Saturday 9th November 2024
Straight away it has felt so good to be back in the Hill Country, and Nuwara Eliya will always have a very special place in my heart. Waking up at Sky Heaven this morning was wonderful, as the views from our room are magnificent, and it was a lovely sunny morning. We had an excellent breakfast, then walked down into the town to do some shopping and ended up at The Grand Hotel later on for cinnamon tea, and ginger tea and a scone - how delightful!
The climate is so much more forgiving here, particularly for Valerie's skin, and I think the Hill Country is actually a better place for her if and when she is able to return to Sri Lanka again. We walked down into town again, and made our way past the racecourse, where there were a number of horses outside. We went to the Bus Station via Park Road, so that I could show Valerie where my Sri Lankan adventure began back in 2019, just over 5 years ago now.
We went to the bus station, and I looked for the bus to Meepilimana, but the driver suggested I catch the next Hatton bus, which was leaving sooner. Just as we walked over to the Hatton bus, Miggy appeared, and it was lovely to see him again. He was in the room next to me at Yad's in January and February this year, and he has been in Sri Lanka with Tea Leaf for over a year now, so he filled us in on how everything was going for him as we made our way to Yad's.
It was very special for me to be back at Yad and Jana's place, and to see Yad's mum, Meena, who I am very fond of. Tim Pare, the co-founder of Tea Leaf (with his wife Yas) was there and it was great to catch up with all of them. Tim claimed he was making a fish curry for dinner (and me being gullible believed him), but it turned out to be a chicken roast dinner with stuffing and gravy, followed by apple and rhubarb crumble with custard - quite sensational, I have to say!
Today's photos show our shopping trip in town, views of where I stayed in Park Road in 2019, plus glimpses of Blackpool, but I notably failed to take any more photographs when we got there, which is a bit of a shame, but we were having such a good time that taking photos of it all just didn't enter occur to me at all!
How wonderful that Val has now been to some of your old haunts, Keith!
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