One of the truly iconic symbols of Sri Lanka is the stilt fisherman of the south coast- all of the guide books, postcards, promotional brochures, etc are covered with images of these pole sitters. The fishermen sit on a cross bar called a petta tied to a vertical pole planted into the coral reef. They hold the stilt with one hand while fishing with a rod or line using the other. They’re hoping to catch spotted herrings and small mackerels, which are then st...

When you`re wandering through Asia, and a safari is part of the highlight package, you`re not exactly expecting to be cruising the savanna in a Range Rover in search of the Big 5. A safari in much of Asia is more likely to mean cruising a buffet lineup of various cooked exotic, strange, and unidentifiable animals while jostling with 5 Big busloads of Chinese tourists. Sri Lanka does appear to be among a handful of Asian nations that is taking it`s responsibility ...

As we were sketching out our trip through Asia, we had picked out a number of festivals that we wanted to check out and one that had always been a curiosity for me were the extravagant, usually Hindu, elephant festivals. There are a number of these held in India and other parts of Asia where elephants are an integral part of ceremonies and processions so it seemed like it would be a slam-dunk to find one as we traveled the area. However, two elephant sized red fl...

Back in her glory days DH was something of an accomplished runner. In fact, when we were home owners I was required to build and maintain three distinct DH Shrines in the basement; the first chronicled her volunteer firefighter accomplishments, the second housed her policing awards (and given the enthusiasm with which coppers hand each other award plaques, this took up significant space), and the third was reserved for her many athletic trophies, most of which ce...

Another day and another difficult to pronounce ancient city; this time Polonnaruwa. Driving to Polonnaruwa took us by a number of military bases and installations (including a Sri Lankan Naval Base that was nowhere near any water- presumably done to confuse any Tamil Tigers that might have been foolishly looking for the Navy along the watery coastline). Although not at the heightened state of alert that existed during the conflict, the military presence was a poi...