Day 5: we had a reasonably early start of 5:45am. We all got ready for one of the busiest but exciting days yet. After a 2 hour coach journey which involved a lot of sleeping we arrived at Virgin White Tea Plantation, the producer of the purest tea in the world. Upon arrival we received an interesting talk from the manager who told us all about the tea production and the story behind it. We then walked through the plantation and saw many beautiful, exotic flowers before being sat down with a slice of chocolate cake and a cup of Sapphire Oolong tea, which you can’t get in any other place in the world. After this we were given a tour through the factory so we had a chance to see how the tea is actually made into bags which was very interesting and we also went to the gift shop, where many of us tried and purchased many varieties of tea.
We ate lunch out by stopping on the beach to eat chicken fried rice which was enjoyed by many. When everyone finished lunch we all got in the coach again for a journey to Galle however this journey was kept interesting by playing games. Once we arrived in Galle, we walked along the beach and all enjoyed looking at the amazing scenery that Sri Lanka had and many pictures were taken. We also payed 100 rupees each to watch a amazing cliff jumper do some diving which made many of us on edge. At the market in Galle some of us bought red bananas as the best bananas come from Sri Lanka! We made one last stop before driving back to the foundation and that was watching the fisherman on sitting on poles and fishing which was very entertaining for everyone. The people there were very kind and a little boy gave me (Shannon), Joe and Emily a shell each which was very cute.
Finally after a long but banterous journey home which included me and Joe hosting a 2 hour long karaoke session, we arrived back at Janoda Foundation where we were greeted by team 2 who were back from the elephant sanctuary and had a great time. As I was team captain for this day, I taught the rest of the team a game which was fun to play but difficult. I think that today has been really good and made the whole team bond even more. We are all looking forward to doing further activities.s