Thursday began in a similar fashion to the routine we have all got so used to by now. After being woken up at 6.30am by Franky’s interesting alarm, we stayed in bed until around 6.50am before struggling into some clothes and stumbling to breakfast. Breakfast was the familiar ‘carb-loading’ of pancakes, noodles, rice and bread, helping us build-up the energy levels for a busy day in the village. Today all 8 of us were expected in the village because of 2 reasons. Firstly we had all stayed in the university on Tuesday meaning the village had missed out completely that day; and secondly, the village staff had arranged for us to go to the local tea factory to discover how tea was processed from a green leaf through to the tea that we drink.

Getting there was interesting however! We caught the public bus up the hill as usual, paying the 24 rupees each that it costs. (roughly 12p-ish!) Once getting there, we took it in turns to jump on the back of motorbikes/walk to reach the eventual bus stop to the tea factory that lay 2 kilometres away through dense forest. The tea factory was an incredible experience. Met at the door by the managers, the permission the village elders had got us to go there was well and truly worth it. It was amazing to see the processes they took to dry the leaves before grinding them down and sifting through it all, separating it into different grades. Finally much to Andy’s pleasure came the tasting session, before we jumped back on the bikes and made our way back to a house for lunch.

After the brilliant lunch where much tea was discussed, we made our way back to the bus stop before jumping on the bus back to a random stop. From here, we had a 2 kilometre walk through a different section of jungle right back to Ihala Galagama, before once again jumping on a separate bus back to the normal university pick-up point at Belihuloya rest house. The evening was much the same as the others apart form the anticipation for the coming days in the south. Sam and Franky had a brilliant 3-hour session with the university rugby team, while the others looked after their sports before meeting for dinner, packing and sleep before the early start.