Our first two days in coastal side of Sri Lanka has been nothing but wonderful and memorable. We've been inhaled windy, hot and humid ocean breeze so now it's time for us to explore another charm Sri Lanka has to offer. We started our journey upward south-eastern district of Hambantota and will stop for one night at a place called Tissamaharama. This is where Yala National Park located at. Besides Yala, there's another infamous and bigger National Park you can visit called Wilpattu. However, Yala was more strategic for our itinary as it was located within our route hence the choice made.

:: Farewell pic with Chamila. So long Galle. Every goodbye makes the next hello closer! ::

:: I really heart her saree fabric. This is among the famous local product of Sri Lanka. In fact, sarong or kain pelekat in here are all comes in similar pattern, colours and design with the one wore by the lady above. I think colour blocking are in fashion world recently. Well, maybe the trend starts here :). I can see myself and my kids in Baju Kurung Pahang made of this type of cotton ::

We checked out from Jetwing around 8 am and straight away proceed our journey. It will took approximately 3-4 hours to reach our next destination. Since our Yala expedition will starts at 2.30 pm, we need be on our way latest by 8 am, so that we won't risk missing the trip, and the earlier we reach the better so we can have a short rest before entering Yala National Park.

Anyway, 4 hours didn't really felt like one. Reason being, the view along the journey was very pretty and there's so much things to see, time did flies without we even notice it. Plus, De Silva putting so much efforts to made a few stops when he encounter something interesting to show us. Most of the villages we passed through during this trip was famous for their crops and farms so there are a lot of interesting trees that I've never seen my whole life. It is indeed an eye opening experience., and educational for the girls too. They have been living in concrete jungle all their lives, it's really good to have this kind of trip for them for a change.

:: De Silva stopped in the middle of deserted road, went into bush and came back with this kacang panjang and young mango for the kids to play with ::

:: Short break at air kelapa muda stall. You wanna know why Erin and I was facing the other side ? ::

:: This is why ! Peacock is Sri Lanka's national anthem. This is male peacock I think, seeing that it doesn't have long pretty tails. We saw female one too, but she I guess she's not in a mood of showing off her pretty tails to us ::

:: Aktiviti mengorek isi kelapa ::

:: A very very very very very old Buddhist temple. We was told that this temple was built around some 200 years ago, err I think. I remembered being told about 200 years old temple but not sure whether this is the one. We saw so many temple like this I could been mistaken. Main reason I can never be travel journalist. I tend to forgot facts ::

:: Tree-lined road. There are so many road like this in this country side. It's so beautiful and added more character to this road. Can you see all those van and cars by the road side? And can you see 2 small people swimming in the lotus -filled lake? This lake was called Tissa Lake. It's like a holy lake to Buddhist believer and if I'm not mistaken, the pilgrims have to take a bath in this lake as part of their offering ::

We arrived at our hotel just in time for lunch. Case in point, we'll be staying at Priyankara Hotel, near Yala National Park. This hotel was chose by De Silva. All arrangement was made by him, we just tell him we want good, clean and decent hotel. The star rate wasn't important since we will only stay overnight and will leave the next morning. Anyway, with our first hotel, we made our booking via online. It turned out that if your tour guide made a booking on your behalf, you'll be given a very special low price. Like this hotel, the rate in the internet was USD 125 but given our reservation was made by De Silva, we only have to pay around USD 65. Almost cut by half. Owhhh I'm sucker for huge discount. Good lesson learned. Next visit, we'll definitely get our tour guide to do all the reservations.

Let's check up their room shall we?

