we left Rathnapura at around 8.30, and took the upper route that would take us across Balangoda and a portion of the Haputhale climb, the majestic southern slopes of the central mountains...
The view below was simply amazing!
(stitched two images together for this one so excuse the rather crappy blending! click for larger image)
Passed Diyaluma, which was pretty dried up because it's not raining on the eastern slopes these days...
...and a few dusty elephants at Lahugala, which was quite extraordinary given the drought in the area!
and by sundown, we had arrived at the eastern coastline! After months of dreaming about the it after reading Kirigalpothta's and The Unsilent's posts, finally made it there! :D
On the following two days, we were treated to the wondrous sunrise on the eastern coast!
We did make a small excursion to Panama and Kumana, but nothing much came out of that except a pretty long journey time. I later regretted not visiting Komari instead...
The waves at A-Bay were pretty amazing! I had never experienced such powerful waves before, we all had a whale of a time getting struck down by waves and getting dragged back to sea! :D (it sounds pretty un-fun and dangerous, but seriously, it was the most fun I've ever had at a beach! lol) :D
On our way back we passed through Udawalawe, where we spotted about a dozen Elephants on the fence living off what the tourists were feeding them...
We also visited the Elephant Orphanage, but couldn't stay for long because it was getting late and we had quite a bit to go to get back to Rathnapura and then Colombo. We did witness this cute little baby getting smacked in the rear for being a bit early for dinner though... (reminded me of that unfortunate incident at the Maligawa...)
We made it to Rathnapura at around 8.30 and immediately commenced our journey home! made it back in 1 hour 45, which is the fastest I've been from Rathnapura to home! :D
so now you know why I went missing for a while! ;)
so now you know why I went missing for a while! ;)
Fun pictures yo.
ReplyDeleteYAY @ elephants! :D
Wow...So cool Chavie ! Sounds like a fabulous time... beautiful picture too... LOVE the elephants :)
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are FAB men! =D. Stunning. & Hooray to Elephandoos. AM with MTC! I loove elephants too! XD
ReplyDeleteGreat pics! =D
ReplyDeleteI was at Arugam Bay in 2002. It was badly affected by the tsunami so I wasn't sure if it had changed since then but seems to look the same =D
Sad though... I don't think the people who worked at the hotel I was at survived.
Awesome man!
ReplyDeleteYou have gone pretty long distance pass kirigalpoththa :)
Those pictures bring fond memories of at least 2-3 trips I went recently..
That 3rd picture of ABay sunrise is out of this world!
Elephant - is he charging?
Pity that you didn see much at Panama side. May be you need to do a seperate trip..a hike trip perhaps..
Komari is a superb place if you like to see a lonely beach with no soul around. Again may be a seperate trip - Go to
Pasikudah, Come down to Batti and move along the beachside towards ABay passing Kalmunai n Akkaraipattu..
Ratnapura to CMB in 1.45hrs would surely make Schumacher proud.
Wow.. such a wonderful trip covering so many places and absolutely stunning sights. You've narrated it concisely yet beautifully.
ReplyDeleteLove those pics of the hills, ocean, elephants and the sunrise! And that was a pretty cool merge, cuz when I enlarged I could hardly spot their boundaries.
The sight of the cane right behind that baby elephant is really distressing. Wish these mahouts could empathize with the elephants. -__-
Anyway this is a super duper cool trip. Thanks a lot for sharing. =D
@Maks: Thanks! :D yep, the Elephants were amazing to watch so up-close! :D
ReplyDelete@MTC: it was a great time! and we went there with the whole family/cousins so it was even more fun! :D
@GG: Glad you liked them GG! :D hooray for Elephants indeed! ;)
@The Puppeteer: yeah, the Tsunami totally devastated the area... the place we stayed at infact was owned by a former millionaire businessmen and his family, he owned lorries and pajeros back in the day, but lost everything in the Tsunami save the cloths on his back... :( he now runs a small inn at the place where his house used to stand...
