The Ceylon Tea Trails deserves every accolade it has achieved as far as I'm concerned. Currently it is ranked, according to Trip Advisor votes, as the number one all inclusive hotel in Asia and the number four all inclusive hotel in THE WORLD! Not bad, eh?
I am starting tonight's entry from our mosquito net shrouded four poster bed in our room, whose name is apparently Jeffery, at the Norwood bungalow (one of four bungalows making up the Tea Trails). Since arriving we have completed a marathon feasting session involving a splendid afternoon tea outside overlooking a magnificent view; a fish-balls and curry snack whilst watching 'Real Steel' in the TV room with Lion lager; a four-course dinner with Chilean white and red wine; and a sweet sherry (which I still maintain was port) in the sitting room, whilst chatting to our new acquaintance, Johnny, a travel writer from London and who has challenged us to a game of croquet tomorrow evening before dinner.
What a brilliant way to end another day in paradise.
We had a great morning. As promised, Stanley took us to the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, where we spent an enjoyable two and a half hours wandering around gawping at the wonderful array of plants and trees from all over the world. There was a multitude of stunning birds to add to the list, but the highlight had to be the vast colony of screeching, squabbling fruit bats, which seemed to have colonised every large tree in the gardens. Some of them were flying between the trees and at one point a great horde of bats took flight, circling over the Great Circle - the large circular lawn in the centre of the gardens - like something from a horror movie. Amazing! Their orchid collection was pretty spectacular too.
At 12.00 pm we headed out of the gardens and bought a bag of freshly chopped mango, at which point Stanley turned up to collect us.
Before heading into the gardens, we had arranged with Stanley that we would travel to Hatton by train, which I am sure suited both parties: Stanley would have a chance to relax a bit in our absence; and we would get a chance to avoid the horribly windy, nausea-inducing road to Hatton while at the same time benefiting from some incredible views.
It all sounded too easy, which of course it turned out to be. Thanks to some more of Stanley's marvellous miscommunication, we had a bit of a stand off in Peradeniya train station. According to the 2012 Lonely Planet guide to Sri Lanka, a first class ticket from Kandy to Hatton should cost 110 Rs, so we figured it would even cheaper from Peradeniya, which is much closer. You can imagine our surprise when Stanley asked for 3,000 Rs to pay for our tickets! Amber wasn't having any of it, so we wasted some more time arguing over this unexpected and very unwelcome additional expense. Ultimately we decided to tell Stanley that we weren't prepared to pay this amount and would have him drive us to Hatton instead. At this point Stanley took it upon himself to inform us that the seats had already been booked and that the tickets were non-refundable. I could have murdered him! I think he could tell, I didn't make much attempt to mask my frustration.
Anyway, in the end I decided we would take the hit and get the train. After all, the views were said to be spectacular and it would give me some time to calm down.
The train was almost half an hour late. When it finally showed up, we were shown into a very fancy air-conditioned carriage by staff in very smart uniforms...and suddenly the penny dropped. Stanley, in his infinite wisdom, had booked us into a privately run luxury Expo Rail carriage, complete with comfy seats, plug sockets, stewards, bottled water and a meal thrown in to boot. A quick squiz at the Lonely Planet confirmed that there are indeed a couple of operators that run private luxury carriages attached to the standard trains and that a ticket for one of these should cost in the region of $12. So, it turns out we weren't getting taken for a ride after all. I almost felt sorry for Stanley...but not quite. He could have saved himself a whole lot of hassle if he'd only asked us what ticket we wanted to buy. By all accounts the standard first class on these trains is perfectly acceptable.
Our journey to Hatton was very comfortable and every bit as picturesque as we'd been told it would be. I spent a large amount of time engaged in a hilarious 'turf war' with some of the other tourist passengers all of whom, like me, were desperate to get a decent shot of the scenery! The train was shaking all over the place, so we all had a hard time keeping our balance.
We pulled into Hatton station just after 3 pm. Lo and behold, Stanley was there to meet us. He must have really put his foot down, as the road to Hatton is far from straight. I guess he didn't want to risk upsetting me any more! Anyway, we are all friends again now and I think the opportunities for more miscommunication will be significantly fewer once we leave for Yala.
The trees around Norwood bungalow are full of birds, so quite a few additions today:
- white-bellied drongo (Peradeniya Botanical Gardens)
- purple sunbird (Peradeniya Botanical Gardens)
- Philippine shrike
- brown shrike
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