:: Fresh kemboja greeted our arrival ::

:: Love love love the decor. Didn't I tell you I am very kampung at heart? ::

:: This door led us to our room. There's few steel benches and chairs under the huge old tree. You can read while enjoying your cuppa tea or you can just sit back and enjoy the greenery view ::

:: Our welcome drinks. Water melon juice ::

:: Our room. The staffs kind enough to let us have a sneak peak at rooms they have here and if we didn't like it, he will show us another room. We just take the first room showed to us. Firstly, because it was located on the ground floor. There's a reason I wanted ground floor room which I will show you why shortly. Secondly, the room smells soooooo freaking nice. I've been to so many hotel rooms before, but this room, by far, smells the nicest. Seriously, it is THAT nice even my husband recognized it. Knowing him, he's not the kind of guy who'd pay attention to small details. It certainly doesn't have typical sanitized hotel room smells. It has floral smells but not too overpowering. It's a sweet-like scents I didn't recognized. Not rose, not jasmine and not lavender. I didn't know what was the smell or where it came from. I've check the room thoroughly to see whether there's perfume anywhere, but couldn't find any. It cannot be from the detergent they use to mop the floor, because the smells stays until the next morning. It's like we're in some garden full of flower. Thirdly and most importantly, I was damn hungry and all I want is to settled in into our room faster and get to our lunch ha ha ha ha. I am malfunctioned if I'm hungry ::

:: They was like having their faces super-glued to this back door eversince the blind was rolled up by the staffs ::

:: This is the REASON why I wanted ground floor room, and this is WHY the girls was sticking their face at the glass door. Our room was facing paddy field and it even have small lake few steps away from our back door. They have so many live stocks here living so carefree . They have ducks, goose, chicken, rooster, cow, birds and many more. If I were to put mosquito, ants and leech in the list too, we may have one complete community here. Arghhhh so niceeeee * quickly korek beg, looking for kain batik * ::

:: Favorite spot. This would be a good spot for a composer or artist who's looking for material because the view, and the ambiance was very inspiring. If only I have little composing talent. If only!. Reality is I am not even come close to compose anything decent or worth to listen to hehehe ::

:: Indoor restaurant area ::

We had around 45 minutes for lunch since we're going to Yala straight away after this. So we headed to the hotel's restaurant. They have indoor and outdoor section. Who wanted to sit indoor when you have chicken and cows waiting for you outside?

:: Our table, the cool pool, my view and 2 restless kids ::

:: We're soooo make plan already to have our pool fix once we got back from safari trip ::

:: From different angle. Pity that lady in pink tudung. She came with her family but ended up being abandoned by ALL of them. Her kids thought the cow was more fascinating than their mommy ::

:: The cow that stole the limelight that afternoon. I think he was the pool security guard lah. Because he was very protective of the pool and never leave the pool side. He even moo-ed and stared and give angry looked when my husband approached the pool. As if he was protecting his territory. Based on my knowledge , cow wasn't a territorial type of animal. Since he wasn't protecting his territory. then the hotel must have paid him well I reckon :). That's the only logical explanation I could come up with, to explained his behavior ::

Fun aside, we still have left about 1/2 hour for lunch so I've decided for quick and hearty meal. For today, I chose local Sri Lankan cuisine.

:: Side dishes to go with our curry. There chutney, papadom, sambal ( it's vege meal, kerabu-like but they called it sambal here), dhal and egg plants ::

:: My super duper spicy shrimp curry. My husband on another hand opted for sear fish curry. When we were asked if we want our spicy, mild or no spicy, as confident as I can be, I answered spicyyyy, like hot hot spicy. Served me right! I am practically sweating a pool eating this. It's so spicy yet very tasty. Clearly they don't joke when they say spicy ::

:: Alis and her apple juice. The REAL APPLE JUICE this time ::

Just when we about to finish, De Silva called and informed us the jeep is ready outside.

