I spent some time flicking through old photographs a while back and thought I’d share one particular excursion with you. So sit down, it’s time for a cuppa!
I love drinking tea, I’m rather addicted to it if I’m totally honest. I can live without most things, but a cup of tea?? Maybe not.
I’m often taken back to memories of a trip to Sri Lanka, probably 20 years ago now (eek!).
I was spending a week touring around Sri Lanka, visiting temples, nature reserves, an elephant orphanage and other wonderful sights before heading to the beach. During this tour, we visited the old colonial hill station of Nuwara Eliya. A little bit of old England situated in the heat of old Ceylon. The countryside around Nuwara Eliya is breathtaking, there are tea plantations as far as the eye can see and wonderful waterfalls providing natural irrigation. We visited a plantation and it was like stepping back in time, the tea was picked manually by brightly coloured tea pickers, in the same way, it has been done for generations – I could have stood watching them forever. The speed at which the pickers worked was quite impressive.
We were then taken to a tea factory, sadly I don’t have any photographs of that, maybe we were asked not to take any, I can’t remember now. But anyway, we were shown all the steps that the leaves took from being picked from the plants to arriving in our teapots. It was fascinating, you have no idea when you buy a packet of tea, the work involved in getting it to you.
One of my most vivid memories is the tea tasting at the end of the tour. We were assured that you really didn’t need milk for a decent cup of tea. Wow, it was the best cup of tea I had ever tasted! I can remember buying boxes to bring home for us and all the family.
Happy memories of a trip from long ago, but a drink that I still love passionately to this day. I’ll always make time for a cuppa!
Think I need a nice hot cuppa after reading about your travels!
So do I right now!
Oh wow Mary what a fantastic post. Sounds like you had the most incredible time there – what a trip. The temples, reserves and elephant orphanage must have been amazing. The tea plantation scenery is just staggering, what an incredible sight – especially as a tea lover! Awesome post, thank you so much for sharing #whatsthestory
It’s a very diverse country. Feeding a baby elephant and having all these elephants stampede past me to the river for a bath – images that will stay with me forever. Sadly, all the photos are up in the loft, these I’d scanned a while back.
Sounds like an amazing trip, it’s also amazing how far people will travel for a cuppa x
It was wonderful, a lifetime ago.
You’ve had some amazing trips haven’t you
A lifetime ago now, but yes I did see some amazing things when I was younger
Sounds and looks like an amazing trip.
It was really interesting. Will have to get OH up in the loft to find the Elephant Orphanage photos out – that was an experience.
Ahhh – Sri Lanka. One of my favourite countries. We got married there and we were lucky enough to take the kids back about 3 years ago. We stayed for a night in an old tea factory near Nuwara Eliya – it was brilliant. I am also inspired by using older trips for posts – must look through my old photos!
It’s an amazing country isn’t it. I toured for a week and then spent a week on the beach before flying to the Maldives. I was so upset watching the tsunami footage a few years later when I saw the hotel next to our’s under water.
Wow, absolutely beautiful photos, must have been a trip of a lifetime x
It was a great trip
Wow, what an amazing trip, with some stunning photos. So fabulous to be able to look back on x
It’s a nice trip down memory lane
What a fantastic trip and stunning photos!
Thank you – it was a wonderful experience