The Ceylon Tea Museum

It was in the Kandy district that the first successful experiments in tea cultivation were made, and it was from this ancient Sinhalese capital that the dominant modern industry of Sri Lanka spread out to cover the entire hill country. Kandy was thus the appropriate choice for a museum dedicated to the history of Ceylon Tea.

The Ceylon Tea Museum is located at the Hantane Tea Factory, about 5km. (3 miles) from Kandy. Hantane was one of the first areas successfully opened up to tea cultivation after the failure of the coffee enterprise, but the factory that now houses the Museum is a relatively modern building, constructed in 1925.

It is a typical example of its kind, large, light and airy, with most factory machinery housed on the ground floor and the three upper floors originally used to wither the freshly plucked tea-leaves.

 Today, the ground floor remains much as it was when the factory was operational, demonstrating the process of manufacture, while the upper floors house are used to house other exhibits and a library, a space for audio-visual presentations and a restaurant.

Lovers leap fall

This beautiful 30m high Lovers Leap fall in Nuwara Eliya is incipient of the streams and brooks of Sri Lanka’s highest mountain, the Piduruthalagala (2524m). It flows over hard granite ledges and the water is collected in a tank and used for drinking. In dry spells, the flow is languid The fall is said to derive its name from the tragic tale of a prince, who while hunting in the jungle, lost his way. He was rescued by a beautiful damsel, and the two became inseparable lovers. But the match was not to the liking of the prince’s subjects, so the two decided to immortalise their love by leaping from the top of the fall to their death.

Superstitious villagers avoid the fall at night. The fall is situated in Havaeliya, 2 km from Nuwara Eliya, Nuwara Eliya District. Many hotels and guest-houses can be found in Nuwara Eliya.

Arugam bay

History

Many of the buildings were destroyed in the 2004 tsunami. The Government's Min. of Defense CCD (Coastal Conservation Dept.) created what is now described as Arugam's second "Tsunami" end September 2011, when all beach side structures where demolished by bulldozers. Due to its popularity among tourists, the area has managed a slow recovery by private initiatives only. As late as 2011 no help has been received from any official source or international organizations. An exception is uncoordinated support for fishing folk as well as many school rebuilding programs, resulting in a continuation to provide only separatist schools for each community. Although there is a huge demand for an international school, one huge new building donated by the people of Japan remains largely unoccupied since the grand 'opening' ceremony in 2007.

The bay hosts a large fleet of fishing boats which operates off the beach. Many organizations donated boats after the tsunami and as a result there are far more fishing boats than ever before. The main beach is a bit dirty, compared to nearby beaches which are rather more aesthetically pleasing and also have excellent waves.

Development

Many organizations claim to have done extensive work in the area. No notable progress can be observed locally and on close inspection, as late as New Year's Day, 2010. The main road, shown below in 2004 still looked the very same at the end of 2009. Despite calls for a walking street contractors have recently (September, 2010)completed construction of a fast trunk road through the hamlet. Repeating the mistakes made in other seaside tourist resorts such as Negombo and Hikkaduwa.

US 'Mercy Corps' has been the most active of any organization. Funded by Oprah Winfrey's 'Angel Network', following a huge fund-raising TV series in the United States. Sadly, none of their projects survived the first year of operation. A new bridge has been constructed by USAID. It was opened for traffic in 2008. It replaced the 1960s, original landmark box girder construction linking Arugam Bay with Pottuvil. At the 312km mark on the main A4 (the famous Colombo High Level Rd. - PottuVille), an excellent shortcut side road exists, which ends up in the very middle of Arugam Bay itself. This picturesque drive avoids the dusty town of PottuVille. Also no bridges need to be crossed.

The more long lasting development efforts have been carried out by a consortium of two Italian NGOs, 'ICEI' and 'Overseas', which are the only development agencies still present in 2013 in the area, working on responsible tourism and sustainable agriculture. As a legacy for the work carried out by these two NGO, a local organization, acting as a social business, has been established: Ecowave. Ecowave is currently managing an outlet in the main street of Arugam Bay, providing market opportunities to the farmers, and offering community tourism itineraries for travelers.


Surfing

The Arugam Bay area is home to a number of quality surf breaks, the most popular of which being 'Main Point' located towards the south of the bay. This is a right hand point break, with a rock/reef bottom, and has a number of sections with occasional barrels. Other breaks in the area include Whiskey Point and Pottuvil Point to the north, and Elephant Rock, Peanut Farm and Okanda to the south. These breaks have attracted a steady stream of international tourists for several decades.

