A few weeks before I took those Koh Lanta pictures - exhibited in the last blogpost - I had met up with Shirley in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was a school holiday. She was still nursing and only had ten days to spare but I was over in Sri Lanka for almost three weeks before flying back over the Andaman Sea to Thailand.
How I loved my precious time on the "teardrop island". During World War II, it was still known as Ceylon and my father visited it more than once as a meteorologist with the Royal Air Force. He spoke fondly of Kandy and panning for semi-precious stones in hill streams. I felt a special connection with him there.
Most of Shirley's time in Sri Lanka was spent in the south western coastal village of Unawatuna. It was so lovely there that it felt like stepping into a travel show. The warm sea, the palm trees, the sandy beach, our spacious bungalow accommodation, drinking coconuts and cocktails, the walk to The Peace Pagoda, the tuk tuk drivers seeking fares, the lemon sodas and the colourful local curries, the visit to a tea plantation. Even now I have to pinch myself to prove that I was there.
When she flew back to England, I saw a lot more - travelling on local buses and seeing as much as I could including a town with the wonderful name Trincomalee that I remembered inscribing upon a map of the island nation in a geography exercise book when I was probably thirteen. Yes I made it to Trincomalee and also to the ancient ruined city of Anuradhapura and the amazing holy mountain they call Sigiriya.
When reflecting upon Sri Lanka it would be remiss of anyone to overlook the issues it has faced in modern times - including bitter strife between Singhalese Buddhists and Muslim Tamils that resulted in thousands of war deaths and is not yet fully resolved. There have also been economic disasters and back in 2004 thousands died when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck. Luckily, I did not experience any of this horror firsthand.
A beautiful portrait of Shirley.
ReplyDeleteWhy haven't you brought the lady a tall cool drink ?
The mountain of Sigiriya looks enigmatic & indomitable.
That is what they call the Pathetic Fallacy, giving the mountain human attributes.
What hell it must have been when the tectonic plates shifted and the sea erupted !
Near the top of Sigiriya there's a huge lion carved into the base rock that leads you to the upper plateau. It was both a fortress and a holy temple.
DeleteIt should be mandated that people travel a minimum say in school courses. Traveling teaches us so much about other cultures.
ReplyDeleteYes it does but I have known wise men and women who never left their neighbourhoods.
DeleteGorgeous, again. The things people create to honor their 'gods'.
ReplyDeletePuzzling isn't it?
DeleteI am envious of how much you've travelled but my life was a lot different. Now I can enjoy these places vicariously and I thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had witnessed even more.
DeleteI've always wanted to visit Sri Lanka. I think of it as India lite, a far easier place for tourists to visit. That may not be a fair comparison. However my brother visited to follow cricket a few years ago and did not like it at all. I don't think he saw enough of it with the focus of the tour on cricket. If it was ten years ago when you visited, the photos are very good.
ReplyDeleteYour idea of Sri Lanka being a smaller and easier version of India is probably right. Sadly Sri Lanka has suffered something of an economic meltdown in the past few months. Tourist number have as a result fallen significantly.
DeleteIt looks like a beautiful place to visit.
ReplyDeleteDreamlike.
DeleteAs always, great pictures, and your description really makes it sound like a piece of paradise.
ReplyDeleteShirley looks happy and relaxed, it's a beautiful portrait of her. But... was the table unusually high or the chairs unusually low?
It is sad that even such beautiful places are not free of the horrors of war. Again, it's a religious-ethnical conflict only on the surface. Go to its roots and overpopulation with its ensuing struggle to secure enough resources for one's "own" people is (also) to blame.
The table was quite high and my camera was at a deliberately low angle.
DeleteSri Lanka is a country I had wanted to visit for some time but I shall never get there now. Thank you for letting me visit vicariously through your blog post YP.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't you visit JayCee? Lord Pee is very fit for his age and I think you are also in good health. Mind you, there have been serious economic issues in Sri Lanka these past few months.
DeleteI don't suppose I will ever venture outside Europe or perhaps Canada one day? Thanks for sharing your Asian trip with us YP.
ReplyDeleteWe can find stimulation wherever we go be it Kent, Donegal or Timbuktu.
DeleteTravel brings experiences that change us.
ReplyDeleteSome people travel without absorption.
DeleteUnbelievably beautiful and so very exotic, especially for those who have only known the northern countries.
ReplyDeleteThe monk in the top picture had travelled from Burma (Myanmar) to visit Buddhist sites. I spent a while talking with him. He had reasonably good English.
DeleteYour Shirley is a lovely woman, Neil. How many years have you been married and how did you meet?
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful to travel to different countries and helps us become more accepting of others, I think. I have been to China (for my middle son's wedding), to Rwanda (for my youngest son's wedding) and Italy (a retirement trip I shared with my daughter) - all trips were exciting. Different customs, different food, beautiful sites - just terrific adventures.
Lovely photo of Shirley.
ReplyDeleteMy father, too, was in Ceylon during WWII, also with the RAF. Somewhere I still have photos of him during his time there, though I can't remember where he was stationed. The name Trinconmalee is familiar because he had a friend in the same squadron who re-joined the Colonial Service and was posted there after the war. Some years later, on one of the special Two Way Family Favourites radio programmes the friend's name was mentioned, with a record request for all those who had served with him.
We've talked several times about going there but we haven't done it yet. One of these days!
ReplyDelete