Soul Fishing©: My Kingdom for a Jolly Good Cuppa

Sri Lanka, also known as ex- Ceylon, is the best place in the world to grow tea. The tea country is in inland and it's one of the most beautiful places in this world. To visit it, one must have a lot of patience and the nerves of steel; in Sri Lanka, one can only dream of highways - or two-lane roads for that matter. So, with heavy traffic and bad weather such as I had experienced, the trip from Colombo to Nuwara Eliya, the heart of the tea country, can easily last for six hours. What is the exact distance from Colombo to Nuwara Eliya? Only 180 kilometers.

Also, keeping calm while everybody around you are driving like maniacs has proven to be another challenge for me. It's insane: they are overtaking you from every way possible. One little space between two cars and a whole bus will try to squeeze itself in - of course it doesn't succeed, making you almost crash into it. Or, one car tries to overtake another and while that car is overtaking the first one, a third car is trying to overtake the second one and the first one together. Or, all of a sudden, with no warning, a tuk-tuk will scurry across the road, making you almost crash into it. Or, a tuk-tuk will be driving into a wrong direction, almost causing a head-on collision.

I swear to God, this is what a driving exam probably looks like in Sri Lanka:

''Honk the horn.''
*honk, honk*
''Good. Now step on the gas pedal.''
*vroom vroom*
''Good. Now turn the steering wheel left.''
*turns the steering wheel left*
''Good. Now turn the steering wheel right.''
*turns the steering wheel right*
''Do you like cricket?''
*head wobble* ''Yes, I do.''
''Good. You've passed your exam. Godspeed.''

Judging from the way people drive here, I am pretty sure that there is a blank space between their ears and one must accept that. If you can't, than you definitely shouldn't visit Sri Lanka. Ever.

Having said that, it's all seriously worth it. Because the tea country is definitely my favorite place in Sri Lanka so far:) You simply must see it. The air is fresh and dewy and it's a real relief from Colombo. It's also quite cooler, so make sure you take a sweater, a pair of jeans, socks and sneakers because the temperatures in the night hit 14 degrees Celsius. The tea plantations are located at an altitude of about 1,800 meters.

Here are a few snapshots of the tea plantations: