WEATHER: Cooler and 25C-perfect walking weather
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Making it the whole way
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of anything
WORD OF THE DAY: Czechoslovakia
THANKS TO ALL MY
WATER CHARITY DONATIONS SO FAR:
Sean McGrath
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 15KM ACCORDING TO Intrepid-10km
according to walkers
BUDDHA QUOTE FOR THE DAY:
In
a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the
truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
So today dawned and we were up at 5.30am for a view of
sunrise as we were served breakfast at 6am and then we were in the vans for the
10 minute ride back to the train station.
The train was due at 7.10am and made a good time arriving in at
7.30am. We were in 2nd class
this morning as we back tracked 45 minutes that we had travelled yesterday to Idalgashinna
and where the walk/trek/hike was to begin for the next 2 days. My backpack was packed. Indika had given us a garbage bag each in
case it decided to rain, I left all my gadgets in my big backpack except my
IPod which I had in case I needed some motivation to move my butt not knowing
just how difficult the climb was. I have
to say the seats in 2nd class were more comfy than the ones we had
in the observation carriage yesterday but as the trip was only 45 minutes I
decided to stand in the doorway and snap some photos over some of the tunnels
we went through and some of the impressive bridges that we had traversed
yesterday. More waving from the locals
as we passed. The train stopped twice
for passengers and at Hapatule we collected our 2 additional guides Morgan and
Shiver and 10 minutes later we arrived at Idalashinna, 1612m above sea
level.
So there were 3 groups to start, the lead group with
Shiver, the middle group with Morgan and then the caboose group to be with
Indika. Gee I wonder which group I will
fall into ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha …… I’m so funny!!!! We walked along the train tracks for around
50m and then peeled off to a steep rocky track.
It wasn’t paved; there were loose rocks and big rocks that we had to
navigate around for the first hour or so.
It was a pretty steep climb, well to me, and after the first 10 minutes
I had to embarrassingly stop to catch my breath. Well this was going to be a long day if the
whole walk was going to be like this I can tell you. The climb was that constant, with no flat
that the back of my ankles was starting to ache…. Man……..
The group had stopped ahead to get an explanation on the tea plants and
I am happy to say I wasn’t too far behind them and I got the talk after I had
arrived.
Tea is cultivated in Sri Lanka using the ‘contour
planting’ method, where tea bushes are planted in lines in coordination with
the contours of the land, usually on slopes. For commercial manufacture the
‘flush’ or leaf growth on the side branches and stems of the bush are used.
Generally two leaves and a bud, which have the flavor and aroma, are skillfully
plucked, usually by women. Sri
Lanka is one of the few countries where each tea leaf is picked by hand rather
than by mechanization; if machinery were used, often a considerable number of
coarse leaves and twigs could be mixed in, adding bulk but not flavor to the
tea. With experience the women
acquire the ability to pluck rapidly and set a daily target of around 15 to 20
kg of tea leaves to be weighed and then transported to the nearby tea factory.
Tea plants in Sri Lanka require constant nurturing and attention. An important
part of the process is taking care of the soils with the regular application of
fertilizer. Younger plants are regularly cut back 10–15 cm from the ground to
encourage lateral growth and are pruned very frequently with a special knife.
There were rolling hills after rolling hills and at 9am
in the morning it really was a spectacular view from here. We continued the walk (uphill) and we all
dropped back into what would stay our walking patterns for the rest of the
day. Indika was nice enough to give me
some space and was walking about 100m behind me which was nice as I hate to
have some-one breathing down my back as I feel I need to walk faster than I
normally/could walk to not look bad, so it was nice to have that pressure off
but then I also felt bad that he was so far back that we couldn’t chat, but
then the way I was sucking in the big ones, I probably wouldn’t be able to talk
anyway! I am terribly unfit and I knew that,
but come hook or by crook I was going to finish this walk today. We continued our walk through tall grass and
mud tracks, wide paths surrounded by tall eucalyptus tress, walking on pine
needles, pushing through scrub and always with views of the surrounding plains
full of tea plantations. The view was
certainly worth the (uphill) effort and after the initial first hour the
terrain sloped a lot less than at the start and I was actually starting to
enjoy myself. I was always only 100-200m
behind the middle group, so Indika and I were never that far out of touch with
people and at times we would catch up with them for photo stops or drink
stops. There were several longer stops along
the way for Shiver to point out something to the whole group or to show us
something and I surprisingly, was never too far behind.
