I and three of my friends decided to attend the Somawathi religious function on 8th May. Along with that we decided to go to Aukana and the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. So we took off at 2.00 a.m. on 7th May from Kiribathgoda. We used a Maruti 800 as our transportation medium because of its fuel economy.

Around 5.00 a.m. we took a left turn from Mirisgoni Oya junction and headed to our first place of interest.

Last day of our trip we planned to visit Kalpitiya and Bathlangunduwa. We were so tired and got up late and started the journey around 8.30AM. It took lot of time as the Puttalam – Anuradhapura (A12) is under construction. On Our Way to Puttalam we stopped at “Thabbowa Wewa” and relaxed a bit. It is near karuwalagaswewa and it was a nice location to have breakfast.

Next Day was a big day for us as any of us haven’t been to Wilpattu National Park. Early morning we got up and headed to the park. Mr Chaminda Dissanayake, the owner of Kahala Jeep Safari gave us a great help arranging the best guides and the safari.

We started our journey around 12.30 AM and continuously drove up to Puttalam it was 2.45AM when we arrived Puttalam. From Puttalam there were 2 roads to go to Talei Mannar. Short one goes through Willpattu but it need a 4×4 vehicle and the other one through Madawachiya and joins A14 road. We chose the long drive as the Road through Willpattu opens at 4.30AM and it is a Hazardous journey. We came to know later when we arrived at Mannar the road through Willpattu was flooded.

I was bit worried because I couldn’t do a trip to knuckles but luck was on my side our guys decided to go on a trip & asked me a place to go  ! After doing the reservations from Baththaramulla we left on an early morning from Colombo to reach Mathale at around 10a.m where we bought all the stuff we needed & lunch packets. We then continued our journey towards Rattota in search of Bambarakiri Falls (fed by water streams of knuckles mountain range).

We left Colombo at around 4 pm on Friday, planning to stay overnight at the Wildlife Trust TREE centre at Randenigala. We left Kandy at around 7.30 pm after picking up a member of our group. It was a wet night and visibility was poor – interestingly the route tracked on my GPS (which has preloaded 1” topo maps of Sri Lanka) varied quite significantly from the roads marked on the map. We reached the barrier at the reservoir shortly before 10 pm – the road is closed to traffic at 10 pm, and reopened at 6 am, and reached the TREE centre soon afterwards.

After hours of traveling we were at another grate irrigation wonder of our ancients. That was the grate tank at Kantale, which was built by Kind Mahasen the grate and renovated by the Kings Agbo II and Grate Parakramabahu. We turned right at Kantale to visit Seruwavila. While passing few kilometers in that road, we realized the difficulty of driving a vehicle with low ground clearance, in such a road being under constructed. Our vehicle was fully utilized & loaded. This was our annual family journey of the year 2010.

We started our trip from Colombo at about 5 a.m. And we came to Kandy at about 8 a.m. We had our breakfast from a little restaurant but to be honest it was a horrible meal. After that we got in to a bus which goes on the rout ” Kandy – Udu Dumbara”. Also you can go to Hunnasgiriya by a “Mahiyangana” bus. we were in Hunnasgiriya when it was 12.30 p.m. We had our lunch there. It was awesome. They have two vans which go to Meemure everyday. only two vans. They come to Hunnasgiriya in the morning and leave at about 1.30. So we got in to one of those vans.

This was a family trip with other families of my father’s friends joining in. We started from Galle and proceeded via the Galle road up to Waskaduwa (Kalutara) and turned to Bandaragama and then took the route to Ratnapura. The first destination was Kirindi Ella near Pelmadulla. The road up to where the staircase leading to the base of the fall starts was not great but acceptable. The water level was probably just right and it was absolutely deserted. 🙂 Also the vicinity of the fall was unspoilt thankfully.

Dambadeniya is located in Kurunegala district, hiding a ruined ancient city. It has been the capital for more than five decades in ancient Sri Lanka. Much of the ancient city is still lied burring on a huge fortified rock. Dambadeniya was the third capital in ancient Sri Lanka. (1233 – 1283 A.D.) It was crowned by four kings. The pioneer King Wijayabahu-III (1233 – 1236 A.D), builds his royal palace on the rock at Dambadeniya & converted it to the capital of the country in 1233 A.D.

This was a family trip to Bandarawela. We traveled Rathnapura to Balangoda via Wewelwattha to see Dehena, Alupola and Beruwatta waterfalls. Second day we visited Adisham Bungalow and Thangamale sanctuary. Third day we visited Horton plains, New Zealand farm and Hakgala gardens. Last day we visited Bambarakanda falls on the way to home.

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