Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Travel Journal 1 - Sri Lanka

I've been a geography buff ever since my mom first brought home the Reader's Digest World Atlas. I spent hours poring over the outline of continents, land borders, mountains, rivers and so on.

My love for travel perhaps comes from my love for geography and political science. Nations, flags, currencies, the history of the land, people and food, the list of "Competition Success" worthy factoids come easily to me.

Last weekend I flew across to Sri Lanka to spend the long Easter weekend with old friends. Something about Sri Lanka has always intrigued me, more so than any of our sub-continent neighbors. I think it mostly has to do with the people, and also the similarity between the cultures of South India and Sri Lanka.

My weekend there was too short for the must-do visits to Kandy and Galle, or a trek through Up-Country, or the East. But over my three days in Colombo, I came across several interesting observations.

1. Sri Lanka is clean. Whoever thought dirt, filth and trash were part of the landscape in any South Asian city needs to visit Colombo. Agreed, they have a smaller population. But they also have an organized system of collecting garbage from homes twice a week.

2. People are not crazy drivers. Again, granted that lower population and traffic volumes make for saner driving, but it still makes you marvel at not having anyone cut you off, or honk persistently behind you while the light is still red.

3. People are friendly, and know how to give you correct, useful information.

4. The food is so distinctive and tasty; I could easily be vegetarian in Sri Lanka.

5. There's certainly a bit of a colonial hangover. Mostly in a good way. Colonial-era buildings are well-preserved, colonial-era traditions, such as the High Tea!

6. For a country that is just recovering from 20 years of civil war, security is carried out in a smooth-efficient, non-intrusive way. The army men at checkpoints are polite to a fault. They say "Good afternoon" as soon as you roll down your window. When they learned I was a tourist from India, they made sure to be extra polite and wished me a good holiday. Can't imagine that happening anywhere in this country!

7. Almost everything is imported. Including butter from New Zealand which less than the Amul butter that comes across the Palk Strait from India. Also cars. A majority of the cars on Sri Lanka's roads come from second hand car markets in Japan. The roads are filled with Nissans, Toyotas and Hondas. You do find the stay Maruti Alto or the Tata Indica, but with costs comparative (and sometimes higher) to the Japanese imports, its not surprising that Indian automobiles haven't flooded the market.

8. Consequently life for the average local is not cheap. A trip to the supermarket even for the most basic of supplies can rack up a bill of over LKR 2000 (Approx. 800 Indian Rupees).

9. The shopping is excellent. Specially for cheap clothes.

10. As small as a country might seem, never underestimate its diversity. There are Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, Indian Tamils, Burghers, Moors, Malaysians, Tamil Muslims... the list goes on.