Tea, Tamil and Tourists
Though we were happy about the good start we got in SL, hunger started over riding the joy we had. I think, Kapu was not sure about a good place where we could have break fast. He took us around the Kandy town in search of a hotel. When we started seeing the same place many times, most of us got annoyed 
. We asked him to go towards our next destination, and we will have some food on the way. Our next destination was “Nuwara Eliya”.
Facts: Nuwara Eliya literally means, city of lights. This city was found by Sir Samuel Baker, a british man. This is located in the central highlands of SriLanka creating scenic views all around it. Situated 1000+ meters above sea level, has world class tea plantations. Tamil people were brought here to work in the tea estates before independence. Notable point is, Tamils in the plantation area never took part in the liberation struggle. Hence, they are generally called as “Plantation Tamils”. Nuwara Eliya is called Little England due to its climate, cleanliness and courtesy.
The road to Nuwara Eliya was too good that it was like a satin spread! Rarely in some places, the road was narrow, otherwise it was better in any metric compared to Indian hill roads. We would have drove around 10-12Kms. We saw a shopping mall on the left of the road, before reaching a place called Peradaniya. We could see the board from long distance- “Royal Mall”. All of us were expecting a nice break fast. It was sad to learn that the restaurant there will start only by lunch time. We searched around and found a bakery store. Instead of Idly, Dosa, Idiyappam… we had to satisfy with Bread, Rolls, Buns etc. I had a couple of Chinese Veg. Rolls and a pinapple juice. The Pinapple was tasting like Oranges. I thought that, may be, Lankan pineapples will be tasting like Oranges. We paid the bill and continued our travel. We discussed about what we ate there. Another guy told, he also found a different taste for the juice he ordered. He told, he tasted Orange juice like Pineapple! OK. Now I understand why SriLankan Pineapple was tasting like Oranges!!
I don’t have anything to tell about the travel to Nuwara Eliya, just because, I did not see anything. I was sleeping all the time. Guys woke me up when we reached Mackwoods Tea Center at Labookelle.
On the southern side of the compound, there was a wooden planked platform. We all walked towards that place. There was a group of school students already coming out back from there. Guys were speaking sinhala as well as lankan tamil. I told myself, Lanka is the only place you can listen to good tamil.
As we approached the platform, a gorge unvieled before us. There is a deep trough between the place we stood and the opposite hill. All around us, there was green color- Tea plantations. The factory where we were was call Mackwood’s Tea Center. This was started by a Scottish navigator- William Mackwood.
One fine young lady came to us and introduced herself as a staff of Mackwoods. She was our guide there. More than 1200 hectares of land is managed by Mackwoods. Each of the tea plant has an average life span of 50 to 60 years. These plants are regularly cut into shape. For making tea, only the tender leaves are taken. She explained us about various types of teas they prepare. In that Silver leaf tea costs LKR 14000 for 50gms. They showed us how the leaves are de-moisturized, grinded into powder, further grading system. All these took almost 30mins. Then we all were invited for a cup of tea. We were given with a big pot full of tea and a mug full of milk. We mixed it ourselves and had it. I was good. We had an option to buy tea powder from there. Some of us bought kilograms of tea. I bought only 200gms because, I did not wanted to carry more weight every where I go. I bought Finning tea which was very strong, cost LKR 260. They had many flavored tea powder – Cranberry, chocolate, Elaichi etc… But they are good only for black tea. Later we came to know that, the tea that we drank there was free! Two cents less!
It was time to drive back and it was lunch time. It looked like stomach is functioning very effectively when in a foreign country. I was feeling very hungry. In a short distance of 5kms, we reached a place called “Ramboda Falls” we could see a beautiful water fall far away from the place where we were standing. Kapu told us to follow him to a hotel. We walked behind him. We had to trek down to reach the hotel! Though the hotel was in middle of the forest, prices were not like that. One vegetable fried rice costs LKR 600 + Taxes! But after having that rice, we just roamed around and found out that there was another waterfall just beside us. We have seen such waterfalls in Windows Wall papers or Mani Ratnam movies. It was so scenic that we all were clicking it from all around it! We started climbing up to our car. I learned a theory of life there. “You can walk down a hill when you are hungry. But you cannot climb up when your belly is full”.
