🆆🅴🆃🅻🅰🅽🅳   🅿🅰🆁🅺 - 🅱🅰🅳🅳🅰🅶🅰🅽🅰😍

After visiting the Seethawaka Botanical Garden, another opportunity to enjoy the beauty of nature is to visit the beddagana wetland park😍.

Beddagana Wetland Park is a wetland park situated on Rampart Road in Sri Jayawardenapura, Kotte. It was declared open in the year 2016. The park covers 18 hectares of wetland surrounding the Diyawanna Oya Lake. It is considered to be a part of the much larger Diyawanna Oya flood plains Wildlife Sanctuary declared by the Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1985.

The park has various zones with 2 main trails, Lakeside Trail and Migratory Birds Trail. So We had to do a lot of walking. So we kept our jogging shoes and glass water bottles ready😀💪😌.

Lakeside trail includes Butterfly Walk, Duck Pond, Diyawanna Walk and Floating Deck. Migratory Birds Trail is the trail that ends in the car park. When you enter this trail from the entrance, you will find the Park school first. This school gives information and small lectures on the biodiversity of the park, wetland management, conservation, etc. You can learn a lot about Beddagana Wetland Park here😇.      

Plastic bottles and containers are not allowed in the park. We had to leave them outside at the ticket counter.  We brought up some snacks, but did not leave any wrappers or plastic within the park. I didn't forget to bring my binoculars and cameras. We decided to turn off the flash and shutter sound on the cameras to avoid disturbing the wildlife😊.

It is a great place to embrace Mother Nature with so much to do such as bird watching and taking a stroll sinking in the beauty surrounding🌱🌳🌾🌼.

Day out at Seethawaka Park 😃😃😃

It was a beautiful sunny day on November 17. I wanted to explore the nature. After discussing with my sister😌. We planed a day out to Seethawaka😍😍.

Seethawaka botanical garden is a Latest addition to Sri Lanka’s botanical garden list. As it's not far from Colombo ideal for a day outing. It was started in 2014 for the research purpose and currently a well famous place at area. It opens from 7.30 am till 6 pm. Called their phone number and verified that they are open before visiting. There’s some area to cover and it will take around 3 hours to complete the tour. There're rose garden, herbs garden, ferns garden etc.. some parts are still being built🌱.

The lower part of the garden is maintained as a botanical garden with beautifully arranged flower plots, perfectly cut grasses and well maintained lake. You can enjoy the boat ride at the lake or hire a golf cart to ride around the garden. It takes about a half a day to enjoy the garden. It is worth you can couple this visit with nearby waterfalls. Better avoid in weekends and public holidays as it get crowded. So this is a Good place to hang out with friends and specially for young couples to have some quality free time🌳🌳. 

 Last school trip to Polonnaruwa 😍😍😍

School also plans tours every year and it is compulsory for every student to participate. So we went to Polonnaruruwa.

We were very excited, for trip with friends. We were given an itirary in which all the details of our visits. 

Through this trip, We learned a lot about our history.

As I remember that was a Friday. March 12, 2016. Then I was grade 11. That was the last trip to the first school I went to. We were told to come to school at 4 in the morning. We talked earlier about grabbing a seat in the back seat😂.

We continued to sing until we got to Polonnaruwa by bus😌💪. We collected Rs. 1500 from one of our children to go on the trip. They said they would serve lunch and tea in the evening.

At that time we were able to see many places of historical value such as the Parakramabahu Royal Palace, the Raja Sabha Mandapa, the Shiva Devalaya, the Wata Dageya, the seven storied palace, the stone book inscription, the Alahana Pirivena, the Lotus Pond and the Sandakada Pahana.

Parakrabahu Royal Palace, 

We met the first group of ruins after entering the ground of the ancient city. This group of buildings dates from the period of King Parakramabahu I (1153 – 1186). The King`s Royal Palace is a massive structure, measuring 31 m by 13 m, once including 50 rooms supported by 30 columns.

The Raja Sabha Mandapa, 

is one of the best-preserved structures in the Royal Palace Group, with beautiful stone carved elephants on the walls.

The Shiva Devalaya, 

This is the oldest building in Polonnaruwa as it dates back to the brief South Indian Chola dynasty period (around 1070) when the Indian invaders established the city. This is one of the few Hindu temples on the grounds. Because it is among the few buildings built entirely of stone, it is basically in the same condition as when it was built.

The Wata Dageya,

The Sacred Quadrangle is a compact group of beautiful and impressive ruins within a raised up platform bounded by a wall. This is the most concentrated collection of buildings in the whole Ancient City.

In the middle of the Quadrangle is The Vatadage, a circular relic house typical of its kind. The outermost terrace is an impressive 18m in diameter and has four entrances all flanked by large guard stones in beautiful condition.The Vatadage has four entrances, each guarded by a beautiful stone figure.The central dagaba inside the Vatadage, with four Buddhas statue.

The seven storied palace, 

This pyramid-shaped, seven storied building called Sathmahal Prasadaya is thought to be an unusually shaped stupa built during the Polonnaruwa Period (11th -13th century).

The stone book inscription,

The stone book inscription in the courtyard of the Tooth Relic in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka is considered to be the largest inscription in the country.  It was made by King Nissanka Malla (1187-1196). It belongs to the Polonnaruwa period. The inscription is about 8.2 meters long and 1.4 meters wide.  In addition, it is about 2 feet thick.  It consists of 72 lines and is said to be about 4300 characters long.

The Alahana Pirivena, 

Alahana Pirivena is an ancient monastic complex in Polonnaruwa Sri Lanka. The founder of the complex was King Parakramabahu

The Lotus Pond 

Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) is an ancient pond with a unique design made by ancient Sri Lankan architects.

Sandakada Pahana

In front of most buddhist buildings we see 3 common items. They are,

Moonstone (Sandakada Pahana)

Guard stones (Mura Gal)

Balustrades (Korawak Gal)

The moonstone (Sandakada Pahana)  is a permanent feature of the buddhist building

The design of the moonstone has undergone many changes over time, But the moonstones show the highest level of creativity towards the end of the Anuradhapura Era. 

It’s great to enjoy a little bit away from school and home for rejuvenation and energy, After working hard and excelling in school, I was able to go out on an unforgettable school trip.😍