Diyathalawa, A Weekend Getaway!!!
It was a great day, where me and my friends were standing on platform number 2 in Fort railway station for the Podi menike to arrive at 5.55 a.m. The train arrived and started it’s 294 Km with a starting horn. While crawling the mountains the train introduced to some of the eye-catching scenarios and vintage styled railway stations which a person could never imagine and somehow I managed to take a few shots to publish it here!!.
The train came to Diyathalawa railway station around 3.30 p.m. We were given a decent escort from the station to Diyathalawa Holiday bungalow by a SriLankan Military Vehicle. After we had a great welcoming late lunch, we set off to pay a visit to the fox hill which was just near the bungalow. It was a great view on the way to fox hill. Even we had a good view spot on top of Fox hill racing track, as we were tired of the long train journey we set of the bungalow finishing the first day.
The second day morning we planned our trip to Nine Arch Bridge which is on the way to Demodara station. So we went a 2 Km hike through a forest to see this architectural masterpiece located in the Badulla district. We also got a chance of a train passing on the bridge which was a very eye-catching scenic picture. Then we started to go to Little Adam’s Peak which was a bit far from the Demodara (Nine Arch Bridge).
In Little Adam’s Peak, we had around 5 km upward climb which was so adventurous and at the end of the climb, the view was breathtaking. I could see the entire Badulla District up from there. The Guide said “It is would have been a great view if we could see the sunrise. It is the Highlight of the Climb” in his own words. After having so much had we returned to the holiday resort a little tired and a lot of excitement. There we planned a BBQ and a Baila night like traditional SriLankan style. The bungalow arranged 2 local artists to perform the songs. The night went so quickly with the musicians with such a good song collection. The whole day went so good and we went to sleep peacefully.
Day 3 and the final day of our trip, went to Piduruthalakala Mountain, the tallest and AKA the roof of SriLanka. It was 8 Km around the mountain travel, where we arranged a vehicle and went. In the end, it was the best part of the trip. We got to see a lot of marvelous view from the top of the mountain. We could see almost a quarter of the North Central province!! and in the right the entire Nuwara Eliya district was visible. In the west direction, we could see some major districts from western province!. But soon the cloud winded up the great view, it is so misty that you can’t see an object beyond 20m. Luckily I manage to get the pictures before I lost the views.
It was so amazing Srilanka’s main communication radio tower and Air Force’s Radar control divisions located here. We were lucky that they allowed seeing the tower and the radar control room. Even though I had the pictures I was told not to publish on the internet without proper permission. we climbed down and went to Seetha Eliya, the historical temple and Rawana Ella which are mentioned in Hindu chronicle (Ramayana) also a great place for photography. We also had lunch neat the waterfall which was so cool. Finally, we returned to the resort for a decent swim before we pack up to the train we are about to get in at 7.00 p.m. We appreciated the help and services given by the resort staff and the guide.
The Night mail train slowly approached the Colombo Fort Railway Station at 6.20 a.m the next day morning. We finally came remembering the great adventures we had for the weekend!!.
