Colombo, Sri Lanka

The ship docked in Colombo for two days but since we were leaving for India before dawn on the second day we could only do one tour there. So we chose the tea plantation because “Ceylon” is, of course, famous for tea. It was a long ride out to the plantation and as soon as we started it looked like India to me. We rode on a highway most of the way so we saw the countryside but only a little of the city.

It rained all day and the pictures show it — sorry.

Tea likes to grow on a slope and at a little bit of altitude so it was a lovely scene that we met when we finally arrived. The estate also grows rubber trees and palms for oil but we focused on the “tiny little tea leaves” which are picked by hand by myriads of workers who also live on the estate.

We spent a good deal of time inside the factory watching the sorting and drying and whatever else they were doing with all the sifting machines and rollers and I will let you see for yourself what you think about tea now that you have seen it. The only technology in the factory which appeared to be less than a hundred years old was this “color sorter” machine.

Tea making must be a very straightforward process that I just can’t understand because the main office was so very simple. I will certainly never drink tea again without thinking about the huge amount of work that goes into it and the tea leaves continually being swept up off the floor.