BY
TRAIN ACROSS SRI LANKA
DW DOCUMENTARY
3,779,775
views
Sep
20, 2017
DW
Documentary
1.32M
subscribers
Asia’s
most beautiful railway line? The “Main Line” cuts through tea plantations and
jungle, then passes Buddhist temples and relicts of the British Empire.
In
the 19th century the British built a railway in what was then their colony of
Ceylon. Their idea was to transport goods such as tea from the highlands to the
port of Colombo. Today it’s mainly only locals and tourists who use the
so-called "Main Line." The route is considered one of the most
picturesque in the whole of Asia.
Our
trip takes us from the capital, Colombo, to Ella in the highlands. Our first
stop is one of the country’s largest elephant orphanages. And then on to Kandy,
the former capital of the Singhalese kingdom. The city is home to the famous
Temple of the Tooth, which is said to house the Buddha’s top left canine. The
train then winds its way further up into the highlands. We watch tea pickers at
work and go to a tea factory to discover where the aroma comes from. Nuwara
Eliya is Sri Lanka’s highest town at an altitude of almost 1900 meters, where a
racecourse still brings the colonial era back to life. The stations have also
retained their own colonial charm: in 1901, a signaling system was set up to
make the long journey safer. And those suffering from the altitude can catch
their breath at the final stop, the spa in Ella.
Grateful thanks to DW documentary and YouTube.
No comments:
Post a Comment