:: Our rented jeep. You can rent this kind of 4WD jeep outside the National Park or you can have your guide arrange for you, just like our case. It costs us 6000 lkr (lankan rupee) , around RM 162 for a jeep like this plus the driver aka trained tracker. The trail was all bumpy with rough and uneven surfaces there's no where you can get inside the park with normal car. Ohhh you can go in maybe, but there's no way you'll get out, with your bumper still attached. You can rent the whole jeep and have it all for your self like we did or you can share with another visitor and split the bills ::

:: Erin was so tight up ever since we got into the jeep. She have this serious face all the way so I tried to cheer her up. Much to my dismay, she doesn't find my genuine intention entertaining and continuously ignored me. Duuuhhhhh .. My husband said : Darat Erin nih, first time naik jeep tinggi ha ha ha ha ::

:: Budak under stressed ::

:: Entering the park. There's public bus until the park entrance but you'll need to rent a jeep if you wish to go further in ::

:: There's one army base in the Yala National Park , so you'll see many checkpoints like above as you entered. Basically, the park was guided by those soldiers. ::

:: A friendly soldier. We asked our guide if we can take a photo of soldiers here because it's forbidden and against the law to photograph soldiers in Colombo. The guide said it's alright and ask us to do as we pleased. True enough, this soldier even voluntarily strike a pose for us the moment we point our lens at him. I can't say the same about the uncle next to the soldier. He may not so fond of his photo to be taken or he's just not very photogenic kah kah kah. I'm sorry uncle ! ::

You need to pay some entrance fee for yourself and family, your guide if you have any and your driver at the park's office. If I'm not mistaken, we paid 5000 lkr , estimated around RM 135 for 4 of us, plus 2 local man.

:: Here we go. Bismillah hirrahmanirrahim. It's begun with asphalt road for about few kilometers::

:: Asphalt road no more. Continued with this man made trail. Still, the ride was pretty smooth up till here but I can't say the same about our ride, shortly after this ::

:: Since this is the protected national park, you can't cut tree as you wish even if it's to make a road. You go to the right, or you go to the left or you go around it but the trees stays ::

While entering the park, our guide told us that we're about to enter animals natural habitat. Unlike zoo, the animals was brought into human territory but here, we go into their territory. We might see an animal or two and we might won't see any. Feel very lucky if we get to see some of the wild life and don't get frustrated if we don't because there are those days when visitors went in and out without a single glimpse of animals at all.

:: The very first wild life we encountered. A herd of elephant on their way to wherever they wanted to go. Ehh panggil herd ker eh? I'm sucked at penjodoh bilangan :) ::

:: From male to female, adults elephant, young elephants till baby elephant. It's a complete community we have here ::

:: Few days old baby elephant as we were told. She can't barely walk properly and kept stumbled between her mother's feet ::

:: There are many water reservoirs like this in the park.You'll definitely able to see at least few animals of many kind here. Most of them come to resting and some come to drinks while some, just come to show off hahahah since they knew there'll always be people watching anyway. A little show off won't cause any harm ::

:: Pelican? Kingfisher? No? Wallahualam ::

:: Peacock. Sri Lanka national anthem ::

:: Parrot kah ? ::

: Wild black bear. All species of bear are known as a shy animal and doesn't normally exposed their self to people. However, we can consider ourselves lucky that day because not only this bear decided to showed himself to us, he even lingered and play in the sand area near us. Nonetheless, our guide signaled us to remained silence so as not to scared the bear ::

We moved further up till we reached this rocky mountain area. In my mind, sure we would have to turn around since there's no trail whatsoever visible to my eyes. Oh boy I was wrong as the guide started driving his jeep up this rocky trail , between gap of this rocky mountain. We were practically shaking up in the jeep, I swear my internal organ are all juggled among them alright. I was about THIS close to volunteer to walk instead ha ha ha. At least till we passed the rocky area. Thank god my drama queen-ness was momentarily. I was pretty much distracted by the scenic view after this, I can't be bothered about my shaky ride, subhanallah..

:: I'm showing something to the girls. Some animals perhaps ::

Along our journey, we kept clashing into another jeep and each time, the drivers will change information among themselves about what animals they saw and which trails they took, u know by any chance they saw something we haven't. Even deep in the jungle, networking are crucial.

Suddenly, some guide shouted to us saying something like someone saw leopard nearby. Our guide quickly speeds to the said location. Unfortunately, we were 1 minutes too late. By the time we reached, there's at least 10 jeeps cramming the place it's almost impossible to get clear view. Our guide tried as best as he can to maneuver the jeep and tried to squeeze in, but to no avail. Afte sometime, someone told us that the leopard has fled the scene the moments it senses human's presence. Such a close call but hey, at least the leopard did showed up. Most of the time, he won't even show his tail.

