One Life, One Family... One Love

It’s a new month and, as September roles in, the group wakes to be bussed up to a famous view point on Rajapihilla Mawatha. At 550 metres above sea level, we overlook Kandy, the last capital of the ancient kings’ era of Sri Lanka. The city is situated in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau. The view is beautiful; over the man-made Kandy lake, surrounded by a city that is surprisingly clean considering it hosted its biggest festival, the Festival of the Tooth, only a couple of days before. This is, of course, a photo opportunity for the group and Jason and I quickly spot a tree grown in a way that it makes a seat. Sumudu, our guide, informs us that Arthur’s Seat is famous and according to local folklore there was a bungalow owned by a Mr. Arthur, a British tea planter, situated above the lookout, who used to view Kandy by standing on a stone seat under a tree in front of his bungalow which is why it is now a tourist trap/viewpoint. This leads to a load of us clambering up for a quick pic before heading back on to the bus.

The Glenloch Tea Plantation and Factory in Katukitula

Sitting in Arthur's Seat

It’s time for tea. As the group approaches the tea factory, Erin, one of the group who I have become good friends with, perks up as she notices the name Glenloch, Erin is Scottish you see, so the familiar name puts a smile on her face. Now I have always been a Yorkshire Red or Gold man myself when it comes to tea but it turns out that Glenloch tea factory is one of their suppliers along with suppling all the household names such as PG Tips, Twinings and many more. Like a classic English man I find the tour truly fascinating and the smell unbelievable. Just thinking about it makes me want a cuppa! I have to admit in one of my more childish moments I imitate the sorting machines by shaking in time to the rhythm the machine makes. The factory tour ends with a tasting session of a few of the different types of tea created here and I am lucky as Erin shares her chocolate cake with me as I am too lazy to go up to the counter and order one. It was delicious, even better when Erin tells me it cost about 50p! Do love the taste of a bargain! Once the team is all caffeined up and had a chance to have a look around the gift shop, we are led outside, given baskets and put to work.

Tea sorting machines
(click on the top right hand icon)

Now when I say work I do mean a photo opportunity with the traditional 5kg baskets, that the tea pickers still use to this day, between the many many rows of tree leaves. Once back on the bus a discussion breaks out that leaves a slightly less-favourable taste in my mouth. Turns out these tea pickers are paid 50 rupees per basket; averaging 5 baskets or 25kg of tea leaves a day over an 8 to 10 hour shift, meaning 250 rupees total, which, at the current exchange rate, is roughly 60p a day or, in other words, just over what I just bragged about being an amazing deal for a fat slice of chocolate cake. This isn’t to say that may not be a fair wage here – all the people I saw working at the tea factory/plantation seemed happy and extremely welcoming. However, it is a stark reminder of how lucky I am to be able see this as a fun stop on a trip and not a place I have to do back-breaking work, day in day out!

The tinge of guilt I taste is quickly replaced as our next stop is a Bakers for us to quickly grab a lunch, before the train we have to catch! I find myself at the back of the queue in the Bakers eyeing up one of the six veggie Rottys they have. When I relook as I near the counter there is only one left so proclaim to the rest of the line, entirely made up of the group by this point, that they should all avoid the last Rotty, that everything I said about the last one being delicious was all talk, and I would just take one for the team and have it to spare them. This is met with some laughs and then Jordan, another new friend, orders it with a smile that implies to me he is going to enjoy this even more knowing I wanted it. Can’t blame him, I would of done the same and he did kindly double check that I wasn’t a vegetarian before swooping in and stealing the last Rotty that had my name all over it! I end up with a chicken Samosa which was lovely, but all I can remember at this point is the betrayal!

After having the lovely experience of sitting for 30 minutes on a bus full of people scoffing their faces with their newly acquired lunchtime snacks while we swerve and speed to make our train, we stand on the platform awaiting our train that is clearly running on what I have heard many call ‘Sri Lanka Time’, which is to mean it was about 40 minutes late. Now you may be wondering why on earth a group with a perfectly nice air condition bus would be getting on an old train with seats that are nearly impossible to book: I was too. Well, it turns out this is the train to Ella – you know the one you see in every single advert for holidays with silly foreigners leaning out of the doors risking their lives to get a good photo! Once realising this, I am of course keen to be one of those silly foreigners who can’t wait to lean out the door. It takes about an hour of standing on this rickety ride for my turn, some of our group having to brave the smells being emitted from the toilet they find themselves squashed in together by. Finally its my time and, to be honest, I think I took a face full of branches and leaves for a picture with a bush and a road in the background. Others in the group time their pictures a lot better than I do! But hey it was an experience and I was able to get a seat eventually!

Tea picking

A silly foreigner

Once off the train we make our way to our next hotel. This is a special one, it has hot water! Some of the group decide to go for a dip in the pool before we head out for dinner and drinks. It is a nice pool although cold as I get in and start swimming. I notice that the pool has a rather strange design to it though. It seems to have an underwater ledge halfway through, I assume for children, but without any barriers to the deeper water so I can’t say I fully understand the design. Anyway after a while, Ali and I are the only ones in the pool, when Jason joins the group ready for a dip. I panic a bit as he starts to run towards the shelf as if he is gonna jump in and I shout which results in him slipping and falling in. It was quite funny. So after swimming around for a bit Jason stands and says to me and Ali, Ow, there’s a ledge here! At first we’re amused but then notice the blood. Jason has swam head first into the underwater ledge and cracked his head and I am now looking at a scene from a horror movie. He insists he is fine and when we check on him later he does seem okay. So now my concern turns to the poor cleaner who must have walked into his room and got quite a shock from the blood-soaked towel!

After we are all showered and changed and have checked Jason is alive, the group heads out for our best meal yet. Ella is a backpackers town – it is bustling with cafés, bars and restaurants. We end up at Chill Cafe, which we later learn that Sumudu, our guide, was planning on taking us tomorrow. I can see why – we have a lovely meal and great drinks. I have a burger and chips with a mushroom beef gravy dip, I know, not a very traditional but, boy, did it taste good!

After a couple more drinks some of the group including myself decide to check out One Love a bar/club suggested by Sumudu. After all we do have a free day tomorrow! After swapping tables a couple of times the group finally sits and orders drinks and Erin makes a move that instantly catapults her to my favourite person on the trip – she orders a round of tequilas for the table! Looking back on it, this was the beginning of the end for me. Erin argues that it was my insistence to continue ordering myself tequilas that caused the mayhem that ensued, but I still stand by the stance that she is the one that got the ball rolling! I have a hazy memory of the night to say the least but from what I have been able to gather from my somewhat compromised memory and from what I have been told, the night was filled with new friends, many drinks and performing the dances we had learned from the cultural show the day before. I am slightly embarrassed to admit the night ended with ‘a white guy’, as the server referred to me, paying off the tab for the table and then being shouted at by Jordan for doing so the whole way home, and Ali kindly taking off my shoes for me, after I fell into bed. Ali has been an absolute saviour on this trip, constantly reminding me of our room number and looking after our key!

Anyway so ends another good day, although, technically, it was two, given I was up until the early hours!

And as Sumudu has taken to saying we are One Life, One Family, and now I have also experienced One Love!