After much planning and anticipation we left Kandy at 8.00 am on 30th October 2010. We had our breakfast of bread, pol sambol and Srinath’s mom’s milk rice (yum yum) just past Palapathwela under a big roadside tree. We proceeded to Dumbulla while munching boiled bada iringu on the way. We bought all our provisions from the Dambulla Cargill’s Foodcity. Fully equipped, we left Dambulla and headed straight to Galkadawala. We reached the lodge by 11.30 am. We were greeted by Kariyawasam, the friendly caretaker. We were stunned by the serene environment and the simple beauty of the lodge.

Started from Rathnapura (My Home) around 5.45 am , took 15 minutes to reach Rathnapura town . From there, straight to Balangoda (46km), early in the morning no traffic at all, Reached Balangoda By 6.50 am . Pumped Fuel and had a cup of coffee from a small “appa kade” It’s too early for me to have breakfast .Next stop will be at “ SUN HILL – HOLIDAY RESORT” owned by Udaya Abeysekara a friend of mine for breakfast .By 7.30 I was there “Sudu Bath and Pol Sambola” for my Breakfast. Spend about 45 minutes at Sun Hill.

The very idea of being able to visit Delft was so exiting since it has been relatively inaccessible for a long time. We were all excited in spite of being forewarned about having to forego the usual creature comforts that we were all accustmed to when on holiday. The varied sites all within this island also stirred our curiosity.
Eight of us, together with our van driver and a guide from Jaffna, visited Delft Island in September 2010.

Originally inhabited by the aboriginals commonly known as Yukkas. A monastery is believed have been built here first but subsequently known to have been used by a order of recluse monks who practiced a austere life style. No mention of this order of monks has been found since 12th century at Ritigala or else where and probably the monastery also has been abandoned since then. Ritigala was rediscovered by the then government surveyor James Mantell in 1872. Ritigala had been used as a base for battle by Pandukabhaya the founder of Anuradhapura city.

The trip was planned mainly to get away from all the stresses of our usual schedules. We wanted to visit Ritigala as most of us had not been there and Galkadawala was selected as it came highly recommended by one my friends. It was also perfect for the activities we had in mind – visit Ritigala, see the Gathering at Minneriya, photography and to relax. There was no TV, no telephone and that was just perfect for us (except for those who couldn’t bear to be away from their mobiles 🙂 )

August 2010 was a super holiday for me. The very first day of the holiday started with a camping trip to Kumana. It was followed by a visit to the Jaffna Peninsula and a stay at Dehi Gaha Ela in Dambulla. This camping trip to Nilgala was going to be the last before school re-opens. We reached the Nilgala NP by late afternoon and straight away went to ‘Mahadrowwa‘ camping site. It was a nice place by the side of Gal Oya. We unloaded all what we had taken and pitched our tents. Oh! Yes, we had a bath in the river too. It was a nice and safe place to bathe.

We had to travel few kilometers towards Tanamalwila and another few on a sub route to reach Budhuruwagala, where a series of giant statues carved embossing partly on a huge rock. The main was a statue of Lord Budhdha in “Abaya Mudra” said to be 43ft in height. Statues of “Avalokitheshwara” & “Manju Sri” Bodhi-Sathwa(s) and Goddess “Thara” had been identified among the rest. As per the view of archeologists, all the statues were belonged to Mahayana tradition in 8th century.

Our first travel location of the journey was not so far from Amitirigala. It was the tomb of the King Seethawaka Rajasinghe, located 2km before Talduwa.
At Talduwa itself, we met our second travel location of the day. It was the Berendi kovil. To reach there we had to travel nearly 100m along a narrow road, starting from Talduwa. The kovil was identified as the only evidence of rock buildings remaining in Kotte era.

Although it was a 3 day trip arranged by ‘Lakdasun’, for me it was much more than that as we were invited to stay at ‘Back of Beyond – DEHI GAHA ELA’ in Dambulla, a couple of days more by Uncle Yohan.
I had seen photographs of this place and I knew it was going to be a fantastic holiday. I was so excited about it.

First night we were planning to stay in Kandy at Deepals bungalow and since it was perahara season getting out of Colombo were deficit with lots of traffic heading towards Kandy and we ook a quick decision to proceed via Jaela/minuwangoda/Giriulla/Kurunagala/Katugasthota/Kandy, drive was superb with very little traffic (route slightly longer than Colombo kandy main road 20Km longer) Good road network, you wont feel the drive.

My mother was going to Jaffna for work. As it was my school holidays my father and I also decided to joined her. It was going to be my very first visit to the Jaffna Peninsula. My parents said that it was not going to be a site seeing visit but, only a visit for me to see what the Peninsula looks like.

We started at Peradeniya at 5.00 am and reached the trail head, which was about 9 km from the Visitor Centre at Horton Plains towards Ohiya, at 11.00 am. I know six hours to do a distance that was just a little over 100 km was totally unacceptable considering the facts our hired van was so… good, the driver was so… cool, road was so… private, and what was more, we all wanted to get to the trail head as early as possible.