In April month everybody busy due to Sinhala New Year. We planned to visit our relatives house in Mawanella. We planned to go by train.

We received an information about very poor family in Medagampola in Alawwa. The information we received was hard to believe. Therefore we went to see them after 2 days. Information was correct & we saw their family condition. I don’t have words to say about my feelings when I saw their hut/ shelter.

After a snail-like journey, we reached Maskeliya and bought a couple of essential things like instant noodles. We were planning to take a tuk-tuk from here but our luck held coz there was a Nallathanniya bus leaving at 10am. So having breathed a sigh of relief we got into the bus and settled. The sun was back and my hopes soared like an eagle. However as we got closer to Nallathanniya aka Dalhousie (remember it’s Dalhousie not Delhouse or Delhousie), those hopes came down and down like a deflated balloon.

It was very gloomy and there were a couple of passing showers as well. “This is going to be one heck of a hike” I told Atha and we both regretted not having brought the umbrellas. Well we shouldn’t have worried coz the usage of umbrella becomes next to zero after Geththampana due to the open area and strong winds. We had our long overdue coffee from the shop just before the bridge. Already there was a group of people getting ready to climb for a Pooja and we started our hike around 11am, after 8.5hr journey, well literally.

Peacock Hills/ Moneragala is situated in Kotmale area which has a historical vallue. This is my visit to area to explore hidden places related to Princes Gemunu during his life at Kotmale.

Pada Yathra is an annual walk of devotees from Jaffna to Katharagama to worship God Kataragama. Majority of devotees walk from Okanda through Kumana and Yala National Parks. This is my experience of a volunteer medical camp to help devotees at Yala NP.

We leave from Anuradhapura around 8.00 a.m & our next destination was Polonnaruwa. On the way we visited Ritigala & Una Gala Wehera. After visiting these places we reached Polonnaruwa at around 5.00 p.m. Our first mission is finding a place to stay. After visiting few places we found a good place to stay.

Our son in Grade 1 & he getting long vacation in August. That means we were free from normal routine work. Then we decided to arrange a trip. We thought arrange a long trip. It will easy for us to visit many places & visit all relatives’ houses in one trip. On 30th June morning we went to Anuradhapura. But on that moment also we don’t have any fix plan. But one thing , I knew that this will be more than 10 days trip.

Hello everyone! Hope you’re all well and getting geared up for the up-coming festive season. Well, all the glamour of the festive season would’ve been over by the time you read this article. However, after our previous hike based at Kande Ela, there was a transitional period, very much like the “Nonagathaya” aka inauspicious time during April New Year. I was going mad with nowhere to go and was ready to walk up a wall when finally Hasi came into my rescue and we managed to do a small Waterfall Hunt in Colombo.

If it wasn’t for that, I’d’ve had to be admitted to a sanatorium. Even after that, there was a long wait before our scheduled journey to the Koslanda, Bandarawela and Demodara. The constant rains made me think of those gorgeous cascades falling majestically having been fed by the increased volume of water but I was stuck at home with no means to go see them. However, we planned to visit a few of them during our journey, most notably the Upper Diyaluma Falls or according to Dr. Eberhard Kautzsch who wrote the book “A Guide to the Waterfalls of Sri Lanka”, this could even be the Kudalu Ella.

We started our trip on 29 January 4.00 a.m & we reached to Rakwana town around 7.00 a.m. From there we took Deniyaya road to reach Aranya. We passed famous 10 bends ( Wangu Dahaya ) & surrounding view was superb. We reached Aranya at 8.00 a.m & first we had our breakfast there.

We got the news about poor family in Sandunpura – Dehiattakandiya. We plan to visit there to see that family. We took Mahiyangana bus from Pettah. It leaves 12.00 p.m & reached to Mahiyanganaya at 5.15 a.m.

We started our trip on 5th March on 5.30 a.m. We reached Pinnawala at 8.00 a.m. First we went to see newly open “Ape Gama”( The model of old village ) We spent nearly 1 ½ hrs there & went to Deliwala “Kotawehera”. The temple situated in Rambukkana – Dombemada main road. After worship the viharaya we went to Kele Dambulla Temple. It situated 4 – 5 km’s away from Deliwala “Kotawehera”. It also nice place & we have to climb more than 350 steps to Len Viharaya. After that we went to relatives house in Kadigamuwa.

We looked rural Temple who needs our help. We got news about Temple in Kelenikawewa in Galenbindunuwewa. We got bus from Pettah – Dutuwewa on 10th March. It leaves Colombo at 11.30 p.m & reached to Galenbindunuwewa at 4.30 a.m.
We met the thero & went to Kelenikawewa Temple.