Another travel day. Leaving Kandy at morning rush hour required that our driver have immense patience. For more than the first hour we seemed to be on urban streets, even though we had left Kandy behind for the suburbs. We didn’t get out into the country until mid-morning. The lush jungles were what we had pictured in our minds before coming here. Unfortunately, there is no opportunity to see how people live in these rural areas.
Among the things we have learned on this trip is that the Sri Lankans were the premiere hydrological engineers of the ancient world. Two thousand years ago they developed techniques of building dams, creating reservoirs, and draining marshes that Europeans did not match until the 17th and 18th centuries. To create farmland and deal with monsoons, they learned to manage water in very advanced ways. We have seen reservoirs that date back 800 to 1200 years that are still in use today.
Another thing we’ve noticed is how open and accepting the people are. This seems not to be something learned to support the tourist trade, but to be deep in the culture. There is a real “live and let live” attitude. Despite British Victorian laws still on the books, regulations against divorce, homosexuality, rights of women, personal habits, are uniformly ignored. One is expected to be private about such things — public displays of affection, and even smoking tobacco in public, are frowned upon. But in the privacy of one’s home, one can pretty much do as one pleases — even if one happens to be a woman.
Finally, this country is amazingly safe. During the Tamil rebellion the Sri Lankan security forces were trained by the world’s best counter-terror squads — Mossad, MI5, FBI, KGB. Then they developed techniques of their own. Now they are called upon by other nations and the international community to share their expertise. Sri Lanka security teams are currently in Korea, assisting with security at the Olympic Games.
We arrived at the southern coast of the island at midday and went to Galle (the e is silent — Gall). The Portuguese built a fort here in the 1500s, but the Dutch took it in the 1600s and expanded it into a walled city. Even though the British had it for nearly 200 years, it still looks and feels very Dutch. It’s a charming little time capsule.
We had a very nice lunch on a veranda overlooking the bay, then walked a bit through the quaint little town. After that, we met up with the bus and drove to the nearby town of Matara to visit the home and gravesite of the “famous” author, Martin Wickramasinghe (no, we neither). He had collected a whole bunch of “folk artifacts” during his life — everything from furniture to fishing boats, ox carts to olive presses. But the way it was displayed taught very little. For example, an antique wooden chest was simply labeled “wooden chest.” No date, no reason it might be important, no explanation of what made it uniquely Sri Lankan. There were hundreds of item, all labeled in the same artless, obvious manner.
Our hotel is a beautiful place right on the ocean, but it, too, has its oddity: We couldn’t find the bathroom in our room, because the bathroom isn’t IN our room — it’s outside. Beyond a huge, heavy glass sliding door is a patio surrounded by a high wall. On the patio is a bathtub, sink, flush toilet, and open shower. One simply stands on a patio block in the altogether and showers. No curtain. I’m sure some designer thought it clever, but it’s just plain weird. And to make it worse, this is a prime mosquito area! They are swarming everywhere.
Among the things we have learned on this trip is that the Sri Lankans were the premiere hydrological engineers of the ancient world. Two thousand years ago they developed techniques of building dams, creating reservoirs, and draining marshes that Europeans did not match until the 17th and 18th centuries. To create farmland and deal with monsoons, they learned to manage water in very advanced ways. We have seen reservoirs that date back 800 to 1200 years that are still in use today.
Finally, this country is amazingly safe. During the Tamil rebellion the Sri Lankan security forces were trained by the world’s best counter-terror squads — Mossad, MI5, FBI, KGB. Then they developed techniques of their own. Now they are called upon by other nations and the international community to share their expertise. Sri Lanka security teams are currently in Korea, assisting with security at the Olympic Games.
We arrived at the southern coast of the island at midday and went to Galle (the e is silent — Gall). The Portuguese built a fort here in the 1500s, but the Dutch took it in the 1600s and expanded it into a walled city. Even though the British had it for nearly 200 years, it still looks and feels very Dutch. It’s a charming little time capsule.
We had a very nice lunch on a veranda overlooking the bay, then walked a bit through the quaint little town. After that, we met up with the bus and drove to the nearby town of Matara to visit the home and gravesite of the “famous” author, Martin Wickramasinghe (no, we neither). He had collected a whole bunch of “folk artifacts” during his life — everything from furniture to fishing boats, ox carts to olive presses. But the way it was displayed taught very little. For example, an antique wooden chest was simply labeled “wooden chest.” No date, no reason it might be important, no explanation of what made it uniquely Sri Lankan. There were hundreds of item, all labeled in the same artless, obvious manner.
Our hotel is a beautiful place right on the ocean, but it, too, has its oddity: We couldn’t find the bathroom in our room, because the bathroom isn’t IN our room — it’s outside. Beyond a huge, heavy glass sliding door is a patio surrounded by a high wall. On the patio is a bathtub, sink, flush toilet, and open shower. One simply stands on a patio block in the altogether and showers. No curtain. I’m sure some designer thought it clever, but it’s just plain weird. And to make it worse, this is a prime mosquito area! They are swarming everywhere.
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