Friday, August 24, 2007

Yala Ahoy!

I went to Yala. And some other places. Nuwara Eliya, Bandarawela and Kataragama to be precise. Can't think of any interesting opening lines, so just check out the images.

WARNING : Amateur Photography ahead.

Trees in Yala, Also Shadows in Yala.

Leopard in Yala. Apperently they're quite rare. Not too surprising seeing the way they pretend you don't even exist when you drive by...

No points for guessing what's hidden in the trees. Sunset in Yala. Self explanatory.
Nuwara Eliya -

One of the humongous Bulls I saw at the Ambewela Farm.Neck looked about 2 feet wide. And no sir, Ah suuure din not see any "Photography is Prohibited" sign.
Kataragama-

Some of the local apes in Kataragama. Sacred, none the less.

One of the less camera shy dieties in Kataragama. Most of the others were recluses, who'd ordered they're priests to shoo away any tourists carrying cameras.

All in all, it was pretty interesting. Although it WAS a little strange going from extremely cold to extremely dry in a span of five days.
Random thoughts -
* People in Nuwara Eliya can easily spot outsiders by looking for people who are in summer clothes and are usually shivering.
* Horses bump up and down waaaayy too much.
* Everything is sacred in Kataragama. Even down to the hotel food, which was depressingly vegetarian. I was a little dissappointed. I was expecting throngs of people rushing around, and when I finally roamed around the city, I had a hard time finding what the actual "town" was. When I got there, it was more or less deserted other than for the millions of pavement hawkers trying to sell us plates of fruits and veggies.

5 comments:

Azrael said...

Hey looks like you had a great time...
Nice pics (for an amateur) :D

It's been ages since I've been down to Yala and Kataragama, must go again soon

cheers!

Suraaj de Silva said...

Those Monkeys look DAMN familiar...
so does the bull...
...
...J you sure its no one we know?...

Anonymous said...

Yala looks parched. Last time we were in SL we wanted to go there but someone said it is not safe with tigers (two legged ones) hiding in Yala.

Is there a narration of some sort coming about the trip or is this it? :P

Jerry said...

@azrael
Thanks dude!

@suraaj
Looked for nanadasena at Yala, esp. in the buffalo herds, couldn't find him.

@mia
Yup, coming up. Just wanted to get the pictures out of the way so the text doesn't get messed up. Didn't see any of the biped tigers in Yala. Didn't you hear? According to our great warrior king/president,"The East has been liberated!"... ;-)

Anonymous said...

@mia

my God, don't encourage him. Next he'll be strutting about the house declaiming his narrative skills.

@jerry
Are those all the pics you took? get a Flikr account