Arugam Bay has a good local surf scene and is home to some of Sri Lanka's most talented surfers. In recent years surfers from Arugam Bay have dominated national competitions.

Kelaniya Temple

Kelaniya Temple is located at the city of Kelaniya, 12km east of the city of Colombo.

Reaching Kelaniya Temple

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The sanctity of the Kelaniya Temple


Kelaniya Temple built on the banks of the Kelaniya River is one of the most sacred sites of Sri Lanka. It is believed Buddha together with 500 Arahats (Supremely enlightened beings) visited Kelaniya on the Wesek day of the Buddhist Era 2531 and expounding of the Dhamma, the Buddhist doctrine to the inhabitants of the island. Buddha’s timely visit to the island resulted in quelling an imminent war between two kings named Chulodara and Mahodara over a jewel–encrusted throne. Buddha having preached the doctrine on the disputed throne offered to him ensued lasting peace between the two kings. The great stupa built upon the site enshrining the throne was since then called Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara.

History of Kelaniya Temple

Kelaniya Temple believed to had been built in the era prior to the chronologically recorded history of Sir Lanka (since 543 B.C) was renovated by Prince Uttiya, brother of King Devanampiyatissa following the arrival Arahat Mahinda in 307 BC. According to the Mahawansa, King Devanampiyatissa’s brother Uttiya renovated the vihara for the first time. Prince Uttiya also built the first ever residential quarters of the Buddhist monks (Sanghawasa) there.

The ancient temple was destroyed time and again by the Dravidian invaders from Southern India. Each time the temple had been reconstructed. The medieval temple was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1510 yet reconstructed by King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha in the year 1967. New Temple was initiated in 1927 and completed in 1946 under the patronage of philanthropist Mrs. Helena Wijewardene.

The Bo tree and the court yard at the Kelaniya Temple

The entrance to the temple yard is over the park across the main street. The arched grill gate opens upto the lower terrace of the temple yard. The lower terrace leads four sets of flight of steps in four carinal directions to the Upper terrace which features the Image Hose, Dagaba and the Bo Tree (Peepal tree) with other buildings.

New Temple

‘Aluth Vihara Ge’ or the New Temple House section of the Kelani Viharaya is 150 feet long and 90 feet broad. It stands on a stone plinth 3 feet in height. The roof is built in the Kandyan architectural style with a design of an octagon.
‘Aluth Vihara Ge’ consists of four mage houses.
The ‘Oth Pilima Ge’, the oldest section of the temple houses a large reclining Buddha statue and two seated Buddha statues.
The ‘Ran Pilima Ge’ houses another seated Buddha statue
The ‘Ran Pilima Ge’ or the Golden Buddha Image House

Murals in Kelaniya Temple

Kelaniya Temple has none of the ancient or medieval paintings. The murals are those of the 18th century and the early 20th century.

The Duruthu Perahera (Kelani Procession)

Kelaniya Temple is the starting point of the “The Duruthu Perahera” (Kelani Procession) inaugurated in 1927 and since then that has been held on the pre – full moon day of the month of January every year. Each year hundreds of thousands of locals and thousands of foreign tourists gather at Kelaniya to enjoy the grand procession that features whip crackers, torch carriers, flag carriers, caparisoned elephants, dancers, trumpeters, drummers and numerous other participants. The Kelani Procession features three separate processions: that of the Buddha Relics and those of the three shrines dedicated to the deities of Vishnu, Kataragama and Vibishana.

“The Duruthu Perahera” (Kelani Procession) attracts hundreds and thousands of people from all provinces of Sri Lanka, and hundreds of foreign tourists trek their way to the temple purlieu to witness this spectacular pageant.

Hikkaduwa Beach

Sri Lanka is a magical place of ancient Buddhist monuments, gorgeous beaches, lush green vegetation, clear blue skies, sunshine and friendly faces. The beach house at Hikkaduwa is a great place to unwind, sample the local surfing and diving opportunities, and from where you can then start to explore this stunningly beautiful island.

 Hikkaduwa is located 100km south of the country's capital, Colombo. The area is well-known for its coral sanctuary and the proximity of wonderful scuba diving sites to explore. With its unique beach culture, Hikkaduwa has long been the most popular diving and surfing area in Sri Lanka. In the centre of Hikkaduwa, a lagoon also creates a beautiful and safe snorkelling area. Further south, where the currents are stronger, surfing is the dominant water activity. The impressive coral reef runs just offshore and is populated by exotic fish and sea turtles that come ashore on this beach to lay their eggs.

