Outward bound:6.05 am train from Colombo Fort. A long long train which seemed to be going everywhere – Anuradhapura, Pollonaruwa, Batticaloa, Trincomalee…so make sure you sit in the correct carriage or your destination may change! Real great fun was watching the train ‘change tracks’ at the Polgahawela, Mahawa, etc. After the Anuradhapura carriages were detached, we suddenly found ourselves at the end of the train rather than the middle

We met an elderly person and asked about climbing the Lakegala mountain. He said that season is not good for climbing Lakegala because of the strong wind. But we were not in a mood to give up the idea of climbing Lakegala. That night we camped in the jungle near Memure village. And it was a terrible night, because of heavy wind our tents were going to crash. We had to hold the tent most of the time.

We had breakfast and traveled back on the Thanamalwila road until we arrived at Buduruwagala junction (5Km from Wellawaya) from here it was 4Km towards Buduruwagala. We had to walk all the way because there weren’t any three-wheelers, but we never regretted. The walk was wonderful because we were able to enjoy the breath taking view of Buduruwagala Lake at sun rise. After about 1Km from the lake we reached Buduruwagala which was a very peaceful place in the dense forest.

Actually this was an official journey to Mahiyanganaya but we planned it out to perfection. We took the 11.45pm bus to Mahiyanganya (the bus was packed @10.45pm) and the journey was a long one and we never regretted the night journey because the road trough Hunnasgiriya was heavily under construction these days. After the bus tackled the 17 hair pin bends, it was time for us to get down at Gurulupotha. The time was 5.30a.m so we decided to have breakfast at a nearby Tea shop and started our journey towards the Seetha Kotuwa ruins at Gurulupotha (the path starts near to the Rest house).

We reached Medawachchiya by 4.00 am. From Medawachchiya to Vavunia, the road condition is not good mainly due to construction work. The stretch is only 26 km but it took nearly 1 ½ hours as the traffic is heavy and our car could not proceed at the same phase with majority of busses which came from all parts of the country. We reached Vavuniya by 5.30 am and proceeded straight to Omantai Army Check Point.By that time, dawn was arriving and we were surrounded by lot of vehicles going towards the same destination.

There were few places that I have visited previously that I thought of visiting again. It was a bit of a different journey for me(out of the routine) compared to my previous once! I really wanted to see the sun rise at Maligatenna but I got a bit late, nevertheless I reached there at around 7am and climbed up until I came to the Meda Maluwa & set my self off to the top of Maligatenna. The scenery was awesome as always. As I know this is the highest place in Gampaha District and one can enjoy the breath taking view of Siyane Korale from top of it!

Drove from Colombo to Kandy, took the scenic route along Raja Mawatha, past Victoria, Randenigala and Rantambe reservoirs and along the Minipe canal to Mahiyanganaya. It was almost dark when leaving Mahiyanganaya after visiting the temple. From there to Rathkinda, we took a long route for the fear that the causeway at Ulhitiya might be flooded.

Last week end, my self and Chamara (member) spent an evening at the rampart, Galle. We thought it is better to add some pictures from this historical fortress, a world heritage.

While at the top of the fort we saw a ship coming in to the Galle harbor. So the next day we manage to have a visit to the harbor. There we could experience how a ship brought in to the jetty.

A week end trip to Kalpitiya was planned as a family vacation. The main attraction was the dolphins but some detours to see interesting sites on the way were also in the itinerary.
We started around 4.00 am on a Saturday – just 3 of us in our car. En route to Palavi along A3, we visited the Munnewaram Kovil in Chilaw. The Munnewaram Hindu Kovil has many little shrines within the main complex; dedicated to various Hindu deities. Photography is not allowed inside the kovil.

On the 24th of December three of us got up early morning & went to Galle railway station at 0645 am to catch “Ruhunu Kumari.At about 0900am we reached to Colombo & got a bus to Galenbindunaweva from Colombo central bus stand. After completing a six hours travel we reached to Muriyakadawala at about 0300pm.Then asked the route to the Labunoruwa monastery from a villager. He was more polite & showed us the path. We had to travel about 03km to reach the entrance of the forest

We booked the Luxury AC bus in advance and it starts near Isipathana College and costs 4000 Rupees Return. (Believe me it’s worth every cent we paid)
We went there by 9.30PM although bus starts at 10PM they checked IDs and then we packed our bags in to bags compartment in the bus. Bus left around 11PM. The bus is super luxury with reclining seats and headrest. But the bus has seal type windows.

This time we got it all wrong we got in to a Badulla bus from Colombo and without getting off at Balangoda we got down from Pambahinna and had to take a three-wheeler up to Mulgama which was about 18Km but never the less the journey through the Samanala Wewa forest part was a totally different experience, we also had a stop to enjoy the view of Samanala Wewa. On the way to Mulgama We noted a huge water-flow across the road which was leaking through the mountain, now this is the famous leak of Samanala project, as we heard this water leak runs through a mountain which borders the reservoir.