This morning we left at 7:30 am to get the trainstation to get the train to nuwara eliya. There were 7 of us who took tuk Tuks there and brought our train ticket. We paid 400 rupees for 3rd class which is $4.00 for a 5 hour train trip. So cheap! Damikee told us to be there early so we could get a seat on train so we were there an hour before our train was surposed to leave. It had been nearly a week since id seen another tourist so seeing a big bunch of them at the train station was comforting. Of coarse the train was late, as it everything in Srilanka. The train came and it wasn't like the old maroon ones we see everywhere. This one was modern and blue and clearly a lot nicer than what we thought. 3rd class had fans and had a table by your chair so you could eat a meal if you wanted to. The windows were huge so you had really good views of outside. Not sure why Damikke said we needed to be there early because no one stood and there were plenty of spare seats. The train ride was the mod amazing thing I've done in my life. In between the carriages were big doors that stayed open so you could easily walk off the train if you wanted to.ni had a window seat with Taylor along with another family on the otherwise facing us. Heading out of town we passed some of the poorest little villages who's houses were nearly falling apart. The trains sweeps through little villages and then back into the jungle. Every 15-20 minutes we would stop and more locals would get on and off as well as people with food would quickly jump on with there little baskets and then jump off at the next stop. About an hour into the train ride was when the lush forest hit and the acres and acres tea plantations appeared. The scenery was amazing! I have never seen mountains so green and lush. We trained past small villages that were deep in the jungle where there houses were made of mud and sticks. The woman had children strapped to there back carrying big sacks of sticks on there heads. Many locals stand up and stand out of the edge of the train so you can be basically hanging off the edge. I went to the gap in our Carosal and stood by the door. The train slowed down and basket of nuts appeared at my feat and then followed a man who jumped up on the train while we were rolling. It was insaine. He did his sweep of the train selling his nuts to the passengers and then came back to the edge of the train. He forced me to try some of his food which you could tell was so fresh and then he pushed me to stand off the edge of the train like the locals because he said I would get a better view.. It was scarey but I loved it. I popped my out and all along the train were locals doing the same thing. We passed huge waterfalls and big lakes going over bridges and into long black tunnels. The closer we got to nuwara eliya the more colourful dots you could see amongst the tea fields. As we got closer I noticed the dots were woman in the field in brought coloured cloth with there big sacks on there back picking the tea leaves. The view was amazing with the woman's bright pink and oranges clothes set again the green fields. The train was nearly 5 hours but I felt like I could have been on it for ages! I was scared to fall asleep and miss anything. We finally arrived in nuwara eliya the tea capital of Sri Lanka. I was expecting tea plantations but this was next level. Everywhere you looked was tea feilds. We got off the train an were bombarded with "you want tuk tuk madam" we didn't know where abouts we were or how far to town or anything. We found a nice young guy who offered us 600rupees to nuwara eliya city for all of us in his mini van. That was cheap so we rolled with him. We drove into town which was windy up hill drive through the most amazing scenery. Our driver new almost perfect English so was telling us all about the town etc. He told us that the English first took over nuwara eliya a long time ago so the town has a very English influence. We knew exactly what he ment when we arrived in the city. All the buildings and hotels were big white old cottages with rose gardens everywhere and red telephone boxes. It was so bazaar but so quaint. We decided to go straight to a tea factory so our driver took us. We soon noticed the blanket of must over the mountains as it slowly got Lower and lower. We can see now why Adams peak is not meant to be climbed now in the of season. The mist through out the mountains was so pretty and as we drove deeper into the tea feilds the air got a lot cooler. We got to the tea factory called blue feilds which was a hugeee old blue building( English style) set in the hills. We arrived and a lady took us Striaght to the factory where we gave us a tour of the tea fActory and we saw everything happening. She showed us the process of the tea production from picking the leaves in the field to drying out the leaves to crushing them into small tea leaves. The factory had the most amazing aroma of tea! After wards she took us through to the huge lobby where we're given yea and chocolate cake. We tried the black Sri Lankan tea and the white tea which were both delicious. Two of the girls went to the store and spent up large buying boxes and boxes of us. I had already brought tonnes from the markets so I couldn't afford to get anymore. After the tour our driver took us two 5 waterfalls and then to the most amazing view point on the balcony of the most modern fanciest building i have seen in Sri Lanka as of eat. The balcony looked out over te mountains or tea and waterfalls. We had lots of group photos and then headed back. Our driver stopped on the side of the road where a bunch of woman were tea picking. They were true Sri Lankan woman with big gold nose piercings in bright clothes and big red dots on there fore head. They all had these big sac things that were strapped around there head onto there back that they carried there picked leaves in. Our driver told us the tea fields are owned by the government so the woman work 7-3 everyday and are paid $3.50 for a day of work. They also picked 23kg of tea leaves each a day. The reason for so many woman pickers is they get paid much less than men which means they hire mostly woman. We got back around 5 and our driver took us to a cute guesthouse he recommended that looked out on a amazing park. It was 1000 a night per person which was 10$ so we took it. We quickly refreshened up and then went to a resteraunt about 5 minutes walk called great Indianan which we heard was greatly recommended and was part of this most beautiful hotel called grand India. We got to dinner to early and the resteraunt hadn't opened so we talked to the hotel lobby and tried to use there wifi. 7 of us girls walked in without having working wifi for over a week so we all sat there not saying a word, on our phones. A man came ove and asked to take a photo of us all because he thought it was the funniest thing. Words couldn't even describe how amazing this Hotel. Me and viola used the bathroom and stayed in there for nearly 20 minutes because we had not been in such nice working toilets in forever. Of coarse we stole the toilet paper as well because toilet paper is a rare find here in Sri Lanka. We all went to dinner and again was blown away! We said table for 7 so the man led us through to a different part of the resteraunt and opened two double doors to a huge room with one big table with amazing old wall paper on the walls and candles lit all over the table. We started to freak out wondering how much the food cost here judging by our table but we got the menus and the meals were a shocking $5.00. We all were starving so ordered a starter and main and dessert. I ordered a chicken tikka missala which was heaven because at the guest house we are fed vegetarian. The meals were a amazing and everyone couldn't get over how cheap the food was. Some girls wanted coffee so after dinner we went back to the Hotel and used there wifi once more while the girls had coffee. Our driver had dropped us off at the resteraunt but no one was listening when we explained how to get there so we asked the hotel and they said it was a short 5 minute walk. My arse it was and it was the scariest walk of my life. We walked in pitch black just using our phones as light and we all interlocked arms. Me especially was freaking out the most, I kept looking behind me making sure no one was following us as well as looking on the ground for snakes. Really shows how prepared I am for this tribal week. We got back finally and everyone was knakered. There had been prayers going on all afternoon over the microphone and was still going at 11pm. We're not sure if this happens every night or this is just a special day. We all fell asleep to the Buddhist prayer service which was kind of cool.
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