Blogs from Tissamaharama, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Asia

We left Ella for our next destination, Tissamaharama, early the next morning. Saman stopped at Rawana Ella Waterfall, 19 meters high and only 6 kilometres from Ella. We were driving along a winding road through Ella Gap and the scenery was stunning. We stopped briefly at the waterfall and joined a large group of orange clad monks on the bridge overlooking the falls. We left the hill country and were passing through flat farmlands before we arrived in the busy crossroads town of Wellawaya. A short detour here from the highway out of the town took us to Buduruwagala, an ancient Buddhist site dating from the 10th century. At this spot stands a 1000 year old standing Buddha statue (at 15 meters high it is the tallest on the island) which is carved into the rock ... read more

It's New Year's Eve and we are in the opposite direction from all of the parties! After our hiking trip and quick stop in Colombo, we returned to Weligama for a few days to unpack our backpacks, wash all our clothes, and pack up again. Our friends tried to convince us to stay on the coast until tomorrow so we could attend one of the many beach parties planned for tonight, but neither Matt nor I were interested in ringing in the new year at a noisy party. The railway tracks only go as far south as Matara, so we hired a van and driver to take us NE toward Tissamaharama which is the closest town to Yala National Park. Driving the coastal highway we passed a lot of little beach towns that looked irresistable and ... read more

After a week at the rescue centre and our first taste of cricket, already taken with Sri Lanka we were keen to move on to see other parts of the island. We negotiated a lift with the driver and van that had taken us to Colombo and planned to take a route along the coast up to Tissamaharama. Mark had identified our most luxurious accomodation to date which also included a bit of air-con and cable TV.... which of course showed the cricket. We took in a number of recommended sites on the way. The first stop was at Mirissa, despite lashing rain we could still see it was a beautiful sandy beach and bay, well worth spending some time in during hotter weather. Taking in an obligatory temple a fascinating underground Buddhist enclave with literally ... read more