Devundara - BFFs!

Departure Time:     0500 hours

Departure venue:    Mount Lavinia

Travel Mode:         Colombo-Matara Bus

Adventurers:           Niroshini Seneviratne, Udeshi Nugawela and Avanti

We decided to visit Udeshi’s loku ammi’s house in Devundara coz we needed to ‘get away’ from Colombo for awhile. They were having a daane, and so we decided to accommodate Udeshi to Devundara.

We travelled there in the Colombo-Matara Bus, which we hopped onto from Mount Lavinia, and reached Devundara close to 10am. Lal mami picked us up from the bus station, and we made our way to the house. We had been there once before, so we were cheerfully greeted by everyone – loku ammi, suddhi and prasanna etc.

After catching up with them, settling in and refreshing ourselves, we immediately changed into our bathing suits and took off for the beach!

About a 20 minute walk from the house was the Devundara Lighthouse (in Dondra Head – the lowest point of Sri Lanka). Since Udeshi’s family knew the owner, we were immediately let in, and climbed all the way to the top… The sight from up there is amazing! You can literally see all around Devundara, and far out into the sea. We snapped pics (of the sight AND ourselves!) to our heart’s content, and just sat up there for while, taking it all in…

Once we climbed back down, we decided to go for a dip in the clear blue sea. We walked a short distance to where the sea looked most blue, stripped down to our bathing suits and dove in… As the water was abit cold (and owing to a bunch of Devundara boys following us), we didn’t stay long, but soon moved to another/more common beach area – to be on the safe side. Here, on the rocks, we splashed around (and posed –Udeshi!) abit, and then decided to head back..

After we ate some more (!) and changed, back at home, Lal mami then took us to a Buddhist temple that was on a small island, but you could get to by crossing a bridge (like the Brooklyn Bridge). While me and Niro snapped pics, Udeshi laid flowers in the alter, and posed some more! ;)

Me and Niro both went in short skirts (coz we were told it was ok!), but the man at the entrance had the nerve to tell only ME that I couldn’t go in in the skirt!! But Udeshi told him that me and Niro were kind-of tourists, and then we were allowed to go in… lol.

Back at home, Udeshi’s ammi, Choota and ‘Loku thaththi’ had come too (for the daane). After dinner, Niro, Udeshi and Choota surprised me with balloons and ‘choco-pie cake’ although it was February(!), as we had not really celebrated my birthday. Hehe… it was fun! We listened to music, FB stalked people (as usual! with Lal mami’s dongle) and chatted before we finally fell asleep.

The next morning Lal mami decided to take us out of the way of the women, who were getting things ready for the daane in the evening, and arranged a boat ride for us. So me, Niro, Udeshi, Choota, Lal mami, Loku thaththi, Bada and Udeshi’s cousin nangi all boarded a boat, and took off.

It was a fun ride! We went far out, and along the coast too, quite far… We even saw turtles swimming!! It was awesome… Then, as we got closer to where we took off from, Lal mami allowed us to dive into the water and swim ashore. It was amazing, as the water was a gorgeous blue and was glorious!

We then swam around there for abit before we went back home. Still keeping out of the way, we four then went to a hotel nearby, for a drink and chat. We walked around for abit and took more pics… and chatted.

Back home, it was time for the daane… and a few new people had come. Me and Niro sat in a corner while the others said ‘pirith’. Afterwards, me and Niro were introduced to a few more people, and we had a small dinner. Udeshi’s family is also JUST like her, and were ever-ready to pose for pics! So we had a fun time!

 

Early next morning, me and Niro were to leave for Colombo by bus, as Udeshi and her family were staying back for another day. We said by to everyone and Lal mami dropped us at the bus stop… It was sooo crowded with people going to Colombo that we decided to take a bus to Galle, and one to Colombo from there!

Interesting ride too! When we got to Galle, it was also crowded, but we were standing in line and were finally able to get on a luxury bus to Colombo!! HOWEVER, there was no conductor on the bus!!!! Me and Niro seriously thought we would have left him behind, but apparently that wasn’t the case. It was just a bus going to Colombo, and decided to pick some people on the way… Thus, a man on the bus had to collect the money!! (although me or Niro would have loved to have done that! :)