The long weekend at the end of July was long awaited as it’s the only long weekend for 2015 until Christmas. We planned a train trip to up-country with cousins, an annual event during August school holidays. However for the 31st the train was fully booked so we had to reserve the train for the 30th – which gave us a bonus day to enjoy the cool climes.

Becoming an archaeologist had always been my dream and together with my like-minded friend Minol Peiris we contacted Dr. Nimal Perera of the Department of Archaeology to get our hands dirty on an archaeological dig. Dr. Perera encouraged us and said that he is currently heading the excavations of the Demala Maha Seya in Polonnaruwa and invited us to join.

Two years back I worked at Inginiyagala hospital and one day I came across a retired DWC officer who is well known because of the newspaper articles he wrote about Gal oya national park. Somehow we became friends and one day he mentioned about a special cave close to Mulgama where Vedda paintings could be found.

Yakkuragala was an isolated mountain with height situated in Dambulla area in between Dambulla-Matale (A9) and Dambulla-Bakamuna (බකමූණ) roads. As it has no archeology or historical importance, no body tries to climb it. Locals only visit there to pluck “Gal Siyambala”. Later I knew they also miss their return pathway once they reach the mountain.

Villagers believe “Yak Ura’s” (‍යක් ඌරා)-Devil Pig’s footsteps can be seen on the mountain. Therefore it is called Yakkuragala. But actual Yakkuragala is situated closer to the main Mountain.

Konduru hela is a prominent peak in the east which could be seen easily from Arugam bay to Akkareipattu. Some people even mistake this as Thoppigala. It is located at one of the most isolated and unexplored area called Komari (Panama proposed) forest reserve. I had been eyeing on this peak for a while and during my previous visit I met a local guy called Ran banda who promised to help me if needed.

Nalanda Rock (Arangala) is situated at Arangala-Naula with the height of 782m. It’s distance view is shape of an ear ring (Arungala (අරුoගල) ->Arangala අරoගල) gave the name Arangala. This isolated mountain is best seen when you travel from Dambulla to Matale via A-9 road, once you reach Naula bus stand. It has three peaks which makes the shape of an ear ring.

The historical legend of Sri Lanka starts from Vijaya, who was the eldest son of King Sinhabahu and queen Sinhasivali of Lata deshaya of India (Identified as present Rarh region of West Bengal) who landed at Thambapanni in 543BC with 700 followers. He became the ruler of the country starting the genealogy of kings of Sri Lanka. His administration was from Thambapanni, the area where he landed.

Matale district is blessed with number of beautiful waterfalls. Waterfalls in Bambaralla and Riverstone are most popular. Following waterfalls are situated closer to Matale town, still have got less attention.

Knuckles range is the all rounder in Nature sites. Why I am telling this because of its vast variation in climates, flora, fauna, geography etc…..Also there are hundreds of trails which can be categorized from easy to strenuous. Dangerous Lakagala, Tough Duwili Eli at Kalupahana, Strenuous Knuckles peaks, Moderate Manigala and easy Deanston are some examples….So you can satisfy any of your friends or loved ones at knuckles. Irrespective of their age, fitness level or other parameters ,Knuckles consist of one or more suitable trails for any of them. That’s why I called it as “THE ALL ROUNDER “

Few years back after the war there were some terrifying incidents in the East especially about vandalism of Archaeology sites by local ethnic population. One of those sites was Sagama Pagoda that was bulldozed and destroyed which lit up a big ethnic issue at that time. I thought it would be nice if I could visit this area and try to explore these sites to give the needed awareness. As always the Book of Ellawala Medananda thero was my guide. So me and my wife left towards Pottuvil early as possible to have some breakfast before initiating a hectic adventure.

The bus ride as usual is no worse than a roller coaster. I can still remember my first experience in the Jaffna-Kurikkattuvan bus when I visited Jaffna in 2013. These drivers don’t believe in driving slowly and they keep their foot firmly planted on the accelerator. No stopping or slowing down but keep going at the speed of wind. Fortunately the road from Jaffna to Kayts is under construction and most of it is finished. However it got really interesting when we turned towards Velanai and from there to Kurikkattuvan. The road is not in good shape especially the long Pungudutivu causeway. There are so many pot holes but the driver tried to go above them rather than slow down and take it easy.

The result was that we didn’t have our bottoms on the seat for second or two at a time. The bus would fall into a pit and down goes the seat leaving the bottoms hanging in mid-air. Then the bottom starts its downward journey but by then the fallen bus had started its upward journey thanks to the shock absorbers. This meant the bottoms going down would meet the seats coming up and have this collision. I just gave you the description of a fraction of a second process. This kept going on and on until I couldn’t feel my buttocks anymore. I kept touching them after getting down to make sure I had them still on me.

Hi everyone here I am once again with another fairy tale. Hope you enjoyed the last one when we looked around the heart of colorful Jaffna wandering along the bicycles infested streets. This time I’m taking you towards more rural areas with many more things to see. My friends and I have visited most of these places before and I guess you must have read some of their narrations. However I’m gonna bring them all back and hope you will find something better. Now you must be wondering where we are going. We’ll cover the northern part of Sri Lanka from Mathagal (Dambakola Patuna) to Manalkadu. There are many interesting places to visit and hope you will like what you see. It took me one full day and two half days to cover all of these but I’m hoping you would be able to visit them in less time after reading this.

I used all sorts of transport options from a tuk-tuk, a bicycle, public transport (bus and train) and a motorbike ride from a friend of mine. If you have your own vehicle, it’d so much easier to get around but how long it takes is purely up to you. A little bit of Tamil will certainly help but you can get by so long as you can act well and show them what you want with your face and arms. Ok, if you are ready, let’s see where we are going, shall we? I’m gonna put them in the order I visited but you could plan the best course of route after reading through. By the way, at the end, remind me to tell you what I have missed seeing as well so that you could add them also to your list.