Reflections on Sri Lanka
We arrived in Sri Lanka May 20, 2024. It was our second visit to the pearl of south Asia and we stayed a month including two weeks of relaxation on Nilaveli beach, north of Trincomalee, on the eastern coast — an area we did not include on our first visit in 2018. Our itinerary also included some familiar spots worthy of a return visit. We wanted to see again the exquisite 4th century BCE Dambulla caves filled with beautifully preserved Buddhist carvings. We stayed nearby for several nights in a sprawling country home (see below) surrounded by nature and complete privacy. We met a young traveling German couple in Colombo and invited them to tour the caves with us, stay the night in our extra bedroom and share a traditional Sri Lankan meal masterfully prepared by our good friend Ayesh, a young Sri Lankan man we met six years ago.
We also revisited the ruins of the civilization of Polonnaruwa (4th century BCE to 12 century CE) and Anuradhapura, the capital and birthplace of the Sinhalese culture and one of the Southern Asia's longest continuously inhabited cultural and sacred centres.
Tourism in Sri Lanka is back! Many foreign travelers recall the attention in the international press during the horrible political bombings in Colombo in April 2019! We woke up that morning to the news and just wept for Sri Lanka knowing it would create great hardship for the people and cause tourists to shun the country for a while, but not forever. Also, there were the hardships caused by the political turmoil and the ensuing economic distress in late 2022 into early 2023, lasting about three months. During this time, the country’s president fled to Singapore and the people stormed the government’s high offices demanding a better deal. From our casual observations things are better now and Sri Lankans offer a very warm inviting hospitality. We were happy to return to learn more and see more.
