Hikkaduwa

Well, my travel sojourn to Lanka is not complete yet. I abruptly stopped writing about them. When you visit a new place, meet new people, learn about the place, discover the culture; gaze in awe the food, the practices; to the amusement of the locals; you want to come home and share it all. You want to save all those experiences somewhere; in a diary; for you to read years later and reminisce or better write about it and share the joys with others. But after a while; you just stop doing it. It doesn't matter holding onto the memory; what it matters is experiencing the experience then and then moving on. But I think I will share them here; sharing is good :)

The final leg of journey was falling into the sea to laze and relax, with a can of beer in hand. Yeah, so after those cultural, high country and other tours; traveled along the coast from south east to south of Sri Lanka. The base was Hikkaduwa; from there roamed around Galle and back. The days were just as what the beach days could be;  a room with back door kissing the Indian ocean; bright sunny days and partying nights.

The towns along the coasts were interesting.Visited turtle hatchery, roamed around the village of Rathgama - now known as Lasith Malinga's village, explored the shops selling famous Ambalangoda masks; haggling at a workshop hoarded with antiques. Connected over a common language with a couple of Muslims jewelers..and not last but the best - being invited to Indika's home for an authentic lunch. It was once in a lifetime experience; I do not remember how many times I have told this - once in a lifetime experience.

Never mind my incapability in expressing the joys of travels; words can never do justice. Nor even pictures; however let me try :)

Hikkaduwa beach; thronged by Europeans....

Saw scores of these star fishes on the rocks enjoying the sun. 

Just outside the hotel room veranda was the sea. 2004 tsunami  has changed the sea scape; the corals are exposed now...

A stilt fishing  platform. Stilt fishing is famous in Sri Lanka. Fishermen sit on the platform where the 3 sticks converge and fish in shallow waters

Turtle hatchery farm. Its a non profit conservation effort by few folks wanting to protect turtles. Turtles are protected; eggs are collected from the shore, hatched, babies looked after and left at sea.Many endangered specieis like Loggerhead, Green back, Ridleys were protected and sustained. The males are left at sea after 3 days of birth; whereas the females are looked after for 4-5 years being left out at sea.

They grow as big as these...and weigh ~50 kgs easily. It was good to see these creatures being protected. The eggs buried in sand, maintaining right temperature and taking care of their food and health with little or no financial help is a great deed.

This one is white; handicapped. In the sense being white is abnormal and is prone to be attacked at sea by predators due to easy visibility.

The world famous masks of Ambalangoda; these are traditional hand painted masks made from Kaduru wood. The masks were used for healing, rituals and witch craft purposes. Each face symbolizes curing a certain disease...

The middle one is the 18 sanni mask which has cures for 18 diseases. Each face represents a disease; the story is more elaborate; as to how these masks were used. I forgot them :)

Vihara built by Japanese after the Tsunami at Hikkaduwa, Galle

The Tsunami Memorial; the 2004 tsunami derailed a train with 1000+ people on board.

An art shop on the sea coast road.

Dondra Head

As if it were not enough for a treat to appease our visual sense at Hummanaya blow hole; had another detour before retiring for the night at Hikkaduwa. I was reading the book on Sri Lanka; I was traversing the route we were taking and about the towns we were passing through. I came across a red encircled dot on the map of Sri Lanka (the way I have circled in this map)

Yes, the southern most tip of the land. The spot being the southern most tip of the country was not the one that enticed me; we have Cape of Comorin in India and its nice to see that endless ocean. What is unique is that nothing else stands between this cape of land and Antarctica except the empty never-ending ocean. :)

Also read that there is an offshore lighthouse at that point. Took detour and it was pretty dark by then. The light from the light house guided us to the point. As we talked near the lighthouse; I was awestruck by its height and its octagonal shape. We were looking for some one to talk to but all we could hear were the loud crash of the waves. Then from nowhere a Doberman appeared and cornered us. Couldn't move an inch; it sniffed us in all possible places and then walked away only when it sensed we were safe. The keepers of the lighthouse - a government employee and his wife stayed beside in a house just beside the lighthouse. The lady said we could go inside the lighthouse. I couldn't believe it. I think no one is legally permitted to enter the lighthouse; but the lady and the man sensed some quick bucks from foreigners. It was dark so who cared. Anyway; I did break my ethics just to not miss this once in a lifetime opportunity and I am not guilty.

