Sri- Lanka- we're definitely in Asia. How can I tell? Have a look:
Plus, there are squatters in the public toilets. And eating? Well, Sri Lankans eat with the fingertips of their right hands - with no cutlery. Enough said about bathroom habits.
We were initially reluctant to visit this island off the east coast of Southern India because of the civil war which ended in 2009 when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil (remember the Sri Lankans stopping the Gardiner traffic in Toronto and University Avenue traffic in protest?). Some say 40,000 civilians were killed before the Tamil political organization was smashed. Now Sri Lanka is one of the fastest growing economies of the world.
But it's still a poor country. Take a major city street in the capitol, Colombo:
Not that you need skyscrapers for world class status, but this is pretty indicative of a 'flourishing' commercial street. Plus, the driving is insane:
They say it's worse in India and other parts of Asia- but right now, it's pretty high here on the richter scale. I doubt we'll get bombed by ISIS during our trip but these tuk tuks which comprise about 30- 40% of all traffic could be the death of us. Ordinary 2 lane traffic is at least 3 and 4 deep with cars, tuk tuks and motor bikes. There's only 2 highways for the whole island, i) a 33 km stretch from the airport to downtown and ii) from Colombo to somewhere down south. Every else it's only 2 lane, sometimes 4.
But this country over 20 million is steeped with history. There are many frescoes and temples dating back to 1600 BC and the history does not disappoint- like this Hindu temple in Kandy getting renovated:
We're looking forward to really exploring this island and get a flavour of the buddhist, hindu and muslim way of life.
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