Nurawara Eliya and Horton Plains (8-16)

Friday I traveled from Kandy to Nurwara Eliya. I’d planned to take the train, as it is described as a beautiful train ride, but a Dutch couple had said that they tried to purchase tickets and were told that none were available. I looked up the train online and learned that it starts in Colombo; so it probably arrives in Kandy with only a few seats available. When I mentioned this to the guesthouse owner, one of the other men who works there said that the train was booked until September. I realized that it’s the school holiday; so many people are traveling. So I took a bus.

I was lucky, as the bus I was directed to was leaving soon and I got the last seat. It was a special bus—nonstop, air conditioned, smaller than other buses, comfortable seats. When I was given the paper that says how much to pay, it had the price listed twice, and the man told me I had to pay twice. When I asked why, he explained that I had baggage. That was the first time I had to pay for baggage.

This driver of this bus is Buddhist, and there is Buddha decal on the window. On the way out of Kandy when we passed a temple, he stopped to pray for about fifteen seconds.

My seat was in the front row next to the driver. So I had a good view out the front window, which was sometimes good but sometimes challenging, as sometimes it’s better not to see what’s happening on the road as vehicles pass each other. It’s about 70 km from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya, and the trip took two and a half hours. After leaving the city, the road wasn’t straight for more than about 500 feet. We went up and down mountains the whole way, and the road had many frequent, sharp bends. I got used to leaning one way to keep from bumping into my neighbor, who slept most of the way, and pushing against the driver’s seat to stay upright rather than leaning toward the driver. Two tuk tuk drivers had tried to get me to take a tuk tuk (cost 6000/$45) so I could stop and take photos and see a waterfall, but I can’t ride in a tuk tuk for three hours. When we were going around all the bends, I was really glad I wasn’t in a tuk tuk. I don’t think it would have been a comfortable trip.

The scenery was lovely—mountains, valleys, trees and tea. About half way, we reached tea plantation country, and the mountains were covered with tea plants. 

For a while the road was tree lined. Once we got high enough, the air conditioning was turned off and the windows were opened. I could feel that the air was cooler.

From Nuwara Eliya I took a tuk tuk to the guesthouse, which is seven km from town. It’s pretty isolated, but it’s near the botanical gardens. The owner wasn’t there when I arrived, but one of the women called him and he greeted me, saying he’d be back in about an hour. This was nice, as it feels strange to arrive at a place, especially one out of town, and not be able to talk to anyone to get information. I had thought I’d go to the botanical gardens and decided to do that after an hour’s rest. I wasn’t sure about food arrangements at the guesthouse, but, as I was getting ready to leave, the owner returned and said they can prepare dinner and breakfast. We arranged for a tuk tuk to go to the national park on Saturday and I set off for the gardens.

On the way up the mountain, I stopped to look at the Hindu temple near the guesthouse. 

A girl ran up from below to greet me, and I took her photo. Then her friend joined her; so I had to take a photo of both of them. They were happy.

There’s also a small Buddhist temple on the road. This one is different as it has a black man/god sitting outside the stupa. When I asked the guesthouse owner about it, he said everyone knows it’s for donating money. You put your donation in the man’s mouth.

Although I’d just been to the Royal Botanical Gardens on Thursday, the Botanic Gardens Hakgala are quite different. They were founded in 1861 and are at an elevation of 1745 meters/5725 feet. The mountain setting gives the gardens an entirely different feel than the gardens in Kandy. The garden goes up a mountain with many of the paths winding up and down the mountainside. There is a mountain in the background that adds to the picturesque setting. 

I enjoyed walking around to see the various sections for 2.5 hours. 

One of my favorites was the arboretum, which has several varieties of old trees.

For the first time in Sri Lanka, I was asked for photos. I could see that a teenage girl really wanted to take a photo; so I asked if I could take a photo of her, which I really wanted to do. Then she was comfortable asking to take mine. 

Another young man also asked for a photo. Several people I met in the garden spoke English and were friendly.

Outside the park there are a number of stalls selling fruit and snacks. I bought some Sri Lankan apples that the vendor said have no chemicals/pesticides. He had me taste of a custard apple and then gave me the rest of it.

