As you can see from the pictures below, it is not a big lake and nearly half of its surface is covered by some kind of water plants. Because of this situation, biodiversity around this lake area is very vivid. An old paddy field also located nearby the lake where you can see different kinds of birds like pigeons and storks. We took lot of photos of these birds, but cannot publish them all because Exinkai hasn’t enough space for it.

We didn’t spend much time walking on the paddy field because it was not the place where we wanted to take photos. So we came to the lake side and first went to read the information board about the lake. According to it, there are many bird species living in this area and many fish species living in the lake. Unluckily I don’t remember their names and we also forgot to take a photo of that board. However if you go there, you will see all of them except some fish species.

Someone told me that there is a fallen fighter jet in this lake and he also said me that it was fallen here before many decades ago in the second world war time. It might be a Japanese fighter jet because I also heard that Japanese bombed some parts of Sri Lanka long time before. By the way I didn’t see this jet when I went there because the lake was full of water at that time. To see this jet, need to go there in dry season.

We spent there about two hours and thought to go back home because it was becoming dark in the evening and suddenly I saw some people came there to catch fish. So I waited some time more to see how they catch fish. They used a fishing hook and bread as the bait. At the first, I though they won’t be able catch any fish, but however they caught several big fish. I didn’t want to see them killing fish, so I came back soon. If I go there again, I will make a video and upload to the Exinkai YouTube channel. It’s really a beautiful place for you to go and spend sometime in the evening.

Last time when I went to Changsha, I stayed there for two days to finish my documentation work and then came back to Guangzhou. When I arrived to Changsha, I travelled by normal train and it took more than eight hours as I remember. Condition inside this train was also not good. By the way I think it’s okay because its ticket price was only 100 Yuan. Very cheap. This is the main reason why lot of people use this train to travel. I label this train as a cheap and noisy one. But it is not that bad.

When I came back to Guangzhou from Changsha, I didn’t want to waste more time travelling by normal train. So I went to buy a high speed train ticket. There were two options. One train has the maximum speed of 275 kmph and the other one has 350 kmph. The first train is 100 Yuan cheaper than the second one, so I chose the first one. Back in 2010 I travelled Guangzhou to Changsha by 350 kmph train too. So travelling by 275 kmph train was a new experience for me.

Next day morning I went to the high speed railway station in Changsha by taxi because it was little bit far from the place where I had accommodation. This railway station is very beautiful and calm in the morning. Outside of the railway station, I saw some building constructions going on and lot of people were working there. Maybe Chinese government is enlarging the railway station. At last when I came into the train, it was nearly half empty but from next few stations, it became full. Even some people were standing. I also made several videos of this tour and uploaded to Exinkai YouTube channel for you to watch.

This journey took approximately about 4 hours to reach Guangzhou and it was much more comfortable than the normal train. I think this 275 kmph train is a good option for travellers because it is only about 120 Yuan expensive than the normal train and it is more cheaper than travelling by air. There are also some train staff selling food such as pop corn and biscuits. If you are hungry, can buy them. But little bit expensive than the outside shops.

At last mainly I have to tell is this high speed railway station is much more better than the normal railway station where there are lot of low class people who shout too loud, spit and smoke everywhere. If you don’t want to be in contact with these low grade people, I reccommend you to use the high speed train. There you will have a trouble free journey and it is really valuable for the money you spend.

It is sometimes really a trouble to reserve a hotel there, especially when you are travelling from another city. Once I tried with the hotel booking hot line 118114. But were told all the hotels are full. Then we decided to look for hotels after arrival and found out that, there are lot of hotels nearby the railway station. There is a road in front of the station, which is heading right to Danxia mountain and left to Nanhua monastery temple. In this direction you can find lot of hotels. There is a river called Zhenjiang river, it is also the name of this area. Zhenjiang river is flowing in parallel to the road, a bridge spans across it. You can go to the centre part of the city by crossing it.

Danxia mountain is located in Shaoguan city, in the north part of Guangdong province. People come here mostly for viewing the sun rise at Zhanglao peak and admiring the fantastic sexual organs resembled terrain. It is said that many people come to worship the male organ stone with the hope of bringing offspring. The sunlight couldn’t reach the female organ stone for the full year, so the Yin is very strong there.

