රාත්රිටය පිලියන්දල ගත කලෙමු. පසු දින උදයේ ලබුනෝරුව බලා පිටත් විය. එදින දිවා ආහාරය ඉබ්බන්කටුව ජලාශය අසලදී ගත් අප ලබුනෝරුවට ළඟවනවිට සවස් වී තිබුනි. රිටිගල කඳු පාමුල පිහිටි ලබුනෝරුව ආරණ්ය සේනාසනය ඉතා නිස්කලංක ස්ථානයක් වන අතර ඊට මද දුරක් ඈතින් පිහිටා ඇති මූරියන්කඩවල වැව රිටිගල කන්දත් සමග දර්ශනීය දසුනක් මවාපායි

We started our journey from Nuwera eliya to Nanuoya station in the early morning. There was a train from Nanuoya to Ambewela station at 9.20am. It took 30-45 minutes to travel from Nanuoya to Ambewela.( 8Km) Elgine water fall can be usually seen when you are travelling in this railway route.

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

One friend Tharaka out of blue moon asked if I would join with him for a trip to Handapanagala. I immediately wanted to know who was going as I’m always wary of people who go on trips as I consider myself more reserved and a nature lover than someone who goes on trips just to drink and waste time. However, after Tharaka’s repeated assurances that the crowd was ok, I was willing. Another reason was Handapanagala is very famous for its tank and the possibility of seeing my favorite elephants was very high.

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.

We then set off towards Vavuniya hoping to reach Killinochchi before noon and meet our friendly soldier who took us around the surrounding area. Just before Iranamadu, we visited the statue of one of our great heroes, Cpt. Saliya Aladeniya who sacrificed his life while trying to protect the telecommunication tower there.

So on the 15th morning, we (highly excited bunch) left Colombo around 5.30 am. There was ample room in the van since it was only 7 of us (including the driver) and soon we reached Ratnapura and stopped for Breakfast. Kadala, String Hoppers, Red Rice with Kiri Hodi, Sambola and Fish may sound like a feast as we wolfed down the food. Then we reached Udawalawa and stopped around the park to take the breath taking view of the reservoir in.

Thankfully the rain had stopped and only then I knew they had a bird park too. Being a great fan of birds, I wanted to buy tickets for both and they gave a special package for both. The person at the ticket counter advised us to first visit the water world and then go to the bird park. So taking his advice we went inside the water world.

So along the road to the castle we went happily. (Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera, however, the previous month I had bought my new phone, Trusted Nokia X6 and it has a 5 MP camera which I had to be content with. However, the pics came nicely, so much better than I anticipated, however I again want to visit the place more leisurely with my digital camera)

I’m crazy about N’Eliya and it’s a habit of mine to go there every year (from 2000). However, I couldn’t arrange anything coz all my friends were tied up with something or the other. By 26 December, I was feeling miserable and my legs were itching for some exercise. So I made up my mind to go on my own. I was initially planning to leave early morning, just walk around the town, park and Gregory Lake and come back in the evening.

We had to leave the boat there and walk about 1km up to the Entrance of the Hill which holds the temple and the famous cave complex. The surrounding area was so picturesque and very remote even though it belongs to the Western Province. We reached the entrance to the mountain around 12.30 and immediately began our ascend.

Though the object village in the tale drama was situated at Uva province, the film location used by the producer was not far from us. Actually, it was located few kilometers off Narammala. The remote village where the community hall (Ambalama) existed was known as Karagahagedara. This is the story of how we explored the historical Ambalama at Karagahagedara.