After the long trip to the amazingly picturesque Sigiriya of the previous day, we decided to devote the second day of our possessing the rented scooter for driving from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya on another day trip.
Nuwara Eliya is another of Sri Lanka’s touristic highlights that every traveler ought not to miss. The city is located in the Central District, in the heart of Sri Lanka’s highlands, at an altitude of 1868 AMSL. It was founded by English explorer Samuel Baker in 1846 and quickly gained popularity among the British colonialists, owing to its temperate climate and picturesque surrounding landscapes. Nowadays it is the principal centre of Sri Lanka’s tea production and a popular tourist destination.
From Kandy, one can reach Nuwara Eliya via two main routes: one passing west of Pidurutalagala Mountain, and one passing east of it along the Victoria Reservoir. The former is 75 km long and the latter 85 km. For this trip, we chose to take the western one to get there and the eastern one to return. Both of them are stunningly scenic. If one doesn’t do a round trip, I would rather suggest the latter mainly due to being by far less frequented.
Having learned the previous day’s lesson, we started very early in the morning to avoid Kandy’s traffic jams. In no time were we out of the city and up the mountains. The air freshened and the views widened as we meandered up the steeper and smoother lush slopes. Most of their area was covered by interminable tea plantations separated by eucalypti and conifers groves here and there, especially near the peaks. Parties of tea workers were walking at the side of the road, back and forth between the plantations and their quaint villages.
We, after all, made it to Nuwara Eliya before midday. Although the surrounding nature was absolutely astounding, I found the town itself to be somewhat lacking in character. Everything seemed to be a little too artificial; like a town set up exclusively for two reasons: tea production and tourism… well, and that’s exactly what it is basically.
Furthermore, the touristic infrastructure wasn’t designed in a way that took backpackers into consideration, as the case is in Sri Lanka most often. It rather seemed to be aimed more at the kind of retired British folks who would spend a considerable part of their day playing golf and would take pleasure in being served by funny-dressed flunkeys.
We spent quite some time driving around the town in search of some decent (by our standards) local place to eat but didn’t manage to find any such. We ended up lunching at one of those restaurants with the fancy decor and the silly, theatrical waiters. The food, though overpriced, was admittedly delicious.
The plan then was to drive to the top of Pidurutalagala Mountain (also known as Mount Pedro) which, reaching an elevation of 2524 AMSL, is the highest mountain in Sri Lanka. We drove up to the northern outskirts of Nuwara Eliya and got on the road leading to the top of the mountain. But we didn’t get to drive much further than that, unfortunately: only until the point we encountered a tall wire gate and a bunch of dudes with big machine guns in front of it. We were informed that we are only allowed to drive up there in a closed vehicle – not a motorcycle or tuk-tuk. We weren’t quite in the position to argue, so we drove away.
We spent some time exploring the northern outskirts of Nuwara Eliya alternatively; more like a villages cluster adjoining the town than the outskirts. The area was really beautiful and its inhabitants smiling and cordial.
Eventually, we reached a small town called Ragala, whence we got on the main road leading back to Kandy via Walapane. The road along the entire route, until we reached the outskirts of Kandy, was very little used and notably pleasant to drive. Towns and villages were sparser and their inhabitants stared at us with that characteristic curious look of people that are not accustomed to seeing foreigners. Tea plantations were also sparser and wild forest dominated the abrupt mountain slopes.
We drove past Walapane until Naranthalawa, whence we took a small road leading north to Victoria Reservoir. It was right by dusk-time when we got the view of the large artificial lake far below. The view was stunning and the quiet profound. That was probably the best part of the day’s drive.
I found it kinda irritating nearing Kandy and having to fiercely fight for a piece of asphalt against the hordes of madly-honking motorcycles, tricycles, buses, and lorries. It was relieving getting back to the hotel. That was our last night in Kandy. Early the next morning we were to catch the train to Ella, indeed the most scenic train ride I’ve ever had.
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