Swimming

Warning: The sea currents directly in front of the beach house can be very strong and make swimming quite dangerous at times. Parents with young children should be particularly mindful of this. Better to just have a paddle or sit back and enjoy the impressive crashing waves at the beach house instead and, if you want to go swimming in the sea, take a trip to the Coral Sanctuary at Hikkaduwa or go down the coast to Unawatuna instead.

Diving

The diving at Hikkaduwa is diverse and there is an abundance of marine life and dive sites to suit all levels of experience. Big groupers, barracudas, moray eels, dogtooth tunas, manta rays, lobsters & turtles are often to be seen just off the coast at Hikkaduwa. A large number of wrecks have floundered off the coast in this area over the years, adding to the range of dive sites available.

The main diving season in the south west runs from November to April and there are a number of well-established diving centers from which to choose with Blue Deep Diving and Poseidon being probably the best.

Surfing

Hikkaduwa is a very well known surfing destination on the international circuit and annually attracts surfers from all over the world.

There are plenty of good surfing points and although most of them are reef breaks, none of them is risky since they all have a flat deep bottom. The wave size ranges up to 3 metres during the season. The main point, known as the main reef has 'A-frame' shaped waves, which can be surfed in both directions.

Kandy Temple of The Tooth

Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka and lies in the midst of hills. It is the Capital of the Central Province. It is both an administrative ad religious city. Kandy is the second largest city in the country and is frequently visited by Buddhists especially of the Theravada School.

The Temple of the Tooth, or Sri Dalada Maligawa is a temple in the city of Kandy in Sri Lanka. It was built within the royal palace complex ,which houses the only surviving relic of Buddha, which is venerated by Buddhists. The relic, which is situated in the Temple of the Tooth played an important role in local politics since ancient times; it’s believed that whoever holds the Temple of the Tooth relic holds the governance of the country, which naturally caused the ancient kings to protect the Temple of the Tooth with great effort! Kandy was the capital of the Sinhalese kings.

Monks of the two chapters of Malwatte and Asgiriya conduct daily ritual worship in the inner chamber of the Temple of tooth, in annual rotation. They conduct these services three times a day: at dawn, at noon and in the evening.

On Wednesdays a symbolic bathing of the Sacred Relic is held in the Temple of tooth with a herbal preparation made from scented water and flagrant flowers, called Nanumura Mangallaya. This holy water is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed among those present.

Kandy is very famous among tourist for three main reasons: It is home to the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic ; Dalada Maligawa ), The Botanical Gardens ( Located in Peradeniya) and it always has a special place when it comes to festivities such as the Esala Perahara.

Kdurugoda Buddhist Temple

Among the Buddhist places in Yapa Pattana (Jaffna) Kadurugoda Viharaya or Kantarodai holds an important place in Sri Lanka's history. This temple is located on the Hunugama (Chunnakam) - Minipe (Manipai) road about 02 KMs from Hunugama. The first archaeological excavation on the site was reported to have been done by Paul. E. Pieris in 1917 and 1919. He found remains of a shrine room, several Buddha images, coins, about 60 small and large stupas (pagodas), pieces of pinnacles of stupas, pieces of stone with imprints of the Buddha's foot and tiles from the site

A head and a headless body of a Buddha image are also among the many artifacts found. According to the historical chronicles Nagadeepa is the place where Buddha made his second visit to Sri Lanka. The famous sermon he preached to Chulodara and Mahodara over their dispute was made at this Kadurugoda area. The exact place where Buddha made his sermon is called Rajyathana Chaitya (Stupa) located in Kadurugoda. The place became a venerated place among people after the Buddha's visit and subsequently a Bo-tree was planted. (Rajayathanan is the Pali word for Bo-tree) H.W .Codrington in his book 'Coins and Currency in Ceylon' (1924) has mentioned that number of coins found in the vicinity of the Kadurugoda Viharaya while Mudliyar C. R. Rasanayagam in his book 'Ancient Jaffna' (1926) mentions that there were ruins of an ancient Buddhist temple in Kadhurogoda.

