Sri Lanka

Well, you can find lots of things in Sri Lanka but an internet cafe is very hard to track down, so I've been AWOL from cyberspace for a few weeks.  And...I don't miss it at all!

At the moment I'm staying in a small town right on the south point of Sri Lanka, called Galle.  There were Moorish (Arabic) traders here about 200 years ago, and since then a succession of colonizers - the Portuguese, Dutch and English.  This little town was the epicenter of trade for Sri Lanka so all these cultures ended up planting themselves there, along with the local Buddhist Sri Lankans.  As you can imagine it makes for an interesting religious and architectural mix!

Most of the houses were built within a large sea fort, about 300 to 400 years ago and are a mixture of Moorish and Dutch colonial style.  Because the town became a backwater and had no economic development in the last 100 years or so, nearly all the houses remain in their original state, so, wandering the streets is just beautiful.  I rented myself a little bike, and am getting about easy.

On my deadly treadly in front of my place

If I walk about 20 meters down the end of my street I am then right up on the sea wall (which is what helped save this town from the tsunami...500 meters down the road, out of the fort, there are still 1000 people unaccounted for to this day).

The ramparts. My house is about 20 meters down from the house you see on the corner.

View of the town and lighthouse from the ramparts.

I feel like I am living in an episode of Grand Designs because half of the houses are now being renovated or completely re-built in heritage style so it's really interesting to wander into some of the projects and have a look around. 

My place is fantastic, I just love it.  I got a big bargain, only $14 a night. Here are some photos of the house...

The only problem is that it is booked out over Christmas/New Year, so I'm not sure where I'll go during that time - there aren't many budget options in Galle, it's normally quite an expensive place to stay. 

The locals here are really friendly.  I can really tell the difference between here and, say, Indonesia.  In Indonesia I am almost always the wealthiest, most educated (and of course, 'strongest') person in the room.  Here it is quite different.  It is obvious that there is money around, and that people also have an excellent standard of education.  There are lots of young professional, and  most people are happy to engage in conversations about world events, politics etc (not something you normally get in Indonesia).   The lesson from this is:  if you must be colonized by anyone, be colonized by the British (and definitely not the Dutch!)

 A few more photos...