March 21, 2016

First day of spring.  Hooray for all those who care about such things.  Not me.  It is summer here all the time.

Just got back from my little trip up country.  Wonderful experience.  Saw some new things and revisited some places I had been almost 30 years ago.  Great time to go as on Sunday, March 13, we had a 7 hour island wide power outage.  The government put out some BS first about a power station tripping, then about a power plant failing.  In the end, no-one knows what really happened.  There is some talk of sabotage.  In any event, they were cutting the power daily for 6 to 8 hours in the heat, so I was glad to get up country in the cool and to a hotel that has a generator.

First day saw us leaving late.  Hardly a new thing in Sri Lanka; the land of late and the lumpy pillow. The travellers were Judith, Christine and Ian, and me.  This is the same group that went to Dambulla, etc. when Monica was here.  Monica was missed.  Christine is a friend of Judith's from way back.  She and Ian were visiting from England.  She has MS which is much worse than last time.  However, Judith planned an itinerary that Christine could get to as she now either walks very slowly with a cane or has to be in a wheelchair.  Either way, the whole thing was too much for her.  She will have two find places which are more disabled friendly in future.

We used the same driver as last time, Lal.  He is an ex-soldier and an all round good guy.  Sometimes his driving scares me, but we made it back alive, so it can't be that bad.

We drove straight up country to Nuwara Eliya, stopping off at the Blue Tea Factory for tea.  A much better experience than Macwoods.  I recommend it.  Tea is good, cakes are nice.  When you order cake, the tea is free, even if there are four of you and only have one cake.  I decided that I wouldn't buy my tea there although they did have OP (orange pekoe) and P (pekoe) because I could not see the product in the bag.  So it was decided to stop in at Pedro Estate in Nuwara Eliya where they sell bulk tea in plastic bags so you can see what you are getting.  After Judith's experience buying me tea last time she went up country where she paid for BOP (broken orange pekoe) and ended up with BOPF (fanning), I wasn't taking any chances.

Before Pedro, we stopped in at the Grand Hotel for lunch.  I had a great salad, probably the best I have had in Sri Lanka apart from the arugula salad I make myself and a veggie and black bean burger that was also great.  This was a much better experience than last time at the Grand when we had afternoon tea that sucked.  Lesson learned:  go to the Grand for a meal, not tea.

Then it was on to Pedro where they were sold out of the bulk tea.  Bummer.

On to Beragala where our hotel was located.  The hotel is called Melheim.  It is one of two, the other being next door to Judith in Heerasegalle.  Because they are Judith's neighbours, we got a great deal.  I was a bit sceptical, but in the end it was wonderful.  The rooms are well appointed, the garden is lovely, the pool is big enough to swim in, which I did first thing both mornings, the food was good and the service was excellent.  I would recommend it, although I do not know what the full rate would be.

The view from our room.  This side of the World's End ridge is more misty than the other, but when the mist clears off, you can see water tanks in the distance tucked in amongst the hills.

After all the travelling that day, we stayed in for the rest of the night having a nice meal for dinner.

Day 2 started with a lovely Sri Lankan breakfast and some of the best espresso I have had.  All of this after an early morning swim which felt refreshing and righteous.  Then we headed off to the Diyaluma Falls

The upper part of the falls.  This is really only a trickle because we have been having a real drought.

Downstream view

After that it was on to the Buddha statues as Buduruvagala.  This is an ancient site and not easy to get to as is often the case here.  Not many people know about it and the signs are hard to spot.  After overshooting the turn off by about 25 miles, we finally made it.  You have to walk in about 300 m. which is nothing for the able bodied, but was a challenge for Christine.  We had to get her into the wheelchair which our driver promptly started to push.  Ian loped on ahead, not even bothering to help.  Needless to say, I was not impressed.  She had to keep getting out of the wheelchair so we could make it over walls and roots plus it was stinking hot in the direct sun.  It was worth it in the end.

I took some of my own pictures, but these ones off the internet are much better.  The complex consists of seven statues and belongs to the Mahayana school which probably explains why it is not too frequented as Sri Lanka practices Theravada.  The statues date back to the 10th century.

The gigantic Buddha statue still bears traces of its original stuccoed robe and a long streak of orange suggests it was once brightly painted.

