And all for a cup of tea…

A 8 hour drive, through the hills, windy roads, stopping to let buses pass us at each tight corner, arriving at a hotel at 9pm, wondering if they still have a booking, can we get some food, and why is it so so cold here. Sounds like a relaxing weekend. We actually had a really nice weekend but we spent a bit too much time driving there, and then of course a bit too much time driving home. Funny how that works…

Anyways…we headed up to Nuwara Eliya for the weekend. It’s tea country, so different from the rest of the county. It’s really beautiful up there and we learned a LOT about tea and drank even more. I think on Saturday we had 7 or 8 cups. And, we have turned into even bigger tea snobs than we used to be. I really can only drink Ceylon B.O.P.F. that was picked and processed less than 3 days ago and is brewed with fresh mountain water heated to only 98.6 C. Really, nothing else will do!

The hotel is really cool, it’s an old tea factory that’s been converted into a hotel and still has some of the old equipment in place. It has won a UNESCO award for its heritage and uniqueness. It’s pretty hard to take photos that reflect it but I tried...but I can't find them at the current moment so you don't get to see them.

And did I mention its freezing? Well, by freezing I mean about 12 degrees and windy and raining but it felt really, really cold. Needless to say I’m starting to get a little worried about arriving in Canada in November! Ahhh, what a great time in Calgary, my favourite! Anyways, here’s some photos of the area, the last time we were up there.

Scott has this thing for tea picking women I think, he was squishing himself through the tea bushes trying to get the perfect shot. The women thought he was crazy…of course, I set them straight immediately and enthusiastically encouraged his photo taking. Actually it was pretty funny, we went and bought them a big bag of candy after that and as you can see, Scott got some great photos.

We’re trying to take advantage of our last few weeks in county to see some parts of the island again, next weekend we’re heading down to do some surfing, it’ll be the last time while we’re here. We’ll be heading to Nepal in a few weeks, I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. I am really looking forward to being home but I’m also getting pretty sad about leaving. It’s kind of a weird feeling. But...we're looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Cheers!