DECEMBER 2005 - Hot or not?
It's hard to believe Stefaan and I have been on the road for over a month now. Hong Kong, Singapore, now Sri Lanka for the last 2 1/2 weeks. HK and Singapore...an easy intro to our travels. Big cities with all the modern conveniences. Then Colombo...let the real traveling begin. Sri Lanka does not have a lot to offer travelers, but there are gems to be found. Buddhism prevails and that means one thing....temples, lots of them,whether they be small glass encased shrines on the street corners or 2,000 year old rock temples filled with hundreds of Buddha statues. I do love to watch the ritual as the people clasp their hands together and offer fresh flowers to their god. The monks are brilliant in their orange, red and burgundy robes (each color representing the area they come from whether that be the deep jungle or the city). To see these devout men getting off planes with armloads of computer printers and scanners or checking out the latest cell phone technology at a shopping mall kiosk is very odd. I especially love the young monks though (or monklets, as the travel photographer, Nevada Weir, calls them). On the one hand, they are like men, but still they are children and they get such a kick out of smiling, giggling and interacting with foreigners.
The Sri Lankan people are so easygoing...quick to smile and laugh. As in most countries, most of our interaction is with the men....some are such characters. I can't tell half the time whether they're joking or serious. Most of the people speak Sinhala VERY quickly. So those that speak English fly at the same speed and with a very thick accent...difficult to decipher. Ever curious about the sweaty, slightly scummy backpackers in their midst, they walk along side us asking the same questions..."Where are you going?" (my favorite question, especially when I'm on the way to the toilet) "From what country?" (United States is not understood here...I must say "America") "How long are you in Sri Lanka?" "Is this your first time in Sri Lanka?" "How do you find Sri Lanka?"
We are eating well here. "Hot or not?", is the question asked when ordering curry. If you say "hot", beware. Fire. Sri Lankans really know how to cook...rice, roti, curry, dahl, noodles, beautiful fruits and vegetables. Sri Lanka is an island of animals. Monkeys everywhere! To watch the locals react to them, I realize they're as exciting as a squirrel is to us at home. The monkeys especially like to hang out near temples since there's so many visitiors leaving food scraps behind. As we walk barefoot and remove our hats to enter the temples, the monkeys are frolicking everywhere and having sex nearby. No respect! Fruit bats with 3 foot wingspans crowd the tops of the trees. Flocks of gorgeous green parrots flit about in the evenings. Cows wander the streets in the smaller towns...women "shoo" them out of restaurants and shops. Working elephants are nearly as common as cows and water buffalo. Elephant orphans (many injured in "jungle accidents" involving leftover mines from the 20 year civil war) are bottle fed and bathed in the hill country orphanage. The less beautiful animals include the red-eyed mongooses skulking about in the brush (they're good at killing cobras, so I can live with them), a few good sized cockroaches, and my least favorite, mosquitos (the vicious beasts have been biting us through our clothes and getting into our net nearly every evening...misery).
Sri Lanka could be beautiful with its lush green hills and its white sand beaches, but unfortunately the country is covered in a thick layer of garbage, unlike anything I've seen. The cities, villages and towns are like most in the developing world...poor roads, cement block buildings, open sewers, mangy animals running the streets in packs, and again the ever present piles of garbage.
Poverty is rampant. Incomes run from $35/month for a tea picker to$150/month for a graphic designer to $400/month for a bank manager. As with most developing countries, corruption is king from the president on down to the sorely underpaid police force. Tough to get ahead in this place. Corruption is top of mind at the moment as an interesting "blame game" is playing out in the newspapers and television. As December 26th, the anniversary of the tsunami comes nearer, the pressure is on. The newly elected president and his administration are feeling the heat when it comes to the lack of progress being made for the tsunami victims. Everyone is wondering where all the aid money has gone. In the tsunami struck villages, all we see are drinking water tanks, tents/tarps, temporary wood shacks and some new homes being built by NGO's from the U.S., Europe, Japan and Israel. Nowhere is there evidence that the Sri Lankan government is actively participating. The foreign NGO's blame the government for not taking a role in the recovery. The government blames the lack of progress on disorganized foreign NGO's. Sounds alittle like the aftermath of the New Orleans disaster, doesn't it? The post-tsunami problems are complicated and layered here, and I don't doubt for a moment that the U.S. or Europe would be struggling with the same problems if they faced a disaster of this magnitude in their countries. Again, I look at New Orleans.
Stefaan and I have spent the last five days in the "tsunami zone" on the south and west coasts. The reality is people are suffering...a year after the disaster, most don't have permanent houses, most don't have jobs anymore (namely fisherman without boats), and nearly all have lost someone they love. We visited a village today, Peraliya, that lost 3,000...a mass grave holds 900 unidentified bodies. The mental/emotional suffering must run so deep. There are bright spots amid the tragedy though. Foreign NGOs and individuals are getting some people into homes. One woman alone, from Belgium, managed to raise enough money to buy land, build 76 homes and purchase 110 boats for one village. Really incredible. We met an 80 year old Belgian named George the other day. He has been visiting Sri Lanka for the last 27 years. He alone is responsible for building ten homes for tsunami victims. So the answer definitely is not more money, at least not more money to the Sri Lankan government, because it has a funny way of "disappearing". The Sri Lankan president will be speaking in Peraliya on the morning of the 26th. One of the village families has invited Stefaan and me to attend. We are very curious as to what this politician will have to say to these people. In the meantime, I will now get off my soapbox and save my socialmindedness for the president on Monday : ) We will hide out and spend Christmas in our beach oasis, Unawatuna. A quiet little bay on the southern coast. The water is aqua, the beach is clean and there is much seafood to eat.
