Into the Hill Country: Tea Trails and the Quiet Roads to Kandy

Hiking through Sri Lanka’s highlands in search of solitude, stories, and the soul of slow travel

The train to Kandy chugged into motion just as the morning mist began lifting from the tracks. I’d grown used to the unhurried rhythm of Sri Lankan railways by then—the lurch of old carriages, the low whistle echoing through the trees, the kind of movement that leaves time for thinking, noticing, being. This leg of the journey felt different, though. Th…