:: Most of the jeeps including us were leaving the scene where leopard last be seen, but there's few bunch of people that doesn't willing to gave up. Can you see that white lady whose standing on the jeep's side steel bar? In a blink, she already on top of the jeep with her binoculars and all. I wonder why we never thought of bring binoculars along. All we have with us was one camera that it's battery died on us not long after we enter the park and my husband Iphone kahkahkah. We definitely the most poorly equipped safari-er ever existed ::

:: Elephant againnn.. We love elephant we don't mind stumble into them thousand times ::

:: Doe, a deer a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun ::

:: Crocodile. Resting or sleeping perhaps ::

:: Wild boar on it's way to his favorite spot of all time, to do his favourite pastime of all time. Berkubang yokkkk ::

:: One of the huge pretty clearing. The giant stone was called Elephant Stone for a very obvious reason. Need I say more? The shape of the stone was self explanatory. Kudos to my husband for snapping this photo of the stone and elephant together gether. Save my energy like a lot in term of explaining ha ha ha ha. Still, if you can't see why the stone was called that way, dua jumaat je lah lagi tu makna nyer kahhhhhhh ::

Moving on, we then reached another section of the park. There's only one small trail for us to pass through so only one jeep at one time was allowed to pass through the narrow road slowly. The trail have like huge lake on its left and open sea on it's right. It soooooooooooo beautiful yet scary at the same time. I kept having this thought in my mind, what if the jeep flipped into the lake? Even worst, what if the crocodile I saw resting by the lake just now haven't had lunch that day?

Thankfully, I survived and lives up to tell the tale... muahahahhahahah drama betul pompuan nih..

:: Beautiful isn't it? Picture can only do so much. I guess, you just have to be there to believe ::

:: I find calmness everytime I looked at this picture ::

:: A couple of boars strolling effortlessly by the beach ::

The jeep stopped at one area for a short break. This is the only section where visitors are allowed to stay outside the vehicle. There's story about this part of the park anyway. Sad tragic story indeed.

:: This used to be a mansion where visitors can rent for overnight stay in the park experience. As you can see, there's nothing much left of the mansion because the rest of it was totally damaged by the Boxing Day Tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in 2004. This is also where 21 Japanese visitors died in the tragedy. They were happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time I must say. They were staying in this mansion at that particular day this part of the national park got hit. To all the victims, R.I.P. To all the victims families, my heart goes out to you. Miraculously, there's not even a single animal was killed during the tragedy. Allah The Greatest, Him and only Him decides who goes and who stays ::

:: Can u see the highest steel bar next to Alis. That marked the height of tide on that unfortunate day. It's doubled my height and tripled Alis's. Just by looking at Alis standing next to it gives me goosebumps. No matter how good a swimmer you are, with tide this tall and I'm pretty sure strong too, there's slim chances of surviving. Definitely reminded me of Allah's wrath ::

:: Fisherman's village nearby. This is newly built village as the old one were totally washed away by tsunami. There's nothing left causing all the villagers to migrate elsewhere and doing some other work temporarily. 7 years after the tragedy only they managed to re-built their home but from the way I see it, it's still far cry from completed ::

The park closed at 8pm so we quickly headed out as the day started to get darker. We were sent to our hotel for freshen up and then out again for dinner. This time our guide brought us to seafood place called The Refresh, around 2 minutes from our hotel.

:: Eeny Meeny Miny Mo. Choisong prawn for papa ::

:: Jumbo Prawn for Mr Bill-Payer ::

:: Kangkung in Oyster Sauce yang sedap sesangat nak menangis rasa masa makan ::

:: My Spicy Shrimp in Garlic Sauce. Just had spoonful of this. The gravy taste bland and the shrimp was not fresh, AT ALL ::

:: Sri Lankan Black Tea to close our day ::

:: Peace out y'all ::

Wsalam..