Full Moon Day Monday was Full Moon Day. It is a public holiday in Sri Lanka and a holy day for Sri Lankan Buddhists. Many spend the day in temples, clad in white, meditating and taking part in religious ceremonies. Alcohol is not sold and it is possible that fewer murders, rapes and other acts…
Fleeing Winter Yorkshire was cold, wet and miserable and the approaching winter looked threatening. I wanted to be in a warmer, exotic place where the sun would warm my tired bones. So, one freezing December morning I took a taxi to Manchester airport and flew to Sri Lanka. The Emirates Airbus 380 was a joy…
The thirty year civil war in Sri Lanka ended in May 2009. The most potent weapon of the LTTE or Tamil Tigers was the suicide bomber. Since the war ended it has been possible to visit the former LTTE controlled areas in the north of the country and the LTTE bases in the Wanni jungle…
The lagoon looks serene. The evening light gives the gentle waves caressing the shore an amber hue. Egrets stand still in the tall grass and pipits and larks take off and land incessantly. A lonely Brahminy Kite circles lazily overhead and lapwings break the intense silence with their high pitched ‘did he do its.’ Two…
The Kotte Marsh at the edge of Diyawanna River, just outside Colombo, is firmly etched in my memory. My grandfather’s old house was up the hill, beyond the rice fields. As a child, the Marsh was my favourite playground. I walked, fished, hunted and watched birds there. Today it is unrecognisable. The river now is…
Yesterday I went to high tea at Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. Some say this venerable Sri Lankan hotel, opened in 1864, is the oldest this side of the Suez, standing as it does at the edge of the Galle Face Green, overlooking the Indian Ocean. The Verandah was already filling up, mostly with Sri…
Few travellers linger in the southern Sri Lankan coastal town of Matara, one hundred miles from Colombo. Those who find the time to do so will be surprised to find many beautiful relics of another age. In the time of Sri Lankan kings, Matara was a centre for trading in elephants and spices. Portuguese invaders…
The crescent shaped beach at Mirissa with fine, golden sand is just off the main road from Galle to Matara in the deep south of Sri Lanka. I first visited it in 2012 and spent a day there again this February. The sea is as appealing as ever and there is a handful of cheap…
The sun came out early. The gloom and rain of the previous few days were gone and red kites were circling over head, stark against a bright blue sky. It was hard not be elated. Brunch was the first business of the day. Rice was cooked with coconut milk, as they do in Sri Lanka on all…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 4 years to get…
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