Jolly Adventures: Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya is in the Hill Country. En route we stopped at one of the many Tea Plantations and factories. The tea plantations are bright green lush fields that can be seen along the roadside journey from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya. The tea factory tour that we did was really interesting. I didn't realise that the same tea plant can make several types of tea including black, green and white, dependent on which part of the plant is used, I.e. stem, leaf etc. The other process that fascinated me was the photo machine that took photos of the tea leaves and subsequently segregated them according to colour - light, dark or medium. The best bit of the tea tour was the tea tasting bit which included English Breakfast tea, Earl Grey, Chai Spice and Ginger tea, all accompanied by a small portion of melt in the mouth Butter Cake.

Next stop was Nuwara Eliya itself which although known as Little England, bears little resemblance to real England. The few similarities include a large park with children's play area, a golf course and a number of buildings such as the Post Office and Bank that resemble building's from Noddy's Toy Town.

Our hotel was called the Grosvenor but once more bore no resemblance to the Grosvenor Hotel we know in London. This Grosvenor was a rather shabby and run down old Colonial building with dark rooms with dark furniture and an old hunting lodge feel about it - not that I have ever been hunting and never will! I felt like I was staying in a real life Cluedo game and that any minute Colonel Mustard would emerge from the Dining Room with the lead piping!

In contrast to the hotel, we decided to eat at a road side cafe that was cooking food in the open air and the dining tables and chairs were located in tents. We opted to sit in a small dome tent that was big enough for the 4 of us although John did have to sit with his head outside the tent netting. We eat noodles and stir fried vegetables . It felt like being at a festival. Even more so as whilst we eat, a relihious procession with musicians and floats passed by although we had no idea what this symbolised.