Kapu continued his duty, to drive back. I told my friends that I will get down at Kandy or a nearby place and they can proceed to Negombo. They had a beach resort booked there. The last thing I can remember was, we passed through a rock drilled tunnel. I fell asleep. And the saddest thing happened. My friends forgot that I need to get down. Kapu went much ahead of Kandy. When I asked them how much more distance to Kandy, Kapu told, we are 30Kms after Kandy!!
I needed to reach back at Kandy, find a room to stay. And time was already 5pm.
Hill Country welcomes you
Drive from Negombo to Kandy is around two and a half hours. The road was too much of twists and turns from the start itself. Even in that early hours, we saw that there were heavily armed military officers patrolling in motor cycles. Also, they stopped another van which was going in front of us. Kapu told that, nothing to be scared of and it was a usual procedure there. The road around the airport has been declared as High Security Area, and no vehicle should stop in that area. Else, you can expect army or police coming to you! We Indians have a thought that Sri Lanka (SL) is a war struck country and it is much backward than India. “Misconception”. SL has better infrastructure, at least with their excellent roads and wonderful communication networks. As far as I traveled through SL, all the road, there was not even a small stretch of road which was out of condition and where ever you go, you will be in a 3.5G network.
We were driving on A1 highway which was from Negombo to Kandy. After a place called Kegalle, it will start steep climbs to the hill country. A good thing is, this climb is not as tiresome as our ooty or kodaikanal climbs. The places looked very similar to interior Kerala, like Thodupuzha, Kumali and all! Houses are also in similar style only. Even in away, it felt home!! As time passed, I fell asleep in the van.
When I woke up, we were almost near Kandy. Time was around 5.30am. I saw many hoardings of Lankan Cricket players through out the roads. No wonder most of them were of Muralitharan. He hails from Kandy. We drove past the Kandy Botanical Garden. I did not feel like I am in a hill station for the simple reason, I have seen such good roads only in metro cities in India. And none of Indian metros are on hills. Cleanliness is a big big plus for Kandy. Nearly no air pollution.
Kapu told, he will take us to a place where we can have a bird’s eye view of the town. We started climbing another hill and reached a place call “Arthur’s seat”. From there, we had a nice view of the Tooth Relic Temple and the Kandy Royal Palace as a back drop for the vast lake in front of us. We all got bites from shutter bug and started clicking here and there. We started noticing an interesting thing that, SL had more verities of cars. Especially from that of Toyota and Nissan. We saw a similar car like Nissan Micra in SL and its name there was Nissan March.
Towards east, we could see a huge statue of Lord Buddha, on top of another hill. I have seen that place in “Sancharam” TV show. On the western side, we could see an old building complex which we identified as the tooth relic temple. After spending around 30 minutes there, we went down to the temple. Tooth temple has a two level security checkup. One at the entrance of the compound and next one, just before entering the temple.
A great Kandyan King named Wimaladharmaraja Sooriya I was the one who constructed this temple. Many kings after him, until the last king of Kandy- Wickramaraja Singhe has made more and more beautifications to this temple. This temple an invaluable heritage asset for SriLankan population. And for Kandy, this is part of their life. It is said that, one tooth of Lord Buddha is kept here. This sacred tooth is exhibited once in five years or when the nation is facing big troubles. Every year, in July-August season, there will be an annual festival conducted where the replica of the container of tooth is taken for procession. That is said to be the beauty of Kandy. They exhibit their rich-unbeatable culture. You can see many photos and videos in network regarding this. The festival’s name is “Esala Perahera”.
Entry to this temple for Lankan natives are LKR 10 only. For foreigners, it is LKR 1000. Still there is a discount for those who come from SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), 50%. So, for those who come from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan can get an entry ticket for LKR 500. Condition is, you have to prove your nationality by showing your passport.
