Saturday, January 5, 2019

Nine Arch Bridge

From Wikipedia,
The Nine Arch Bridge (Sinhalese: අහස් නමයේ ආරුක්කු පාලම, also called the Bridge in the Sky)[3] is a bridge in Sri Lanka. It is one of the best examples of colonial-era railway construction in the country.[4] The construction of the bridge is generally attributed to a local Ceylonese builder, P. K. Appuhami, in consultation with British engineers. [5][6] The chief designer and project manager of the 'upcountry railway line of Ceylon' project was D. J. Wimalasurendra, a distinguished Ceylonese engineer and inventor. The designer of the viaduct was Harold Cuthbert Marwood of Railway Construction Department of Ceylon Government Railway. The 1923 report titled "Construction of a Concrete Railway Viaduct in Ceylon" published by the Engineering Association of Ceylon has details of all the records including the plans and drawings. [7]
It is located in Demodara, between Ella and Demodara railway stations. The surrounding area has seen a steady increase of tourism due to the bridge's architectural ingenuity and the profuse greenery in the nearby hillsides.[4]
Popular rumours suggest that when construction work commenced on the bridge, the Great War began between the empires of Europe and the steel assigned for this site was reallocated to Britain's War related projects at the battlefront. As a result, the work came to a standstill, leading the locals build the bridge with stone bricks and cement, but without steel.[6][5]

Monkey


Sunday, October 21, 2018

Flower


Muhudu Rala- මුහුදු රළ


ජීවිතයේ සුන්දරත්වය..



ජීවිතය ගැන බොහෝ දෙනා විවිධ පුරසාම් දොඩනවා.. ඇත්තටම අපි හරි විදියට ජීවත් වෙනවද ? මේක හැමෝටම තියෙන ලොකු ප්‍රශ්නයක්... කොච්චර ලස්සනට ජීවත් වෙනවා කියල රටට ලෝකෙට පෙන්නුවත්.. ඒ ජීවිත වලත් ප්‍රශ්න ගැටළු නැතුව නෙවෙයි... ප්‍රශ්න අවම කරගෙන ජීවත් වීම වඩාත් සුදුසුයි... මේ අතරේ රටට ලෝකෙට නොපෙන්වා තමන්ගේ දුක් ගැටළු මකාගෙන ජීවත් වෙන පිරිසකුත් අපේ සමාජේ ඉන්නවා, ඒ අය බොහොම යහපත් විදියට ජීවිත ගත කරනවා... මම හිතන්න ඕනේ මම ජීවත් වෙන විදියෙන් තව කෙනෙකුට හිංසාවක් පීඩාවක් නොවී ජීවත් වෙන්න... අපි එහෙම හිතමු.... ලංකාවේ ඔහොම තමයි I don't know why කිය කියා ඉන්නේ නැතුව මගේ ජීවිතය හදා ගමු...


අකිල පීරිස්.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Sri Padaya - ශ්‍රී පාදය 

Geography

The mountain is located in the southern reaches of the Central Highlands in the Ratnapura District and Nuwara Eliya district of the Sabaragamuwa Province and Central Province —lying about 40 km northeast of the city of Ratnapura and 32 km southwest of the city of Hatton. The surrounding region is largely forested hills, with no mountain of comparable size nearby. The region along the mountain is a wildlife reserve, housing many species varying from elephants to leopards, and including many endemic species.
Adam's Peak is important as a watershed. The districts to the south and the east of Adam's Peak yield precious stones—emeralds, rubies and sapphires, for which the island has been famous, and which earned for its ancient name of Ratnadvipa.[3]

Trails

The Holy peak viewed at Adiyamalatenna Ambalama – Kuruwita-Erathna trail
Sri pada road.jpg
Access to the mountain is possible by 6 trails: Ratnapura-Palabaddala, Hatton-Nallathanni, Kuruwita-Erathna, Murraywatte, Mookuwatte and Malimboda. The Nallathanni & Palabaddala routes are most favored by those undertaking the climb, while the Kuruwita-Erathna trail is used less often; these trails are linked to major cities or town by bus, accounting for their popular use. The Murraywatte, Mookuwatte and Malimboda routes are hardly used, but do intersect with the Palabaddala road midway through the ascent. The usual route taken by most pilgrims is ascent via Hatton and descent via Ratnapura; although the Hatton trail is the steepest, it is also shorter than any of the other trails by approximately five kilometers.
Once one of the starting 'nodes' of Palabadalla, Nallathanni or Erathna are reached, the rest of the ascent is done on foot through the forested mountainside on the steps built into it. The greater part of the track leading from the base to the summit consists of thousands of steps built in cement or rough stones. The trails are illuminated with electric light, making night-time ascent possible and safe to do even when accompanied by children. Rest stops and wayside shops along the trails serve refreshments and supplies.
Whilst there are many ancient monuments on the mountain, there is an important Peace Pagoda located halfway up, built by Nipponzan Myohoji in 1978.