@Kirigalpoththa: yep indeed! :D glad you liked the pictures, it was taken over the small lagoon at the south end of Arugam Bay, which adds the calm reflective water to the shot! :)
the Elephant was infact waiting pretty still, but when we got ready to leave he picked up some dust from the ground and threw it on himself! :D
Yep, the trip to Panama should've included a stopover near a beach or something... and sadly due to the drought there's not much wildlife to be seen in Kumana... :(
Yep, I sooooo want to visit Pasikudah too! :D a small tour all along the eastern seaboard would be fun! :D
hahaha yeah! :D it was pretty surprising that there was very little traffic that night, taking into account that it was the last day of a long holiday! :D
@Harumi: Thank you! I'm glad you liked my narration... :D
yeah the stitching isn't that obvious, but when you look from a distance you see a black-ish blur on the border! :D and the horizon is curved too! ;)
yeah... sad to see a baby being beaten like that, especially since the Udawalawe home's mission is to re-introduce these cubs into the wild, and putting emotional scars and hatred of humans into such powerful and deadly creatures is kinda dangerous, for everyone concerned... :(
It was and you're welcome! :D
Thanks guys for your comments! :)
That last sunrise show is an amazing one - BRAVO!
ReplyDelete@Sigma: thank you!! :D I'm glad you liked it! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a wonderful trip. excellent pics as well :)
ReplyDeletesuper pics of sunrise!
ReplyDeletewow your pics are great! I did wonder why you went missing for a while..and now I know.
ReplyDeleteThe poor baby elephant ;o(....
you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO lucky!!! :D i LOVED the three pics of the unrise - just beautiful! :)
ReplyDeletesounds like you had an awesome time, good on ya mate! (said with an aussie accent) :P
Ado chavie pakaya
ReplyDeleteI really want to go to Arumgam Bay! Lovely pics.. they make me want to go there so badly!
ReplyDeletealso love the sunrise pics!
ReplyDelete@Azrael and U4J10: thanks guys! :D
ReplyDelete@Su: yeah... you should've heard the little thing cry... heartbreaking! :( and what makes it worse is these are orphans who lost their mothers due to human activity...
@Black: hehe :D thank youuuu! *blushes* I really did, enjoyed every last minute of it! :)
@Lady D: you should!!! and it's best if you take a small crowd with you 'coz that way you'd enjoy the sea bath to the max! :D thanks LD, glad you liked them! :)
Thank you guys for your comments! :)
@Jack Point: Thanks mate! :D
ReplyDeleteLoved the sunrise pictures.
ReplyDeletelovely post chavs. awesome pics. the sunrise is to die for.
ReplyDelete@Gutterflower and Delilah: thank you guys! and yep, it was the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen! :D
ReplyDeletethank you for the comments! :)
That looks and sounds like one heck of a trip!
ReplyDelete@Foxhound: it was man it sure was! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
Soooo jealous, Chavie! =/
ReplyDeleteBrilliant pics, men :D & i agree with Maks- YAY ELEPHUNKS. :D
thanks Sash! :D maybe you could make a trip that way next time you come down here? and yeps, the Elephants are amazing! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
Cool pics Chavie. Just browsing through.. Joining the blogsphere after a while.
ReplyDeleteI visited Trinco recently, but unfortunately missed the sunrise.
hey Gonzo! too bad you missed the sunrise, coz it's one of those not-to-be-missed things about a visit to the eastern shore, even though it means having to wake up at 5.30 AM when you're supposed to be on Holiday!!! lol :D
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping by and welcome back to the blogosphere! :)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIndi Impersonator: although I usually never delete comments no matter how much obscenity you manage to put into them, I honestly find impersonation hard to tolerate... if you're too scared to show your face, there's the freaking 'anonymous' commenting option, use it liberally, I don't give a shit... but don't go around pretending to be a man a thousand times better than you! thank you, and GFY!
ReplyDeletedaimn! nice pics
ReplyDelete@Whack: thanks man! :D
ReplyDeleteGreat shots!!
ReplyDeleteLoved your post.
Really wanna visit Arugam Bay.
Will try to once I'm back for the hols..
@Aamina: thank you! I'm glad you liked it! :D and you really should visit, you won't regret it! :)
ReplyDelete