Blogs from Western Province, Sri Lanka, Asia - page 25

Thursday 11/01/07 Arrived safely on Sunday, even though I did have to run for my connecting flight at Doha!!! It’s difficult to describe what it’s like here without making it sound awful and I certainly don’t want to give the wrong impression. The Sri Lankan people are really friendly and most speak English which has made it a lot easier, especially when I wanted to buy a sim card for my phone, even my phrase book didn’t cover that scenario. But there is a lot of political unrest here and safety has to play a big part in your mindset when you’re out and about. The drivers the company I came with use also arrange weekend trips, so a few of us are off to explore what is known as Sri Lanka’s ‘Cultural Triangle’ this weekend, ... read more

So the stereotype goes, traditional Jewish mothers dominate proceedings as far as nurturing their sons is concerned, even when the ‘child’ in question has gone beyond the apron string years and reached his 20s or 30s; in most cases, ‘no-one is ever quite good enough for my son’. In Sri Lanka, a similar story is apparent in the majority of cases as parents are very much in control of matters of the heart (those of their sons and daughters, that is). The common view appears to be that young people simply do not have the life experience nor the wisdom to select their life-long partner all on their own, but that their sagely parents are in a better position to make this decision on their behalf. There are exceptions to this policy, and at weekends young ... read more

One of those 'Sri Lanka' stories... Wandering around in a buddhist monastery, in the middle of the woods somewhere between Ambalangoda and Kandy... an old monk calls me to come over to him. His teeth had already found their way out of his mouth, his face was full of wrinkles and his orange clothes could have needed some washing... He asks me to send him a razor knive from Germany as soon as I am back ("German quality is the best"). I try to explain that I don't go back to Germany, I will head towards India. He doesn't understand (doesn't want to) and keeps on chewing on whatever it is (later on I found out that it's a kind of root that old people in Sri Lanka love to chew, for whatever reason). Suddenly, he ... read more

The departure from London Heathrow to Colombo was made all the more pleasurable in the company of another independent traveller, Ilona, latterly of Oxford but hailing originally from Poland. Her own stay in Sri Lanka was to be remarkably brief - just three hours, enough time to see a couple of palm trees near the airport and feel the intense local heat until boarding her onward flight to Delhi and beyond. Her convivial company removed from my mind almost completely the discomfort thrust upon me, a tall gentleman, who had requested from the airline two months prior an exit seat with sufficient legroom for both journeys, but who’d been let down and squashed unceremoniously between two solid armrests and with legs hunched, in the middle of the plane somewhere. A bit like a grasshopper folding himself ... read more

Ok, so the first half of the flight to KL. was easy I pretty much slept the entire trip mind you a few beers at the airport is bound to help. Now I had a 7 hour stop over at KL before my next flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and after wandering around the airport for an hour or so I was getting a little restless, so what do you do…….buy your way into one of the travel lounges, brilliant. So after parting with a little rigit I found myself sipping on endless supplies of beer, food, tv and the internet.- not really roughing it by any means. So the Flight to Sri Lanka. I think I shit myself before even hitting Asia. Not because of bad food or anything, literally because the flight was that ... read more