We all love our cup of tea in Ireland but do we really know how far our favourite drink travels?
Look closely at the box of tea bags at home and find out what country those tea leaves come from.

Read the billboard: The Real Taste of Ceylon
Tea

Sri Lanka was called Ceylon until 1972. In fact it was known as a variety of names down through the years before the country achieved full independence. Read all about it here.

Travelling through Sri Lanka on our Intrepid tour our guide pointed out many tea plantations along the way. 

If you look closely you can see that the tea plants or bushes are sown in rows.  This is to allow the workers to walk in between the bushes to pick the tea leaves. 

The top two leaves and their bud is picked.  Most of the Sri Lankan tea is plucked by hand.  There are machines available but the quality will not be as good. Unfortunately children are not as protected in Sri Lanka as in Ireland and the minimum wage for working on a tea plantation is 12. Most of the tea leaf pickers are women and children.  Each day the tea picker has to pick 18kg of leaves for 500 rupees (€3.37). Many organisations and charities are working on behalf of tea pickers to improve their quality of life and conditions of work. The Geragama Tea Factory which is part of the Ceylon Estate claims to promote good practices and pay their workers fairly.  An account from one of their pickers Saroja can be read here.

We visited the Geragama Estate on our tour. There didn't seem to be a specific car park!  In fact cars are not very common in Sri Lanka.  There is a huge import/customs tax to pay for cars.  There are no car factories in Sri Lanka so all cars have to be imported.  Try this calculator to get an idea of the percentage tax.  Be ready for a nasty shock, some models of cars incur a whopping 200% customs duty!

The first stage of tea making is obviously the plucking. Stage 2 is the wilting.  The leaves are emptied into a huge trough and the date and time is recorded. The leaves lose a quarter of their water content.

The tea then goes through a process of Rolling, Fermentation, Firing and Sorting.  Read about this in detail here.
While the factory was roasting hot, with deafening noise, all the workers seemed quite happy.  As you can see in the photo, they had hair nets and uniform/overalls.
The factory might fail many of Ireland's stringent safety standards, it seemed be be very organised and everyone knew what they were doing!  

Welove our ordinary tea with milk but we know there are many types of tea.  Some people like green tea, some prefer a flavoured tea.  In the factory, amounts of drying/oxidation etc result in different varieties of tea.  
Some of the most common blends are in the crate above.
If you look closely at your tea at home that you bought in the supermarket, you will find it is probably BOPF or black tea. An explanation of all the different teas can be found here.

The history of the Ceylon Tea is very interesting. Coffee was the principal crop of the country until the 1870's.  The coffee crop failed and tea was planted as an alternative.  In time, most of the coffee plantations and factories were converted to tea plantations. 

And the best part of the tour.......

....of course a refreshing cup of tea!

As part of our Secrets of Sri Lanka tour with Intrepid we went on a village safari in Habarana.
First of all we got a lift on a tractor and trailer. Health and safety out the window, but we were travelling very slowly!

Before we set off to walk through the farm, of course many of our group needed to use the facilities....

Luckily the toilet was a bit more private!
Farming in Sri Lanka is very different to what we know in Ireland. Look at the photographs, and you will probably wonder where the tractors are.  As mentioned in a previous post, vehicles are very expensive in Sri Lanka and have as high as 200% importation tax. (Follow this link to calculate the tax of importing a vehicle.)  Because of this, all of the work is done by hand. 

We walked through fields and fields of spring onions. They are grown for half the year and for the other half of the year rice is grown. Remember Sri Lanka is very hot, so the huts dotted through the fields are very important for the workers.  They take breaks in the shade and keep their lunches and water there. We also saw banana trees, pineapple plants and mango trees. 
In Sri Lanka, the farmers don't have to worry about crows or worms attacking their crops, they have much, much bigger problems....ELEPHANTS!
Elephants come tramping through their farms from time to time and naturally cause havoc with their huge clumsy feet.  As these elephants are wild, there is no way of controlling them.  All the farmers can do is sleep in their tree top huts out of harms way.  As an alarm system, the farmers hang drinks cans between trees and this alerts them to the elephants approach.

Lunch time beckoned and we were brought to this hut in the middle of the farm. To start we had a Sri Lankan protein bar. While it didn't look great, it was very tasty!
Next the lady of the house showed us how she grinds corn and we all got a go.
Then she prepared our dinner.  On the side of her stool she had a device to grate out the coconuts. From her simple workspace she prepared a beautiful curry while vegetables and rice boiled in the back. Our lunch was served to us in a basket lined with a banana leaf. One word - delicious!

We had a bit of a distance to travel so we were getting a lift, this time by bullock cart. Yes bullock-as in cattle!

Our final mode of transport was catamaran. It was probably the most relaxing of the 3 and our guides made us some beautiful sun hats! 

The Sri Lankan Elephant is one of the unofficial national symbols of Sri Lanka.  It is an endangered species and killing a Sri Lankan Elephant carries the death penalty!
On our Secrets of Sri Lanka tour with Intrepid we visited Minneriya National Park.  
The first exciting part of the tour was the transport- a proper jeep! We were going on Safari! 

