photography by wasim.

Tag: Asia

3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 6 : The Solo Journey Continues. Next Stop: Kandy – The Cultural Capital Of Sri Lanka

So this was it. I had 3 more days left before I had to make my way back to Colombo and begin my 36 hour journey back to U.S. soil. I had two choices…I can head down to the beach and just marinate for a few days, or I can continue the cerebral stimulation and head to Kandy, “The Cultural Capital of Sri Lanka.” Against most of humanity’s better judgement, I chose the latter.

To get there from Nuwara Eliya, I had to bid farewell to the gorgeous valley of the tea, tuk-tuk down to the Nanuoya train station 8 miles down the road, and find myself a seat. This turned out to be one of the most beautiful train rides I’ve ever been on. We started and ended by slowly snaking our way through 90 miles of the same lush green tea-infused hillsides we drove up to get here, only this time, we were away from the people and the commerce-driven hustle bustle of the road that led up and down the mountain. This time, we hugged the mountainsides as we periodically rolled through tiny track-side villages, many of which consisted of nothing more than 5 or 6 small structures and a store. This is a train ride I think should be added to just about everyone’s bucket list. It was that stunning.

Kandy is quite significant on so many levels to the history and present of Sri Lanka. It served as the last capital of the ancient kings era in Sri Lanka, and, among some of Buddhism and Hindu’s holiest sites, houses the Temple of the Tooth, an enormous and religiously significant temple in the Buddhist faith. Additionally, Kandy, the second largest city in Sri Lanka behind Colombo, serves as a major and important commerce route linking all quadrants of the country, not surprisingly, playing a major role and hub for operations during the 3- year civil war I spoke of in the first few parts of this series. Since then, they’ve put a major focus on tolerance and integration amongst populations, from the Buddhist population to the Hindu population to the Muslim population, Singhalese and Tamil alike, with wonderfully vibrant charming results. While the population of Kandy is listed at about 120,000, it truly feels like a much smaller, quaint town, much of which has to do with its topography – pockets hidden and tucked into hillsides and valleys.

I rolled into town in the early afternoon, got a hold of my host in Kandy, another Airbnb reservation, and another one that I got super lucky with. I landed a spot in Alex Home Stay. The reviews were off the charts, so I wasn’t sure I’d get in, but I was fortunate enough to catch him during an open window. Not only did I have my own entire apartment in the hills just above the town, but Alex, who lived upstairs, was also a certified tour guide in Sri Lanka, so he was able to put together an itinerary for me based on what I wanted to see and do. I got in early enough to have a full afternoon and night in which he led me right. I took a tuk-tuk downtown, had my driver find me a Muslim jewerly shop (apparently that’s where you’ll get the best currency exchange rates), and then drop me off right in front of The Temple of the Tooth. The Temple of the Tooth, a World Heritage Site, and one of the holiest places in the world for Buddhists, is perhaps best known for housing one of Buddhas teeth in a shrine in the center of the temple.

I walked onto the opulent grounds and as I crossed the bridge over the moat and into the compound, immediately felt a calmness come across me. I was instinctually possessed to be quiet, aware, and introspective, a feeling that was only magnified as I walked into the temple and up the stairs that led to the shrine. It was filled to the brim Buddhist devotees sitting on the ground throughout the room, all chanting in unison, led by a monk dressed in traditional orange robes at the center of the room facing the shrine, which was shroud with lotus flowers covering the color spectrum.

I was here.

This was happening.

I was part of it.

So for a few moments I could call my own, I sat down and just listened. It wasn’t long before I found myself entranced and almost hypnotically chanting along with them. I won’t lie, there was something there, an energy, something I wasn’t quite used to, and I know this might sound contradictory, but I don’t know how else to put it…I freaked out a bit at how calming it was. This struck me enough to get a sudden twinge of anxiety, leading me outside of the room. It was a bizarre feeling, one I still can’t describe, but I’m fairly certain it had a lot to do with the inexplainable discomfort of facing yourself upon finding yourself suddenly vulnerable in a completely unfamiliar environment. I wasn’t ready for that. And looking back, I now wish I had stayed and worked my way through those feelings to see what was on the other side.

