As a back up option, this isn't half bad - for starters, the view of the jungle across the other side of the river is not like anything I've ever seen before. We went on a jungle walk yesterday afternoon taking in the film location for The Bridge on the River Kwai and crossing the river on a rather rickety old bridge of our own, which was fun... as long as you didn't look down. At one point we had to shelter from a sudden downpour in tiny half-constructed house and also took tea with some local villagers who welcomed us with big smiles and some rather yummy sugar coated biscuits.
Earlier on we had visited a tea factory on the Geragama Estate and we taken through the process of how tea is manufactured. Very little has changed in fact since the British brought tea to Ceylon in the 1800s and the machinery in this particular factory is still going strong despite being 110 years old. It was really interesting to hear about the process from the tea grower's perspective and I was even able to offer some further insight into what happened to the teas after they were sold at auction ... it's good to know that those years at TGB didn't go completely to waste! One thing I hadn't fully appreciated before is how hard the lady tea pickers work. Having to pick over 20kg a day is no mean feat, requiring stamina and dexterity. I will try and pause and spare a thought in future for those who made my cuppa possible.
The tea plantations themselves are rather beautiful and I was particularly impressed with the Kenilworth Estate which we passed en route and which is run by Tata-owned Watawala Plantations. I hope we get the opportunity to stop off and take some more photographs this afternoon as we wend our way to the next stop.
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