In the administrative capital of Sri Lanka, which is Sri Jayawardhanapura Kotte, houses the iconic Sri Lankan parliament in the middle of the Diyawanna Lake. In the neighborhood of the parliament, lies a rather unusual attraction. A replica of the villages of yesteryear in Sri Lanka, where society was managed as an agro-economy with flourishing traditional industries and the inhabitants lived a simple life with contentment. Just down the Parliament road where it intersects the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship road, you will find this rather interesting location named 'Ape Gama' giving the meaning 'My Village'.
Once you drive into the car park you will also witness a memorial which is built to commemorate the heroes of the Indian Peacekeeping Forces which gave their lives in the name of Sri Lanka's peace. I wasn't able to go into the monument since it was closed by hope that you will be able to.
As you go in, you will have to buy a ticket for entrance which is only LKR 100. The money will be donated to the Central Cultural Fund as they told. This venue was built by the intention to give the locals and foreigners both a better understanding of the yesteryear lifestyle of native Sri Lankans.
Once you pass the ticket counters, the first sight you will get is a couple of lifelike statues standing there pretending to do work with some real chickens wandering around. As you walk further into the premises you will find the building blocks which made the yesteryear Sri Lankan village up. If we get more specific, you will find a paddy field, cheif's house, village's shop, Iron Mongers Smithy, Potter's (Crocker) house and many more. They have tried to give us the most lively experience possible by placing live people as villagers and they carry out regular tasks which villagers used to do back then so that it will help greatly in visitor's imagination!
As you wander further inside you will come across a dance hall where traditional dances are practiced and you will find shops that sells traditional paintings, jewelry, hand-loomed clothes, brassware, traditional drum outlet and many more. Oh and there's a museum which showcases artifacts from the yesteryear villages in Sri Lanka and it closes at 1600!! I missed the chance to get into that because it was 1615 when I went near the museum and the security didn't let me through. Well rules are rules so I exited the premises with a bit of disappointment but with some great memories and new facts in my mind.
When I went to 'Ape Gama' it was under some minor construction so honestly I didn't get that village vibe in some places but most of the places are extremely convincing I might add. And the fact that this is situated really close to the parliament which is a high security zone and that they have built this in a way that our senses stop telling is that we are in a city is highly impressive! If you are in Colombo, you should really visit this place but this might be boring for youngsters!
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