Highway to Hell (not!)

December is almost over, and what a December it has been... most of it has been spent on the road, away from home. With the Southern Expressway opening up, the long journey up to Delwala has been shortened to a 2 hour cruise along scenic routes. The stretch of road between Agalawatte and Kalawana must be one of the most beautiful and naturally set roadways in the island. And the land surrounding the expressway isn't hard on the eye either (for now...)

A few snapshots of the expressway:

...the Kalawana road:

This is, I believe, the famous "Akasa Bokkuwa"

Delwala Valley, from the Kalawana - Thiruwanaketiya road

We even caught a fleeting glimpse of Siri Pada
(faintly appearing in the middle of the picture)

A bridge on the road during a normal day...

...and on the day we got caught in a storm :D

But to be honest, the most beautiful road that we got to travel on was the Rathnapura Panadura road, which is a messed up road to drive on (has way too many curves, and is narrow... we passed one head-on collision), but has views that are to die for. After coming down from the mountains, there are the industrial parks of Horana, which are vast! (You literally can't believe we have such huge factories in Sri Lanka)

There is also a bad ass bridge across the Kalu ganga somewhere near Kiriella that I wasn't able to snap, which is a shame coz it looked really nice, deserted like an old Western film and leading to a haunted-looking rubber estate on the other side. :D

Update: Here's a photo of the bridge I managed to catch a few weeks later. It doesn't look that haunted in the mid-day sun, but at the right time, in the right light, it looks seriously haunted. ;)

Huge rubber estates were a recurring theme

So were awesome sunsets

Here's something strange I saw, and I hope Amila can shed some light on this. At sundown, Mathugama town is filled with literally tens of thousands of these tiny birds (a friend of mine suspects they could be 'Vee kurullo'), fluttering around like tiny moths near a lightbulb. They were on every visible tree and lamp-post, and I had never seen anything like that before. O_o

Like 'Meruu', but bigger o_O

Oh, and here's a video of Tommy and his friend Achcharu being idiots. :D

Romancing the Stone

Yes, that Michael Douglas movie. The one which involves a lot of walking around Colombia. And my post today is about a lot of walking around in Colombo. See what I did there? Yeah Raisa, I didn't expect you to get the joke. *ka-ching* ;P

Aaaaanyway, this morning I got a haircut and walked all the way from Pannipitiya to home because I was too cheap to take the bus it reminded me of all the long walks I had taken. Good times.

And since I've run out of things to blog about I wanted to share all of them with you, here they are, the top 8 walks through the city I've taken. Nowhere as epic as Himal's, I'm sure, but yeah.

#8

The walk that started it all. Earlier in the day I had taken the bus ride that had started it all. What's "it all"? Why, my rastiyadufying of course. :D

I had gone to watch the Royal Thomian regatta of 2009. And after it finished, I was hungry. Walked all the way to Burgers' King to grab a bite. Got stopped by an Air Force serviceman and got my ID checked and was told to walk on the other side of the road. Oops.

Distance: ~ 915 meters
Epicness: 5/5 (coz it was all new to me)


#7

This one is here because I'm a Fort noob. There was another walk through Manning Market (Pettah) that I once took, but the landmarks on this one looked better. Got told off by the Presidential Security Division because I was going through a high security zone. There's this cool old police mess or something behind the World Trade Centre that they're renovating, and my walk took me right through that area. :D

Distance: ~ 975 meters
Epicness: 3/5


#6

We had a Reach Out presentation at St. Peter's College, at some ungodly hour in the morning. Got down from a 138 at Redimola Junction and took the small gravel road near the canal. Apparently the canal usually stinks, but the night before it had rained very hard and it didn't stink at all. I even thought it might be a good place for a picnic. Erm.

Distance: ~ 1.2 km
Epicness: 3/5


#5

This one happened last Sunday. :D I finished my exams a bit early, and visited a friend who lives close to uni. Afterwards, I was on the way back, and just when I was about to turn towards Indra traders (to take the backlane and get to Public Library to catch a bus), I saw a lecturer from uni. Not just ANY lecturer. A lecture who should be avoided at all costs. Did a quick 90 degree turn and was off to Slave Island. Indecision causes death.

This route is quite a frequent one I take. One night, some months back, after watching a movie with the gang at the aforementioned friend's place, I was walking towards Slave Island when a Maruti driven by a lady was almost rammed into by a police jeep. O_O The policemen shouted at her in filth, dragged her off to the back of the jeep and were off. Another policemen drove away in the car. Later I saw them checking a bunch of files in the car near the Slave Island traffic lights. Scary shit.