I am lucky to have the group I did, each time I caught up
to them huffing there were always words of encouragement from them all and it
made me feel so good that they were all being so patient. I even had Pops (who is seventy-something…um
I mean sixty) offer to carry my backpack for a while to let me have a
rest. How sweet and he wasn’t the only
one to offer. But I figured I needed to
carry my own shit, if I bought it then I could carry it. My arm was holding up okay. There was a steep section just before morning
yea at 10.30am and I had to use my arms for balance at one point, which is a
natural reaction and I really hurt it again as I caught myself from
falling. Morning tea turned out to be
lunch as we all ate the sandwiches we had ordered from the cottage last night
and Indika and the boys had bought up fruit and a cup of tea as we rested for
around 20 minutes. We had crossed the
mountain and we were sitting in fast moving fog/cloud as we relaxed and just
admired the view. It really was
incredible up here.
At 11.30pm we made it to the highest point of the day at
1925m just before a small village and then we had an hour of descent to get us
to the Managers Bungalow where we would be staying for the night. The small villages in the plantations are for
the families that work on the estates. The
tea plantation is structured in a social hierarchy and the women, who often
consist of 75%-85% of the work force in the tea industry, are at the lowest
social strata. Directly and indirectly,
over one million Sri Lankans are employed in the tea industry. A large
proportion of the workforce is young women and the minimum working age is
twelve. As tea plantations grew in Sri Lanka and demanded extensive labor,
finding an abundant workforce was a problem for planters. Sinhalese
people were reluctant
to work in the plantations. Indian Tamils were brought to Sri Lanka at the
beginning of the coffee plantations. Immigration of Indian Tamils steadily
increased and by 1855 there were 55,000 new immigrants. By the end of the
coffee era there were some 100,000 in Sri Lanka. Young girls typically follow their
mothers, grandmothers and older sisters on the plantations and the women are
also expected to perform most of the domestic duties. They live in housing known as
"lines", a number of linearly attached houses with just one or two
rooms. This housing system and
the environmental sanitation conditions are generally poor for laborers in the
plantation sector. There are
typically 6 to 12 or 24 line rooms in one line barrack. Often rooms for laborers are without
windows and there is little or no ventilation and as many as 6 to 11 members
may often live in one room together. In
the housing system for plantation workers in Sri Lanka, women and girls have no
privacy from the male workers, which places them at a higher risk for sexual
harassment. This didn’t seem to be the
case in this plantation. They had
running water, windows, veggie gardens and this particular plantation has a
daycare center for the babies of mothers who work, a small school so the
children don’t need to travel for hours and even a small hospital on the
plantation and they are also given paid time off in the lead up and after the
baby is born. I think conditions have
improved over time and they live a happy life.
They work hard, but they are happy.
The children here were asking to have their photos taken so they could
see themselves on the playback screen and it made such a nice change from
people asking for money after a photo was taken. I think if you come back in a few years’ time
as tourism grows in this country that that will change, so it is nice to know
it still exists even for the short term at least.
Downhill is definitely always easier than going up, but
it can be tough on the knees and toes if it is continues with no flat in
between. It probably doesn’t help that I
am carrying an additional 40kg, but I was glad that we were on the home straight. Indika came up with a plan when we weren’t far
from the manager’s bungalow, that he would get Shiver to hold the group up and
we would pass and then be the first ones to get to the bungalow after being
last all morning!!! I thought that was a
genius idea and when we caught up with the group and passed I later found out
that they were told that I needed to go to the toilet and Indika was taking me….. There were over 100 steps to get down before
Indika gave the wave that Shiver could now bring the group down, Indika thought
we had enough of a start and then we waited at the bottom of the hill so they
could all see me and then I made a bolt (not running) to get to the bungalow
first! Everyone had cottoned on then
what we were up to and it was too late for any of them to do anything! So it was great that we all got to finish at
the same time and what was quoted as being a 6 hour hike only took us 4 hours
and we were at the bungalow at 12.30pm.
I was so RELIEVED. I had done it,
I had walked 15km (uphill) and I didn’t embarrass myself too much. After taking off our shoes we were shown into
the front room that had chairs and then shown our beds for the night. After talking to Pops and Chris they seem to
think that today was only around 9-10km, but either way I had pulled up okay
with the impression that tomorrow was going to be shorter than today, I was in
a happy place.
