Advertisement
Published: April 20th 2013
For years our visits to Sri Lanka were always an iffy proposition due to the civil war which plagued this country for the last several decades. The beautiful island is now enjoying relative peace and prosperity.
Our first port of call was Trincomalee. Everywhere you travel in Sri Lanka you see remnants of the colonial times. The British, Dutch and Portuguese have left their marks with religion, the legal and educational systems and architecturally. There are hundreds of buildings that would make you swear you were in London. English gardens abound. Sir Thomas Lipton would still feel right at home in his beloved Ceylon. But interspersed with all that, there is a strong Tamil and Singhalese culture which is reemerging from under the cloud of war and the latest catastrophe to befall this small island. The Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 killed over 35,000 and left thouands homeless. We watched the movie "The Impossible" which is about that tsunami and how one family survived the giant wall of water.
Sri Lanka is a lush, green island covered with palm trees, tea plantations, rice paddies and bamboo. Elephants and monkeys are common sights as are water buffalo and peacocks.The
coconut is called the tree of life. Every bit of the tree is used and the list of products from this tree is almost endless: water, food, clothing, baskets, roofing, flooring, oil, wine, medicines, furniture, dishes, boats, rope, rafts, and even as the basis of songs like "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts." If you end up on a desert island all you need is a few coconut trees and you're set for life.
Our stop in historic Galle was cancelled due to the high swells which prevented us from tendering ashore. Instead we sailed on to Colombo and arrived in the former capitol city in the early evening. Several of us went out on the town. Sandra knew of a great Ceylonese restaurant where we sampled curries and other local treats under a huge banyan tree. It was a lovely way to spend an evening in this historic port town. We took a tuk-tuk back to the ship after dinner for a much too thrilling ride when our little three wheeled vehicle narrowly avoided being squashed by a speeding bus.
We toured the Cinnamon Gardens area of town the next day and noticed how much restoration
work is being done on public buildings and gardens. Now that the conflict is over, it seems that civic improvement has taken priority over military spending.
The markets were packed with shoppers getting ready for the Hindu New Year celebration which was taking place the next day. This is the fourth new year party we have had in the last four months. We started on Jan 1 with the Gregorian calendar holiday and then the Chinese New Year in February, followed by Vietnamese Tet and now the Hindu Aluth Awurudda welcome to the start of another year.
We went to the Blue Ocean Resort and had yet another curry lunch while overlooking the Indian Ocean. An additional benefit of peace is the booming tourist trade. Travelers are coming in droves to enjoy the lovely beaches, the luxury resorts and the exotic culture of this spice island.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0172s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
BAY OF BENGAL FISHERMEN
judith works
non-member comment
Sri Lanka
We were in Sri Lanka during the civil war. Such a beautiful place that was so war torn and dangerous at the time. I'm happy to read your post about a more peaceful time.