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We left Kandy early to get a train at the junction. It was an early breakfast followed by a 7:45 tuk-tuk. There were several couples from the hotel catching the train so it was like a scene from the wacky races with the tuk-tuks racing each other. The station was chaos as a train had been cancelled. When our train arrived from Colombo it was crowded in 2nd class (no 1st class seats available either) but we then managed to find seats in the 3rd class. As we had to wait for another local train to come from Kandy, I wandered around taking photos. I met the train driver and he invited me up into the cab to see the photos of his time visiting his daughter and grandson in Manchester. I went back to find Fran. The train then left, but we were missing Ken. We decided he must be on the train somewhere - I had a look for him but no sign. He had the tickets but very little money. Judi to her credit was not panicking - Fran said she would have been in tears at this point. Anyway at the next stop he appeared, he also had been invited into the cab of the engine but it left and he was there until the next stop!
The view from the train as it climbed into the hills was spectacular.- lots of rivers, mountains and waterfalls as well as tea plantations. 3rd class was crowded but not overly so - lots of vendors selling cakes with chilli and nuts. We arrived at our destination and taken to our guest house up the hill. It was noticeably colder but very pleasant.
We then split up - the girls went to the tea factory with the lads having 10 holes of golf. The golf course here is famous - supposed to be the best in the sub-continent, It was founded in the 1889 and still had strict rules about men only until a few years ago. We hired clubs - these had clearly seen a lot of use over their previous 20 or so years. The course itself was very good - quite tight with lots of trees and streams. We had problems with the different grasses used - the greens were very slow and the rough very difficult to play out of. We had local caddies and one gave me advice about my game - not a good idea. I later found out he had been here 24 years, his father before him and he played off 6! No wonder he looked aghast at my game.
We were planning to go out for dinner but the guest house owner said he had a special treat - elk (really sambur deer). He said it had come from his friend who shot it on his farm - we later found out this was illegal. We decided to try it - not the best - it was decidedly tough. Afterwards there was great confusion as we were offered buffalo curd and honey for dessert - only the 'Cs' came out like 'Ts'.
The next day, we had opted to go on a trip to the national park and Judi & Ken decided to go for a trek into the hills. Our trip started at 5:30 as we needed to get there before the mist came down. The run there took 2 hours over some very badly pot holed roads. The park consists of grasslands on top of an escarpment. There was a circular walk towards Worlds End - a view point at the end of the escarpment. The walk was interesting - we saw some wild sambur deer (looked like elk) and some bear monkeys (they have very furry coats because of the cold). The view from Worlds End was a little disappointing - a bit hazy and not as spectacular as we had hoped.
Ken and Judy were off trekking in the hills with a local guide, through tea plantations and poor villages where the tea pluckers lived. After this we met back at the guest house and decided we all deserved a reward so had afternoon tea at the St. Andrews hotel (overlooking the golf course naturally). We had to wait 15 minutes whilst they made fresh scones! It was all served beautifully - each of us having our own 3 tier cake stand. In the evening we decided to continue the colonial theme by having a G&T at the Grand hotel - very pretentious but not as nice as St. Andrews.
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