The train leaves Kandy at 8:47 AM. By the time you’re past Hatton the world outside has changed completely — the lowland heat is gone, replaced by mist and the smell of tea. Your guide points out the women picking on the hillside. He grew up near here. His grandmother picked tea for forty years. At Ella you step off the train into a cool mountain evening and walk to your bungalow through a working estate. The owner brings you tea on the veranda. It was picked this morning, thirty metres away. Next morning you’re at Nine Arches Bridge at 6 AM, alone except for a local farmer and the mist. The first train comes through at 7:15. You’re there when it does.
