Author Topic: New Years in Sri Lanka.  (Read 34707 times)

Offline Emkay

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #100 on: December 18, 2016, 06:58:19 AM »
Hey hey hey.. Still patiently  waiting for the rest of the TR
Doesn't seem to be patiently.

Offline moisheyb

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #101 on: December 18, 2016, 12:40:54 PM »
Doesn't seem to be patiently.
Pretty please...

Offline Emkay

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #102 on: December 18, 2016, 12:43:31 PM »
Pretty please...
Really aiming for the next couple days. Not even sure what else I have.

Offline moisheyb

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #103 on: December 18, 2016, 03:42:17 PM »
Really aiming for the next couple days. Not even sure what else I have.
Ok take your time...

Offline efflpetzel

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #104 on: December 22, 2016, 12:49:29 AM »
I'll give it a serious effort. Remind me next week.
Ahem.

Offline Emkay

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #105 on: December 26, 2016, 09:48:08 AM »
Ok take your time...
I did and I will.

Offline moisheyb

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #106 on: December 26, 2016, 11:10:17 AM »

Offline Emkay

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #107 on: December 26, 2016, 01:05:59 PM »
Im not sure where the rest of my pictures went, but if I dont write this up it already its never going to happen so this will have to suffice..

The next morning we went to the small tea processing facility on hotel premises where we suited up in sarongs and got a crash course with a native tea picker before heading out to the hills of the tea plantation to pick some leaves. They actually process the leaves you bring back and package it up for you by checkout time.




Part of the onsite plantation.




As this was the Sinhalese New Year and Nuwara Eliya is the center of it all we asked around for some local festivals or celebrations and were directed to Lake Gregory Park, a nice patch of greenery on the banks of a lake. There they had car, jeep, motorbike, boat and horse races spread out over the morning. They also had assorted food stalls and carnival booths scattered around. I stopped by a rifle target practice setup and proceeded to drop their jaws with my skills. There were people there who had never seen a white child before, we had people in full burkas asking if they can just touch the white baby.

We drove around for a little just exploring. There is so much to see and do and I would have loved to have more time.
Every little while on the road there are fruit stands selling the freshest fruits and vegetables grown a couple hundred feet away and picked the same day.


I stopped by a kiosk selling stones from a local mine, he insisted there were diamonds in all of them.


We passed groups of men with towering piles of coconuts husking them one by one.


And countless more plantations.


A quaint roadside rest-stop with thatched roof and homemade bricks.


A random overlook.


Im not sure what this was, it was some sort of a small,sketchy, shopping center filled with unsavory characters located under a large manhole.
 

CMB is a backpackers dream. Every other kiosk and store also manages a hotel upstairs or out back with prices as low as $1 a night.


CityBus backing off the road to allow us to pass.


Not a car or license plate I was expecting to see there.


Near the mines we found a jewelry and gemstone manufacturing facility where I picked up some at a substantial discount.






Being that it was New Years many places I wanted to check out were closed but I found a massive commercial tea factory that was open. It was called Mackwoods and im pretty darn sure their welcome sign is not original and I have seen something like it before.





Being that there were no workers there really, they let us walk all around the empty factory.




Fresh tea sorted and waiting for packaging.


The accountant with the tea before the auction.




I wasn't planning on doing anything else that day but we had some more time before dark and were told there was a beautiful Botanical Gardens in the area, so having nothing else on the agenda, off we went. Like everything else in Sri Lanka there are separate prices for locals and for tourists, with the former being a couple cents and the latter being a couple dollars. Its quite large but you can hire a golf cart to drive you around for around $5 an hour. Alas a little less than an hour there and the floodgates of heaven opened releasing a downpour of astronomical proportions cutting short my visit.

By this point we were all tired and headed to sleep.

Offline shulem92

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #108 on: December 26, 2016, 01:08:00 PM »


Im not sure where the rest of my pictures went,
In the guess the city thread?

Offline Emkay

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #109 on: December 26, 2016, 01:09:07 PM »

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #110 on: December 26, 2016, 01:13:43 PM »
Nice post. I really like the last pic!

Offline moisheyb

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #111 on: December 26, 2016, 04:02:14 PM »

Online Yaalili

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #112 on: January 01, 2017, 08:48:04 PM »
Great pictures and TR.

Offline Yammer

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #113 on: January 01, 2017, 09:16:17 PM »
Nice.
Keep it going...

Offline LoLo

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #114 on: January 02, 2017, 01:06:24 PM »
Just got to this, nice write-up, thanks for taking the time.

Offline Denverite

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #115 on: January 26, 2017, 11:29:51 PM »
Just got to this, nice write-up, thanks for taking the time.

+1 beautiful trip and report.

Offline enwhycee

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #116 on: January 26, 2017, 11:42:31 PM »
Awesome TR!

Planning to stop in CMB for 2 nights on way to MLE for honeymoon in September!!

Offline moisheyb

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #117 on: January 27, 2017, 07:48:10 AM »
Awesome TR!

Planning to stop in CMB for 2 nights on way to MLE for honeymoon in September!!

What are the plans in CMB?

Offline enwhycee

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #118 on: January 30, 2017, 11:28:02 AM »
What are the plans in CMB?

Still trying to figure out. Would like to see both the beaches and interior, but might be tough with our limited time there.

Offline Emkay

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Re: New Years in Sri Lanka.
« Reply #119 on: January 30, 2017, 12:15:35 PM »
Awesome TR!

Planning to stop in CMB for 2 nights on way to MLE for honeymoon in September!!
What a way to experience sticker shock.