The Sri Lankan people are so easygoing...quick to smile and laugh. As in most countries, most of our interaction is with the men....some are such characters. I can't tell half the time whether they're joking or serious. Most of the people speak Sinhala VERY quickly. So those that speak English fly at the same speed and with a very thick accent...difficult to decipher. Ever curious about the sweaty, slightly scummy backpackers in their midst, they walk along side us asking the same questions..."Where are you going?" (my favorite question, especially when I'm on the way to the toilet) "From what country?" (United States is not understood here...I must say "America") "How long are you in Sri Lanka?" "Is this your first time in Sri Lanka?" "How do you find Sri Lanka?"
We are eating well here. "Hot or not?", is the question asked when ordering curry. If you say "hot", beware. Fire. Sri Lankans really know how to cook...rice, roti, curry, dahl, noodles, beautiful fruits and vegetables. Sri Lanka is an island of animals. Monkeys everywhere! To watch the locals react to them, I realize they're as exciting as a squirrel is to us at home. The monkeys especially like to hang out near temples since there's so many visitiors leaving food scraps behind. As we walk barefoot and remove our hats to enter the temples, the monkeys are frolicking everywhere and having sex nearby. No respect! Fruit bats with 3 foot wingspans crowd the tops of the trees. Flocks of gorgeous green parrots flit about in the evenings. Cows wander the streets in the smaller towns...women "shoo" them out of restaurants and shops. Working elephants are nearly as common as cows and water buffalo. Elephant orphans (many injured in "jungle accidents" involving leftover mines from the 20 year civil war) are bottle fed and bathed in the hill country orphanage. The less beautiful animals include the red-eyed mongooses skulking about in the brush (they're good at killing cobras, so I can live with them), a few good sized cockroaches, and my least favorite, mosquitos (the vicious beasts have been biting us through our clothes and getting into our net nearly every evening...misery).
Sri Lanka could be beautiful with its lush green hills and its white sand beaches, but unfortunately the country is covered in a thick layer of garbage, unlike anything I've seen. The cities, villages and towns are like most in the developing world...poor roads, cement block buildings, open sewers, mangy animals running the streets in packs, and again the ever present piles of garbage.
Poverty is rampant. Incomes run from $35/month for a tea picker to$150/month for a graphic designer to $400/month for a bank manager. As with most developing countries, corruption is king from the president on down to the sorely underpaid police force. Tough to get ahead in this place. Corruption is top of mind at the moment as an interesting "blame game" is playing out in the newspapers and television. As December 26th, the anniversary of the tsunami comes nearer, the pressure is on. The newly elected president and his administration are feeling the heat when it comes to the lack of progress being made for the tsunami victims. Everyone is wondering where all the aid money has gone. In the tsunami struck villages, all we see are drinking water tanks, tents/tarps, temporary wood shacks and some new homes being built by NGO's from the U.S., Europe, Japan and Israel. Nowhere is there evidence that the Sri Lankan government is actively participating. The foreign NGO's blame the government for not taking a role in the recovery. The government blames the lack of progress on disorganized foreign NGO's. Sounds alittle like the aftermath of the New Orleans disaster, doesn't it? The post-tsunami problems are complicated and layered here, and I don't doubt for a moment that the U.S. or Europe would be struggling with the same problems if they faced a disaster of this magnitude in their countries. Again, I look at New Orleans.
Stefaan and I have spent the last five days in the "tsunami zone" on the south and west coasts. The reality is people are suffering...a year after the disaster, most don't have permanent houses, most don't have jobs anymore (namely fisherman without boats), and nearly all have lost someone they love. We visited a village today, Peraliya, that lost 3,000...a mass grave holds 900 unidentified bodies. The mental/emotional suffering must run so deep. There are bright spots amid the tragedy though. Foreign NGOs and individuals are getting some people into homes. One woman alone, from Belgium, managed to raise enough money to buy land, build 76 homes and purchase 110 boats for one village. Really incredible. We met an 80 year old Belgian named George the other day. He has been visiting Sri Lanka for the last 27 years. He alone is responsible for building ten homes for tsunami victims. So the answer definitely is not more money, at least not more money to the Sri Lankan government, because it has a funny way of "disappearing". The Sri Lankan president will be speaking in Peraliya on the morning of the 26th. One of the village families has invited Stefaan and me to attend. We are very curious as to what this politician will have to say to these people. In the meantime, I will now get off my soapbox and save my socialmindedness for the president on Monday : ) We will hide out and spend Christmas in our beach oasis, Unawatuna. A quiet little bay on the southern coast. The water is aqua, the beach is clean and there is much seafood to eat.
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