Ambuluwawa

OSI-Sri Lanka

13 September 2015

Our second trip this month!  -this time to Ambuluwawa, a scenic mountain-top park not far from Kandy; our local friends provided our trip and accompanied us, and we enjoyed lunch, dinner, and plenty of ice-cream and snacks in-between...

Ambuluwawa is a beautiful if not slightly odd place.  It is a mountain top park, -several manicured acres on the flat top of an otherwise precipitous mountain.  On the grounds are several oddly-unfinished structures, including a remarkable tower with a haphazard, narrow staircase spiraling it's exterior all the way to the top.  The randomness of the park and structures aside, Ambuluwawa is a lovely environment, and also provides a stunning 360-degree panoramic view, -one of the best in Sri Lanka.  Each edge of the park provides a new panorama (or climb the spiral staircase to see it all at once!).

Our Day

We all met in Kandy at 1:00pm, including our hosts (Arunn, who came all the way from Colombo, and Niveathan & Shashi, from nearbly Gampola).  Arunn provided a picnic lunch for us, which we enjoyed in the beautiful grounds of Peradeniya University campus just outside of Kandy.  From there we had a scenic 45-minute drive along the Mahaweli River to Gampola, and another 30 minutes up the steep mountainside.  The weather was splendid, just enough cloud-cover to sheild us from the sun, but not enough to obstruct the views.  After a leisurely time in the park, and a climb up the tower, we headed down the mountain and back to Kandy early in the evening.  Our hosts treated us to dinner at our favourite restaurant, and even dropped each of us to our distant homes!  As simple as our day was, we all agreed that this was one of the nicest trips on memory, and we are especially excited about our new friends Arunn, Shashi, and Niveathan! :-)   Below are a few photos to share:

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to our local friends Arunn Krishnamoorthy, Niveathan Pathmanathan, and Shashi Hettiarachchi for providing our trip!  Arunn is a young entrepeneur, Niveathan and Shashi are his cousins and also both doctors in Gampola, near Kandy.  Besides providing our trip and other assistance to our youth, these three incredible individuals are a great inspiration and fantastic example, and their new friendship is already cherished by our girls.
Arunn, Niveathan, and Shashi, besides creating a wonderful memory for our kids, your advice and counsel is invaluable.  And your genuine care and interest is something these girls do not experience often, as deserving as they are.  Can't thank you enough!
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