The whole hike trip is around 2.5 hours. There are some very steep steps from Biechuan temple to Zhanglao peak. And on the way, you can admire the lush forest flushed with negative ions. Go under a big rock nearby, view the distant landscape which looks like animals such as elephants, fairy and so on. There are also monastery temples, pavilions and ancient villages and carvings which you can’t miss. There are free shuttle buses to take you to all the scenic spots. And there are lot of special food shops and restaurants under the mountain. You can enjoy a nice meal after a tiring hike but the food is expensive and not very tasty in most places here.

It was said that there are a lot of undiscovered treasures hidden in this mountain area. Because this mountain area was a perfect hiding place for the rich people in the war times many years back. They left a lot of treasures here while running away. It is also said that the mountain was a camp for Mafias. They robbed the by passers and stocked the treasures somewhere in the mountain

Many backpackers and campers usually go to the deep of untraced areas of the mountain with the hope of finding some miracle every day. The mountain also attracts lot of scientists and archaeologists, because many things found here with high archaeological value. It was said that the people in the ancient times put the coffins of their late family members on the rock to avoid animal attack. There are a lot of mysterious things related to Dan’xia mountain. If you wish to find and learn something more, you must pay a visit to it.

Normally speaking, there are two types of rambutan in Sri Lanka. One is very sweet and the other one is sour taste. If you buy this fruit from shops, sweet rambutan is expensive than the sour taste one. This is because sweet taste rambutan is rare and the other one is common. The word rambutan is derived from the Malay word “rambutan” which means hairy. It is really hairy as you can see below.

Nearby Colombo several months back, me and several of my friends had a car ride together and there we bought some rambutan. Price was 10 rupees per one. Long time before in Sri Lanka, I remember that I bought rambutan for 2 rupees per one. This fruit is now very expensive even in Sri Lanka where lots of rambutan available. In some places, people give rambutan free for their neighbours and friends if they have rambutan trees in their gardens. We also did that few times because our tree gives hundreds of rambutan every year.

Rambutan is not available every time of the year. Usually in Sri Lanka, every year April to June, you can see lot of rambutan. This is the New Year season of Sri Lanka. At this time, not only rambutan, but there are lot of fruits available everywhere in the country. However if you just want to eat lot of rambutan, you should not forget to pay a visit to a place called Malwana, where the best rambutan available in Sri Lanka. It is possible that the price can be little bit expensive there, but the quality and the freshness of the fruit is maximum in Malwana.

According to the farmers, a normal rambutan trees grown from seeds can fruit after about 5 years and budded trees may fruit after 2 years with optimum production occurring after 8 years approximately. The tree we have in our garden is more than 15 years old as I know and it produces the best rambutan that I have eaten in my life. Its rambutan is really better than the rambutan from Malwana. I think you got some information that you didn’t know about rambutan before from this post. There’s nothing much to talk about this fruit further more. I will meet you with my next post soon on Exinkai.

If you are a regular Exinkai reader, maybe you have seen another facebook fan page that we had before called “visa”. We have about 700 likes there, but we thought to create a new one because the topic “visa” is not a very close topic to Exinkai travel blog’s main purpose. By the way, if you have any problem with getting visa to Asian countries, you can post your questions there. We will be happy to assist you always.

From our new facebook fan page, we hope to share all our past and upcoming blog posts with you. So you can get Exinkai travel updates through facebook immediately. Other than this, we have a special idea to promote some free travel offers for you from our facebook page in the near future. We also have a facebook like box in the right side 2nd column as you can see, without going to Exinkai Networks page, you can access to our fan page directly from there.

If we talk a little about our fan page, it is designed by our editor “Rain”. He did all the work and promotion for it. Well done Rain, you have done a great job for our travel blog and you deserve all credits for it. I think all our readers will like the design as I do. If you also need to design a custom facebook page, you can contact “Rain” through Exinkai contact us form. I think he won’t be much busy to ignore your work or if he is busy, you can ask a tutorial from him about custom facebook page designing and you can do it by yourself.

