‘Trincomalee’, Sri Lanka’s hidden gem.

Coconut groves are aplenty along side the beaches of ‘Trincomalee’

‘We have to go to this magical place hon, you got to take a look at these beautiful sceneries’ came my wife’s exciting voice from across the room.

I lift my head up to see what she got her jumping up in joy, picking my sinking self up from the Facebook feed, I couldn’t tell when I even started scrolling down.

She came running with her mobile in hand, I tried to pretend that I’m interested, since my wife has a knack of picking some good travel spots, so I was ready to share her new found enthusiasm.

‘Incredible’

It was the only word I could muster at that jaw dropping moment.

As she was gently sliding through a set of pictures from an eastern coastal city of Sri Lanka called ‘Trincomalee‘, at that very moment it cast a spell on me as the longing to be there only grew till we drove across the country to get there.

And ‘boy’, it was a trip that gave me some of the best ever destination memories of a life time, which with your permission I would like to share with you. (fair warning in advance, you would be better served with a nice warm cup of coffee, since this is going to be one long post filled with scribbles from my memories, reflections and feelings from the journey)

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On our way to Trincomalee, stopped at ‘Kantale tank’ where the road goes on top of a long dam holding a massive water body. Let me in you on a mind boggling fact this tank was built by an ancient king called ‘Aggabhodi ii’ somewhere around 604 – 614 AD, fascinating to think that how many years have gone by yet this magnanimous structure still stands to date.

Serene blue sky over the kantale tank, simply magical scenes

Both of us were mesmerized by the sheer size of the tank (or lake) as it expanded in to the horizon beyond to the limit our eyes could see. The wind was sweeping across, taking the sweltering heat away and all we could do was to sit on the grass under a shade and wonder what an incredible project this has been all those years ago when it was built and the stories, lives and memories that are connected to this vast outstretched body of water that still offers the life blood to the farmers that cultivate, livestock that feed on the grasslands and the wild life that thrives on the edges of it made us think what a tiny little cog we are in this vast machine called the world itself.

Us on the damn of kantale lake, on which the road runs to Trincomalee

A scene of ‘kantale tank’ gate providing water to the thousands of paddy cultivations

This staircase took us down the dam to where the water was being issued to the paddies, as you saw on the image above.

A lone Palmyrah Tree standing tall on the banks of Kantale Tank

After close to a long drive of 6+ hours we arrived at the Trinco city, and immediately we felt the salty sea breeze coming across the town, the differences in the architecture with some colonial type buildings still standing out with vibrant colors from different religious places coming through kind of overwhelmed us. Streets were buzzling with people from different races and seemed like they have lived in the harmony for so many years, as Trinco has been a port city from ancient times so would have seen all there is to be seen with all types of nationalities boarding the country via the sea port.

Arriving at Trinco to the Pigeon Island Resort, which became our first place of stay in this beautiful coast city.

View of the Ocean from our hotel room

It was a blue and white themed hotels room

My wife posing in front of the hotel from the sea side

Trinco put a spell on us with its deep blue seas, you can spot the ‘pigeon island’ national park on the distance

Us chilling in the beach

Snap from our shade on the beach

Darshi under a huge banyan tree

Can you imagine running in to a herd of spotted deer in a middle of a busy town, who would just peacefully walk around the city center, well that’s exactly what we experienced in the Trinco City center.

A deer intrigued by the camera in my hand came close to investigate

Darshi patting a deer on its head, they all seemed real friendly and unafraid of human presence

Me trying to keep the deer facing towards the camera, but she was having none of it!

Visit to the beach by the city center, with a grove of casuarina trees, it offered us refuge from the burning sun that has already left its mark on our skin, burning through our sun block.

Us enjoying the sandy white beach and calm waters

One could lay on the Casuarina tree shade and look to the sea for hours

Visit to the famous ‘koneswaram temple’

A huge statue stands on a hill top facing the horizon at the entrance of Koneswaran Temple

Tiny cradles made of wood offered to the gods by those who are wishing for children

Pristine blue waters we saw looking down from the hill

Pictures from the naval museum.

Us in front of the Trinco Naval Museum

Visit to the ‘Girihadu Seya’ ancient Buddhist temple.

At the foothills of Thiriyaya Girihadu seya

Calm and quite scenes from the foothills leading to the ancient Buddhist monastery on the top

Ancient stair case leading to the top of the hill

Tracking our way to the top through the thicket

Met this cute guy on the top

At the top of the hill, where you still could see the ruins of an ancient Stupa which said to hold some of Lord Buddha’s remains.

Pigeon Island National Park, was one of the pinnacles of our visit to Trinco, we had to hire a boat to access the off coast tiny island which has been declared a national park. Sea was really rough and it’s a miracle that boat didn’t tip off when we hurdled through the waves on full throttle, both of us had fingers crossed to get there in one piece. But the boater, who was a veteran with good knowledge under his belt of the sea didn’t break a sweat getting us there, all though at the expense of bruised and bluish butts that gotten continuous thumping every time the boat went mid air after colliding with the giant wave.

On our way to the ‘Pigeon Island’, hired a boat and the person who steered it could have been a former F1 driver

This is how the beach looks when looked at from the tree grove on the middle of the island

Diving in Pigeon Island National Park.

Us in front of the official ‘Pigeon Island’ National Park Board on the island

Surrounded by corals and all sorts of marine life

Our faces shows the excitement after the scuba dive

After scuba diving we went on a snorkeling round as well

Our last night at Trinco, was at the ‘Uga Jungle Beach’ hotel, where we had a wonderful time at that cozy star hotel by the beach.