 The archaeological excavation site in Kadurugoda was known among the local people as "Kayangana". This is the Tamilinzed version of the Sinhala word Gayangana. This may be the old name used by Sinhalese as Buddha came to Sri Lanka from Gaya Rata.

A piece of a Black-Red pot with letters belonging to the pre-historic period was found in Kadurugoda area. Similar pieces of Black-Red pots with letters were found from Gedige area in Anuradhapura too.  Both pieces found in Kadurugoda and Gedige had old Sinhala Brhami letters with Sinhala names. References to this temple are also found in the Nam Potha written in Kandyan Period.

Ven. S. Dhammika, an erudite Australian Buddhist monk who has written many books on Buddhist places in Asia mentions about Kadurugoda ruins in his book 'Sacred Island' as follows;

" In the early 20th century there were still numerous Buddhist remains in the Jaffna Peninsula but these now have nearly all disappeared due to neglect, pilfering or deliberate destruction due to political reasons. One place where extensive Buddhist ruins can still be seen is at Kantarodai a little to north of Jaffna. On the side of a grove of lovely palm trees is a collection of stupas and mounds, the remains of ancient buildings. There are now 20 complete stupas but judging by the numerous pinnacles in the Jaffna Museum which were picked up in the area there were once many more. The largest stupa is about 23 feet in diameter and the smallest about 6 feet. The base of each stupa is made of coral stone moulded into four bands and the domes are made of coral rubble coated with plaster fashioned to look like blocks of stone.

The hamakas and spires are made of stone, sometimes a single piece sometimes of two pieces with the pinnacle fitting into a hole in the hamika. Archaeological investigations done at Kantarodai in 1966-7 found that the site was inhabited from about the 2nd century BCE to about the 13th century CE. When P.E. Pieris came here in 1917 he found several Buddha images. He also noted that locals were regularly removing stones from the site to use for building purposes". 

And also an existence of an institution that belonged to the Abhayagiri Sect in Anuradhapura era in Yapa Pattana (Jaffna) confirms with the finding of a part of an inscription found in Kadurugoda area. Prof. Sirimal Ranawella confirms that it belonged to King IV Dappula (10th Century) period.   

Sigiriya

Sigiriya, the spectacular ‘Lion rock’ fortress, stands majestically overlooking the luscious green jungle surroundings, and is one of Sri Lanka’s major attractions. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sigiriya is one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning. Sigiriya is located close to Polonnaruwa.

Sigiriya was built by King Kashyapa (also known as Kasyapa I or Kassapa), the eldest son of King Dhatusena, by a non-royal palace concubine. As legend goes, King Dhatusena was overthrown and walled in, alive by Kashyapa in 473 AD. Mogallana, Dhatusena’s son by the true queen fled to India, vowing revenge. Fearing retribution, Kashyapa built this impregnable fortress at Sigiriya and sought salvation from his brother’s vengeance.
The beautifully and elaborately landscaped water gardens, contain a complex network of underground water distribution system, which provides water to the Royal baths, the many little moated islands & fountains, some fountains still work during the rainy season! A superb view of the Gardens could be had from halfway up the rock.

About halfway up the rock is a sheltered gallery of frescoes painted on the sheer rock face. The ‘Heavenly Maidens’ are similar in style to the paintings of Ajantha in India. Some of them are still in remarkably good condition. Only 22 out of an estimated 500 pictures now remain.



The Northern end of the rock the pathway emerges to a platform, from which the rock derives its name Sigiriya (the Lion Rock). At one time a gigantic brick lion sat at the end of the rock, and the final ascent to the summit was between the lions paws and into its mouth! Today the lion has disappeared, only the paws and the first steps are visible.

Nilagala Conservation Forest

Nilag lies bordering Gal Oya National Park and covers a catchment area of Senanayake Samudraya. Gal Oya

which is one of the main water sources of Senanayake Samudraya falls to reservoir from the Nilgala.

‘Nilgala’ literally means ‘blue rock’. According to Gunatilleke & Gunatilleke (1990) the major vegetation type is lowland tropical dry mixed evergreen forest. The general climatic conditions in the Nilgala area can be described as moderately cool, turning humid during the northeast monsoon seasonala Forest.

Nilgala forest is also important as a major watershed for Gal Oya and Panmedilla Oya throughout the year. There are several peaks within the Nilgala forest area with “Yakun Hela” being the highest (700 m).

Nilgala forest is also rich of archaeological monuments, such as prehistoric and historical Buddhist monasteries.