Galapita

Went on a little trip couple of weeks back to a place called Galapita, midway along the Buttala-Kataragama road. The place is called the Galapita Healing Garden, one of those one with nature eco-tourism places.

The place is so peaceful and quiet, it’s an ideal place for some R&R. The original vegetation is still pretty much intact, so there are plenty of trees to provide shade and to keep the place cool. The Menik Ganga runs through the property and provides a nice place for a dip.

There is a villa type bungalow which can sleep 8-10 people, and smaller cottages for singles and couples. You can’t really call them cottages because the whole place follows open architecture, minimum amount of walls are built. Even the villa we stayed in is open on 3 sides. Even the bathrooms are roofless. There is no electricity provided for the cottages either, so it’s lanterns all the way. It may not be the ideal for all, but I loved it. Three meals are included in the price, and it’s all vegetarian. If you want, you can provide meat and they’ll cook it for you, but once you taste those dishes, you won’t even miss the meat.

Galapita Healing Garden

One of the smaller cottages built on top of the rock

Menik Ganga - there is another cottage on the right shore. The water is so great. Once you go in you never want to come out.

The Menik Ganga carves a path through the rock.

There is a suspension bridge to get across the river

Tree house - you can sleep here.

The larger cottage which we stayed. This is the side and the back, all open. The river is right at the back doorstep.

The cottage from the front.

Another smaller cottage, the bedroom on the top level

Another smaller cottage

Another smaller cottage

Antique horse carving

Crazy horse

The Spa

Nil Manel

The sluice gates of the Weheragala tank, which was created by blocking the Menik Ganga

The Weheragala reservoir, with dead trees sticking out.

Diyaluma falls, on the way

Sleeping house guest

Why the Rush?

It’s a mystery to me why our people get a heightened sense of urgency when they get behind a wheel of a motor vehicle and put into the roads. It’s like they have a fire to put out somewhere and they must get through, no matter the consequences. Ok, maybe not all motorists, but there are many.

What are you going to do with the few minutes you lose if you stop and let someone cross the road, at a pedestrian crossing? Or let someone coming from the opposite side take a right turn? Normally I try to do this whenever possible, but what I’ve noticed most time is that people coming from behind just overtake and zip past. Once a guy nearly knocked a pedestrian who was crossing the road on a zebra crossing.

As for pedestrians, why is it so difficult to understand light signals? Red man says stop and the Green man say go. Is it that difficult? And don’t get me started on cyclists, three wheelers and busses.

If you think people talking on mobile phones while driving is bad, I’ve seen guys on motorbikes texting, while still riding. Once I was following a bike that was all over the road, only to see the guy nicely texting with one hand. I mean seriously, if you really want to send that text can’t you spare a minute and stop? After that I keep a look out for these, and I’ve actually seen 3 people doing this.

Aagh… I hate driving in Colombo…

A Study in Miniature

Thought I'd do some model photography :)

The car is a 1960's (me thinks) Cadillac and the truck is a Peterbilt tow truck.