Kandy to Nuwra Eliya - The ever memorable mountain train journey

We had quite an early start that day (09 Jun 11) since we had to take the scenic train journey from Peredenia Railway Station. We were informed at the reception that there was a connection train from Kandy that departs at 0715 hrs. So we took a rickshaw to the railway station which was a 5 minutes drive from our hotel. Here in Sri Lanka people are very hospitable and always address tourists with a gentle smile. We reached the railway station well in advance, so we thought of roaming around. We gave a visit to the Station master’s office to have a word with him. He was so happy to hear that we were from India and took us around to show old pictures of trains during British times. The ticket counter normally opens only at 0700 hrs, but he took us inside the office and issued ticket straight away and showed us our train. People like him are the real brand ambassadors of Sri Lankan tourism and we have to learn a lot from them even though they are a small nation with an average economy. The station, trains etc. looked like the ones in India, yet they stand much high in terms of cleanliness and punctuality. We were the only passengers in our compartment and the journey was less than 15 minutes to Peredenia Station. On reaching there we saw a large number of tourists (foreign as well as domestic) eagerly waiting for the train from Colombo which goes to Badulla through the mountains, tea plantations, Eucalyptus woods, vegetable fields etc. We had already booked seats in Observatory class , which is a special compartment built out of wood and it has some 40 seats with large glass window which allows us to enjoy the stunning views of the valleys and mountains. The rest of the compartments are like the ones we see in Indian trains with large bench seats facing each other. This train journey can be called the high light of Sri Lanka tour and all credit goes to British engineering, foresight and determination to build something like this 100 years back, that too with limited technological support. The train departed at 0745 Hrs and it is about 5 hrs travel time to reach our destination- Nanu Oya, another hill station near the famous Old British Hill station- Neuwra Eliya. This is one of the best train journeys I have done in my life. So far, my favourite was the journey from Mettuppalayam- Ooty in the state of Tamil Nadu. This is more refreshing as we pass through unexploited, unpolluted pieces of land and rarely can we see housing lanes and rest of it is lush greenery and mist. We passed through endless plantations of tea and eucalyptus and the temperature during the day is below 15 C. Some of the stations en route still had the old English names like Great Western and we had garden fresh tea and snacks from some station. When it drizzled in between it was such a great sight to see the mountains and valleys fully covered with mist. I had a great time with my SLR and managed to get some decent snaps of the flora and fauna. We were late by 2 hrs due to some work on the track and we reached Nanu Oya by 1400 hrs. Our end destination for the day was 10 kms from Nanu Oya and we thought of hiring a rickshaw. But we were approached by a van driver who had come to drop some guest at station and he was going back alone to Neuwra Eliya. He agreed to take us for SL Rs. 300, which was a good deal. The driver gave us a short briefing about this place.
Nuwaraeliya is very famous for its climate; some identify it as ‘little England’. The lowest temperature of Sri Lanka is recorded every day at Nuwaraeliya. Nuwraeliya has very cool climate which some days drop to 1 - 2 degrees of Celsius. Mini snow falls also occur in February and the place is covered by mist all throughout the year. History says Nuwara Eliya was discovered by a hunting party led by Dr. John Davy in 1818. The British governor at the time, Sir Edward Barnes, was told about this and subsequently decided to take residence there, soon created a health resort which then became internationally renowned. Nuwara Eliya is decidedly English in some ways (houses, gardens and places names) and was actually planned to be an English village by a pioneering Englishman, Sir Samuel Baker in the mid 19th Century.The driver dropped us at Glendover Hotel, a 100 year old nice colonial bungalow with nice lawns and tall old trees around. Neuwra Eliya is a planned town developed by British with a massive lake in the middle, nice colonial bungalows, golf course, race course, clubs etc. Nowhere in the city limits can we see any tall new structures and its old glory has been maintained till date. People all over Sri Lanka are very conscious about keeping places clean and you won’t find any rubbish on either side of the roads. In every 100 metres the municipality have placed waste bins and people use them regularly. I felt ashamed of our much acclaimed hill stations like Ooty, Munnar etc which are overcrowded with buildings and heaps of waste everywhere. Even though there were many tourist sports like waterfalls, viewpoints nearby we thought of skipping all these and went for a 3 hr walk to the lake and had snacks along with Lion Beer, the famous Lankan beer. Later we went to see the bus station and enquired about bus service to our next destination-Tissamaharama. We were told that there was no direct bus to that place and we had to get down at Wirawalla bus stop and take the bus to Matara and get down at Tissamaharama. Altogether we had around 7 hrs of long journey on a local bus tomorrow and we were asked to be at the bus station by 0830 hrs, so that we could comfortably keep our luggage and occupy our seats. We returned to our hotel, had a hot shower in the chilling weather and we went for dinner at a nice Indian fine dining restaurant near to our hotel and the food was just awesome. Neuwra Eliya is my favourite destination in Sri Lanka and I wish to go there again as I’ve developed an affinity towards this place. Travellers from the UK will be particularly attracted by the architecture which is decidedly Victorian. Even modern buildings are built in the same fashion to preserve Nuwara Eliya's unique atmosphere.