I think I almost gave you enough of information about our new facebook fan page. If you have something special related to the travel topic, you may send it to us, we’ll be happy to share your story on our fan page as soon as we get it. Finally, we appreciate if you can give us a like there. This is something you can do to make us strong. We invite all of you to join with us to explore Asia.

These national parks are not the forbidding, dense tropical jungles usually depicted in books. Nor are they reeking with deadly venomous snakes or inhabited by fearsome animals waiting behind every tree to devour human beings. No. They are composed of vast expanses of unspoilt forests with a magnificent sea frontage and a landscape of rocky outcrops, scrub jungle and lush green plains. Through years of assiduous protection the animals have become trusting and unafraid. Staying inside his vehicle, a visitor can approach to within 20 yards of a herd of elephants, photograph leopard at 15 feet or take close ups of a variety of birds.

The mood in these parks or in any wild places in Sri Lanka is the same, the inebriating music of waking birds at dawn, the beckoning sea or river or jungle pool at midday, the animals themselves grazing or browsing or killing for their food before nightfall, the peace and tranquillity of evening before the crickets and nightjars take over the night’s vigil. These are the intangible things we yearn for, to obtain relief from the jangling telephones or the soulless throb of machines. We enjoy this mood, we are re created. We invite others to do the same, we must preserve them for those who come after us.

For a comparatively small island of some 26,000 sq miles, Sri Lanka is blessed with 109 different kinds of mammals, nearly 400 varieties of birds, a good selection of reptiles and a spectacular aquatic fauna in the rivers and coral reefs. For over 2000 years, around the time Buddhism was introduced to this country, some form of protection has been afforded to wild animals until today and it is achieved in two principal ways – by setting apart specified areas for fauna and flora, by the enforcement of laws through legislative enactments.

Into the first category fall the national parks and sanctuaries which to the layman are the most interesting. A sanctuary is a place where human activity is permitted without animals being shot, frightened, killed, injured or disturbed. Today, many sanctuaries have been declared for specific purposes, such as the protection of birds or of elephants or as buffers to a park or as places having religious significance. To know more about these sanctuaries and wildlife parks in Sri Lanka, you can go to Exinkai archives and search for them. This article is just to give you a rough idea about wildlife in the island nation.

If we talk about the normal weather in this region, we cannot expect snow falls through out the year. Because January to December in Nuwara Eliya, highest temperature can be 20 C and minimum is about 5 C. If you go to mountain tops, there temperature can be less than 5 C in the evenings and at nights. However as I said above, we cannot expect snow falls in this city because at any time of the year, its minimum temperature is only about 5 C which is also not common.

But something very rare happened in Nuwara Eliya before several days. The temperature of the city decreased suddenly to 2 C and there was a sudden snow fall in Nuwara Eliya. Within few hours, this news spread everywhere in the country and I saw many people were asking about the photos or videos of snow fall in Nuwara Eliya in many different online forums. At the moment, I don’t have any video of the scenery, but I have some photos of it which one of my friends live there sent me. I thought to share them with you on Exinkai. So I had to write this post especially for it because I don’t like to share just photos without having any content.

Because of this cool weather in Nuwara Eliya, lot of Sri Lankans from different other cities go there to have vacations with their families more often. Several times, I also went there and those were the best picnics I had in Sri Lanka. Weather, food, environment and everything is superb there. However hotel accommodation is little bit expensive in this hill country city. But there are plenty of bungalows available in Nuwara Eliya for affordable prices. When I travelled there about ten years back, I had comfortable accommodation at a government bungalow which is reserved for bankers. It was cheaper than the other places and had all the facilities.

I think you will like the photos you see above. That is all I have. It’s really something very rare in Sri Lanka, isn’t it? However, if you have some more photos or videos of snow falling in Nuwara Eliya, send them to us. I can post your photos here and upload your videos to the Exinkai YouTube channel as soon as I get them from you. Please note that, we don’t accept any photos with watermarks on them.

As I was living in another city before, it is little bit difficult to imagine the life here. I started to search houses online and went to a website where there are lots of apartment renting information. Here is the link – gz.58.com. From the website above, I found lot of studio resources and apartments available in Guangzhou. They are specially designed to fit the single white collars. Rooms are furnished with all the required furniture and cooking equipments. I took some photos which you can check below.

