Haputale (May 17-18): Lipton Seat, High Altitude, and Tons of Tea Fields

The train ride to Haputale was nearly six hours, but it was so picturesque! As I said in my last blog, taking the train from Kandy to Ella is one of the main things tourists come to do in Sri Lanka. Vendors would come on the train every so often to sell food, but it always seemed to be samosas, so I wasn’t able to eat anything. I arrived in Haputale at about 2:30pm and I was starving! A tuktuk driver asked if I needed a ride and I said I was going to go to a restaurant nearby. I went to a place called Lettuce and Cabbage Cafe, which apparently is more expensive by Sri Lankan standards. I ordered the chicken curry, which as usual came with a dish of chicken curry, but also a bunch of side dishes. And holy smokes, was it ever spicy! I guess I didn’t specify minimum spice, but it was definitely the hottest dish I ate in Sri Lanka. The flavour was still so good though! The spiciness kept building up until my tongue was burning, so I waved the waiter over and asked if they had any yogurt. He said, “Oh, for dessert?” And I said, “No, like right now – it’s really spicy!” I saw him run out of the restaurant (he must have went to the nearest convenience store), and he came back with a yogurt. I think it was vanilla or coconut flavour (I couldn’t taste it properly because I was losing feeling in my tongue), but I didn’t care. It helped make the food more bearable – and then I could at least enjoy the flavours!

After lunch, I tried to request a Bolt but since it was a small town, no one accepted my ride. I started leaving the restaurant and saw the same tuktuk driver who had approached me when I left the train station. I asked how much it would be to get to my accommodation and he said the same price that had been on my Bolt app, so I knew he wasn’t ripping me off. I was quite far out of town so again, I wouldn’t be able to do much other than hang around my room. He asked if I had any plans and I had been thinking of doing Lipton Seat, so he said that he could drive me out the next day. I said that I would think about it and I took his number. I got to my accommodation (White Monkey Dias) and had to go down a ton of stairs to get to the main area. It was a cute little family-run (a family of 6) bed and breakfast, and they said that they weren’t profiting off of it at all anymore. Most of the kids were grown up, but three of them were still around to help out and one of them started their own camping business nearby. They were such a warm, welcoming family and I really felt cared for while I was there. I went to my room, which had an amazing view but the clouds were rolling in so I didn’t get to enjoy the view for long. At about 7, I got a knock at my door that dinner was ready and I was led to the family dining room, which had a humongous amount of food that was just for me. One of the sons sat down with me just to chat, and he told me about his camping business and how the economy in Sri Lanka has made it very difficult to make ends meet. The amount that he makes from his business basically just goes back into making his business run, so he only takes home about 20000 rupees ($86CAD) per month. And basic groceries (like eggs) are very difficult to afford. It was getting late, so I figured that I should write the tuktuk driver to arrange my ride to Lipton Seat if I wanted to make it by sunrise. We agreed that he’d pick me up at 5am because it would be a 45-minute drive (I’d make it JUST in time for sunrise). I went to bed early, so that I’d be well-rested for my extremely early morning.

I got up at about 4:30, got my stuff ready, and headed up the tons of stairs. The humidity combined with the 1500-metre altitude made the climb so difficult – I was so out of breath and so sweaty. When I got to the top, I couldn’t see him so I messaged to see if he was there, and I sat down on the steps. He messaged back that he had been there since 4:55 and I felt bad because I had made him wait. It was so foggy, I couldn’t even see his lights! I got in the tuktuk and we started driving and then I realised that I didn’t have my bag! He turned around and I ran to the steps, hoping that I left it there. It was so dark, so I had to use my phone’s flashlight to search but I didn’t see it. Oh no.. did I seriously leave it in my room? I sprinted down the stairs, went to my room, saw my bag sitting right next to the door, and then sprinted back up. By that time, I was REALLY out of breath and really sweaty. Luckily, I had 45 minutes to get my body back to normal. I definitely would be missing the sunrise! We got there at about 6am and I had to pay an entrance fee. The sky was just starting to change colour, and it was gorgeous! The fog added a special mysteriousness to it. Abbas (the tuktuk driver) said that normally if the clouds weren’t there, you’d be able to see a lake. I told Abbas that I would like to walk back down (rather than take the tuktuk) and he said that he’d wait for me at the bottom. It was about 7km, so it would take around two hours (especially with all of the stopping I did to take pictures and videos). There were two dogs at the top, so they joined me for the first few kilometres, which was nice! The walk was absolutely gorgeous – the views of the tea fields were unreal, and the pictures don’t even capture the beauty that I saw. As I continued on my walk, the town slowly started waking up and I saw some people go to work in the tea fields. I also saw the students heading to school. There were ladies carrying huge bags (of what I assume was flour or rice), and they were all walking UP the hill! Everyone was so friendly, and said good morning with a big smile. I got back to Abbas just after 8am and we drove back to my accommodation.

He was a really nice tuktuk driver and had a lot of knowledge about the surrounding area. He said that he could take me on a waterfall tour (which I contemplated since it was supposed to be really nice), but I decided to catch the 12:15 train to Ella. He dropped me off at my accommodation and then we agreed that he’d pick me up again at 11. I showered, and went for breakfast at my accommodation. They served some crepe-like wraps with curry, and avocado with a tomato-onion mix (kind of like bruschetta on avocado slices instead of on bread – so smart!).

At 11am, I went up those stairs one more time, got on the tuktuk, and Abbas took me to the train station. I got there about an hour early and asked to buy a ticket, but they told me that they don’t start selling tickets until 30 minutes before. So I sat, waited, and finally got my ticket at 11:45. At about 11:55, a train arrived but I didn’t think anything of it. It sat there for quite awhile. After about 5-10 minutes, one of the vendors who I had bought water from asked where I was going and I said Ella. “That’s your train!” What?! But the trains are always late! I ran to the front of the train, and the conductor was there. He said that the carriages were crowded, so he led me to the conductor carriage. I got to sit in there for about 20 minutes, until the train finally left. I guess they had to wait for a train to go by from the other direction before they were allowed to go. Then, the conductor said I could go sit in the passenger carriage.

I saw two blonde women and asked if I could sit with them. They were from Germany, and we had a good chat for the 2-hour trip. When we got close to the station, I messaged my accommodation owner so he could come pick me up. But I’ll save that for the next post. Love always