Mahaweli

Mahaweli ganga in Sinhala means "Great Sandy River". This is the longest and largest river in Sri Lanka which is nearly 208 miles long. It's journy begins at Hatton plateau on the western part of the island's up country (based on the topography of Sri Lanka, the land devides into two major parts. One is called low country and the other called up country which begins as you proceeds interior, reaching elevation of over 6500ft). From here it flows north and finds the sea at Trincomalee in north east of Sri Lanka, where it creates a finest deep sea harbours in the world. This river carries water from the wet land where water is abundant to the dry land, where this river feeds almost thousand kilometers of land under cultivation. This river also produces hydropower at Victoria.

Dambulla

Dambulla is on the main road from Sigiriya to Kandy about 19Km from Sigiriya. There are over 80 caves in the surrounding and some of them have been used by the monks as meditation locations. Major attractions are spread over 5 caves, which contain the statues and the paintings. Since it's founding in the 1 century BC by King Valagamba, many improvements and additions have been carried out to the sculptures and paintings over the years. Hindu statues are believed to be of the 12 century AD and the latest paintings are of the late 18-century. The temple is a perfect location to view evolution of the ancient Sri Lankan arts. Dambulla is a unique and important historical site because of the amalgamation of the material from many eras.

Sigiriya

I am always fascinated by history. Sigiriya, in sinhala meaning "lion rock" is one of the mind blowing attractions in Sri Lanka. After ascending about 656ft the final entrance to the citadel passes between the paws of a colossal brick work of lion, hence gave the name Sigiriya. This clifftop citadel was built by Kasyapa (who is the rightful heir to the throne of Anuradhapuraya) around AD473-480, to protect himself from his half brother Mogallana. This rock , granted well secured kingdom for Kasyapa. Instead of hiding Kasyapa went out to battle Mogallana in AD491. He was however defeated by Mogallana and later commited suicide. Mogallana then became crowned king in AD495 and returned to Anuradhapuraya, where he ruled for the next 18 yrs. Sigiriya was then abandoned until later discoved in 19th century. Special attraction of Sigiriya is the arts of Sigiriya Damsels, the only secular art to have survived from ancient kingdoms. In Kasyapa's era this rock wall was embrassed by hundreds of sensuous arts of these beauties, but today only 22 have survived, the rest dissappeared due to weather, time and vandalism.