Sri Lanka Oct 9 - 23, 2013

Before I came to Sri Lanka, I had high expectations of the place because of their government's extensive and intense international promotions of Sri Lanka as the idyllic vacation and retirement spot for westerners. Their tourism slogan has been "Sri Lanka - Land like no other". Well, what I experienced in the past two weeks does not exactly match its claims. Perhaps if I did not visit South India before coming here, the discrepancies would not have been so apparent.

It seems to me that Sri Lanka is a duplicate of South India with a stronger emphasis on Buddhism. I find Sri Lankans to be relatively more submissive and religious than South Indians. There is a high degree of mingling of the Buddhist community with all aspects of everyday life of the common people. Sri Lankans don't seem to mind being ruled by both the government and the monks. The monks appear to be rather powerful, and they forget that the sangha should not be closely connected to society outside the monastery walls except in the case of Tibet where the Dalai Lama is both the political and spiritual leader. The ritualistic practices of Buddhism in Sri Lanka somewhat impede progress; Sri Lanka remains one of the more conservative countries in Asia.

There are eight UNESCO sites in Sri Lanka and I have visited five of them on this trip. The first World heritage site that I visited was the City of Kandy which is a lakeside city that served as the last capital of the Sinhala kings before the British occupation. I then visited Dambulla for its Rock/Cave Temples. Only 20 kms east of Dambulla is Sigiriya where the remains of King Kassapa's Palace could be found on the slopes and summit of a 370 meter granite outcrop. Instead of continuing eastward to Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka's second ancient capital in the 11th & 12th century, I went north to Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka's first ancient capital and saw the oldest certifiable tree on earth. I felt compelled to visit Jaffna where the 28-year old civil war started in 1981 and ended only in 2009. I was happy to see great progress being made in the re-building of this once vibrant city with predominantly Tamil residents. Two days ago I visited my fifth UNESCO site - Galle on the south coast. I have never seen so much Dutch colonial architecture anywhere else in the world.

Surprisingly, my favourite place in Sri Lanka is a "transit" place that I stayed for just one rainy day. I came down from Jaffna last Saturday to chill out for a couple days on the south coast before flying out to Malaysia. The last railway station in the hill country is Badulla. I walked around the city for about half an hour and decided that I did not like Badulla. So I rode the first outbound train to Ella, a quaint little town about an hour away from Badulla. I had penne carbonnara for lunch followed by a pot of Ceylon tea at their top hotel cafe in town. It was one of the best pasta that I have tasted in years. As I found out later, the chef actually went to Italy to learn how to cook pasta and pizza.

If I were to give any travel advice about Sri Lanka, I would say Sri Lanka is not developed enough for independent travellers. It is better to join a tour group. If you are here for R & R, then try to stay on the south coast. If you a trekking and/or nature enthusiast, then the hill country is your destination. If you are a history fan like me, then the golden triangle of Sigiriya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa is the spot for you. There is a lot of beauty in every corner of this island country. It is really up to you to find your paradise on this island nation.

South India, Sep 10 - Oct 8 2013

Even though I had three months to plan my trip in South India, I did not draw up a timetable at all. I knew I wanted to see the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, to meet Amma for the first time on her 60th birthday, to visit Raja Raja's Big Temple and to understand the ashram culture a bit more. I watched many videos and read travel guide books to prepare for the visit. However, nothing could prepare me for the warmth and kindness that I experienced in South India in the those four weeks.

From my last visit to North India, I have learned to discard all my western concept of planning and purposefully getting organized. Most Indians believe in karma and dharma. They have faith that if things are meant to take place, they will happen no matter what. I will give you an example that happened just a few days ago. I was in Chennai Sunday morning. I wanted to attend Sunday morning mass. I asked a young woman at the Chennai Egmore station which general direction should I be heading to go to the Basilica of Santhome. Well, before I know it, a team of people worked out the route that I should be taking. There was always at least one person accompanying me along the way until I reached the Basilica. Worshiping is a big part of Indian life and my wish to attend the Sunday mass, being a righteous act, became their mandate to make it happen.

As with any journey, there are always ups and downs. I must admit, I had been lucky for the most part. Another example that came to mind was getting to Amma's ashram. The tuk-tuk driver took me to 4 hotels in Kayankulam and they were all fully occupied. I then asked him to take me to the ashram directly. He left me and my two bags on the other side of the lagoon. Because I can't swim, I hesitated to go on an old boat to cross the lagoon. Well, a family walked by and helped me to load and unload my bags. After I got to the other side, I was able to get dorm accommodation on the day before Amma's BD on Sept 27th. According to the residents of the ashram, there were close to 900,000 people attending the BD celebration. There were people sleeping on the ground uncovered everywhere at night during the 3-day celebration.

India is a place that you either love or hate. I tend to overlook the minor annoyances and love India and its people. It had been ten years since I first visited North India. I am happy to see that the quality of life has improved a great deal over the past decade. Most Indian tourists that I met, are well-educated and make a decent living. Even though they complain about a corrupt government, I believe that all that could be changed with the next generation of intelligent and honest Indian politicians. I am convinced that the future truly belongs to India and China.