The light house is the highest in Asia. It was built during the British period; the inside of the light house exuded all British; right from fire equipment to wrought iron steps; even the building materials seemed to be imported from England . The light house was 7 floors and 161 ft in height. After admiring the ground floor; we started climbing the stairs - 196 steps in all. We climbed and climbed; as I went up; I was equally excited and scared because I know I am going to see something different but also I do not have the permission.

As I climbed; marveled at the excellent maintenance; the lighthouse is still active. The radar screen guiding the ships, the old light installed by the British and now lying as a witness. Finally to the top; tired and excited; the light was so powerful; it guided the ships up to 30 nautical mile radius. Enough said; pictures now.

The octagonal light house.  In the left corner is Velu and Indika; gives an idea of the height of the light house

Equipments as listed there - made in Middlesex, England

The spiral wrought iron stair case

The top! 40 1000W bulbs set on 3 sides of a triangle. 

The steps tread

 Radar screen. The blue line is the light of lighthouse and the purple dots are ships.

The southern most tip and the wave crashing. I think it would have been picturesque during day light 

Hummanaya Blow Hole

Then we reached the coastal town of Tangalle. Indika mentioned about a rare phenomenon. Though we had trouble communicating to each other since we didn't have a common language I understood he was trying to mention about something spectacular and that we should witness it. It was just 5 kms away in the coastal town of Dikwella.

We took detour; this was our second detour for the day. Trekked for 10 minutes and came to a rocky cliff. There were not many around. Came across a rusted and peeled off small board about blowhole.

Even as we walked we could hear the sound of water. Period of silence and then the rumbles. Waited on the rocky cliff; just waited for it to happen. And then it did. The pressure builds up and after a while the water just spews up like a fountain with a huge 'whooshing' sound. A small fissure among the rocks which was a long narrow crack like a chimney through which the water came shooting up like a tall fountain about 70 feet in height. During high tides; they reach upto 120 feet is what I heard. Seeing it was an exhilarating experience; one must see it to believe it. This is the second time I could not believe when I read water spewing out like a fountain from below the earth (The first time was watching The Old Faithful of California) 

It happens once in every 15 minutes; I witnessed it twice and as it grew dark; waited and waited. It did not happen the third time. The sun was down and we turned away to go; and then heard it again and I missed the third time which was more taller than previous two. I didnt attempt to capture it on camera because its momentary and then I would miss seeing it live. Those interested can see it on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO0dAplClkU

The sun went down. I thought we should have arrived a bit early. Nevertheless the scene was spectacular.

The fissure from where the water spouts out

We walked down  and chose one of the many home cum tea shop to have tea. As we sat in the makeshift shop waiting for tea; we couldn't help notice the damages on the ceilings and walls. We recognized what it was. The coastal areas of Lanka were affected by 2004 Tsunami. All through the 3 days stay in Galle/Hikkaduwa, saw many seaside buildings destroyed and now standing among weeds and shrubs as mute witnesses to nature's fury.

Detours on the way to Galle

The drive from Nuwara Eliya to Hikkaduwa was the most scenic one. We were to cross the hill country side of Nuwara Eliya and Ella, get down to the plains and drive along Tissamaharama, coastal areas of Mathara, Hambantotta, Tangalle, Dondra, Galle and Hikkaduwa.

The plan was to finish the cultural and historic visit first and then go jump in the ocean to relax. Thats what got us to Galle and Hikkaduwa. But we did a lot of detours on the way; explored caves, got access to a lighthouse, visited a turtle hatchery to name a few.

To see the landscape change from chilly tea estates of Nuwara Eliya to dense forest of Yala and a dry rustic corner of Kataragama; more greens as we go and the heat and humidity of the coastal areas...These variations in the landscape in less than 8 hours of your journey was something that surprised me.