When I was searching for houses, I learned lot of things about how to find a good apartment or a studio. First need to check all the furniture inside carefully because some house owners think only about money and furnish the house with very low quality furniture. Just by a close look, you will find it easily. Second main thing is to know about landlord, whether he or she is good or not, how they deal with people. You can know about this by talking to the middle person. They can tell whether the landlord corporate happily with them or not.

I got to know that some landlords are very bad, especially local people. As they have keys, they check the place every week because they are afraid that you will make the place dirty or break something inside. Sometimes when house rent becomes high in the market, they tend to ask the renter to pay more without thinking about the agreement both parties made before and if you don’t pay, it will be a nightmare. They may take other potential renters to check the house and annoy your normal life. So it is very important to find a good landlord.

Third is you have to pay the consultant fee, usually 50% of the 1 month’s house rent. During my house searching in Guangzhou city, I found a very interesting thing. Landlords like to find female and single renters, because they think this will keep the house tidy. Men and married couples with kids are not very welcome. By the way, you can search for houses without having a middle person. This way is more cheaper even it is little bit difficult and time consuming.

Weeks later the sounds rise to a crescendo as the eggs hatch and the young emerge, the Oliver twists of the bird world. Frantic mothers fortunately fortified by increased secretions of mother care hormones, fly to distant lagoons to bring back food to keep the mob as quiet as possible. But even the sight of a returning neighbour sends the youngster into new frenzies, shoving their beaks up the empty gullets of their parents. If disturbed and the parent birds take off, the unsteady babies, in trying to hide among the leaves invariably fall into the water only to be devoured by lurking crocodiles.

The painted storks which headed for the heavens are slowly lowering themselves, the pelicans are hopping back on to low branches. Even the pheasant tailed jacana, blue coot and water hen venture out on to the floating platform of dead reeds, water grass and lily pads. We wend our way under a canopy of Sonneratia and achieve our goal. A hide from where we can see the “archipelago”, a dozen islets of mangrove vegetation dotting the villu or lake.

Suddenly the very tree we have chosen rocks and sways. A thousand fruit bats sally forth and we look at each other mournfully. Mercifully the birds are not impressed. Bats are not their kind. And apart from the expectant crocodile which glides away in anticipation of a windfall, nothing stirs. In the morning, everything is quiet on this eastern front. One hears only the ocean’s waves 400 yards away. A white breasted kingfisher tries to penetrate the silence with its strident notes but is in turn quickly silenced.

All heads bowed, the young take shelter under parental winds. There is an awesome hush. Something is a miss. Only when two white breasted sea eagles came into view do we know why. They wheel overhead briefly and then drive with a power and accuracy only such acrobats can combine. First one and then the other, swoop on the water and rise again with a sizable fish impaled in their talons. They disappear with triumphant screams and life returns to normal.

Painted storks stand on their nests, wings spread out to make a parasol for their young. Thermoregulation is a real problem for parent, chick and egg alike. The parents keep their beaks open and make characteristic movements. The eggs are not sat upon during the hottest periods. Fortunately for Kumana, an avian paradise which though not as large as India’s Bharatpur, can match its ecological complexity, is situated well within the Yala east national park, an arid zone coastal strip, windswept, inaccessible and remote. Recently we held civilization at arm’s length, wrapping the park with a half mile wide ribbon of buffer forest.

Yala east is lashed by strong north east monsoon rains and the desiccating intermonsoonal winds which threaten to tear it apart and may very well do so, but for the amazing tangle of dune vegetation, xerophytes and dry zone trees which guard the coast like a mammoth fortress. High forest clad rock outcrops catch the heavy rains in deep troughs whose overflow gives rise to the streams which water the plains and eventually form picturesque lagoons. Aquatic life abounds in these lagoons and streams that support a fascinating cross section of waders and shore birds.

And on this far off corner converge a multitude of migrants. Flock upon flock of godwit, sandpiper, golden plover and turnstone etch the darkening September skies as they arrive from Siberia and west Asia. These welcome visitors swell the indigenous population of lapwings, pratincoles, Kentish plover, tern and stilts. Then the bird banding teams get into gear with mist nets, pliers, numbered rings and record sheets. Close liaison is established with their Indian counterparts to contribute valuable data for scientific work.

