Aside from the title, this blog post
doesn’t have much to do with the hobbits tale written by Bilbo Baggins!
Instead, it’s about a very relaxing trip to a bungalow hidden away in Dehiowita.
The bungalow named ‘There’ is about an hour and a half away from Colombo and
about fifteen minutes from the town of Awissawella.
Pardon my references to The Lord of the
Rings, but now as I think back… ‘There’ reminds me a little of Rivendell, the
home of the elves that is surrounded by rivers, because of the river and the
stream that surrounds it.
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| A painting of Rivendell (thanks to FineArt America)on the left and my attempt to draw a map that shows how the rivers flow around the bungalow on the right. | | |
The road from Colombo to Dehiowita was good
but it was the last bit from Dehiowita to the bungalow that gave us a hard time.
It is a possibility for a van or a four wheel drive, but not even an option for
a car. We did however manage to get a car up there albeit at a very slow pace
by getting out of the vehicle to lighten the load at the difficult points. The
bottom of the vehicle got slightly banged up a few times but the car soldiered
on and made it to the bungalow in the end. When I was talking to David, the
owner of this lovely property, about the road access… He said that he was
looking to only fix the bigger potholes on the road instead of paving the
entire stretch to deter any other traffic and vehicles that might come that
way. He wanted to keep the area peaceful.
I noticed a change in the air the second I
stepped out of the vehicle… It was cool, fresh and crisp and we were welcomed
with some Kola Kenda, a warm and inviting herbal Sri Lankan porridge. The second
thing I noticed was that there was no cell phone reception anywhere. I walked
all around the house and the gardens in panic searching for at least one bar of
reception but found nothing. After the initial shock of realising I would be offline
for two whole days wore off… I started to enjoy the bungalow and its
surroundings a lot more. The house is surrounded by lush greenery and the
rivers and all you can hear are birds chirping and the peaceful sound of the
river rushing past.
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| The front garden |
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| A warm jug of Kola Kenda |
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| The flowers that brighten up the garden |
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| My cousin looking for cell phone reception! |
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| Features of the bungalow's facade |
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| The resident stray that paid us a visit! |
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| The river |
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| From the veranda |
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| The master bedroom, although I would rather sleep out in the veranda! |
By afternoon, I was actually happy about
being offline and out of cell phone range. It was great to just switch off and
take a dip in the stream [because the river was too rough] or play some games
with my family. The gardens were full of flowers and big colourful butterflies
[the kind you would never see in the city]. Another interesting feature about
the bungalow is that the greens used to make the kola kenda, the fruits used to
make the fresh juices and the vegetables they cooked for our meals were all grown
in their garden.
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| The very clear water in the stream |
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| Best seat there was...! |
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| Some mushrooms I found walking back up to the house |
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| The steps from the stream up to the house |
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| The collection of indoor games they had there...! |
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| You find so many pretty things while walking around the gardens.... |
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| The fresh juice we were offered and the fruit it was made out of |
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| The delicious lunch... |
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| Enjoying the view... |
This is an ideal place for someone who wants
to just switch off from the city life and enjoy some fresh air. It is also the
place the inspired me to create a concept holiday in Sri Lanka that is solely
focussed on bathing spots. More on that later! Until then, Live. Love. Travel.
