Has anything changed?

Featured photo courtesy: McKay Savage — Wikimedia Commons

I spent four months in Lanka back in the days before the Internet. And while I’ve travelled to many countries since, Lanka stands out more than any other in one aspect:

The last word on Trinco

Photo courtesy: Indi Samarajiva – Wikimedia Commons

Trincomalee was memorable for the families I met. There were two other reasons I’d rather forget that I also connect to the town. One happened while I strolled along the harbourside heading towards a shop to buy butter.

A Trinco Tamil Family

Photo courtesy: Dschen Reinecke – Wikimedia Commons

I met a wonderful Tamil family in Trincomalee whom I stayed with. They were the neighbours of the Sinhalese family.

Trinco Sinhalese Connection

I spent many an evening with a Sinhalese family while I stayed in Trincomalee. They lived a street back from the harbour on a good sized plot of land where we sat and idled away the evenings.

Trincomalee’s Australian connection

Trincomalee Bay – Photo courtesy: Dschen Reinecke – Wikimedia Commons

This peaceful town sat on what seemed like a strip of land with the ocean on one side and the protected harbour on the other.

It was here I met the Labroy family originally hailing from Australia. The children’s accents held nothing of the Australian twang but were tinged more with the local Tamil.

Jaffna

Photo courtesy: Eleleleven from Bielefeld, Deutschland

There was a difference in this town. Not only was it hotter than a pizza oven, but the people were predominantly Tamil.

Sinhalese Enlightenment

The highlands were for walking because although it was still warm, the climate was nowhere near as hot and sticky as Lanka’s lowlands.

Across from the Royal Botanic Gardens stood Peradeniya University. I don’t remember much of the university except from a photo I took, but I do remember the next days’s confrontation in the grimy city.

Kandy’s Botanic Gardens

Photo courtesy: McKaySavage from London UK – Wikimedia Commons

Kandy was a cool change from the coast. In the mountainous interior, the landscape was lush.

Hikkaduwa before the internet

Colombo near Fort Station. Photo courtesy: Calflier001 – Wikimedia.org

Being in Hikkaduwa for six weeks before the internet meant day trips to Colombo to pick up snail mail.

South to Galle

Photo courtesy: Krankman – Wikimedia Commons

I took a bus from Hikkaduwa to Galle. It was only a half hour trip along a coconut fringed coastline to the quiet southern town.