A trip to “Hawagala Mountain Peak”, Belihuloya
Tomorrow, my family and I are planning to go on a camping trip to Hawagala Mountain Peak, Belihuloya, in Sabaragamuwa Province, around 150km from Colombo, Sri Lanka, and 120km plus from my home. It is a two-day and one-night trip. This trip is different since we aren’t staying in a hotel room. For my whole life on Earth, this is the first time I’m going to spend a night in a tent—40 years to be exact. I’ll share some photos, images, and the experience after I return home.
The whole point of this blog is to say that while my wife and daughters are experiencing such an event earlier than I did, my youngest daughter is eight years old right now. She’s truly privileged to experience this journey far earlier than me. I’m happy about the fact that I could provide her with experiences which she can say that she enjoyed and which would also be her first.
The above embedded YouTube short is not one of my works. It’s just to you to take an idea of the place.
As well as this, I’m experiencing this in the beginning of my forties, which is an experience my parents never had individually or us as a family. I experienced it thirty years prior to my parents. Maybe my eight-year-old won’t be able to experience whatever she’s experiencing right now unless the sacrifices and investments had been made on me by my parents. Who knows?
Adding a new experience to your life does not always require money. In my case, whenever I get free time, I prefer to stay at home browsing, sleeping, or reading a book. Maybe I’m the same as my parents and that’s why, maybe, we haven’t been on a trip like this. I had an opportunity to take my family on a camping trip this weekend to “Hawagala” on 1st and 2nd May, since these two days were holidays due to Vesak Poya day, which is a significant religious celebration in Sri Lanka, as well as among Buddhists all around the world. When I noticed the long weekend, the initial thought process was to eat, sleep, rest, and repeat. But I knew that my wife and three children would prefer going out rather than being stuck at home with me. I liked these kinds of events in my life, but my default preference would be to spend the day at home. Finally, I decided to sacrifice my preference for their happiness. All of them were excited when I announced the plan, which gives me happiness just seeing their reaction to the news.
I know for a fact that if I ask my parents to join me in this journey, they will refuse it straight away. Because now their bodies and minds won’t support such an action which requires strength and endurance. Even though their minds want it, their bodies will say they can’t. It’s too late! Therefore, relative to me, they will leave this planet one day without experiencing the beauty of it. So, I knew that the same thing would happen to me if I was too comfortable staying at home.
I hope my children will experience things in their life for the first time which I never had the chance to.
Then, please check for more updates regarding the journey in my next post.
Leave a Reply