In any case, I spent the next hour or so meandering through the rest of the grounds, which included everything from the Sri Dalada Museum, which explained the story of the tooth relic through pictures and ancient scrolls, imagery, and statues. Apparently he who holds the sacred tooth relic, which was fought over for centuries, holds the governance of the land. I also got to check out the outlying gardens which played host to a glass room full of prayer candles, in which an endless stream of devotees walked in, lit their candles, made their offerings, and quietly prayed before making their way out.

After this, I found myself walking on the other side of the temple, where I heard dancing and music and drums, and as I followed them, found an old Red Cross building that was hosting a Kandyan dance, essentially a traditional Sri Lankan dance recital. This I could not pass up. It had just started so I bought myself a ticket and walked in to a packed house and balcony watching this display, not unlike what you’d see at a traditional Hawaiian luau, but with the story, dance, costume, and garb illustrating Sri Lankan history. The recital is performed to percussion only, and through costumes depicting different animals, tells the story of shamans that came to cure the king of a mysterious illness caused by black magic of the king’s first wife.

After this 90 minute show, I figured it was time to call it a night as I had a long day ahead of me, for tomorrow, I’d be heading deeper into the hills to see something I could not leave Sri Lanka without seeing…elephants!

To see those magnificent beasts, click here for 3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 7 : The Solo Journey Continues – The Elephants & The Elements , & The Shoulder of Buddha. Or you can always sign up on the right with your email address and I’ll send each new post directly to your inbox.

For now, below is a gallery from that first day in Kandy. Click on any one of them and it’ll open a lightbox slideshow.

If you missed the beginnings of this journey, be sure to start off with 3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 1 : The Most Meaningful Work I’ve Ever Done.

And if you needs you some more wanna wannas, there’s always:
Instagram: @wasimofnazareth
Ello: @wasimofnazareth
Google+: +WasimMuklashy

All images and videos for this series of blog posts were shot with a Samsung NX1.

If you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, your little helps me a LOT.

May 27, 2015
3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 5 : The Solo Journey Begins. First Stop: Nuwara Eliya – The Heart Of Tea Country

Not again. No way was I going to miss my ride this time. It was pseudo-palatable to eat the 10 bucks for ticket I bought for the missed train ride they day before, but after not being able to secure another ticket for the next 3 days, if I was to stand any chance of making it to Nuwara Eliya in the highlands, I would be forced to hire a private driver to take me the 100 miles up the mountain. And that, let me tell you, cost a wee bit more than 10 dollars. So yup, this time, I would NOT miss my ride.

I met my driver outside the Airbnb rental at 7am, bid farewell to my host and Pradeepa, who I wouldn’t see again until her return to the states a few months later, and hopped into the Prius to begin my solo journey through as much of the country as I can comfortably see in 10 days. What was so striking was how quickly everything around me changed. The difference of topography and climate within such a short distance in this country is uncanny. Within just a few miles of being in warm, humid, flat coastal lowlands, I found myself entering a colder, more temperate mountainous climate that I’m more used to seeing in the midst of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the midst of Spring than what I expected on an island 50 miles from the mainland of India. The one thing that didn’t change at all was the constant rush of people everywhere! You figure that when you’re heading into ‘the highlands,’ that the route there would be sparse and barely populated, but, no. Not here. The entire drive up was jam-packed with people and villages methodically going about their business, albeit it in a gorgeous natural setting.

This made much more sense the more I thought about it. Tea is the country’s biggest export and industry, and these mountains were jam-packed with tea plantations. Everywhere. Look left, right, up, down, everywhere…tea. It was beautiful! And it was where the work was. And since this was really the only road to and from the capital and port city of Colombo, business up and down the mountain revolved around the tea industry. This tight two lane winding mountain road was essentially a major corridor in the trade route that sent tea from these mountains to the rest of the world. And this tight two lane winding mountain road, chalk full of blind curves, did NOT stop the drivers, including those of big trucks, from adopting the same practices they did in the city, swerving in and out of each other’s lanes, into oncoming traffic, on blind curves, dodging tuk-tuks and pedestrians, it didn’t matter. Yet, somehow, everyone seemed to make it out unscathed…