Dinner was okra and potato curries, carrots, and fried chicken. Although I don’t usually like okra and avoid it, I like the way it’s cooked here. I’ve had more in Sri Lanka than I have most of my life.

Saturday morning at 6:00 the tuk tuk driver and I set off for Horton Plains National Park. As I rounded the corner from my room on the back side of the guesthouse, the sun was rising. 

The morning light and mist over the valley as we drove down the road were mystical. 

The trip to the park took an hour. The rugged road winds up and down the mountains where there are tea plantations and vegetable farms to the park, which is at an elevation of 2,100–2,300 meters/6,900–7,500 ft.

At the park entrance, I joined the line to purchase my ticket, which took half an hour. I hadn’t seen so many foreigners in one place for a long time. From the entrance, it took another half hour to get to the trail entrance.

The park allows no plastic bags and is serious about this policy. They thoroughly checked bags as people entered and replaced plastic bags with paper bags. They even took the label off my water bottle.

The park is a combination of grasslands and forests. The trail is a 7 km loop with three major sites: Mini World’s End, World’s End, and Baker’s Waterfall. It goes downhill and uphill through both grasslands and forests with a few different types of trees. 

There are many rhododendrons, and a few blossoms remained on a few of them.

Mini World’s End is the lower of the viewpoints over the valley. 

World’s End is the higher one, but when I arrived it was in the clouds. The sign there is about the cloud forest. Looking over the edge at the whiteness reminded me of the many times in China when I stood at what is described as a beautiful view and all I saw was white, as World’s End was in the clouds. I sat for a while and ate more of my packed breakfast—tomato and onion sandwiches on toast. I decided to wait for fifteen minutes to see if the clouds moved. 

Just before leaving, I walked to the edge and the clouds opened for about a minute so we could see a bit of a mountain and the valley. That was a special moment I shared with a Danish couple.

A few times when walking in the grasslands areas I stopped to watch the clouds moving along the mountains in the distance. I do enjoy that.

At one point there were two trails but no direction markers. I took the right side branch. When I ended out at the toilets, I decided to take advantage of them. A big surprise when I entered was that they are open on the back side with a nice view. Another surprise was that they are Western-style flushing toilets, which I didn’t expect in a remote park. A sign at the junction would have been helpful, as maybe other people would have liked to know the toilets were there.

Throughout the day, Sri Lankan guides watched me when the trail was challenging. I noticed that they hung back from their group for a moment until I got through the challenging part, and then they moved on. It was nice of them to keep an eye on me. Several guides and hikers offered to take photos of me in a beautiful location.

After walking through more grasslands and trees, 

the next site is Baker’s Waterfall, which is a refreshing place to relax for a short time.

After 4.5 hours, I returned to the parking lot where my driver was waiting for me when I entered. The trip back was long, as I was tired and was ready not to be shaking and rattling in the tuk tuk.

Shortly after arriving in my room at 2:30, it started to rain. I was glad to be nestled in my room and relaxing on my bed. The rain continued off and on, sometimes heavily, for four hours. I was also glad I’d been to the gardens on Friday when it rained for only ten minutes.

Sunday it was time to move on. Apparently, there is only one bus to Tissamaharama. The owner took me on a bus to town and watched my bag while I walked around for an hour, which was adequate for seeing Nuwara Eliya. I made a quick stop at the fruit market, walked through town, and went through the vegetable and a few other items market. There I bought some Sri Lankan tea and curry, which I thought I should have. I especially enjoyed seeing the big fish displayed for sale. Then the owner put me on the bus. He had suggested that I get on the bus by having it stop along the road near the guesthouse, but I was glad we’d gone to the bus station, as I got one of the last two seats, the bus having originated elsewhere and arrived almost full. It was really nice of him to take such good care of me. I bought him some sweets at a bakery but later thought he’d probably have preferred cash.

There was a thermometer in my room. Temperature was 65^o on Friday and 60 ^o on Saturday. The bed has a double thickness heavy blanket. Many Sri Lankans were wearing “winter” hats.