It was December holidays again we decided to have a family trip and we opted to cover part of the East this time. On a Friday I made some calls to two friends at Ampara and Trinco and got 2 hotels booked. This was intended to be a road trip with time to rest in between.

Trinco is a destination we haven’t visited for nearly a decade and I always thought of Trinco as “dry and arid”. My recent visit to Trinco really opened my eyes – how green and vibrant Trinco is with its blue lagoons eating into the land at every corner making one wonder whether it’s the lagoon or the ocean!

It was Vesak holidays and I wanted to visit some temples just like I did in 2013. Though I have been to Tinco as a kid I have not properly explored this region. So after some intensive planning with the aid of online and offline literature I was all set for this 2015 Vesak expedition. We knew that this was going to be a tough one especially with the extreme heat but we were up to the task. The added advantage was that every Buddhist temple was decorated for Vesak and it was easy to locate. The disadvantage was that it was too crowded since it was a long holiday.

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.

We left Colombo at about 11.30am on 10th October 2011 and reached Kantale at about 4.30 pm.Up to Habarana it was normal traffic but beyond few vehicles and broad wide carpet road. We were cruising at 110KMPH, but slowed down close to Kantale as traffic cops were in the road with speed check gun.

We intended to cover Trinco and surrounding places of interest as much as possible and the trip was planned to the minute detail. However unexpected bad weather, poor road conditions and Grease Yaka prevented us from touching all places, meaning another trip when time permits!!!!

I started the journey from Colombo at mid night and arrived at Trincomalee at 6.30am in the following morning. At 8.00am there was a bus to Pulmoddai and I got in to that bus. After three hours I got down at Pulmoddai town. On the way I saw three great bridges that were newly constructed (Irrakkandi, Kuchchaveli and Yaan oya). I was unable to photograph those because the bus was fully crowded.