Returning at dusk we are lucky to see at the first lagoon, a pair of black necked stork, very rare in Sri Lanka. They breed here but their nests have yet to be discovered. And as we wind our way through a tunnel of trees, we catch glimpses of forest birds as they flit across our path reminding us that tomorrow we would be sharing their little world of sound and colour. And we must surely follow that Malabar pied hornbill, with berries in his beak, to the nest we know so well in the huge Syzygium tree on the Kumbukkan river bank.

At an average, there are two or three leopards to each area circumscribing a villu or water hole, which puts the figure around 60 for the park proper. Unfortunately a lot of them still do not put in an appearance during daylight hours. But the situation improves each year as they get accustomed to vehicular traffic.

Leopards go courting in little groups. Several males are attracted by the one female who has a time of it choosing her partner. After mating, the pair keep together until the cubs are grown. The gestation period is roughly 90 days. Two or three cubs are born but at least one of these is a runt.

Bears are Wilpattu’s second best attraction. Although the dry season affords better chances of seeing them as they shuffle along in search of water. Bears are also active during wet weather particularly in the morning after a heavy downpour. Then they rummage among termite hills breaking up the softened clay and sucking up the frenzied insects with a loud slurp. They are not handsome animals nor do they have a tolerant attitude towards us. If met with while on foot, they seldom act with restraint, rearing up on hind feet, yelping and charging like demons. Unless you are armed the encounter is brief and singularly one sided. But in the wild parks, they are different animals altogether. There is no animus, only a long anxious stare through cheerless eyes.

There are favoured spots for bears. Some months ago an enormous she bear with two little cubs at heel used to patrol the Nelun Kumbuk Kokkari triangle. At the slightest disturbance the two cubs virtually leapt on to the mother’s back and sat one behind the other. Then one day she came out with only one cub which eventually stayed with her until full grown. This couple became tremendous favourites in the park for they used to even stroll up to vehicles as though they wished to shake hands with the driver.

Like leopards, bears too are not given to community living except when their hormones permit it at the breeding season. Then also it is a noisy gathering for males quarrel with each other over matters of procedure and eligibility. Once at Kokkari, a car got mixed up in such a contest and the defeated candidate galloped up to it, leapt on to the bonnet over the other side and into the bushes. The road to Kokmottai traverses good bear country. Unfortunately, they are a little shy because the appearance of vehicles in this part of the park is a recent phenomenon, but as more visitors use it, all that will change.

Regretfully, the wild buffalo population is not as attractive as it should be because domestic hordes stray in from the surrounding villages. However scrimpy the village cows may be the wild bulls are attracted to them and promiscuous associations follow. Very hardly a single wild herd is not so adulterated, which is rather a pity.

All other herbivorous animals are amply represented for Wilpattu can provide sufficient food and water. Practically all the villus have a substantial collection of deer and sambhur. At certain times of the year, you might find them in short supply that is when the berries are in season and the deer keep to the forested areas.

The occurrence of white deer in Wilpattu is something of a tradition. Some wildlife researchers recorded a species of white deer in an area 6 miles north of Puttalam and said – there of that kind were caught, the last one in 1822. But all efforts to keep them alive have proved abortive. From 1950 onwards, four such animals have graced Wilpattu and even at the time of writing an adult white doe with a fawn at heel adorns the herd at Kudapatessa. The fawn however is normal.

The barking deer, muntjac or rib faced deer, commonly called the red deer comes into its own in this part of the country. As they do not graze they have practically no occasion to be seen outside their forest and scrub habitat except when driven out of it in search of water. For a barking deer to be seen at one of the more open villus is an indication that all available water inside the jungle has run out. This deer is a pathetically timid creature and to watch it come to drink is a nerve wracking experience even to the observer. Its body appears to quiver with fear as though every falling leaf or swaying branch is going to consume it. It is indeed a wonder that when real danger threatens it does not drop dead, but barks like a dog and plunges headlong into the thicket. Barking deer lead solitary lives.

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