I was waiting to do this trip for a long time and fixed 1st September with my friend although we new meemure was quite dry at that time. Thanks for Lakdasun and Nadegura for your nice trip reports.Those were very useuful. Although Public transport was available we decided to go on my bike as we get the chance to stop where we want and see the beauty of surrounding. We left Colombo ( Battaramulla ) at 5.30 a.m. reached Kandy around 8.30. On the way stopped at kadugannawa for breakfast.

On a peaceful day I arrived at Ampara and took the Maha Oya road towards Piyangala junction and got down near the temple. There were a fleet of steps which took me towards a well-built “Kutiya” with an inscription. At that time there were about 100 visitors howling around forgetting that this was a monastery where monks meditated.

Raigama, according to some historians, was the seventh capital of ancient Lanka, after Anuradhapura (4th century BC – 10th century AD), Polonnaruwa (10th century – mid-13th century), Dambadeniya (1232–72), Yapahuwa (1272–93), Kurunegala (1293–1341) and Gampola (1341–47). It is said to have been the capital for 68 years, until Parakramabahu VI moved to the comforts of Sri Jayawardenepura-Kotte in 1415 (Wikipedia.)

“It was the rainy season after the Buddha preached his first discourse to the five ascetics of Isipatana and due to the rains his preaching tours were cut down and he followed the ancient practice to spend the rainy season “Vas” in one place of residence carrying out his work on the Dhamma.

Jaffna was a place from my childhood – a place that had happy memories of unrestricted travel within the peninsula and meeting loads of friendly people. Language was never a barrier as my limited Tamil with lots of gestures managed to get what I wanted! But that was in early 1970s.

Once reaching Anuradhapura town by road and travel up to Jaffna junction_( Yapane Handiya) its KM199 from that point to Jaffna. At Ranbewa it’s connected to the A9 road extending from Kandy to Jaffna. The road came to prominence during the war
Once reaching Vavuniya the gate way pictured below is the entrance to the North the predominantly Tamil area.

There are days when you plan to go somewhere and end up been at another place, this was one of those days. My main objective was to find Vila Oya Budupatuna but ended up visiting few other places I never intended to do so. My journey starting point was Monaragala, so early morning I took the first bus towards Kotiyagala and got down at 5th milepost junction to inquire about Vila oya budupatuna but unfortunately no one had ever heard about the place, so I had to call my friend Theshantha to get some help because he knows the region better than me

I saw this ad on Anything.lk about 60% reduction (7200/- only from the Actual fee of 18,000/-) on Hot Air Ballooning in Kandalama and as always the adventurous soul in me willingly agreed to explore

We stopped at Wahalkada in Warakapola for breakfast. This turned out to be an excellent one. They serve buffet (a bit expensive – but once in a while on a day like this, it’s worth going for something like that) breakfast with a wide range of meals such as Egg Hoppers, String Hoppers, Rice and Curry, Rotii, etc… However, they serve Kenda which was one of the very best I’ve ever had.

During a one of my field visits to Vavniya and Mannar, we had likelihood to visit few archeological and Hindu sacred places in Mannar and Silavaturei. Weather was good but too dry and wind impregnated with dust. Most of the Mannaer main roads are really good and newly rehabilitated. Railway constructions are going on up to thaleimannar. First we visited Biobab tree which is situated in the heart of the Mannar island city

My kids school vacation is almost end and I was busy with my new job unable to take them for this holiday but luckily I was able to get some off days on the long weekend of Binara poya. After reading so many beautiful trip reports from Lakdasun I was forced by myself to take my kids out of our routine destinations (Nuwara Eliya or a Down south hotel) to show them the beauty of mother Lanka and to make them love with the nature.

It was a Monday, the 4th day of our Jaffna visit. Earlier we were planned to go to Nainativu on the previous day and postponed it to the 4th day. The reason for that was we got to know the annual festival of the Nagadeepa Kovil was going on those days and Monday was the last day of it. So we wanted to be there for the final grand festival.