Distance: ~ 2.0 km
Epicness: It wasn't epic, it was just creepy


#4

This. Was. A. Fail. Makuluwo wanted us to come for cupcakes at Galle Face, and my mom wanted me to pick up a birthday card for my cousin. So I get down at Town Hall, go around looking for birthday cards and find that all the shops are closed. On a Sunday. Of course as a matter of principle I don't shop at ODEL (I prefer soaking up their A/C and looking at books with faux-interest), and so I ended up walking the entire length of Union Place looking for a place that was open. Found none, ended up walking to Galle Face. At least the cupcakes were good. :)

Distance: ~ 2.5 km
Epicness: 2/5


#3

This happened after exams. Meshak, Ino and I went to Pilawoos, but it was closed for prayers. So we loitered around Marine Drive, came back to Pilawoos, had some lunch, loitered around Bamba a bit more and finally went to Galle Face. I think there was something wrong with the food and Meshak threw up on the way home. :D Good times though.

Distance: ~ 2.6 km (sans walking around in Galle Face, but we took the bus)
Epicness: 4/5


#2

This. This was epic. Bo, Tulie and I were supposed to write a script for a forum theatre. Tulie couldn't make it, so Bo and I were eating ice creams at McDonalds and trying to figure out something to write, but to no avail. So knowing this wasn't going to work, we went down Nimalka Gardens, hoping to get to Marine Drive, but we found an old beggar in a vacant lot instead. Basically ran back to Galle Road, took the next lane, loitered around Marine Drive for hours watching the ships and talking about suicide (haha) and walked all the way to Royal Skills Centre, where there was a BB/RO meeting. The whole thing involved a lot of walking but it was fun. :D

Distance: ~ 2.4 km
Epicness: 4/5


#1

I rate this as probably the most fun outing ever. Makuluwo, Middle Child, Himal and I went to, wait for it, A POETRY JAM. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, I guess. So anyway, afterwards, we walked all the way from Green Path (where the poetry thing was) to Galle Face and flew 2 kites. The one I flew failed though. I blame Himal for this. He's bad at putting together those Chinese kites.

Distance: ~ 2.9 km
Epicness: 6/5

I was going through pics from that day, and I found this and couldn't resist sharing. :D Good times, yo.

Hamster-fu :D

Colombo Bus Map v0.2.4

I love the London Tube map and thought of making a map of Colombo's bus routes using the same principle, i.e. topology over geography.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombo_Bus_Routes
http://www.oocities.org/waidyah/SRILANKA/COLOMBO/BUSROUTEMAP.HTM

Excel file I used to draw the map:
http://chavs.000a.biz/bus4.xls

Bus routes:

• 100 Panadura - Pettah
• 101 Moratuwa - Pettah
• 120 Horana/Kesbewa - Pettah
• 141 Wellawatta - Narahenpita
• 177 Kollupitiya - Kaduwela
• 154 Angulana - Kiribathgoda / Bambalapitiya - Kadawatha
• 138 Homagama/Athurugiriya/Rukmalgama/Matthegoda/Kottawa/Maharagama - Pettah
• 122 Rathnapura/Awissawella - Pettah
• 125 Meepe/Padukka - Pettah
• 103 Narahenpita/Borella - Pettah
• 175 Kollupitiya - Kohilawatta
• 135 Kohuwala - Kelaniya
• 140 Kollupitiya - Wellampitiya

Notes:

• Variants may exist. A 154 might stop in Bambalapitiya, or a 103 might stop in Borella. Be aware of the stop names on the big yellow board.
• The hollow lines follow the route of the filled lines unless otherwise specified.

Christmas/EOY post

I don't think I'll be able to post anything in the next couple of days, so here goes my wishlist for 2011:

Right the wrongs

I've done some stuff that I'm not too happy about this year and I hope to right at least some of them before new year's day. 'nuff said. :)

Less Illness

I've been sick a lot this year and it's not fun. Here's to a healthier year!

Learn Wijesekara and blog more in Sinhala

This has been on my wishlist for a good couple of years now. But 2011 could be the year I finally get down to it.

Less hasty/irrational decisions

A calmer, more logical Chavie? Something that can't be left off the list after everything that was said and done in 2010.

More meetups!

We meetup and fly kites. We're hardcore like that!

And more cupcake parties! :D 2010 was billed to be the year of blogger meetups (in my head, albeit) and it was, to a certain extent. We could've done better though. :P

More travel!

Eclipse in Anuradhapura, January 2010

2010 sucked travel-wise. Despite having been on vacation for a good 4 months this year, I only got to go on 2 or 3 trips and it rained like hell during one. 2011 could will be the year I'll be meeting Kirigalpoththa, Amila and going on my first Sinhalaya Travels adventure, whether my parents let me or not! :P

More TOMMY!

"Sup, bitches?!":D

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, y'all! :D

The Southern coast in 8 pictures

Over the bridge...

past the temple in the sea...

a beach!

A wide deserted beach, with the softest, whitest sand...

But the sea is rough,

red flags are up,

what to do but walk away...

