Tissa _ city of nothing much but a welcoming smile

Returning to Tissa, spending one afternoon in order to get an
early bus to Ella. A city which on the map apparently doesnt
offer much. The town itself is a continuous chain of shops,
streetstalls selling great snacks, dozens of tuctucs and many
‘hello, where you from, where are you going’ people. We
started to walk bluntly hoping it would take us to the lake.
Soon we passed the towns city limits and we find ourselves in
the middle of rice paddies, green everywhere, with a
beautiful house hosting the farmers. This continues for a
while until we meet this smiling tuctuc driver, who says is
on his way home and kindly want us to put us on the right
track as we apparently did take a misturn on a straight road
in the overwhelming heat. We give him the benefit of the
doubt, however feel that the question for a small donation
will come as soon as he drops us off. Well, it didn’t. And
just that is worth mentioning. He just wants to say welcome
to us. We continue the journey by food along lake tissa,
tissa wewa after admiring the past glory of 2300 year old
dagoba, yatala wehera, in desperate need of some paint. The
lake side is gorgeous with magnificent old trees standing in
the water, claiming everyone’s sight with their beauty.
People are fishing and swimming in the lake, though
crocodiles have been spotted here as well according to our
tuctuc guy. We relax for a bit with a beer, some squid and
shrimp snacks, a Lakeview and free WiFi, before returning to
the city heath, passing by the other city monument, tissa
dagoba, which religious songs are heard from miles away. Back
in downtown tissamaharama what else can be better done then
tasting local cuisine from the street.
6/3/2013