Tour de Sri Lanka (The Final Frontier!)

Our second last day and we left Kandy heading for Nuwara Eliya. Along the way we stopped and tried some jak fruit ... mmm and then a little further on, we stopped at the Labookellie Tea Estate, where we got a tour of the factory from a fantastic lady. Tony was telling us she has worked there for 27 years, and although she never learned languages in school, she now delivers the tour in Sinhalese, Tamil, English, French, German, and Italian. We then tasted one of their top teas with a delicious slice of chocolate cake, all served in typical English style on the terrace with the best china!!!

Unfortunately, the rain came down again, so there was little we could do for the afternoon, so we wandered into town for some more short eats and then headed back to the hotel for some r & r, followed by a tasty meal with Tony in town.

On our final day we left Nuwara Eliya after a final breakfast of short eats. Our first stop was Hakagala Gardens, our second stop on the Botanic Gardens circuit. Its well renowned for its Rose Gardens and Fern gardens. Unfortunately the roses were not in bloom, but we did stroll around the fern garden, while I prattled about Ferns being one of the oldest complex plant forms and Schmo spouted about ferns and encryption or something like that! While the gardens did not offer much different from Peredeniya (to the non-gardening enthusiast), it was relaxing to spend some time strolling around the breezy and shady complex!

After we left there, we began the long drive back to Colombo. Of course, we peppered it with stops. We visited the tea shop of the St. Clair tea estate and sampled a cup of their finest, alongside a slice of their delicious chocolatey finest! Further along the road in Kitulgala, made famous by the movie Bridge over the river Kwai (which I confess I had not heard of until I read about it in our Lonely Planet last week), we stopped at the Planters Hotel for a spot of lunch, while Tony had us in stitches telling us about his white water rafting experience at this spot last year! Just as we finished up, the heavens opened and it poured, for the 6th consecutive afternoon. Incidentally, the exposition of the tooth finishes next Monday, so I will be following the weather reports closely to see do the rains disappear with the tooth!

Our final stop, was in many ways the most pleasant of our week long tour and certainly the most unexpected. Tony invited us to join he and his family for a meal before we headed for the airport. This typifies the overwhelming hospitality we have experienced here in Sri Lanka. Knowing we had not had a real opportunity to sample string hoppers, Tony's wife prepared a lavish feast with chicken curry, coconut sambol, dahl and an out of this world cuttle fish curry. Needless to say we ate ourselves into oblivion chatting away to Tony's wife and eldest daughter and of course the man himself. He showed us his extensive coin collection – many of which he collected in his years sailing on merchant ships and tankers. This man has seen the world! He also has some old Sri Lankan coins and english coins dating back over 200 years, along with his latest addition – a full set of Irish euro coins! Unfortunately, they were not going to hold the flight for us, so we had to hit the road.

Anyway, Singapore is waiting on us!!!