The Demmodara railway line loop, Sri Lanka.

The descent from Bandarawela to Badulla is very steep. The railway line takes a loop around a mountain. It circumbulates the top of a mountain and passes through a tunnel in the same mountain below the first circuit. This is the famous 'Demmodara loop'. You can see the top of the mountain where the railway is making its first circuit in these two pictures which I took on a trip to Badulla.

Two 'Moon stones' - 'Sandakadapahana' S, Kelaniya Vihare, Sri Lanka.

The stepping stone is quite common at the entrance to quite a few 'vihares' in present day Sri Lanka. The 'Moon-stone' was an object of veneration for the adherents of the 'Mahayana' sects in the early days of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. It represented the progressive advancement in the circles of existence till the center of Nirvana was reached. This object of veneration was symbolically degraded as a stone to step on, by the Theravada purists, according to the Mahayanists. But it still survives as an aesthetically pleasing piece of stone sculpture. I saw these two pieces at the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara being stepped on, by devotees on the way to the inner sanctum.

Victoria Dam, Adikarigama, Sri Lanka.

The massive Victoria Dam, built in the form of an 'egg-shell' - double convex shape, on British aid, holds back the waters of the Mahaweli Ganga at Adikarigama, Sri Lanka. The dammed up water runs through a tunnel and powers turbines to generate electricity for the national grid. Completed in the 1980s it has already paid back all the loans taken to build the dam. Photo by Queenie V.

'Black-winged Stilts, Avissawella. Sri Lanka.

'Black-winged Stilts' - Himantopus himantopus - at a pond in Avissawella, Sri Lanka. The male has a black wing and the female has a brownish wing. They are standing on one leg and watching the water for fish. What an adorable pair. The lower picture shows a lonely bachelor.

'Barn Swallow' - Hewainna, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

Swallows are very difficult to photograph. I was lucky to get this shot on a cold day just being warmed by the early morning sun. The bird must have been 'sun-bathing' and getting warm. Click on the video-link below to see it not disturbed by a passing motor-cycle.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Z3byo1C2M