Sri, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is very beautiful with all that tropical lushness and some beautiful beaches and ocean. It reminds me a lot of what I thought I would see when I first went to Hawaii - lots of dense green tropical flora  accented with coconuts and bananas, miles of beach, limitless sun that just sneaks behind some rain clouds for a bit of rest now and then, and a slower, simpler life. In the west, we clear areas, build housing divisions and then plant a few trees and roll out some lawns.  Here, they carve a hole in the jungle and build a house before the jungle leans back in around it, shading the house with palms and filling the yard with rich greens and bright blossoms - quiet returns and the birds and animals and insects resume their lives.

There is also a lack of some of the modernness we are used to in the states.  It's like they build everything using materials and technology that were available to us in the states 50 years ago.  So, everything works, but without the authority, confidence, reliability or finesse we have come to expect. There aren't many big buildings and downtown areas are a chaotic assemblage of convenience and availability focused entirely on minimally functional; aesthetics are replaced by signs and posters and the garish banners of marketing.  There are all the basic modern products of department stores, but availability, diversity and selection are as limited as high-end products are missing. On the other hand, you can get tailor made clothes for the same price as generic clothes in the States; no-name sunblock for a buck probably works just as well as the Froggy Doo-Doo brand for ten bucks; and, the perhaps over-priced local art and craft works are way cheaper than the way over-priced sophisticated art found in chic studios in the West. (Fortunately, I am not traveling with porters else I would likely be buying all sorts of leather works, clothes, carvings and statues that I don't need so I could gift them to somebody else to not need.)

But, overall, Sri Lanka is a magical and wonderful land with plenty of quiet places to walk or pause, ancient works of devout humankind, incredible works of nature. Even the bustle of towns and cities are isolated in great expanses of peace. I imagine that Sri Lanka is as Hawaii was before it became Hawaii; but, now with the war ended, it will one day soon become as Hawaii is.

Water

Aral Sea - the sea that was...

While oil is important, I think the shortage of fresh water is the issue that will one day completely overshadow it. In Asia, pollution of natural water bodies is chronic.  Every stream, river, lake or ocean I have seen is routinely used as a dumping ground for all sorts of garbage and sewage.  They don't use chemicals the way we do in the west, particularly in America where we have chemicals for industry, agriculture and to clean just about anything and everything.  There are places where lakes are being damaged just from the runoff of chemicals we use to grow our lawns and gardens. But, we have garbage collection and sewage systems.  In Asia, everything from the stream of water in the gutter to natural streams and rivers, to lakes and even the ocean are seen as bottomless pits that can absorb any and all waste.  Not only do guide books advise not drinking the local water, they often advise against swimming in it too. I am now on the west coast of Sri Lanka with miles of gorgeous beaches on the Indian Ocean. But, the guide books advise not swimming in the ocean near cities because of pollution.  How the heck much shit do you have to dump in an ocean to make it unsafe for swimming?

For a long time there have been little-heralded stories of a growing population that stresses current water supplies, dwindling water supplies, and the pollution of what water we have. Stories of villages which derive their fresh water from glacier melt-off becoming completely arid due to receding glaciers that will completely disappear in the not-so-distant future flicker quietly past on PBS. There is so much pollution that we are advised how much fish we can safely eat before the toxins they contain do serious damage - never mind the minor damage they do as we slide along the scale below dangerous. So we buy bottled water and water filters, and install low-flow plumbing until we want a real shower and disable it. We limit tuna and switch to chicken - when we remember. We respond with disgust to stories of the Ganges River and complain at the difficulty of getting rid of used motor oil and continue to use highly toxic household solvents and garden chemicals. Then we see an article about a country that is towing a great iceberg from the arctic to a place where they will melt it for fresh water and marvel at their innovation. Some nitwit scientist calculates that if you melted all the ice in the polar regions there would be enough water to last the world a bunch of years and many of us, not wanting to deal with the problem, say, "well, see?!?!"

OK, it's just a rant and it doesn't mean anything really.  But, I just needed to say it.

For Intuit\QuickBooks folks...

An interesting add in the Sri Lanka newspaper, Ceylon Daily News.

Aluthgama

Aluthgama is a small town on the river Bentota Ganga. I found a nice guest house on the river at the right edge of this picture. It is very peaceful and as long as the room, without air conditioning, cools down enough to sleep at night, I guess I'll just have to spend a couple of days here and maybe take a boat excursion up the river.

The river Bentota Ganga separates Aluthgama from Bentota and a short walk across a bridge dumps me just a few minutes from the beach. There are a number of tourist hotels along beautiful beaches, a broad strip of clean sand framing turquoise waves of incredibly warm water. In spite of warm weather, a nice breeze and surprisingly warm water good for a range of water sports, there are not a lot of people here.

Some of the quiet is probably that the high season is just passing and some that it is just under a year since the war ended, but I rather appreciate the relative quiet and suspect that it is a brief window that will quickly pass as the war recedes in memory.

Colombo and beyond

Life is hard. While I was being much more modest when I got to Colombo, I decided to take a break at a grand ocean-side hotel which has been serving discriminating visitors to Sri Lanka since 1864.

At the center of this picture there are a handful of deluxe rooms with private balconies. These rooms have been remodeled and are deliciously decadent with a huge jacuzzi and enough comfort to make me question whether I really need to leave the room. After all, the view from the balcony, particularly at sunset, is pretty wonderful.

OK, life isn't hard, but getting up the gumption to leave here, for whatever beauty and excitement lies ahead, is just a little hard.

But, I've certainly been in Colombo long enough, so tomorrow I head down the coast to the small beach town of Aluthgama. My plan is to stumble down the coast to Marissa moving slowly enough to keep me until at least April 15. The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is mid-April and since it is a major holiday in Sri Lanka, I decided I should just hide out on a beach somewhere. After the New Year festivities die down, it should be a better time to visit Kandy and Nuwara Eliya areas (both for fewer people and better weather, I'm told), and then migrate further north into the Ancient Cities region. Of course, plans merely keep our minds busy until reality shows up, but at least they help me select a train to board in the morning.