A Journey to the Hill Country

My mom, aunt and I are embarking on a 2 week tour of Sri Lanka.  The tour will commence with us journeying to a place called Dickoya in the hill country for a weekend with Mihiri, my closest friend from high school and her family, some of their friends and my cousin Ramani and her family.  Mihiri has reserved her company bungalow for the occasion, a perk offered to many Sri Lankans by their employers. 

We set off on Friday, a holiday here as it is Poson Poya in Sri Lanka.  Today, Buddhists commemorate the introduction of Buddhism to Ceylon.  The villages are decorated with pandals, flags and lanterns and along the way we are offered free

food at the local ‘dansala’s.  Village folk band together to organise these road side stalls and the country seems to be in holiday spirit.  This is a stop we made at the chick pea dansala.

We have made an early start so we stop for breakfast along the way.  We stop at a restaurant where the movie, Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed.  My cousin’s husband Ajith is enjoying a typical Sri Lankan brekkie of string hoppers (like  noodles) with curries!  You may think it strange we have curries for brekkie..but there you go..

Once the hustle and bustle of Colombo is left behind the drive is beautiful.   The tea country is where some of Sri Lanka’s best scenery is found.  From hills carpeted with tea bushes to waterfalls tumbling down the mountain side, there are many reasons to savour this journey. 

We pass Watawala, the city where Sri Lanka’s highest rainfall has been recorded and there is intermittent rain as we make the final ascent to Dickoya.  Growing up my family holidayed in the hills every April, the hottest time of the year in Sri Lanka, so coming up here again brings back fond memories for me.  

As we pass some of the women who pluck the tea and take care of the process of looking after the tea bushes and gathering fire wood for cooking we approach our bungalow and I look forward to my journey around my birth country.  I am glad it is Poson in Sri Lanka because it has enabled me to enjoy the company of my family and friends!

~ The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. G. K. Chesterton