Rolling on the River

Drive to Kitulgala
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By Christina

After a brief consultation with Maxi, we decided to change our travel plans and avoid the town of Ella, where we were scheduled to spend two nights in the midst of its famous tea plantations. Evidently, our Tiger friends (the two-legged variety) had been busy in the past twenty-four hours, and it was just not safe. So, we got in the car and headed south. I was given the assignment of reading Lonely Planet to come up with a destination. As we drove through towns, we admired the rice paddies, cute school kids, and fruit stands out the windows, while discussing our housing options. We ended up choosing the small village of Kitulgala, on the banks of the Kelaniya River. What lured us to this spot was the fact that river rafting was available and because one of our favorite movies, The Bridge On the River Kwai, was filmed there. We did not regret our choice.

Film Spot for Bridge On the River Kwai
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All of us felt a little queasy winding past tea plantations as we made our way to the river from the highlands. Eventually, we leveled out on a road parallel to an amazing river gorge. Two miles outside of town I spotted the sign showing where the movie was filmed, so we pulled over and all trooped down to the river. Somewhere along the way, an older man (along with his two daughters and mother) joined us and began pointing out spots from the movie. He had firsthand knowledge of things because, at the mere age of 10, he had appeared in the film as the “young native boy”. He even had a souvenir program from the movie, showing a picture of himself as a child and scenery from the exact spot where we were standing. Of course, the real bridge on the River Kwai is in Thailand, and we think we might check it out when we are there.

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Our hotel in Kitulgala – the Plantation House - was nothing short of fantastic (by five-months-on-the-road standards). Maybe it was the clean sheets, A/C, and roaring fan in our room (I love white noise from ceiling fans), or maybe it was the open air restaurant right on the bank of the river, but the place really worked for me. The kids were delighted to find stacks of National Geographic magazines heaped in piles all over the common areas, and spent the entire afternoon reading. (Clearly a subscription is in our future). The rest of us did laundry (record drying time under the monster fan) and hung out resting, reading and writing. We also talked with Ravi, the local river rafting guide, and scheduled a trip for the next morning. Although Ravi was pushing hard for an afternoon departure, we demurred, saying the kids were too tired, while in fact, the grown ups just wanted to enjoy our lovely hotel.

At the tea plantation
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Breakfast the next morning was interrupted by Ravi, who suggested that the water was very low and that we should leave immediately before it got any lower. (Apparently, the upstream authorities were not letting out much water that day because it was a Sunday and demand was low for energy from the hydro-electric plant). We choked down our food and headed to Ravi’s “office” down the road, where he and his pals loaded the rafts on to tuk-tuks (motorized rickshaws). We then drove three or four miles upstream to the put in, had a safety briefing, and hopped in our rafts. Ten minutes into the trip, however, Ravi had us pull over to a beach to wait to see if the water would rise. (This was definitely a case of “hurry up and wait”). Our time was well spent - swimming the rapids and doing jumping tricks off of the rafts - however, the water didn’t rise. Forty minutes later and a foot or so lower in water depth, we took off again.

tea picker
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The level of the water didn’t really matter. The kids were thrilled to be river rafting and, apart from the raft getting wedged between rocks several times, we had a blast. The best part of the trip was when both rafts capsized coming down a small (six foot) drop off. As a long-standing member of the Safety Committee*, I was disappointed to see Abby’s helmet had fallen off in the tumble, and was floating away. Luckily, she was unscathed and, in fact, was jazzed to have fallen in.

*a fictitious term used among my friends when one of us is being extra-cautious.

Ladies at the tea factory
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The rafting was such a huge hit, we were not sure we should do anything else that day. Luckily, we decided to take advantage of an invitation from the hotel’s manager, Mr. Chandana, to visit a tea plantation and factory. Back into the hills we went; Maxi closely tailing Mr. Chandana’s motorcycle. (Maxi’s driving would continue to torment me throughout the trip, although it was worse for Joey who was in the front seat and saw near miss after near miss). The tea plantation was interesting, as it not only grew tea, but loads of other fruits, spices and vegetables as well. All of us were a little concerned about snakes, however, as Mr. C made a point of telling us “all time there are snakes”.

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We felt plenty special at the factory, as it was not a tourist destination, but a real live factory, with tea leaves being roasted and ladies sweeping up piles of the finished product. (In fact, they politely asked that we not take pictures because it would be disconcerting to customers back home to see that the tea was piled directly on the floor – clearly not up to FDA standards). The tour was sweaty and interesting, but it was the tea ladies that I really enjoyed. (Tea pickers and factory workers are by and large female). At one point I kibitzed with a group of them in a corner, using hand gestures to communicate. I snapped a few shots and they loved looking at their pictures on my LCD screen. The tour concluded with the presentation of two enormous bags of tea to us.

While Kitulgala was not our original destination, it ended up being a favorite of all of us – great hotel, nice people, fun adventures and beautiful scenery. In fact, the rafting was enough of a hit with the kids that they are clambering to do it again.