We walked to the temple. First step of the temple is a semi-circular, white colored stone with flower design on it. This is called – The Moon Stone. I stepped in to the temple to see that my friends have already arranged for a guide to explain the history and what is what in the temple. A fairly old man who has pretty good command in English explained that, the temple’s real namd is Dalada Maligawa. He started with a short history about the kings of Kandy as well as the bomb blast in 1998 by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE- A Srilankan extremist group which claims for a separate country out of the island, for Tamils. Please refer to wikipedia or other news sites for more details).
First he took us to the main shrine in the center courtyard which was painted in very strong red shades, many murals and patterns. It reminded my the murals of Sri.Padmanabha swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. This shrine has a ‘Dagoba’ which is the replica of the real relic Dagoba. Replica is exhibited every day thrice. Timings are 5:30am-7:30am, 9:30am-11:30am and 5:30pm-7:30pm. Main doors of the shrine were very similar to the one we see in shivite hindu temples. On the top, there will be a dragon face, and flower garland flowing out of its mouth to both sides. We saw a bowl full of water on the left side of the shrine. Chief priest who is staying in the same building will wash his body with this water before entering into the sanctum.
Just opposite to the shrine, there was a little higher platform. Once you climb on it, you can see a ‘chariot seat’ which will be tied to the back of an elephant. This one is used during the annual “Esala Perahera” festival. This chariot seat is made of silver. On the left side, there was another big Dagoba (Stupa) where people were offering flowers and poojas. We walked past to the first floor. Steps were made of wood.
Once we reached the first floor, on the right side we could see many people sitting there and praying. Armed security people were on guards. Should be something special. Guide explained. This is the main shrine which houses “The tooth”. The shrine was completely covered with gold. I also prayed for some selfish concerns and moved forward!
Turned right and could see a curtained shrine. This will be opened only thrice a day, same time as I told earlier. Also there will be the traditional Kandyan drums performance during that time. We climbed down the stairs to reach another side of the temple. We just walked across and again reached the first shrine. ‘Thissa’, our guide took us to the back of the shrine. There was a well lit hall where many people were sitting in meditation. There were a lot of Buddha statues in that hall. Out of those, a few on the dais were quite interesting. A big Buddha statue covered with pure gold, one 3-D Buddha which had some special kind of lighting. Where ver you stand, Buddha’s face will turn to you! Then a marble one, crystal…etc. One rule in this hall is not to show your back to the statues. This rule is mainly because many tourists post for photos along with Buddha as if both were school time friends! You can very well take photos of Buddha there!
We walked out of the temple to reach a small park. This park has a small, roofed platform which housed a big bell (like what KamalHasan will be ringing in Virumandi song) with a long log which is used as the hammer for the bell. This bell will be rung during the time of Esala Perahera. Dalada Maligawa is surrounded by Moats which were more than 10 meters deep, had deadly crocodiles in them. But now, only moat and water is there. No more crocodiles. All these were for the security of the tooth. We paid off the guide LKR 300 and started to the Dalada Maligawa Museum which is located behind the temple, above the meditation hall. Ticket cost LKR 10, and worth was even lesser! Museum had many detailed photographs of the 1998 bomb blast. It also housed some old ornaments, and war implements. Nothing great about it.
We exited to another museum called Royal Palace Museum. Seeing that museum, I was thinking if the kings in Kandy were so poor. It was just like my house in Trivandrum! It was too disappointing to see such a museum. They had a very old building almost 400 years old and a few artifacts, most of them were old build parts. With in 10 mins, we got out of the place.
From there, we went to the hindu temple complex, situated close to the tooth temple. There was a big stupa near the entrance. There were shrines of Hanuman, Katarakama (Subramanian – Kathirkaaman), Devi temples. After all there was an Afro-Lankan tusker. For taking a photo of that elephant, the “Elephant Driver” was asking LKR 100. We just used the Indian brain. We walked away and took a nice photograph with our powerful 12x Optical Zoom of the camera We called up our driver who parked his vehicle somewhere away. We started planning the next item in the agenda.
