Australia changes to holiday mode from the beginning of December. In 2023 I was still in Perth. This is usually not in my plans. Given the opportunity, this time I made it a point to attend the office Xmas party. Though I work for a company located in Perth at the time, I wannish back to my tropical heaven as ...
When we first came to dive at Kalpitiya, a couple of years ago, it was like love at first sight. Its not all about diving, but people, culture and slow life what we started to admire. Day to day life of most are closely connected to church in a good way. Life was slow.Then I knew this is going to ...
Not to say I was tired and overwhelmed by end of the Underwater/ Land excursion done in east, nor any difference for others. Funny, but sadly Niro had travelled all the way to Monaragala again in a bus to obtained the drivers license after paying the fine as the bitter aftermath of the lengthy drive. Though it happened due to ...
I had all the intensions of diving when east coast season started in 2023. I couldn't do much in west coast season this time since Sawanthi went through a surgery and needed a lot of rest, leaving me to play the typical family man role, for a change. By June, I was more than ready. While we are based in ...
When I came out of the arrivals door of Bandaranayake Airport, Sisira was there to take me home. Sisira had been my (un)official driver, for last few years. First he was the driver for me when I used to go to Shangri-la coworker space, called Connect, during the power cuts. I am back in my paradise with all the love, ...
In a previous post I mentioned how I was stranded in Australia since federal government imposed a law stopping Australians from going out of the country during the Covid-19 pandemic. At last I was able to get a special permission to leave the country mainly through a letter provided by the management of the project I was working. It was ...
In 1942, Japanese captured Singapore and cut off the air link in between Australia and England. By 1943, Royal Australian Air force started one of the historically important flights in between Perth and Koggala (south of Sri Lanka), Consolidated PBY Catalina under the banner of Qantas , which was a distance of 6,480km, took record breaking time airborne, around 28hours. ...
As I mentioned in my previous post, Western Australia wasn’t hit badly by Covid. Though we were not allowed to go out of the state, travel within the state was possible during the period of jeopardy. In fact, I planned a couple of solo travels away from Perth. In October 2020, I jumped into a Qantas flight and headed ...
In early 2020, I was in Sri Lanka with family enjoying all the comforts I can ask for. Not to say, while it was the west coast season, I also explored few shipwreck in the coast of Colombo and Galle. One of the dive buddies I dived with in Colombo was Simon Lawrance; I only realized later that he is ...
In August 2019, I came to Perth. After spending first night in a hotel near the Airport I came to my next place where I planned to stay for next month.That's how I ended up living with David and Kim. I already felt some character in their colonial and historical looking home. When I first came, slim old man, David, ...
We always see great underwater photos with clear blue backgrounds and that’s like a dream for any diver or underwater enthusiast. Those are tropical waters. As Sri Lankans we are blessed with such beautiful warm waters around our island. Anyway, ocean gets different character in different regions. Once you pass the tropical belt, go further away from equator, you find ...
It’s been 20 years since this happened and I was in the university. Janaka told me Dr.Nihal wants to meet you. අන්න නිහාල් සර් උඹට හම්බවෙන්න කිව්වාI said “I don’t know him… what’s the reason”ඒ මොකෝ.. මම සර්ව දන්නෙත් නෑ“well, he is planning an expedition to Adams peak via a pretty unknown direction. He is searching for suitable guys who ...
A friend of mine, Kumudu, told me the whereabouts of Mr.Bandusena. When I dig more, I didn’t have any doubt, he can’t be anyone but one of the pioneering commercial divers in Sri Lanka. I had read about him. According to Kumudu he was living in Sydney. Then I was really interested in seeing this legendary diver who should be ...
Though, I was so excited on diving in Bali, I didn’t believe it would have been this eventful and memorable for the incident I narrowly escaped from. Anyway, I am safe, learnt the lessons and now able to document what happened that day.I knew Bali offer both big fish as well as small macro subjects. I was particularly interested in ...
Within the many aspects of traveling, I enjoy the connection with people along the way. In my recent travel to Bali was of no difference when it comes to the joy of meeting new people and listening to their stories.Bala was the Taxi driver who took us to the Airport. He was a Sri Lankan Born Australian guy: generous and ...
Probably, the Great Barrier Reef is the best thing I ever found in Australia. So I really wanted to explore it since day one. My first time in the reef in 2012 was amazing. In fact, it was like meeting a pen-pal because I could imagine how it look like before seeing. I had already done my research, seen videos ...
Almost five years back I wrote a review on a book called “Bodilima” (බෝදිලිමා) which was significantly different than what I had consumed as a Sinhala literature enthusiast. Its writer was Mohan Raj Madawala. Not only did I admire the bold decision of writing such a book, but harshly criticized the writer for joining a “popular culture” radio channel, as ...
American beauty is one of the nice movies I have ever seen. That’s not surprising because it’s an award winning movie. Anyway, its simplicity and context which aligns with the most wanton characteristics of fast moving life and its tragic consequences towards a family make me think more and more about ourselves. Though I use the ward “tragic”, this movie ...
