Pretty Simply Normal: My Sri Lanka

Thursday, 22 March 2012

My Sri Lanka

An ad at the Airport of the iconic stilt fishermen of Sri Lanka

Ayubowan (May you live long)!

I am just back from a week-long stay in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon. It was an interesting time on this 'island of serendipity', at the tail end of the tourist season (December-March). Together with M and Dr JS & wife, we explored Colombo (Kalambu to the locals), now no longer the administrative capital which moved to Sri Jeyawardenapura. But it remains the commercial capital, and largest city in Sri Lanka.

We also went to the southern beaches in search of the iconic stilt fishermen of Weligama. Along the way, the effects of the tsunami in 2004 are obvious, especially the railway tracks that used to hug the coast and are now slowly being reconstructed. We stopped at historically Dutch Galle and in Balapitiya, went on a river cruise on the Madu Ganga/River, an International Ramsar wetland site. Other stops were in Hikkaduwa, Bentota, and Mitiyagoda. The day before our flight back to Malaysia, we stayed at Negombo (Nigambu), a seaside town/fishing village, which is much nearer to the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake than Colombo.

The 26 year civil war has ended in 2009, but there is very visible military and police presence, especially along the road from the airport to Colombo and at significant buildings. We stayed away from the North and East for now and had the Central hill country in mind. A train journey there would have been fantastic, but in the end, due to time constraints, we had to forgo Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and the golden valley of tea. Maybe next time! But this being the 'island of serendipity', Kandy came to us in the form of Kandyan dancers at a wedding reception in the Galle Face Hotel! It was just fantastic!