My first taste of this tea took place about 2 hours into the ride. We were getting deeper into the mountain and pulled off to take my first sip at a roadside tea stop in Walawala, Sri Lanka. (How great is that name? Walawala!) Anyhow, that first taste gave me my first ever experience with what fresh, real, unprocessed, untreated, direct-from-the-source tea was. The flavor popped out of the cup and danced around on the palate like no other cup I’ve ever had. Now I get it. Heck, the leaves used to brew this cup, as I’d soon learn, were picked less than a handful of days before they arrived in front of me.

We continued on up the road for a bit before I got a glimpse of my first of what would be many waterfalls in the country and the next 90 minutes or so gave me a proper showing of what many call the most beautiful part of Sri Lanka, and it wasn’t hard to see why. The landscapes were blanketed by green rolling hills reminiscent of California wine country, however, instead of grapevines, here it was all covered in lush fields of tea with cascading waterfalls and rivers snaking their way between. It was gorgeous. While, for the past 2 weeks, I often wondered why I even bothered to bring a long sleeve shirt and hoodie with me, this was the moment I was glad to dig them out from the bottom of my bag. The climate was like night and day, easily dropping 15 degrees during the day and 20 degrees at night from what I’ve grown used to.We arrived into Nuwara Eliya in the late afternoon. The driver dropped me off at my hotel, the quaint, hillside Richmond Inn, where, after putting me in a gorgeous room overlooking the entirety of the town, 5 minutes later, they pulled me out of there and threw me in the small dark dingy windowless manager’s break room down the hall. They literally had to remove piles of clothes and quickly make up the bed for me as I stood on the sidelines waiting, but they more than made up for it the next morning, when they moved me into a spacious and comfortable corner suite with french doors opening up to a balcony that overlooked the entirety of the Nuwara Eliya valley. Apparently they had a mixup with my reservation, so they fed me and didn’t charge me for that night. Works for me…

Over the next 60 hours or so I found myself walking, hiking, and tuk-tuk’ing through this picturesque valley and city. I got a chance to tour the Pedro Tea Factory, seeing exactly how the process is carried out from field to cup before enjoying a tea tasting on a wooden deck that overlooked their tea-covered hillside. One thing that you can’t help but notice is the level of poverty that also existed in this area. While it was quite evident all throughout the country so far, I didn’t expect that when I’d walk into the estate, one of the region’s premiere tea plantations and factories, that I’d find shanty towns and corrugated housing for the workers all the way up until I reached the entrance gate. This is when I really got to see what a society looks like when there’s an upper class, a lower class, and a seeming complete absence of a middle class. Despite this, they all seemed to be in good spirits and extremely courteous and generous and warm, as evidenced by my trek up to Lover’s Leap, a relaxing moderate hike up a moderate incline through tea fields that led to small shrine and one of the region’s popular waterfalls. This is where I ran across a sweet family all working in the tea field. They curiously stopped me, we chatted (as well as we could), we took pictures, and they wouldn’t let me leave without a hug and a handshake.

The next day was spent walking around the town center, getting a feel for the local life. Nuwara Eliya is not a big city at all. The city itself is about 5 square miles with a population of about 25,000, while the total population of the entire region is about 50,000. But you could walk through the city itself in a day. The street scenes were vibrant and plentiful as it’s a bustling town with a never-ending turnover of visitors. The main market is located right next to the bus station and is the area I spent most of my time, soaking in the wares and fares. Everything from fresh tea to fresh fruits and vegetables to, well, fresh meat. Just hanging there. Meat.

During an afternoon stroll through the outskirts of town, I found a beautiful old church. I”m not much of a religious person but something drew me in. It was completely empty when I walked in, and just took a seat in the back pew. It wasn’t a particularly special church, but, admittedly, it was very soothing and relaxing to be sitting in such a quiet cavernous chunk of stone while random people sporadically came in to offer a quiet prayer, grant me a smile, and make their way out. As I was leaving about a half hour later, that’s when I was compelled to make the following image of this child, who had just got out of school and was holding onto the bars to the gate of the church. He just stood there, curiously looking at me, and as I snapped, he started to smile. It ended up being one of my favorite images of the trip.

