mood, our trip ended at the house of the Tuk-Tuk guide. There we started preparing our traditional lunch with his daughter. Unusually, I was very diligent in cooking. I was a bit slow in cutting, but we all had fun and enjoyed the food. It was tailored to us Europeans, very little chili and curry, in contrast to how they eat it themselves. We mostly forgot the recipes, but we will search for the spices. In conclusion, we were given a wooden spoon as a gift and said goodbye warmly to the family. We arrived back at the hotel in the late afternoon, gathered our strength, and walked to the train station to see the train in advance. Said and done, it arrived, as usual, with a delay shortly after 5:30 pm. But at least it was more punctual than Deutsche Bahn. Afterwards, we strolled through the town, observed the hustle and bustle, and the newcomers. For dinner, we ended up at '360° Ella' once again. We enjoyed the evening with live music. Tomorrow a new adventure awaits, the much-anticipated train ride to Nanu Oya, towards Kandy.