While that might be excitement enough for one day, there were elephants to see! We set off with our driver, cameras and binoculars at the ready, hoping to see a few elephants......I really had not read up on Minneriya National Park.

We hit off in our safari jeeps into the 8890 hectare park.  We drove through lots of bushes and trees all the while frantically trying to spot an elephant.  Finally we saw one in the distance. We really should have researched more!
After a while we came to vast open plain.  Then we witnessed what is known as The Gathering. 
In the 3rd century King Mahasen built the Minneriya Reservoir (Minneriya Tank).  It covers 8900 Hectares and fills up during the monsoon season.  Naturally it starts to dry up in the dry season but never fully runs dry.  As the water recedes, it leaves behind fertile , moist soil where lush grass quickly sprouts (wildlifeextra.com). Who loves the lush grass? Elephants of course!

While staying in the beautiful beachside Trincomalee we visited two schools on our Intrepid tour. 

This is a primary school and looking closely at the sign over the front door it reads: "Participatory Disaster Proofing of Tsunami Affected War Torn Villages."
Sri Lanka was one of the worst affected countries of the tsunami of 2004.  Much of the coastline was destroyed. 
Sri Lanka was also ravaged by an intense civil war and Trincomalee was one of the worst areas. Because of the civil war, it was difficult to rebuild Trincomalee.  This school is funded and aided by charities and NGO's (Non Government Organisations).
As it was the afternoon and school was over for the day, a selection of the local children came in to meet us. They showed us their classroom and it's surprising the similarities and the differences between the Sri Lankan classroom and ours!

Next we visited a Muslim Girls study group.  This seemed to be an after-school tuition or grinds school.  Approximately 7% of the country are Muslim. The other dominant religions of the country are Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity.
The pupils of this school looked to be from more affluent families than the primary school. Our guide explained that these girls would have to pay fees to attend this study group.  
HWhen we visited they were just about to begin an economics lesson with their tutor.

The teenage girls all wore different coloured hijab's over a black  Abaya.  Out of respect for their religion and culture, we refrained from taking photographs of these pupils. 
There were 3 classrooms in this tuition school. What do you think of the seating and the soundproofing?!  Ms Treacy searched and searched but could not find their interactive white board either!  

Living in Ireland, we only ever see monkeys in a zoo or a circus.  We never see monkeys in the wild.  Ms Treacy went a bit camera crazy with these chilled out monkeys.  Watch for the lads messing with the water tap!

Anuradhapura is a huge ancient city which ruled over Sri Lanka over thousands of years. Today many of its temples still host religious ceremonies and it is home to many, many monkeys! 

These were the finest bathing tanks in Anuradhapura.  Look at the sides of the pools, there are steps down for the monks that lived nearby.

In front of many of the ancient buildings you can see these ornate stone door mats. They varied from place to place and over time but were generally a sign of welcome.

Possibly my favourite Dagoba because of the hundreds of elephants! The originals date from 140BC!

The Aukana Buddha statue, also known as the Giant Buddha is located in the midlands of Sri Lanka. It is the tallest ancient Buddha statue in Sri Lanka at 11.36 metres tall. 
It is believed this statue, carved out of a single boulder was sculpted in the 8th century.  It follows the style of the Anuradhapura school of art.  

How to describe the tropical beauty of Unawatuna? Very difficult.  You all just have to visit and stay at the tranquil Noorit Gedacht. 

My first experience in this Oasis began with breakfast- Sri Lankan style!
A Sri Lankan breakfast starts with fruit - banana, pineapple, watermelon, all grown locally.
For the hot dish I usually had eggs, my first morning I had an omelette.  Other days I had scrambled eggs or pancakes.
In the buffet there were pastries and my favourite....Sri Lankan pancakes! They are pancakes rolled up with coconut inside. Divine!

Sri Lanka, Unawatuna and the Nooit Gedacht were a feast of culinary experiences.  I was delighted to see Lassai back on menus.  I had tried my first lassai in India and loved the yogurt type drink.
For dinner on my first night in Sri Lanka I ate in the hotel.
I started with a mixed fruit lassai and eventhough my waiter really wanted me to have a Sri Lankan curry for my first dinner, I opted for the House Special.  Chicken, pilau rice, prawns, egg, pineapple and salad!

After sleeping off the jet lag, it was time to explore the beautiful Unawatuna.

Some people say Unawatuna is too commercialised now.  There are restaurants all along the beach.  For me, it was bliss.  As July is off-season in Sri Lanka, the beach was quiet.  For a small fee you could get a sun lounger and umbrella in front of one of the restaurants.  My favourite thirst quencher (first tasted in Israel and again in India!) fresh lime soda was readily available for about a euro.  Sri Lanka is a bit cloudy in July but perfect for Irish skin!

On the 6th of July 2014 my Sri Lankan holiday began.  I flew from Dublin to Abu Dhabi, then onto Colombo and arrived at 4am to a very welcoming taxi driver.  
The plan for Sri Lanka was a few days of relaxation in Unawatuna in the Nooit Gedacht Hotel. 
Then I was traveling to Katunayaka to begin a 12 day Secrets of Sri Lanka tour with Intrepid Travel.