Tour of Sri Lanka 2025 | Day 14 | Nuwara Eliya | 58.5 kms

I get up around 7:30am, a bit late. I start to get ready ASAP as today, I plan to visit the tea factory. I go to the nearby grocery store to buy a bathing soap and immediately get ready to move out.

I take my morning coffee before I leave. I start around 9:15am towards the Blue Field tea factory which the hostel owner has recommended. The total distance is 22kms, an estimated 1hr drive. The weather is cold and chilly. I am feeling more cold due to the wind and also I am not wearing a hoodie or a windcheater. I brave the cold and push ahead. Misty clouds hung low below the mountain tops while some hills are completely enveloped by them. I reach the place in a hour and park my bike. The factory staff are outside and are already welcoming many visitors like me.

They explain the various tour packages to me and I choose the suitable one. It consists of Tea Factory along with tea plantation visit and a complimentary tea and cake after the tour. I am assigned a guide as she takes me to the plantations first. She explains all the details about the area, factory, tree type, which tea is harvested etc. Then she demonstrates on which tea leaves are plucked for making black tea and which ones for white tea.

Apparently, only black tea types are produced by this factory. I try to pluck myself then, carefully plucking the fresh first 2 leaves and the bud. we then go and see how the estate women workers do the plucking. She’s really a pro and has a plastic bag to her back which can handle upto 15kg of weight. She plucks fast with both her hands and when her hands are full of the leaves, she deposits them in the plastic bag behind her back.

We thanks her before moving to the tea factory. There she explains in a step by step process on how the plucked tea leaves get converted to final tea. Process like rolling, fermentation, drying, sorting, cleaning and segregation etc. Many of the machines are imported from England and even the tea factory owners are from England. The factory tour lasts for around 30 mins following which we proceed towards the cafe for a round of Tea and cake.

I buy some tea for taking it back to India following which I head towards the parking lot. My plan is to head towards the Ramada waterfall next but the road passes through the tea factory which has been closed. I ask the locals at the Tuk Tuk stand about an alternate road but they say that the road is badly damaged and only locals and tuk tuks are allowed to go. The waterfall is not to be missed an so we agree for 5000LKR for waterfall visit along with the 2nd waterfall apparently called ‘secret’. I park the bike and go along with the tuk tuk. We take the road which google had mentioned as ‘road closed’. That’ the reason it did not reroute me when I was looking for an alternate route. We soon hit the rough patch and indeed the road is broken for most of the time.

There is even mud and slush along with huge rocks and gravel. The tuk tuk pushes hard. Afterwards, I even try riding the tuk tuk myself with the driver seating besides me managing the brake. At first, it’s challenging to control due to heavy reactions coming on the handle from the ground. But, I master the art of shifting gears and maintaining proper centerline.

We reach the waterfall and soon go towards the view point. The view of the falls is gorgeous as it’s kind of a stepped waterfall. The last step falling deep into the ground below. The tuk tuk driver helps me to take my photos in various poses. We then hike a bit further down to get a view of the secret waterfall. After hiking down for 15min, we get to see another waterfall which was flowing right next to our 1st waterfall viewpoint. The angle was such that we couldn’t notice that it was an another waterfall. At first instance, I thought it was just a flowing stream. We click photos of this waterfall too before making our way back to the tuk tuk.

He drops me back at the parking lot. I then head towards the city for a visit to the iconic British built ‘Pink’ post office. Upon reaching there, the place is full of tourists. Some are clicking photos while some are sending postcards back home. I also send some postcards back to India. I take a photo of the post office from the outside before heading back to the hostel to keep my stuff.

After that, I make a plan to visit the ‘Seetha Eliya’ temple which is around 9kms from the place. The light is fading fast and the temperature also starts to fall. I have one more place in my wish list which I need to see but ultimately decide on visiting the temple.

It’s an iconic temple dating back to the Ramayana. Lord Hanuman’s footprint, which is the highlight. The cold is unbearable which forces me to buy a fleece jacket from a shop in front of the temple. After, the purchase, I retrace my steps back towards the hostel and stop on the way at a shack to have some hot snacks and tea. There I meet a Malaysian family of Mom, Dad and Daughter who are super friendly. We talk about their love for India and some other topics before taking a group photo. We then part our ways and I head to the hostel from there.

We have new joiners in our hostel and we pass the evening playing carom and after the dinner playing cards.

The team comprises of USA, France, UK etc. Finally, around 10:30 pm, we all say goodbye to each other and retire to our rooms for a comfortable sleep.