Spritual Sri Lanka

markets

As the government lifted its ceasefire back in December 2007, our plane made the slow rattling decent into the eerie calm of Colombo. We had arrived in Sri Lanka during a ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan army. The normally bustling streets remained empty with the only noise coming from vans and utes as they passed hesitantly through the capital. We piled into a late model van and joined the procession of traffic making their way out of town.
Sri Lanka is a land of 21 million people, in a country smaller than our state of Tasmania. It is a land where their people are living amongst many religions with Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims living as if they shared the one belief. Most parts of the country during this time prohibited foreigners and for good reason – war or the potential threat of attacks has plagued this land.
As we made our way amongst horn tooting drivers and the landscape of the city makes way to rainforest that begins to engulf the winding bitumen passage, you begin to see the true beauty of this land. From charming formal English Colony towns such as Kandy, where Colonial buildings sit in the surroundings of Mosques and temples to vibrant market towns and tea terraced hill towns the post Colonial Sri Lanka combines new and old.
We saw mountains in the Nuwara Eliya area where tea was picked amongst clouds and the green from trees spread further than the eye could see. In the Matale District past civilisations had carved their temples and pools into Sigiriya rock which was reached on narrow stairways where ancient paintings remained visible on the rock face.
The food found is one where fingers replace forks and curries are displayed out on shared plates, each using one core ingredient and only being mixed when your heart so wishes to combine a new combination. The people are friendly and charming.
So as the guns now lay silent, Sri Lanka is a country of charm and vibrant energy and one that is worth the rattling planes and vans to see.

Sri Lanka Tourism
http://www.srilankatourism.org/

Government
http://www.priu.gov.lk/

Sri Lanka- A journey By Luke Spring