My Friends’ post war Sri Lankan Journey.

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My Friends’ post war Sri Lankan Journey.Posted on October 4th, 2010

The story begins with one of my best friend Thilak and his wife recently went to Sri Lanka on 1 month vacation. The Sri lankan trip that they never experienced in their lives before.
Their flight from Auckland to Colombo International Airport touched down making them happy and excited about their days ahead. Everything has changed in Sri Lanka, it’s wonderful to see my motherland is doing well after 3 decades long war with barbaric LTTE Tamil tigers who were defeated militarily by gallant war heroes in 2009 May.
It was a joy for both of them to spend the times with their loved ones for couple of days before they set off their memorable road Trip after they mapped out their journey, they hit the road on one Friday early morning waking up at the crack of the dawn to avoid the rush hour traffic snarls.
it was a non stop drive from Negombo to Habarana. The road users are in Sri Lanka are so discipline and considerate of others and there are good road ethics are being practised by drivers in Sri Lanka. Thilak further narrated that there is no denying fact that Government’s excellent road work projects which are up to international standards. It was noticeable all the road users in Sri Lanka adhering to road signs erected along the highways. After having some breakfast they continued their journey to Polonnaruwa, where they missed out to visit Somawathi Stupa as it was full of Pilgrims from different parts of the country. It’s becoming a popular sacred place for Buddhists.
After having lunch in Polonnaruwa they continue their journey to Batticalo driving through Sri Lanka’s longest bridge (302metres) called Manampitiya, thanks to Japan Co-corporation agency for helping to construct this bridge within only 2 years.
The road from Polonnaruwa to Batticalo was remarkably wide and comfortable with signs suggest that Cattle’s may cross the road while grazing. There were plenty of wild peacocks strutting the side of the roads looking at vehicles moving on the road. some streets and roads were named after heroic Sri Lanka soldiers.
Lapping up the atmosphere, they witnessed there are dilapidated houses and building pockmarked with Bullet holes evolving the memory of dark days we went through.
It was virtually remote part and green paddy fields spanning into hundred acres along the Batticalo road. Traditional ploughing, planting, harvesting and threshing of paddy are carried out using modern equipments and Water Buffaloes were conspicuously absent from paddy fields.
Next they drove through Vakarei, once the ghost town during the pitch battle between our gallant forces and ruthless LTTE terrorists, now peaceful city with smiling and happy people. By the time they reached Batticalo it was around 2pm ,Batticalo the picturesque Lagoon with mangrove swamps and beautifully sandy beaches of Passikuda and Kalkuda which are tranquil and rarely been molested.
Driving through the srilanka’s biggest bridge “Kalladi” they reached their resort to spend the night. The resort is situated near the Kalladi bridge which is constructed over Batticalo Lagoon. It’s famous for singing fishes, singing in the waters of lagoon.
1960′s one of the priest recorded this singing fish musical charm and broadcast in SLBC. This reminds us of one of our famous singher HOn gunadasa kapuge’s song title “kalladi palama pamula sindu kiwwa maluwo, ei nihada wune, sitharayata wedi wedunada maluwo” during the battle time due to heavy exchange of motor and gun fire between LTTE terrorists and government forces ended the famous singing fish musical sound, and even if you don’t hear any musical sound in the lagoon today you could hear the happy stories of rebuilding people’s lives after the dark days of war time.
it’s a great opportunity for the potential investors who could possibly come here and invest in tourism such as building resorts,hotels etc.Sleeping like logs they were up next morning to the singing of birds outside there resort room,sun rays had encroached their room,back in the war time people here went through an untold hardship, it was the barbaric LTTE rebels gunfire which terrorised them, every day waking up to terror sound and they spent days in torment ,”thanks to our great leader president Mahinda Rajapaksha and heroic soldiers who liberated our motherland from the scourge of LTTE terrorism, one of the service person in the resort said with gratitude.After a mouthwatering and traditional sri lankan breakfast they set off to pasikudda which is an unpolluted sandy beach that one cannot miss out.
The weather was fine and sun was burning down making azure of passikudda blue sea water glitter to make a beautiful atmosphere.Our motherland has lots to offer during this postwar recovery time and its a sunrise sector that any one could indulge in tourism related business,next they drove to Arugambay which is one of world best surfing point ,A wide and comfortable newly built road between batticalo to arugambay was smooth and it was up to New zeal and roads standards thilak narrated.
There were propagation of Buddhist shrines and status were evident along the road.there were hundreds of local and foreign tourist who were present.every year there will be world famous surfers who get here to contest is major event in arugambay.Next they drove to siyabalanduwa where they bought one of country’s most delicious curd and treakle to satisfy their sweet tooth.Thilak noticed that price of the samba rice has come down from 190 ruppees to 65 kilo,thilak told me that before samba was a special occasion meal and now everyone can afford it as rice production of the country is in full swing.
After their pit stop in siyabalanduwa they were driving throudg buththala and Nuwaraeliya taking lots of hairpin bends,they enjoyed the green and lush tea plantations dotted all around , As they drove past they didnt forget to buy fresh vegetables and fruits which are abundance in this region.Returing home from their memorable road trip was the gratest sri lankan trip they ever experienced he said.nevertheless it was not the end of their sri lankan trip,news of their family members’child who was contracted dengu fever was somewhat worrying for them .
later he was admitted to hospital and timely treatment had saved his precious life.Things look rosy for sri lanka now apart from deadly dengue epidemic which is the only worrying factor that they gravely concerned about,he further stated that government has taken all the necessary steps to eradicate dengue fever now has shown significant results dropping dengue related cases resulting in decline of dengue fever deaths.
He is confident that dengue fever will be eradicated in sri lanka in the near future as sri lanka is on the right track to become wander of Asia.After returning to Auckland from their sri lanka journey ,we met at his residence over usual Saturday night to mingle and have dinner,he repeatedly said he would soon go back and live there as there is no other land like our motherland sri lanka.This true story comes straight from the horse mouth as he urged all sri lankans to think positively to return to sri lanka soon to live happily.