An unforgettable tour : Blessings from Kataragama

                      Hey guys, what's up? Last Friday that means on 19,me and my family went on a pilgrim tour to Katharagama. Well, we live in the Western province and we had to go to the Uva province. It's a bit away from where we live but it was fun going there. 

Kataragama is a pilgrimage town sacred to Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and the Vedda people in Sri Lanka. Since we are Buddhists, our destination was The Kiri Vehera in Kataragama. 

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The tour was organised by our parents' company and the pooja was named ''Ama Wassa'' 

First, we started our tour at 4.00 AM. It was too early for me to go out at 4.00 am cuz I normally wake up at 4.00 AM. That day, I had to wake up at 2.30AM I wasn't feeling sleepy cuz I slept the whole day before the tour. Then all the family members got ready and the bus was at our place at 4.00 AM. This is the bus which we went on. 

Mom was the head of our bus. She prepared a dhal curry, chickpeas, coconut sambol and a flask full of ginger tea. We bought bread and sting hoppers on our way. 

Then we went on to pick others and head for Kataragama. 

We stopped at a nice place with a waterfall and a lake. Till mom and others arranged the foods, the three of us went on sight seeing. 

There were some older friends of us, the monkeys. They were some kind of cute but at the same time, a trouble to   keep them away from the food. I was able to take some shots of them.

We had to go inside to get to the lake. Without fear or anything, we went in. It was like in a dream. The waterfall was not much high but it was awesome. 

Then mom called us to have breakfast. I had two rounds and as for the first, I had string hoppers with coconut sambol and dhal curry. As for the second, I had bread with polos (baby jackfruit) curry (made by a team member of mom) and dhal. I had no appetite on eating chickpeas. I was full but there was still some space for some tea. 

Our next stop was at another lake. There we all got clean cuz we were going n a pilgrim tour. We changed our clothes and jumped to the river. No way, I can't swim now! I didn't practise for years and now I've forgotten and am unable to swim now. So all I did was go down and up. Then cleaned our bodies and dressed ourselves in white cloths. Then everyone in our bus looked like white cranes. 

Our next stop was at Kiri vehera which was our destination. There at the bus, we had our lunch. 

Then we kept our slippers and shoes in the bus and went to the temple with bare foot. It was so hard for me to walk on barefoot cuz I always wear shoes or slippers. And the most horrifying thing was that the road was grilled with the sun rays and everyone's feet got roasted. Anyway jumping and screaming we arrived at the temple. 

When we got close to the temple, our minds got al cleaned and filled with pious thoughts. We offered flowers to the stupa and went to the area where the pooja is being held. 

There was a long perahera which contained dancers, drummers, flag holders, flower basket holders, ata pirikara holders, scented smoke holders and the ones who were carrying the sacred Kanchuka (cheewara). And there were big elephants too. It was one of the longest perahera I've ever seen in my life.

When the perahera ended, there was another pooja which sprayed scented flowers from the sky. Well a person from a chopper sprayed flowers to the stupa. It was so beautiful, awesome and a breathtaking scene.

Then the Sangha anushasana started at about 8.00PM. Since we had so many work for the next day, we didn't stayed for the rest of the pooja. We went out happily and also sadly at the same time.

On our way back, we stopped in a restaurant for dinner. Our family ordered Kottu and some others did so. After dinner, we went on. Many of us slept and I woke up about 10 km away from our home. It was about 2.30 AM and when we returned back at home, it was 3.45 AM. 

It was such a great tour which filled my mind with happiness. I have to thank mom, dad, their company and everyone else for holding such a great pooja. 

That's the summary of our tour to Kataragama. 

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