The afternoon was spent with people outside playing
cricket, people getting some shut eye and Christine, Lenore and I decided to
stay in our room and just chat the afternoon away. The girls were going to go for a walk around
3pm, but the heavens opened up and the rain really didn’t stop again till early
evening. Thank goodness we didn’t get
caught up in all that rain. I don’t mind
a shower or two, but torrential rain is yucky if you are stuck walking in it. We had tea delivered to our room and it was
nice to look out at the rain from the old fashioned paned windows in great
company talking about…well everything and anything. I have so lucked out on this trip that we all
get along famously and I am slowly in penetrating the ‘trio’ (Pops, Lenore and
Christine). These guys have travelled
together on many trips and they have a Happy Hour every afternoon before we are
expected to be somewhere and today was no different. They carried their grog, mix and nibblies all
the way today on the hike and you have to admire the determination and remind
me so much of home. The manager’s
bungalow is an old 1920’s house where the manager of the estate used to live in
luxury but now houses an overseer when we aren’t there for the night. The rooms were massive, the ceilings high and
they even had the old fashioned claw baths in the bathrooms. The girls were spread down style into 2 rooms
and Lenore, Christine and I lucked out getting the triple room and the others
had the larger room for the rest. The
boys had their own dorm next door and I am sure there will be an interesting
symphony of snoring coming from there tonight!!
Our toilet seemed to be the only one working and after showing Shiver
the bath, which was full of water, he emptied it and turned the hot water on
later in the afternoon. As long as we
had a flushing toilet I could live without hot water.
We had a ‘plantation talk’ at 5.30pm. Shiver went through life on the plantation
and more about the plants and productions and we could ask whatever questions
we had for him. Topics covered included:
Tea production in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, is of
high importance to the Sri Lankan economy and the world market. The country is
the world's fourth largest producer of tea and the industry is one of the
country's main sources of foreign exchange and a significant source of income
for laborers, with tea accounting for 12% of the GDP, generating roughly
$700 million annually. In 1995, Sri Lanka was the world's leading exporter of tea,
(rather than producer) with 23% of the total world export, but it has since
been surpassed by Kenya. The tea sector
employs, directly or indirectly over 1 million people in Sri Lanka and in 1995
directly employed 215,338 on tea plantations and estates. The humidity, cool
temperatures, and rainfall in the country's central highlands provide a climate
that favors the production of high quality tea. The industry was introduced to
the country in 1847 by James Taylor, the British planter who
arrived in 1852.
Cinnamon was the
first crop to receive government sponsorship in Ceylon, while the island was
under Dutch control. During the administration of Dutch governor
Iman Willem Falck, cinnamon plantations were planted in Colombo, Maradana,
and Cinnamon
Gardensin 1769. The first British governor Frederick North prohibited private cinnamon
plantations, thereby securing monopoly on cinnamon plantations for the East India Company. However, an economic slump
in the 1830s in England and elsewhere in Europe affected the cinnamon
plantations in Ceylon. This resulted in them being decommissioned by William Colebrooke in 1833. Finding cinnamon
unprofitable, the British turned to coffee. By 1825 the Ceylonese already had knowledge
of coffee. They started planting coffee as a garden crop and the first coffee
plantation was started in Baddegama in Galle
District. Although this venture failed due to the unsuitability of
the area for the crop, George Bird became the first to start planting coffee on
a commercial scale. The demand and high price in the European market for coffee
fueled the rush of coffee planting. Investors flocked to Ceylon from overseas
and around 100,000 ha (386 sq mi) of rain
forest was cleared to
pave the way for coffee plantations. The term "Coffee rush" was
coined to describe this developing situation in 1840. In 1869 the coffee industry was still
thriving in Ceylon but shortly afterwards, coffee plantations were devastated
by a fungal disease called Hemileia vastatrix or coffee rust, better known as
"coffee leaf disease" or "coffee blight". The planters nicknamed the disease
"devastating Emily" when
it was first identified in the Madolsima area in 1869. Production dipped
rapidly as the disease set in and every effort failed to revive coffee
production. Of 1700 coffee planters, only 400 remained on the island as the
rest left for their home countries. The coffee crop died, marking an end of an
era when most of the plantations on the island were dedicated to producing
coffee beans. Planters experimented with cocoa and cinchona as alternative crops but failed due to
a bug, Heloplice antonie, so that
in the 1870s virtually all the remaining coffee planters in Ceylon switched to
the production and cultivation of tea. By
the year 1900, only 11,392 acres (46 km2) were still under coffee
cultivation.
