Liz & Doug After Work: Heading toward Yala

An alternate title "A full day from Nuwara Eliya to Nanu Oya to Ella to Yala"

We stayed in Nuwara Eliya for 2 days - it was a jumping off point for Horton's Plain and the train to Ella. We enjoyed exploring small towns and were pleased at the opportunity to walk around Nuwra Eliya. The town was somewhat scruffy, but it had a memorable traffic circle.

Roundabout sponsored by Asian Paints
(but I doubt that they got naming privileges)

After we left Horton's Plain MIn Nuwara Eliya Mahesh, our tour agent, asked if we wanted to see a dairy farm. Of course, we did. We stopped at Ambewela Farm, but it was closed for a holiday. We were more successful at the nearby New Zealand Farm. The scene was bucolic - rolling hills with gazing cattle - but inside it was all business. The farm did not give guided tours and the signage was minimal. Our driver chatted with a worker who told us a little about the operation.

The first stop was the milking barn. Cows were in stalls eating hay. They were lined up, moved to another stall, their udders were washed, and they were hooked to a milking machine. When they were finished they went back to eating hay. Just beyond the milking room was a small laboratory, but we could not tell what its purpose was or what it was doing.

Cows lined up in the milking barn

The farm consisted of rows of sheds with separate sheds for recently born calves, calves being weaned, and heifers. In each shed the calves or cows were in stalls either lapping up formula or eating hay. Another shed had three enormous bulls who provide semen to impregnate the cows. As far as we could tell they did not spend time outside their stalls Male calves are sold shortly after they are weaned, although the male off spring of a very productive cow may be kept to later serve as a stud.

Cows eating. So when do they get to taste fresh, green grass?

The farm also raised rabbits and goats that were sold, primarily for meat. The farm produced edam cheese. Several weeks earlier in KL we had spoken with a member of the Jain community. He said that while Jains drank milk, milk-drinking was being discouraged because it was cruel. What we saw wasn't physically cruel, but we felt sympathy for animals who had such a confined and bleak life.

The road from Nuwara Eliya to the train station at Nanu Oya. We were scheduled to leave at 9:30, but Mahesh and Damith, our driver, assured us that Sri Lankan trains are notoriously late. Our two car, all 3rd class train arrived at 11:30. The limited snack bar had vada and roti. Sri Lanka's roti are oat cakes eaten with sambal - it is very filling. The "Foreigners wash room" had a small waiting room, filled with European back packers, and "Western" style toilet. Earlier in our trip we saw wash rooms labelled "wet" and "dry." According to an Indian friend Asians prefer wet wash rooms. I asked Mahesh - he found my question odd and expressed no opinion.

The train had two passenger cars; they filled up quickly with tea workers and 6 foreigners (including us). Throughout the trip as we traveled at the edge of cliffs the Italian tourists hung out the open door for "thrilling" pictures. Here are some of our photos from the trip.