We arrived to Anuradhapura around 4.00 p.m on 16th evening. First we had little rest & then we visit to “Mirisawetiya Viharaya”. Next we went to “Isrumuniya Viharaya” & “Ran Masu Uyana”.

Next day morning we start our journey & went to Anuradhapura. On the way we went to Awkana Raja Maha Viharaya. Around 3.00 p.m we reached to Anuradhapura.

We started our journey around 7.30 a.m & first visit to Sri Maha Bodhi & Ruwanweliseya. After that we went to other important places until 11.30 a.m. After that we went to Thisa Wewa & having good time in water. After having our lunch we had a little nap under the roadside tree. Around 3.00 p.m we started our journey again.

I had a booking of 3 nights at Anuradhapura for a different purpose but it was suddenly cancelled. Since all plans has been made to be out of Colombo, we decided to make a best of it and take a long vacation especially for kids.

Since most of the places visited are common, this report will be more of a photo journey with little text.

We have visited Mannar on June 15th as one day trip. On the way to Mannar we were able to visit at following places mainly having archaeology importance. Though it is bit expired story I thought to write it down as it would be important to anyone who travel to Mannar from Colombo along this way.

When we visited Mannar in 2014 we took the route through Thantirimale and on our way we did note many Black archeology boards. Since we skipped on Thantirimale during that visit we thought of loitering around Oyamaduwa while the north east monsoons were ending its all island havoc. We knew that Thantirmale was a huge site with an endless rocky plateau so we left home very early and reached Thantirimale at around 6.40am.

The long weekend in October was eagerly awaited as a trip to Mannar was planned with family friends. Unfortunately, at the last moment they couldn’t make it, but we decided to keep to our plans though the kids were a little disheartened. We left home (Nawala) at 5 in the morning and took our first break at the dried out Thabbowa Tank around 8am. We expected some bird activity but guess we were too late for that.

Year and Month April, 2013 Number of Days Four Day Trip Crew Five (Myself, wife, daughter and two sons) Accommodation Four Tees Rest Inn at Mannar and a private house at Wilpattu Transport Car Activities A Family trip, Visiting Adam’s bridge, Wild life Weather Excellent Route Gampaha -> Puttalam -> Nochchiyagama -> Oyamaduwa -> Thanthirimale -> […]

Our first stop was at Kurunegala for our breakfast. After the breakfast we drove through Dambulla,Nelumkulama and turned left to Anuradhapura air force camp road through Wilachchiya road to Nellikulama. Nellikulama was a modern temple but its concept was little different from our traditional temple.

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.