Tea was increasingly sold at auction as its popularity
grew. The first public Colombo Auction was held at the premises of Somerville
& Co. on 30 July 1883, under the auspices of the Ceylon Chamber of
Commerce. One million tea packets were
sold at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. That same year the tea
established a record price of £36.15 per lb at the London Tea Auctions. In 1894
the Ceylon Tea Traders Association was formed and today virtually all tea
produced in Sri Lanka is conducted through this association and the Ceylon
Chamber of Commerce. In 1896 the Colombo Brokers' Association was formed and in
1915 Thomas Amarasuriya became the first Ceylonese to be appointed as Chairman
of the Planters' Association. In 1925 the Tea Research Institute was
established in Ceylon to conduct research into maximizing yields and methods of
production. By 1927 tea production in the country exceeded 100,000 metric tons almost entirely for export. A 1934 law
prohibited the export of poor quality tea.
In 1980 Sri Lanka became the official supplier of tea at the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympic Games,
in 1982 at the 12th Commonwealth Games in Brisbane and again in 1987 at Expo 88 in Australia. In 1981, the import of teas for blending and
re-exports was introduced and in 1982 the production and export of green tea commenced in Sri Lanka. In 1992 the 125th anniversary of the industry
was celebrated in an international convention in Colombo.
So what is involved in the tea taster’s job before the
leaves head to auction? Tea is tasted
standing up, at a table on which samples of dry leaf are placed for the tasters
to inspect. The dry leaf is visually inspected and sometimes touched. The
taster is looking for leaf appearance, size, colour and various other characteristics
such as the presence of ‘tips’ or buds. Each
sample is infused in boiling water. The usual proportion is 2gm. (about 1/2 a
teaspoonful) of tea to 150 ml. (1/2 cup) of water. The container is covered and
left to stand for about 4-5 minutes. The infused infusion is then poured into
special white porcelain tasting-cups and some of the infused leaf is displayed
on a white porcelain saucer or lid. This infused leaf is again inspected
visually; in addition to colour and ‘brightness’, the taster may also assesses
the aroma and colour consistency of the leaf.
Next, the infusion is inspected. The quality judgment to which the
taster will come is critically affected by this step. Aroma, of course, is a
key criterion, but colour as well as clarity and thickness (or ‘body’) of the
infusion are also very important. These are the attributes by which tea is
identified. Finally, the taster takes
some of the infusion in his mouth, making a loud sucking sound as he does so.
This is to mix the infusion with plenty of oxygen and let it travel over all
parts of the tongue and palate. He is now assessing a wide variety of
attributes: freshness, sharpness, bouquet, fullness, and so on. The terminology
of tea-tasting includes a long list of such characteristics, though not all
tasters use the terms consistently.
Wages are typically particularly low. In some places women
were once paid as little as 7 rupees per kilogram, the equivalent of 7 cents,
and many must complete 16 kilograms a day. Given
the social stratification in Sri Lanka's past, the pay had to be collected by a
husband or father. The men who
work on the tea plantations typically cut down trees or operate machinery and
are better paid at 155 rupees (1.25AUD) a day and finish the day hours earlier. Due to the severely low wages, industrial
action took place in 2006. Wages
in the tea sector were increased with the average daily wage earned in the
sector now significantly higher at 378 rupees for men and 261 for women in some
places. However studies have
revealed that poverty is still a major problem and despite the tea industry
employing a large number of poor people, employment has failed to alleviate
poverty since workers are often highly uneducated and unskilled. Poverty levels on plantations have
consistently been higher than the national average and although overall poverty
in Sri Lanka has declined in the last thirty years, it is now significantly
concentrated in rural areas.
Dinner was served at 7pm of the local cuisine of rice and
curry, and they weren’t made too spicy and if there is no chili in the food I
find I actually enjoy Sri Lankan meal.
Indika had warned us a few days ago that there would be a ‘mini’ concert
tonight that we were all expected to participate in. I hate this stuff, but the trio and I came up
with an idea and after dinner decided to get ours over and done with
early. So after Shiver and Morgan had
sung a few local songs using a bin as their only musical accompaniment, oh and
clapping, we got up and did the hokey pokey.
The gals did some fancy dance moves with Mel doing an Irish jig and Gary
gave us an informational talk on his home country of New Zealand. The highlight of the night was the guys
singing and even Indika sung a few songs after some encouragement. Something needs to be said about people you
know singing. I love it, I love music
and always wished I could sing or play the piano, which I can do neither. But it was nice to hear foreign language
songs and seeing people sing them that like doing it. I was stuffed though and with a lull in
proceedings I took my chance and said goodnight and saw myself to bed to find
Lenore and Christine had slunk off a little earlier. I know I was going to sleep like a baby
tonight!!!!
BUT I had walked the 9-15km.
I had SURVIVED……. And I didn’t feel too bad. I wonder how I will pull up in the morning.
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