Arriving in Sri Lanka for the first time, there was so much that was familiar, as if I was returning to somewhere I had been before. Some of this was due to the attempts made to make me feel at home. The airport was decorated with cheap tinsel and Christmas carols were playing while we made our way through customs. The traffic, the jungle vegetation and simple construction resembled many an interior third world country. Yet I was continually surprised by the differences. As Darwin explained the differences between the finches on the different islands of the Galapagos Islands, I feel Sri Lanka has developed its own breed of similar.
When I saw the sign "Unique Among Similar" on a school I realized it summed up the country well. We had been enjoying reading the sayings displayed on all the tuk-tuks, many amusing because of their misspellings, but others just didn't make any sense to us. Like:
"He who flies no high falls not low;" and "Why is the law blind only to me?" Here are some other puzzling moments.
The northern part of the island is the home to several ancient remains that date back to the 3rd century B.C., and they have become Unesco World Heritage Sites. Yet nature still runs rampant throughout: cows graze, termites build and monkeys rampage. I witnessed the local
gardeners hacking away the weeds with hoes and damaging the hundred year old stone work with every blow. One sign suggested that we may be disturbing the wasps!
Some of the country's uniqueness comes from its final acceptance of the different ethnic forces that helped shape it. All signs must be posted in Sinhalese, Tamil and English. Four different religions are tolerated. While most areas are predominantly Buddhist, it is common to see Hindu temples and mosques along side Catholic statues of saints. After years of fighting off the Portuguese and the Dutch and then working for the British before more years of extremists fighting a long civil war, the Sri Lankans have learned to live in peace. Live and let live.
And now they have the invasion of the tourist. The locals are dealing with this in their own way. Many involved in tourism seem like they are just figuring the whole thing out, or making it up as they go along. Everyone was very accommodating, and would go out of their way to give us what they thought we wanted.
On Christmas Eve we were treated to cocktails with our buffet dinner, followed by a magic show and DJ. As far as we know none of this was planned before we asked if the hotel would be doing anything for Christmas the night before. The cocktails were passable, except my order of a G&T turned out to be a Black Russian; the buffet was a good idea because the guests could avoid the unidentifiable dishes; the local magician had to rely on his stock tricks without any patter; and his show lost some of its glamour by the five members of the "band" who were setting up on the same stage during his act.
It certainly was a unique Christmas celebration, and more than our New Year's.
The Sri Lankans are guessing what we want to do and see in their country. Tours and drivers will offer day trips to Kandy which houses the famous Tooth relic of Buddha. This is a real cultural experience, but to round out the day of sightseeing, a dance performance and visit to the Botanical Gardens are thrown in. We politely declined the dance show, but agreed to the gardens because they are supposed to include a fine selection of orchids. We did finally see the orchid house, but not before being surprised by some of the more morbid wildlife. The cannon ball tree was like nothing I had seen before, especially because of its massive scale of "fruits" that covered the enormous tree. But by far the most unexpected find was the number of bats. These large flying foxes were screeching above us, flying about our heads and hanging in large groups from the trees. It was like I was in a movie.
As we traveled the country and thoughtfully considered the tourist attractions available to us, we learned that there was so much more to the country than what most visitors see. The elephants and the whales are two big attractions. There are many whale watching boat trips, and wildlife park safaris.
In reality you don't have to go on a safari to have an encounter with most of these amazing animals, they are wild and can be seen as you drive around the countryside. The real attraction is the fact that a small island like Sri Lanka can support all this abundance and diversity of life. It is a testament to the people's ability to welcome all cultures and religions as well as their understanding that all creatures can co-inhabit peacefully in one place.
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