Hanuman 2018

Back to the Indian subcontinent for two months in Spring 2018.

With Sri Lanka, Mumbai, the Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Amritsar and Delhi on the menu, we had many sweet experiences sprinkled with some sour ones.

Read on to learn how we fared.

Full map of all Hanuman 2018 pages

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Thinking of our next destination: Italy and Portugal come to mind, or maybe the time has finally come for a US road trip…

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The Lipton Tea Plantation

(vero;2018-Oct-11)

If the weather is nice and you like walking we can only recommend hiking all the way from the Dambatenne tea factory to Lipton seat (6 to 7 km). Of course, you might want to be there at sunrise, in that case it makes sense to take a tuk tuk, but it may be worth considering walking down to fully enjoy the experience. You can read more about our visit to the Lipton tea plantation in our blog entry dedicated to the Hill Country.

We passed a school as we left Dambatenne village and the pupils were gathered in the school yard. There was a stage on which some of them stood reciting something. Test? Play? We don't know, all we could tell is that the children did not look stressed being there.

View back on Dambatenne village as we started our walk up to Lipton Seat.

Personal belongings of the pickers (including their lunch) waiting for their owners.

A housing settlement for the tea workers in the middle of the tea fields.

Sir Thomas Lipton waiting for company to enjoy the view over his empire.

Early morning is the best time to visit the plantation. Clouds can appear quickly by mid to end morning and block some of the wide-ranging views. This picture was taken at 9:40 a.m.

More clouds but the weather stayed clear the whole day.

Housing settlement for the tea workers. Note the water tank and the small vegetable gardens. The tea workers are the descendants of Indian Tamils brought to Sri Lanka by the British in the 19th century to work on the plantations, which explains the many Hindu temples in this otherwise Buddhist country.

A weigh station along the road. Small lorries collect the tea leaves at the picking locations and bring them to weigh stations such as this one.

A picker's daily target is 18 kilos per day, two of those bags.

After being weighed, the bags are loaded again on the lorry which will transport them to the factory in Dambatenne village for processing.

Soon ready to drive down to the factory.

Walking back down to Dambatenne village.

Lady pickers having a break. All the pickers we saw were female, their supervisors male.

Tea leaves can be picked by hand or using this tool. Although you cannot see it on the picture, there is a shear built-in along the length of the scoop: when the picker activates the shear, the cut leaves are pushed automatically into the scoop. When the scoop is full, it is emptied in the basket the picker carries on her back. To get a better understanding, this website provides a picture of a similar tool.

Walking through the plantation is a feast for the eyes.

Another school higher on the hills next to a housing settlement.

Hibiscus flower in the garden of the Dambatenne tea factory.

Go back to Negombo Fish Market or go on to Train Travel in Sri Lanka or go up to Photos