The central of the three figures to the Buddha's right is thought to be the Buddhist mythological figure-the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.

To the left of this white painted figure is a female figure in the thrice-bent posture, which is thought to be the Buddha's consort-Tara. You can see some remnants of paint behind his head as well.

Once we struggled back to the van, we headed for Ella.  This used to be a charming hill station 30 years ago.  Sadly, no more.  It is jammed full of tourists mostly of the hippy variety.  The main street is very busy and narrow because of the hotels, shops and cafes that are crowding it.  It has become like a hill country Hikadewa.  Avoid at all costs.  We did stop at the old Ella Rest House for lunch.  It has been there for ages and continues to be run by the government now as part of Ceylon Hotels.  They have renovated and added to the building which is quite nice.  The food however is crap.

A lovely mongoose that is quite tame as they feed it in the back yard of the rest house. 

One of two cats that were hissing at it.  It was not bothered, but the cats were not happy.

The rest house sits at one end of the Ella Gap.

Great views

Old tea clearings

 and some new terracing for vegetable planting

By this time, Christine was ready to collapse, so we headed back home.  

Day 3 was devoted to getting home which was by train from Haputalle to Peradeniya.  Started the day with a swim, a lovely western breakfast complete with croissant and espresso and then headed for the train station.  We were there hours early, so after a reconnoiter, we headed for Adisham Monastery.    This is another of those places I had been when last in Sri Lanka.  Then it was a quiet retreat with only 6 Benedictine monks in residence.  They had a small guest house and made wonderful jams and chutneys.  The circular lawn in the middle of the driveway was clipped by a ram on a tether  which was just long enough for him to do the entire lawn like a golf green.

These memories are now things of the past.  The place is now behind an hydraulic gate.  You can only get in on weekends and holidays.  There is a guard at the door and the road is crawling with school children on day trips to the monastery and the wildlife sanctuary that has been opened in front of it.  No jam for us nor a tour of the building for the 3 who had not seen it.

Back to the train station.

Beautifully kept.

While waiting for the train Judith went exploring and found a little shop selling local tea.  Finally, I got my single estate OP.  Wonderful flavour and 500 g. for LKR.900.  Such a deal.

The train trip is long, but must be one of the most beautiful in the world.  It goes right through the heart of tea country.  I saw so many of the places I had spent so much time in.  Newara Eliya, Ambawella, Kotagala, Hatton, Gampola.  A few things had stayed the same, like the condition of most of the line homes, but many things have changed.

Most notable is the loss of hectares of tea plantings.  There are vast acres of land that has been let go to grass.  In and around Hatton where the tea rolled along over the hills for miles, half of the hills are now bare.  Such a sad sight.

On the more positive side there is a lot of vegetable planting.  Some is in areas where Mrs. Bandaranayeke's government had redistributed land to encourage market gardening, but a lot of it is around the estate housing.  I was very happy to see this as we had been encouraging people to do this even in my time.  Now there is not a patch of bare earth around the estate bungalows and line homes. They are growing potatoes, cabbage, leeks, tomatoes, pumpkin, and other vegetables.  Now they can feed themselves and sell the surplus.

Some estates have built new housing.  I noted particularly Rosita Division and Dickoya where they have built new staff homes and line homes and even new schools and a hospital.  I was extolling this to my friend Devaraj who acknowledged it, but said that so much more could have been done.

The other outstanding thing I noted was the installation of Buddhist temples and shrines right in the middle of all-Hindu areas.  Yet another indication that Buddhism in Sri Lanka has gone astray.  The only reason these installations have gone in is to establish Sinhala hegemony.  There are no Buddhists anywhere in the area to worship at them.

The sign reads, The Highest Railway Station in Sri Lanka at Pattipola

Back home everything was fine.  Veenitha had done a great job.  The cat, however, was annoyed with me even though she had a cat sitter, so she didn't show up until 8 the next morning.

The swims at Melheim inspired me, so I have been swimming every day since I got back except Sunday when I went for our weekly breakfast with Ava at Ozo.

The fan in my laptop has gone again.  Maybe this the reason why

I was just called by the cat to show how clever she is by catching this poor creature.  No more Macbook Lizard.