On the first proper day of being in Sri Lanka we drove through Central Province (Kandy) up to the central High country to the Heritance Tea Factory Hotel in Nuwara Eliya.

From the outside it has the rustic look of what it was: a former factory. But on the inside it is a beautiful hotel with working artifacts, walls covered in history and the kind of service that is truly first class. I recommend to see this place. And for those of you sick of all those tour buses with the camera hordes, this place is where you’d want to be. The roads are too small for coaches and the service is all class! (Don’t forget to tip.) The best way to get there is by shuttle, hired driver or tuk-tuk (local taxi).

The weather up in the central high county changes all the time. One minute like when I woke up at 7am the next morning it was beautiful blue sky with a magical golden dawn and then within the next 20 minutes a dense fog rolled in. It is good tea growing country which is why I am here; To chill and drink tea.

When we arrived I was quite tired from the long drive. It was best to go and get a massage. After filling out all the formalities I enjoyed my first ever Balinese style massage by Balinese ladies. It was unusual for me in the sense that they start with the feet and work back up to the head, rather than the usual way top down. The only annoying bit was that I left my phone on and during the massage I got a text message informing me that my friends were waiting for me in the hotel bar for pre-dinner drinks. I must say, their local spirit Arrack is very nice as in Very Nice. 33% alcohol and after 2 glasses I was actually craving a strong cup of tea. Arrack and black tea go together. I bought a big bottle of the stuff and brought it back home to Sydney with me.

The hotel provides tours to the tea plantations surrounding it or you can do little trips by yourself. On this occasion we abstained from making such a tour because we had made arrangements to visit other factories for that explicit purpose.