Next morning at around 8:30 we set out to our next destination on a top of a mountain, at 6000 ft above sea level, surrounded by lush green tea gardens. The area is called Nuwara Eliya. It was about
three hours drive from Kandy. First half hour drive was normal and then the climb starts. First we visited a Govt. Certified Gem Store on our way. As you may be knowing Sri Lanka is famous for Corals and Rubies. Among precious stones, diamond is not found in Sri Lanka. Apart from Rubi and Opal many more semi-precious stones are also found in Sri Lanka.
On both the sides along the serpentine road, lush green tea estates throughout the climb made the journey that much lighter, in fact, exhilarating and energising! We visited a tea factory, ( I had seen tea factories earlier too in Hassan and Chikmagalur districts). Then we proceeded a to a Water Fall called Ramboda Falls. The falls is very ordinary, but the maintenance and infrastructure was excellent, attracting a lot of tourists! If only our so called visionaries avoided putting a dam just before Jog Falls and instead developed it into a tourism center, I am sure a hundred fold revenue could have been generated than the Electricity and irrigation put together could produce! Jog Falls is the highest in the world, water falling from a height of over 1,150 Ft! There was an eatery, again a buffet with western food, facing the falls. We ate our lunch here and then proceeded further on our journey.
On way, we took a deviation to visit Hakkgala Gardens, even though the scheduled visit in our itinerary was to Botanical gardens. We thought, as we had all seen Botanical Gardens of Bangalore, we felt it better to visit Hakkgala as it is similar to our own Lalbaug of Bangalore. But it was a total disappointment as they were preparing the garden for a grand show from April onwards. The rose was pruned, entry blocked, new seasonal flower beds were under preparation and above all in addition to our disappointment unseasonal rains poured all of a sudden! We took shelter under a giant tree for about 30 minutes before we set out after the downpour weakened!
Back on the climb to Nuwara Eliya, we came across a Ram-Sita temple. The temple is most ordinary, not bigger than the Mari Gudi at the corner of our street here! But the legend goes that the spot was Ashoka Vana of Ramayana, where Sita was kept captive by Ravana and Hanuman located it. There is a scenic background to the temple with high green mountains and a stream flowing immediately behind the temple. That made it very beautiful.
The flavour of British culture was predominant thought the entire rage of Nuwara Eliya. We checked in Galways Forest Lodge at around 8 PM. This resort was good and the weather was cool, something like Mysore in winter, very pleasant.
The link to my photo album: https://picasaweb.google.com/109623787343569454204/SriLankaDay2NuwaraEliya?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCM7zp8Dm-oiLLw&feat=directlink
three hours drive from Kandy. First half hour drive was normal and then the climb starts. First we visited a Govt. Certified Gem Store on our way. As you may be knowing Sri Lanka is famous for Corals and Rubies. Among precious stones, diamond is not found in Sri Lanka. Apart from Rubi and Opal many more semi-precious stones are also found in Sri Lanka.
On both the sides along the serpentine road, lush green tea estates throughout the climb made the journey that much lighter, in fact, exhilarating and energising! We visited a tea factory, ( I had seen tea factories earlier too in Hassan and Chikmagalur districts). Then we proceeded a to a Water Fall called Ramboda Falls. The falls is very ordinary, but the maintenance and infrastructure was excellent, attracting a lot of tourists! If only our so called visionaries avoided putting a dam just before Jog Falls and instead developed it into a tourism center, I am sure a hundred fold revenue could have been generated than the Electricity and irrigation put together could produce! Jog Falls is the highest in the world, water falling from a height of over 1,150 Ft! There was an eatery, again a buffet with western food, facing the falls. We ate our lunch here and then proceeded further on our journey.
On way, we took a deviation to visit Hakkgala Gardens, even though the scheduled visit in our itinerary was to Botanical gardens. We thought, as we had all seen Botanical Gardens of Bangalore, we felt it better to visit Hakkgala as it is similar to our own Lalbaug of Bangalore. But it was a total disappointment as they were preparing the garden for a grand show from April onwards. The rose was pruned, entry blocked, new seasonal flower beds were under preparation and above all in addition to our disappointment unseasonal rains poured all of a sudden! We took shelter under a giant tree for about 30 minutes before we set out after the downpour weakened!
Back on the climb to Nuwara Eliya, we came across a Ram-Sita temple. The temple is most ordinary, not bigger than the Mari Gudi at the corner of our street here! But the legend goes that the spot was Ashoka Vana of Ramayana, where Sita was kept captive by Ravana and Hanuman located it. There is a scenic background to the temple with high green mountains and a stream flowing immediately behind the temple. That made it very beautiful.
The flavour of British culture was predominant thought the entire rage of Nuwara Eliya. We checked in Galways Forest Lodge at around 8 PM. This resort was good and the weather was cool, something like Mysore in winter, very pleasant.
The link to my photo album: https://picasaweb.google.com/109623787343569454204/SriLankaDay2NuwaraEliya?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCM7zp8Dm-oiLLw&feat=directlink
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