After Ravana caves; we continued from Ella as the roads snaked through many small towns and villages. The A roads are the NH like roads in India. We took a detour from a point to visit Kataragama. We had no plans initially but since Kataragama has a famous Hindu temple of Skanda(Lord Muruga) and is a sacred temple for Tamils; we decided to visit. The roads were dusty and it was not tarred; the sun was up; we still bore the heat and bumpy ride only to find the temple closed for the noon. We did not want to spend time waiting and hence walked behind the temple complex to a 1st century Kiri Viharaya.

What was interesting was that the Hindu temple was transformed to a Buddhist temple with Dagobas, prayer flags and the compound decorated with Elephant idols (sacred to Buddhists). Buddhists believe Lord Skanda is the guardian deity of Sinhala Buddhism and hence the influence. It seemed the temple is very sacred to Hindus; Tamils from all over Sri Lanka visit it once a year for the festival; it seems the scenes are gory since devotees indulge in violent ways to offer their prayers to God like piercing and nailing their body.

As we continued; it was amazing to see the road discipline in people except for the public buses (the drivers were harsh). On A roads; after every 5 km there were police watching for speeding and crossing the yellow lines. Another obvious thing was every other initiative (be it new roads, stadiums) was named Mahinda Rajapakse. People seem to prefer him since he ended Prabhakaran's regime.

Lunugamvehera Reservoir across Kirindi Oya on the way to Kataragama. Oya means River and this one provided water to the province of Uva where Kataragama is situated. The trees in the water were a shade of green that was enticing.

A canal fetching the water.

Dusty lanes; saw a huge monitor lizard walking along the road. Monitor lizards were common sight.

Entrance to Kataragama temple. On the background to the left is the sacred Bo tree; its one of the 8 saplings of Sri Maha Bodhi of Anuradhapura

The main temple of Lord Skanda. It was closed for the noon.

A huge oil lamp about 5 ft in front of the temple.

The Kiri Viharaya behind the temple. Walk to the dagoba was peaceful, trees lined both the sides and shops selling oil and blue lilies as offering.

The Vel in front of the temple.

A Langoor and her baby. Lotta monkeys around but they were well behaved.

Offerings to God. I liked the way it was organized.

Rain trees on a man made Tissa wewa at Tissamaharama at Hambantota. Seems these trees are like this year around. This town was capital of south during Anuradhapura period during 3rd century BC

After Tissa, we passed through Mathara. Mathara is famous for milk and honey. Its kiri and pheni in Sinhalese. There were roadside shops selling milk and honey in clay pots arranged in rows. Beautiful sight it was; I didnt take a picture.

Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya was picturesque with English bungalows and cottages, manicured lawns, pristine lakes and horse riding. The interior were like an English country side with those cute Jersey cows grazing those green grass, milk diary where one could savor fresh cream and cheese...

Its nice to see the English bungalows preserved and functional as hotels and guest houses.

English period Post office, still functional

Says "A Handyside & Co.Ltd, Derby, England" Thats how old this post box grand pa is

Horton Plains; it was a velvety green carpet. I was excited; got out of the car, ran towards it and held the wired fence; only to be thrown back :) It was an electrical fence.

A nearly abandoned railway station. 

On the way back from Horton plains; which was 35 kms from the town, the color of the sky changed from blue to pink to orange to crimson...Never seen such myriad colors on the sky ever before!! 

A pristine lake

Finally this, the speck is the moon

 Gregory Lake

A grazing ground for horses; front of the colonial hotel we stayed

The hotel; these sort of bungalows are converted to hotels now.

2 kms from the town is 'Seeta Eliya'. Tale says that Ravana kidnapped Sita and kept her here - the Ashoka vana. Its a small temple now with idols 1000 years old as per the priest.

Behind the temple was the forest and a stream/ The rocks had tiny pits. These ones are said to be Hanuman's feet :)

Incidentally, 3 kms further we came across another signboard which said is the true cave where Sita stayed. These 2 villages have debated about which one is the original one. Took a detour and had to climb 600+ steps to reach the cave. The path was weeded, the caves really didnt have any sign, no idols or temples..but the view from the top was nice; could see the hilly country of Nuwara Eliya and Ella

 The narrow, slippery and weedy path to the cave

Inside the cave - tired and down

Devon falls on the way to Ella. 

Ravana Eliya falls on the way to Ella. The water just falls on the road; nice sight to see.