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We arrived in Haputale after about an hour on the most beautiful train journey we have ever experienced. Haputale was a bit of a shock after Ella, when we left the train station we had a bit of hassle from lots of tuk tuk drivers, but quickly managed to lose them by walking away.
It was about 10:30am when we arrived and already the mist had set into Haputale which is very high, and this gave it a bit of an oppresive atmosphere. This is a workers town, with lots of the locals being employed by the local tea plantations and so it is not very touristy. We had a bit of trouble looking round trying to find somewhere to stay. We ended up finding Farah Guest House, which was still a bit of a work in progress, but the hosts were very accommodating and very generous. We had amazing views here and very good WiFi! The room was quite basic but it was in the process of being renovated.
We decided to go for a walk in the afternoon, starting off by walking into town, we found there wasn’t much to see there, except for fantastic views when there was a break in the mist.
We decided to try and find the nearby Adisham Bungalow and tea plantation; we asked for directions at the train station and made our way along the railway line. We met some beautiful local children who were really excited to see some photos of themselves.
We walked for about 2km until we got to a level crossing and then turned left up the hill and walked along the road. 
We soon reached the manager’s bungalow as we entered a tea plantation. Just past this there is a small turning on the right hand side signposted to Adisham Bungalow (St Benedict’s Monastary). As we reached the turning we met lots of school children who were boarding buses after a schooltrip who were very excited to see us!
We walked up through the beautiful tea plantation and soon reached the Thangamale bird sanctuary which has lots of lovely trees and is full of the noise of birds. We saw local ladies carrying large bundles of wood along the road.
At the top of the hill is the very pretty monastery and gardens, which is only open on the weekends unfortunately.
We walked back along the road from the tea plantation into Haputale, stopping to admire all of the wonderful views on the way.
In Haputale we found Glace Pastry and Bakery, this is a more western bakery attached to a hotel, where we stopped to enjoy afternoon tea and cake as it had started to rain. This was expensive by Sri Lankan standards, cake was 280 rupees a slice (approx £1.40) and tea for two was 280 rupees. These slices of cake were enormous! We were both sickeningly full after a slice of chocolate chip and chocolate fudge cake and 2 cups of tea.
Our guest house was very helpful when we returned arranging a tuk tuk for us the following morning to go to Lipton’s Seat. We enjoyed curry in our guesthouse too which was 400 rupees each and included a cup of tea, beans, dahl, cabbage, salad, lots of rice and curry!
The following morning we were able to enjoy and appreciate the beautiful views from Farah Guest House when the mist was clear.