The 163 km journey took our train 7 hours! It may have been one of our slowest train rides, but certainly one of the most amazing ones. Much of the ride, at least the first 100km we were going through what seemed like continuous tea terraces. I never imagined such quantities of tea!
The railway of course was originally constructed for the benefits of the planters of coffee. Then in the mid 1800s a fungal disease devastated the coffee plantations. By 1900 all the fields were converted to tea with export level approaching that of India. If it were not for the coffee blite, would Brits have the same tea habit? Yet tea production is down from peak level and income from tea exports is less than one third of tourism and one tenth of worker remittances.
At Ella Station, it's mostly tourists waiting for the Kandy-bound train.
Cameras ready. And some daredevils are literally hanging off the train.
Although most of the agricultural land we saw was tea plantations, there were also small plots of rice and vegetables. First below is a pambaya, a scarecrow constructed in the likeness of a man, with an earthen pot or motorcycle helmet used for the semi-realistic head.
Station Master at Diyatalawa Station
More than a few tunnels.
Fun passing trains going in the opposite direction.
Pattipola, the highest Railway Station in Sri Lanka @ 1891 m.a.s.l.; about 6000 feet.
Elgin Falls
The tea plantations! The one minute video first below gives a good idea of the beauty of the landscape, and the feeling of riding the train through it. Check it out!
In Sri Lanka, one is never very far from a cricket pitch of some form.
And after 7 hours Sun-Ling gets off the train in Kandy.
Finally, a 2015 photo from Kanchanaburi, Thailand to show that when you put tourists on a scenic train, it's the same all around the world.
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