Funny Signs

I warned Maggie about touching and plucking the flowers, but would she listen?!

We had a great day today. I always forget how beautiful the tea country is - and how cool it is in Nuwara Eliya compared to Kandy. We managed to get an early start this morning, so were in Nuwara Eliya by early morning. There was very little traffic on the road, so once we got out of Kandy and through Gampola driving was a real pleasure.

We were going to stop at Labookellie on the way up, but because we were so early it wasn't open. So instead we decided to visit the Hakgala Botanical Gardens - which is where we came across the sign. The gardens are beautiful at this time of year - a riot of colour to use that old cliché! While wandering through the gardens we came across a langur happily helping himself to flowers. Langur are usually very shy, but this one was completely unpeturbed by our presence and I managed to get some great shots. Langur are beautiful - unlike the macaques, who I don't like at all.

We had lunch at the Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya then stopped at Labookellie on the way back to Kandy. The tea is superb - perfect with chocolate cake! - and it's such a great place to stop on the way to or from Nuwara Eliya. The tea was brought out in possibly the biggest tea pot I've ever seen - enough for 7 cups!

The drive back was much more tiring, although again luckily there wasn't much traffic. Although Nuwara Eliya is only 70km from Kandy it's a 2-hour drive because of the windy road - Nuwara Eliya is nearly 2000m above sea level - 1300m higher than Kandy. The road itself is in very good condition and compared to the road to Colombo, driving to Nuwara Eliya is a dream. It's still tiring though and as always the worst part of the drive was coming back into Kandy. Was feeling pretty exhuasted by the time we got home.

Work tomorrow. Luckily I have a fairly light schedule this week. Am really looking forward to the break. Hard to believe that this time next week I'll be in the Czech Republic.