Day 4 - Nuwara Eliya

After breakfast, Ganda came waving and with a big grin on the hotel driveway. As every day, he shook our hand and it was always a very loose handshake. 😄 The loosest handshake I have ever received. 😄🤝

I think this comes from the fact that he doesn't really know that a handshake is supposed to be firmer, because the Indians greet each other with folded hands in front of their chests. By the way, hello in Sinhalese is "ayubowan" and also means "live long". ✌🏻

We drove a total of 4 hours to Nuwara Eliya. It was only 70 kilometers in total, but the route was very hilly and winding. In addition, in Sri Lanka, you can only drive 70 km/h on "national roads" and 50 km/h in residential areas. Highways allow for 100 km/h, but they are very rare. Therefore, the transportation is rather slow. 🚘

After three hours of driving, we reached the huge plantations that stretched across all the visible mountains. Many wholesale black tea traders grew their plants here, which are located in the highland area (>900 meters). Highland tea is more expensive than lowland or midland tea. We took a break at a tea plantation and were given a tour of the factory. Afterwards, we sipped black tea from ceramic dishes and of course, we had to buy two packs of tea. 💶

We took some nice photos in the tea plantation area and then continued to our hotel in Nuwara Eliya, which is located 1200 meters above sea level. It was immediately noticeable that it was not very warm here (18 degrees at 4:30 pm) and finally my black thicker jacket came in handy. 🧥

Nuwara Eliya is also known as Little England of Sri Lanka, as it was built by English colonists in the 18th century. This is also reflected in the different architectural styles. 🏠

When entering the city, it immediately became apparent that it did not belong to the richest cities. The houses were very simple and garbage gathered in the rivers. 🗑

Initially, I had a uneasy feeling when we talked about taking an afternoon walk in the city. However, we did it anyway and we saw few tourists. I felt a bit like an elephant in a china shop. 😄🐘 Maybe the long, tight-fitting training pants were not the optimal choice after all? 🙉

But I got used to it and if you looked closer, many were also very polite. Some women even grinned embarrassedly and some greeted us cheerfully. 🧐😌

We also visited Victoria Park and went to an old English post office. 📬

When we felt the first raindrops and it was already getting dark, we preferred to go back to the hotel. So we found a tuk-tuk taxi and paid 200 rupees (1 euro) to be driven back. 🛵