Hiking in Sri Lanka? Absolutely! The new “Pekoe Trail” leads over 300 kilometers through the highlands: to green mountains, to spiritual sites – and again and again to people who have a lot to tell.
By Martin H. Petrich, Ella
Udarata Menike is late again. The blue train with the cute name “Mountain Girl” arrives at Bandarawela station with a half hour delay. But that doesn’t matter, because the morning hustle and bustle on the platform is as entertaining as a Sri Lankan soap opera. Tamil women in their colorful saris are standing around, along with a group of schoolchildren in chatter mode, employees with briefcases and, not far away, hiking friends from France. Then a railway employee announces the arrival of the train with a loud ringing of the bell, and an incomprehensible mash of words pours out of the loudspeakers. The snow-white uniformed “Station Master” steps out of his office like a general. And then it starts. Like a hidden object, people rush towards the doors of the train. The arrivals have hardly gotten out before many are already pushing their way in. But the boarding and exiting chaos quickly dissipates, a whistle and the train slowly moves on.