Sri Lanka – a Five Day Trip

With our friends Rich and Marion, we were off on a five day trip to Sri Lanka. Our knowledge of Sri Lankan culture, history and people was scant. We really did not know what to expect.

Known as Ceylon until 1972, this small island country off the southeast cost of India is officially known as the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Europeans encountered this island in 1505 when the Portuguese landed. A century and a half later, in 1658, control passed from the Portuguese to the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch had their 150 years of fame until 1796 when the British captured the Dutch colonies. British rule ended in 1948 with the grant of independence. As we traveled about the island we encountered the 21^st century remnants of these European encounters. The most striking remnant was wide use of English in public signage and commerce.

For decades a struggle on this beautiful island has been waged between the 10 million Buddhist - Sinhalese and the 1.4 million Hindu - Tamil populations. Political protests from the Tamil population for a separate independent state of Tamil Eelam have unfortunately been mixed by more violent action from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the capital city Colombo, there are ample signs of the security measures imposed around the airport, harbor and government buildings. Fully clad combat soldiers walk the city’s main streets. Also seen were coiled strands of razor barbed wire surrounding buildings with sandbag guard enclosures. Maybe out of ignorance or disbelief that such a vibrant city could be bathed in such violence, we felt safe as we went about our business and saw everyone else doing the same. One obvious demonstration of safety is that cars there stop for pedestrians in the crosswalks, even without a traffic signal!

Helen and Marion, with the assistance of a familiar Indian travel service, Masala Tours, did the planning. The trip was designed to steer as far as way as possible from trouble. Most of the fighting occurs in the north and central regions, so we headed south and hugged the southwestern coast in our circular drive of the country. The itinerary included a short drive to the interior to visit the renowned gem mining area of Ratnapura. While we were there we got a chance to see a gem mine. If you can picture an old Western movie with a miner panning for gold, it looked just like that, only in pits.

We also spent several days of beach walking along the beautiful southern coast. We particularly enjoyed our two days in Galle, where our hotel was located inside the remnants of the old Dutch fort. Galle has retained its historic charm and we enjoyed spending time looking at all the antiques still there. Our last full day was spent in Bentota, where we swam in the ocean and saw baby turtles in an enclosure on the beach that had hatched within the previous 12 hours. The babies are kept safe at a turtle hatchery until their shells are hard enough that they don’t easily fall prey to the many predators in and near the water.

Even though they are close geographically, Sri Lanka is quite different from India. Their intent of living is unlike their Indian neighbors, and it was a pleasant surprise.