Boats - Exhibits at the Martin Wickremasinghe ancestral property.

Wooden boat and wooden anchor - Exhibit at the house of Mr.Martin Wickremasinghe

Temple at Devinuwara - Dondra - Sri Lanka.

The temple at Devinuwara. This is built on the site of a famous temple razed to the ground by the Portuguese during their period of colonial conquests in the 16th Century AD.

Angunukolapalessa, Sri Lanka.

Well paved roads and a papaw plantation by the road side at Angunukolapalessa on the Embilipitiya - Ranne road. The lush green trees were a beautiful sight in this once arid land.

A house in Puwakpitiya, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

This house was built in the early part of the twentieth century for a 'Gammuladaeniya' - Village Head-man - Mr.Rupasinghe, during the British Colonial Period in Ceylon. I was informed that an engineer who took part in the construction of the 'Kelany Valley' narrow gauge railway designed this house for the Headman.

Artifacts at Rideevihara, Kurunegala, Sri Lanka - 2

 Rock wall paintings at Rideevihara.

Tiles and trellis work on the roof of a building at Rideevihara.

View of coconut estates from Namalanga Vihara, Ibbagamuwa, Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.

The view of coconut estates from the high rock where Namalanga Vihara is situated gives a spectacular sight.

Pond at Rideevihara, Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.

Rideevihara dates back to the 2nd Century BC. This pond carved out of solid rock is one of the sights there.

Rock temple, Kurunegala.

 Rock temples were earlier cave dwellings which with the passage of time evolved into places of worship. The rock temple shown is now a Raja Maha Vihare in Kurunegala at the bottom of Athaagala. The statue of Lord Buddha is on top of Athaagala.

Dinner halt at Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.

Coming back from Batticaloa to Avissawella, we stopped at this place in the outskirts of Kurunegala, at the 'Badagamuwa Comfort Centre', to have our dinner.

Wild elephants on the road to Somawathy Chithya, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

We saw these elephants, mother and child on the road to Somawathy Chathya, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. I have given the relevant section from The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka of 4th September 2011 of an elephant count done in SL.

The Batticaloa Lagoon and the rest house facing it.

 The Rest House at Batticaloa is in Pulinthivu and dates back to British Colonial times. It offers excellent sea food and is proximity to the old Dutch Fort.

A bath for a baby elephant - Ridivihare, Sri Lanka

I took this sequence of a baby elephant being bathed at Ridivihare, Sri Lanka. Note the broken tusk.
Click on link below to watch the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb7aQnAap98

Deduru Oya at Ibbagamuwa, Sri Lanka.

 The Deduru Oya crosses the Kurunegala Dambulla highway just before Ibbagamuwa. I took these pictures of an 'anicut' upstream made to feed water to the paddy fields and a beautiful tree spreading over the river downstream. Deduru Oya is notorious for its flash floods which occur when heavy rains fall on the hills of Mathale.

Kallady beach at sunset, Sri Lanka

Children jogging on the sea-shore, going past an outrigger canoe beached on the sand at Kallady, beach, Batticaloa

The surf

I took the picture of a couple bathing in the Tangalle surf last month. Swathes of the beach front have been bought up by foreigners on a 99 year lease. Tourist guest houses and cabanas  line this area.

Modernisation

'Once there were green-fields, touched by the sun,...'

 Modernisation has come to Nawalapitiya. Telephone and Electricity pylons with their accompanying wires, cellphone transmission towers on the hills and reams of coloured plastic despoiling the once virgin beauty. That is the price of modernisation.

View from the bridge at Karawanella.

The view from the bridge at Karawanella, Sri Lanka is a beautiful sight. Elephants are brought by their mahouts to this place at noon to be given a scrub-down and a bath. On a clear day Adam's peak is visible and on a clear night one can get a view of the lights along the pilgrims path to Adam's peak. I took this picture a few days back.

'Jambu' fruits, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

November is the season for 'Jambu' fruits. It is also called the 'rose-apple'. The old chronicles of Sri Lanka written in 'Pali', refer to India as 'Jambu-dweepa' presumably because of the abundance of these trees in India of those times. I took this picture in our garden in Avissawella. Squirrels, parakeets and various insects have a field day, eating these fruits. Children love the juicy, fluffy center of these fruits and end up with a sore-throat by overindulgence.

Galvihare, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

The figure in the standing posture, next to the figure of Lord Buddha lying down, has some unusual features. The first of these is the fact that the arms are held crossed across the chest, which is unusual for an image of Lord Buddha. The second feature is the fact that there seems to be a sense of profound sadness, on the face of the standing image. These have made people speculate that this is a representation of Ananda, the chief disciple of Lord Buddha. These belong to the 12th Century AD. In the orient, the creator of the sculpture remained anonymous.