Nuwara eliya

We set off from Arugam Bay (38 degree heat and sunshine) and arrived at Nuwara Eliya in the hill country, which was 12 degrees and raining. We had to get our waterproofs and hiking boots out to brave the elements, it was like being back home. On the bus on the way there we met a Swiss guy called Rafael and ended up settling in a 2 bedded cottage for two nights with him; it wasn't a patch on our April cottage though, but it did come with thick cosy bed sheets and wood fire in our bedrooms.
Our plan was to do some trekking at Horton Plains as we'd heard there were some amazing views at Worlds End. This plan was abandoned due to torrential rain and cloud cover. Instead we spent the day in our full waterproof gear and wandered around the town. It was a really strange place, didn't feel like we were in Sri Lanka at all; farmers growing strawberries, red post boxes, grand houses, a racecourse, Lake District looking lake and the British weather to match. It seemed strange to see the locals dressed in woolly hats and scarves.
On our first night we got lost getting back to our cottage from the local pub (the pub had rats and I was so on edge, I hate rodents). A friendly but crazy tuk tuk driver offered to help us, however broke down part way up the hill and we had to help push the tuk tuk to safety. This gave me great amusement, I'm sure he was sozzled, but all ended well when a Sri Lankan family on their holiday helped us to get home. The next day we had tea and breakfast at the family's holiday home and the two older men later became Jason's drinking partners at night with some special arrack.

It was good to have Rafael's company because he had been travelling around the world for nearly a year and had learnt a lot. He has made us more aware of questioning the price of everything because locals try and charge a tourist price instead, where to eat to get the cheapest and most amazing street food and where to go next on our adventure. We've tried so many new types of Sri Lankan food now ; including dossas, paratthas, hoppers, kotthu rottis, various salties/short eats, curries of different types.
We were lucky to be in Nuwara Eliya during a full moon because locals celebrate it with a dansal; this basically means that free food is provided for everyone at various stalls in the town. Amazing! We had a potato and chilli salsa mix, coconut rottis with tomato dip and spiced chickpeas. It was all freshly made in huge catering pans for hundreds of people. I'm not sure who provides the finance for this but it happens every month at full moon and its a 2 day public holiday.
We only had one day here as the bad weather was due to last a few days and instead decided to head to Kandy and Dambulla to see some cultural sites.