Precious Gems and a Tea Plantation

I forgot to mention in the previous post, we visited a jewelry store where we were shown a video illustrating the processes and procedures of procuring the priceless gems.  It is laborious and requires much patience because they have to dig deep and excavate tons of soil to find the tiniest of stones.  Sri Lanka is famous for the blue sapphires.

Below are some craftsmen at work, making rings.

 Next door, a lady was weaving cloth.

The next day, we drove up a couple of hours north to higher elevations, where we visited a tea planation.  I must admit, I was a little skeptical going to see an active planation because of the negative connotation that word implies.  In this case, it refers to a tea farm, where it is grown and processed for consumption.

A fascinating fact is that there is no irrigation needed to grow tea here.
The dew that forms in the higher elevations is all the moisture needed.
The ground is a red soil that is very, very fertile.

A snake charmer on the side of the road.

A daring soul!

Closeup view of tea leaves.
Interestingly, all variation of teas come from the same leaves,
with rare exception.
Green tea uses the baby leaves,
and black tea uses the whole plant - leaves and stem.
The differences come from mixing leaves once they are processed.

This is what it looks like to harvest the tea.
The string on these baskets are put on your head, and the basket rests on your back.
Not a comfortable feel, at all. 

A view of baby leaves.  

The name of the tea company.

This was a tough day, as we spent eight hours on the bus.  The charm of the two lane roads quickly faded when it took 3.5 hours to travel 30 miles.  The roads were populated with big work trucks, public buses and TukTuks.  The traffic jams and just slow movement caused by these vehicles jockeying for their spot on the road, was crazy at times.

We rolled into Colombo at 8:30 that night, needing to sleep in.  Thankfully, that was the plan.

At about noon, once we checked out of the hotel, we were to take a city tour of Colombo, as we just passed through it from the airport on our way to Kandy, and then hang out until departure time.  I opted out of the tour, and rested instead.  Not surprisingly, I was the only one who looked alive when we reached Dubai.

Random Pix

Hotel #2 in Kandy.  Can't remember the name.

View from my window.

This note was in the window of my room in the Queen's Hotel.
Unfortunately, there were no monkey sightings.

A relic form the past.

Note to self -

Don't read any more books recommended by Oprah.  I devoured The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, finishing it in less than two days, reading it the entire flight.  It was an awesome read until the end.  Then it had a typically sad and dreary ending (like most of her books) and I was sorry I was suckered in . . . again.

Well, that's it folks.

This concludes my adventures in Sri Lanka, a land I'd visit again in a heartbeat (in spite of the traffic).