A Study in Scarlet

I saw this bright red seeds / fruits recently in a house near Pepiliyana. The tree which was about 15 feet tall seems to belong to the family of palm trees. I saw lot of birds attracted to the same but I did not try to eat them although they look very edible. I was unable to find the name of this interesting palm.

Any guess anyone?

Coastal Belt from Chilaw to Kalpitiya

The stretch of coastline North of Colombo up to Chilaw has been quite popular for tourism and leisure activities for a long time.

After the situation of the country turns better the tourism industry seem to be thriving in this region and beyond. Recently the region North of Chilaw up to Kalpitiya is also attracted by many large scale hotel companies both local and foreign.

The coastal belt between Chilaw and Kalpitiya up to now remains as a quite remote area explored by a few tourists and locals only. This region is rich with unique natural eco-system that is not found in other parts of the country. One such place is Anawilundawa area, which I mentioned sometime back. In addition the Mundal Lagoon area, the coastal belt up to Kalpitiya and the most of the main land coastline up to Wilpattu National Park and beyond, still remain as unspoiled area.

The above picture was taken at the beach front east of Anawilundawa close to a small fishing village called, Udappuwa.

Suburban Sky

This picture was taken yesterday from Nugegoda, a suburban town close to Colombo.
It is a pity that these sceneries last only a few minutes.

Rozella Station

I like railway stations. Typically, less crowded ones in the outstations. I particularly like the ones in hill country and down south. I remember some interesting little stations like Demodara in the Uva Province and Thalpe in the Southern Province long time back when I used to travel so often. We used to travel in the foot board of the train and step down at every station that the train stops. That was real fun!

This particular station, called Rozella located between Nawalapitiya and Hatton in the upcountry railway line, is one such lonely little station. I have uploaded more pictures of upcountry railway stations here.

Cricket, Lovely Cricket

The island nation is a cricket fanatic country. You experience the most electrifying of atmospheres in a cricket ground in Sri Lanka. It is not just cricket but lots of entertainment as well: The papare* bands to DJ music; Variety of food and drinks; and of course the vibrant spectators from all walks of life!

This beautiful setting sky illuminated by the flood lights was captured at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo during one of the recent one day international cricket match between India and Sri Lanka.

*Note: 3-4 member band with unplugged music using drums, trumpets and trombones

Taprobane to Ceylon

Sri Lanka has a long history and most prominently it has one of the longest written histories in the world. Throughout the time Sri Lanka was known by many names by different countries and historians.

The king Vijaya, a prince from Wanga Desha (probably West Bengal) named this land, ‘Thambapanni’. Subsequently he became the first recorded king of the island. As per the chronicles he landed here in 543 BC.

Later in the 2nd century AD, the Greek mathematician, Ptolemy marked this country as ‘Taprobane’ in his famous world map. The Taprobane he mentioned was quite bigger, yet the unmistakable location clarifies that he wanted to show Sri Lanka in the map.

Later on, the Arab merchants (as well as Persians) used to call this country as ‘Serendib’. Also there are records that Chinese called Sri Lanka as Si-Lan. The 14th century explorer Marco Polo, visited Sri Lanka and he went on to record that he found many pearls and precious stones in the Island of Seylan.

Since, 16th century AD, many European nations ruled Sri Lanka partially and later on the British controlled the entire country for more than a century (1815 – 1948). The Portuguese the first of the European nations who invaded, called the country Celao and subsequently Zeilan by the Dutch. The British named this island as Ceylon and it was used during major part of the 20th century until it was officially changed to ‘Sri Lanka’ in 1972.

To read more about Sri Lanka click here.

The picture above shows a moonstone, a typical stepping stone found in many Sri Lankan temples. To learn more about them read this post by Harumi.

Kala Wewa

This beautiful tank, Kala Wewa is situated in the North Central Province. You can reach here on your way to Anuradhapura (via Dambulla) by turning off at Kekirawa town.

Kala wewa was built by the King Dhatusena in the 5th century AD. In fact the King built another tank (Balalu) adjacent to this one and the two tanks are joined to form one of the biggest tanks in Sri Lanka (Kala - Balalu wewa)

There are many interesting places to visit close to this area. Some of the key places are mentioned below.
• Aukana buddha statue - A standing buddha statue date back to the same period as the tank. The statue is situated by the side of the tank
• Jaya Ganga - An ancient canal that link Kala Wewa and Thisa Wewa of Anuradhapuara.

The above picture was taken from the bund of the tank, which I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.

Panorama of East

This exquisite panorama was captured at Buddhangala near Ampara. I have seldom seen a view so vast yet so clear.

Please click the image to enlarge it. More similar views from the same venue are uploaded here.

Great Western Mountain

This is a colossal mountain in the central highlands situated in a very picturesque setting. If you travel by train you will see this between Thalawakele and Nanuoya, while passing Great Western railway station as seen in the above picture.

This is regarded as one of the more difficult climb in the hill country as there are a few sharp slopes to surmount to reach at the top.

Once I tried to climb this but could not complete it. We set off for Great Western on a Saturday morning from Colombo and got down at Great Western Station. We walked along the railway track and started climbing along the edge facing the railway track. We lost our way a few times and then finally got stranded at one of the steep edges. All of us were in a hurry to report back at work in the Monday morning, so sadly we had to call it off and return back home.

Anyway it was a great experience and hoping to do it again with a better plan soon.

Kirinda Beach

This is a similar beach to the one I posted a few days back. The difference may be that this one is more popular and you may see lots of visitors here every day.

Kirinda, is situated South of Sri Lanka close to Yala National Park. This is a popular beach venue for thousands of devotees who go on pilgrimage to Katharagama – The place of worship, South of Sri Lanka where all Sri Lankans visit so religiously regardless of their religion or creed.

There is a small temple in this place on top of a medium size rock outcrop facing the sea. As per the historical chronicles, a princess was sacrificed to the sea to prevent a catastrophic sea wave (Tsunami?) that destroyed the land in the Western coast of Sri Lanka more than 2000 years ago. To some extra ordinary reasons the sea wave was immediately suppressed and this princess survived and landed back at a remote beach South of Sri Lanka. People believe Kirinda is that historical place, where this princess landed safely. Subsequently this brave princess became famous as Queen Vihara Maha Devi.

This beach is one of the most attractive beaches in the Southern coastal belt.

Ambewela

Ambewela is a very picturesque area in the hill country and you reach here on the way to Horton Plains just before Pattipola. It is situated 6000 feet above the sea level and the temperature is always around 15ºC through out the year.

The climatic conditions are ideal for rich grasslands and to raise dairy cattle with high yield of milk production, therefore this area is popular for dairy farming. In addition the same area is popular for tea plantation and vegetable cultivation.

Above picture was taken from the train while passing Ambewela area.