Guess what!
Longest day in Lanka starts
Actual plan for Day1- Find the first bus to Colombo or Kandy and visit the Tooth Relic Temple.
What happened there – To surprise me, one of my friend was also in the same plane in which I came. We met each other as we were walking to the Immigration counter in the airport. As we refreshed our friendship, I learned that Shrinidhi Hande (http://enidhi.net) was with his friends in Sri Lanka for a weekend bash. They were also going to Kandy. Seemed like they had a more clear idea on what to do in next 48 hours. Shrinidhi invited me to his group if I wish. They had already booked a 9 seater traveler there. I was fine with that deal. And decided to join with them till first day afternoon.
A few facts about Negombo where I was at that moment. Negombo (Neer-kozhumbu in Tamil) is a beach side city located about 40 Kms north of the commercial capital – Colombo (Kozhumbu in Tamil). Negombo has a considerable amount of Tamil population and is one of the most busiest place due to it’s scenic beach resorts. Adding to it, Negombo houses the one and only international airport in the island- Bandaranaike International Airport, located in a place called Katunayake. Economy of this city is from the tourism and fisheries.
There were no much hazels in getting the visa stamped on an Indian Passport, only if you are not Thiru. Thol Thirumavalavan (a self appointed political hero who supports and delivers speech on LTTE). Only thing the visa giving officer asked me was, where will I stay during my 1 week tour in Sri Lanka? I said the fact that, I have not arranged anything before coming here, but I have enough money to survive here and find out a good place to stay. Response was- “Welcome to Lanka, have a nice stay”. Gidik Gidik…Stamped!
We walked out to the airport’s exit gate. On the way, we could see these duty free shops all over the first floor. They had almost everything LCD TVs, Laptops, Media players, Cameras, Cigars, Liquor, etc. We were in search of a place where we can have a face wash and get fresh. So, we went near the Customs clearance area and passed through the green channel as none of us had any check-in baggage. We found the wash room in the aisle of green channel. One by one we got in and got refreshed. We noticed that there were many officers who were looking at us for quite a while. As we didn’t wanted any untoward incident, we cleared off the spot very soon.
On the other side of the door, there was a very large lobby with two sections. First section had SriLanka Tourism Promotion Board’s counter, many money changers and an ATM Machine. Second section had all the travel companies and mobile service providers stalls. First I went to Thomas Cook (Forex) to change my Indian Rupees to Lankan Rupees. “WE DO NOT DEAL INDIAN MONEY” was the answer from each guy. Enough of a shock. Because, I did not had much money in my bank account as well, because it was 26th of the month! I searched out the ATM and drew a number -3000. I was not sure whether it is going to give me equivalent of INR 3000 or just LKR 3000. Later I checked and confirmed, account was deducted with equivalent of only LKR 3000. I walked to the tourism board counter and asked for giving me some idea about the places which I had in mind. He explained a few things and gave me a bunch of maps and brochures. These things became very useful for me later in my travel.
Shrinidhi called up the cab driver and spotted him. We walked to him and he escorted us to get out of the Airport. It was a Toyota 9 seater vehicle, which was arranged. The driver’s name was very complex one for even an Indian tongue. But we could only understand the first part- “Kapu” (No, it was not Kapugedara). There after we called him Kapu. Kapu ‘the sarathy’ started the journey to the hill country – “Kandy”.
An idea of what Kandy is… Kandy is the last capital of the ancient kingdom of SriLanka. It is a very well planned hill station. This town houses the Tooth Relic Temple which is dedicated to Sri Buddha. It’s Sinhalese name is Maha Nuwara. Town still holds many of the colonial buildings intact. For this, UNESCO has declared the city along with almost all buildings in the city as “World Heritage City” in year 1988. Kandy’s people are having their own cultural identity, the way they carry themselves and how they are shown to others. All together a great place.
