We left Colombo early in the morning at 3:30a.m. and headed for Kandy. Reached Kandy within 3 hours. Dalada Maligawa in Kandy was our first stop. Since we had a lot of time at our disposal for the day we spent a lot of time at the Maligawa. Also, visited the museam there.
We had breakfast in Kandy and left Kandy at 9:30 in the morning. Our next stop would be Mahiyangana. We decided to take longer but more picturesque route to Mahiyangana along Victoria, Randenigala and Rantambe tanks. As expected we could see the tanks for most of the length of the journey.
We stopped at a few places to take photographs. Near the dams taking photographs was prohibited.
The trip took longer than expected. We reached Mahiyangana in the afternoon.
After settling down (at Hasalaka) we went for a bath in a nearby stream.
We headed towards Mahiyangana town and the temple in the evening. It was dusk when we reached the temple. A few photographs were taken in the fading light.
Day 2 - Sunday 30th April
Day 2 started from Mahiyangana.
We were about 1 hour late than we planned. Left Mahiyangana at about 7:30 in the morning. We reached Badulla within 2 hours. Our first stop was Muthiyangana Raja Maha Viharaya.
Lord Buddha had visited this place in the 8th year
after enlightenment with 500 arahants.
We also had breakfast at Badulla.
Our next destination was Maligawila near Buththala. We had to decide on a route. The well known way from Wellawaya would be longer. So based on the map we decided on a route through Passara. This route was very scenic as it wound through tea plantations in the Namunkula range of mountains.
It took us less than 2 hours to reach Buththala. From Buththala we went past Okkampitiya towards Maligawila. There were 2 colossal statues one, the famous Maligawila Buddha statue and another Bodhisatva statue.
On our way from Maligawila we stopped at another temple named Dematamal Viharaya in Okkampitiya. This temple was the place prince Saddatissa had hidden from prince Dutugemunu in their battle.
On our way back we stopped at Buththala and had lunch. The next stop was Buduruvagala which is a huge rock with carvings of Buddha stautes and Bodhisatva staues.
The Buddha statue here is supposed to be the tallest standing Buddha statue in Sri Lanka.
The next stop was the Handapangala tank.
