Nuwara Elia

It's been a while, but better late than never, right? So here I am, in a beautiful little town named Nuwara Elia, in the hill region of Sri Lanka. I've been in the country for five days. Arrived by a direct flight from Jordan, spent one day in a beach town of Negombo, close to the airport, to get the taste of the place, the people and a little bit of the Indian Ocean. Then I continued by bus to the hills, a town named Kandy, which is second in size in Sri Lanka, but is not that big really. There is a nice lake in the middle of the city, with many fish (fishing is prohibited though), water birds and some strange lizards. Facing the lake, there is a big Buddhist temple, which supposedly preserves the tooth of Buddha. The Tamil Tigers tried to blast the temple several years ago. The second city's attraction is the traditional dancing show. I decided to pass them both. There are really nice botanical gardens a few kilometers from the the city, close to the Peradeniya university, with many types of tropical trees, some of them planted by celebrities like Moraji Desai, Lord Mountbatten and even the first Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin. In the middle of the park there is a huge fig tree which sprawls across 1600 sq. m, according to the guidebook. Also, there are collections of palms from all over the world, giant bamboo, cactii, fruit trees, few herbal gardens, and a beautiful orchid house, with some amazingly colored flowers. I never knew some of the trees actually exist, like a cannon ball tree, for example.

An hour ride from the town, there is an elephant orphanage, which became a really big attraction both for locals and for foreigners. There are dozens of elephants there, big and small. Their daily routine consists of feeding, bathing in the river and posing to the photographs. It's not really like a zoo, they are pretty much free to go wherever they want in a huge area. Very cute.

After Kandy, I went to Nuwara Elia, a former British hill station, elevated 1900 m above sea level. It's like a tea land around, plantations everywhere, the air is very clean and pleasant. The temperature is cooler than below. The weather is great, especially in morning, when the views from the hills are amazing. In afternoon, the hills get misty, but it doesn't become cold, at least not this time of year. The town still has an atmosphere of British presence, with wooden mansions, golf course and Victoria park. The president is supposed to visit the town next month, so the school children make repetitions for a welcome ceremony, including drums, flutes and marching.

My impression of the people is very good so far. They are very hospitable, kind and polite. They're not pushy, even if they're dependant on the tourists' money. Always smiling and greeting. Pretty much like India, but not spoiled yet, maybe because they don't see much tourism because of the war. The roads are in excellent condition, so it's comfortable to travel by bus, although they're still Tata and sometimes they get very crowded.