...at least the pool is tranquil.

Kinda ironic that I'm writing about beaches and sunshine when Colombo is undergoing the worst flooding in decades. What can one do but have hope in times like these.

Rainy rainy Katharagama

I've been to Katharagama about a dozen times, and I never knew that it rained like THAT! On the 4th evening, just as we got there, it began to rain by the bucket-load. I hadn't seen rain like that since... since the last time Colombo got flooded! :D

At the end of the day, I was drenched to the bone... and shivering on the bed. The rain subsided somewhat in the night, as we made our way to Kiriwehera in darkness (the electricity supply had been disrupted due to rain) in a tuk-tuk taking a jungle road, all the time hoping that an Elephant won't emerge out of the shadows and just flatten the little thing into a roti pan. Kiriwehera in darkness (and ever increasing rain) was a surreal experience.

By next day though, the rain had thankfully ceased.

Katharagama Maha Dewale

These guys were out in force.

Elephant bathing in Menik ganga.

Sellakatharagama seems to have undergone a construction boom since the last time I visited, which includes the building of a new bridge, a parking lot, a suspension bridge from the temple to the parking lot and a beautiful hollow stupa.

The roads in and around Hambantota are beautiful, though they seem to have undergone a deterioration due to the construction that's still taking place.

Thissamaharamaya

P.S. If you ever go that way, don't forget to eat Yoghurt from the NLDB farm in Weerawila. That stuff is gooood. :O

Bus route 99

More about the title later.

As the absence of posts in the last couple of days have suggested, I had a pretty awesomely busy weekend. Went to watch 'Bambara Walalla' with a friend on Saturday, and I have to say it was pretty good. Don't want to reveal any plot details, but at the end I felt a cocktail of emotions about how everyone acted. It's just that there is an absolute lack of any black or white characters, and all you see are various shades of grey. And the brightness and contrast of this grey picture changes abruptly with the plot twists and turns. Ok, I've said enough, methinks. If you're one of those people wait ages for a quality Sinhala movie comes, go catch this one. It's not perfect but it's one of the best I've ever seen. (Note: Regal, where I saw it, had English subtitles. So don't worry about the language issue). And the film was followed by a hastily organized blogger meetup on Sunday. Things are getting regular again, which I dig... :)

Ok, so Bus route 99. Colombo to Badulla (I've seen a couple of Welimada buses too)

You get on at Fort (or where I live, coz it passes in front of my house) get down in Kalupahana, trek up the 'Devil's staircase' to Horton Plains, camp, mess around in the highlands and take train from Ohiya back to Colombo. There, instant holiday. What say you, Meshak? ;)

Excuse the pointless post. Hopefully I'll get to write about how Meshak, Inosh and I ate a whole bag of 'gal siyambala' inside the networking lab soon! :D

The post count matters.

Not really.

I planned to do a lot of blogging during this vacation, but things rarely go according to plan in the Chavieverse (oh no he didn't!) and those plans fell apart. But I'm going to write a brief recap of the things I did in these two months, so that I won't forget so that my post count goes up by one. :D

• Went to watch Elected, and almost saw PapareBoy beat someone up. Almost! :( Also met Tulie for the first time! :D

• Drew a webcomic after a loooong time, for Dee's TLC. Thanks again, Dee! :)

• Visited Meshak, he posted pictures and I posted crappoetry.

• Took some pics in Hanthana. Got ripped off by a leech (ironically on the same day that I read Amila's leech post!).

• Almost got to visit Pasikudah buh cancelled that to go watch Buddhi De Mel and Wagon Park instead. I don't regret it yet. :D

• Met the gang from school again. 

• Visited the best friend's place in Mathugama, after delaying it for like 3 years. Had another leech episode! :D

• Watched quite a few movies. Sita Sings The Blues is mind blowing for the fact that it was almost entirely created by a single animation artist named Nina Paley (also the first Creative Commons movie I've watched! Way to go copyleft!!!). Up, like WALL-E before it, just left a huge hole in my heart. Those Pixar guys really know how to tell a story, don't they?

• Started playing Civ 4, my first turn-based strategy game (Yes, I'm always late to the party!). Highly recommend it, though I'm still learning how to play it myself! :D

Hanthana

These pictures were taken almost a month back, and since I got my PC back I finally got a chance to upload them! :D (please click on the images to see them at the proper resolution)

The famous communications towers atop Hanthana.

Two Eagles/Hawks in flight. Sorry about the quality since I had to crop the image.

I saw this dragonfly and was reminded of the LBO ad... 

"Hmmm... Is this a Pink Skimmer?" I thought! :)

The reason we went there: The gingerbread guest

houses my uncles were building.

The view from the restaurant.

Sorry about the wonky/tilted panorama. Got a 

bit carried away taking the shots! :D