One place that gave me the complete opposite feeling happened, perhaps not so ironically, right after leaving the church when I walked into The Grand Hotel just up the road. The structure was originally built in 1828 as a holiday home for Sir Edward Barnes, the fifth governor of Sri Lanka during the times of colonial rule, and I immediately felt the air change. It got SUPER stuffy. I mean, I understand history and all that, but, when you step outside the gates and see how tough life is for the indigenous inhabitants of this land, then step inside these gates and immediately run into the stiff upper lipped upper class…you know the type…polo shirts with sweaters tied around their necks, looking down at you from the bottom of their beady eyes as you can’t help but overhear their golf and tennis plans for the afternoon. This was all in an environment which also harkens back to the glory days of The Hill Club just up the road, now known for its daily high tea ritual, the grounds didn’t allow women or local native Sri Lankans on the property until 1967. Needless to say, I felt extremely uncomfortable and quickly made my way off the grounds back into the real Sri Lanka.

As I only had the afternoon left before embarking to Kandy, the ‘Cultural Capital of Sri Lanka,” the following morning, I figured it was a good time to find a vantage point for my final Nuwara Eliyan sunset. I grabbed my gear, stopped for a strawberry & whipped cream pancake at the Adma Agro Strawberry Farm (which was quite baffling in that despite the insanely delicious and gluttonous offerings, the beautiful view of Gregory Lake, and the high recommendations of everyone from our friends in Colombo to the hotelier in Nuwara Eliya, was completely empty except for me), and started trudging my tubby tummy up the hill into the tea fields to find a spot to marinate as the sun began its descent. Unfortunately, I miscalculated my timing and how long it would take to get to the sunny side of the hills. However, as I looked before me, it was hard not to where I was, what I was doing, and how fortunate I was to be in this position. So I just stopped, watched, and enjoyed. It wasn’t the view I had in my head, but, well, it was still a view I couldn’t have imagined.

After marinating in those moments, and the final bits of twilight began to disappear, I gathered up my gear, and quietly hiked back down the hill as the chimney smoke began dotting the hillsides and the pleasant aroma of dinner time spices filled the valley. Today…was another good day.

In the next part of this series, Part 6 : The Solo Journey Continues. Next Stop: Kandy – The Cultural Capital Of Sri Lanka, I make my way from Nuwara Eliya to Kandy, “the cultural capital of Sri Lanka” which I’ll be posting in a few days.

If you missed the beginnings of this journey, be sure to start off with 3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 1 : The Most Meaningful Work I’ve Ever Done.

And if more wanna wanna gimme gimmes are desired, there’s always:
Instagram: @wasimofnazareth
Ello: @wasimofnazareth
Google+: +WasimMuklashy

All images and videos for this series of blog posts were shot with a Samsung NX1.

If you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, your little helps me a LOT.

April 28, 2015
3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 4 : The Creature Comforts Of Colombo

It was over. The main reason I found myself in Sri Lanka was all over. Here we sit at the train station waiting for our ride back to Colombo, reflecting upon the events of the past two weeks, and quietly wondering how we’d say goodbye to each other. After all, we had become family over the past few weeks and bonds had certainly been formed. And here we were, in the middle of Sri Lanka, in a village that none of us may very well ever see again, and wondering if we’d ever even get to see each other again. But it was time. The train pulled up. We hopped on, and in tradition, they hopped on with us to help us with our bags and to bid farewell, including Pirinthika, who had never even left Jaffna before this trip, had never set foot on a train before, and the next 5 minutes would ensure that she’d never forget her first time.

As we were getting situated, the train suddenly began its departure without any sort of forewarning. They were all still on the train. While the others were able to jump off, Pirinthika stood in absolute fear straddling the open door as it began to move faster and faster. They were running alongside it on the outside telling her to jump, and I was standing right behind her, at first encouraging her, but then realizing that at this point, the train was moving much too fast and she would likely hurt herself. By now, a crowd had formed around us, and all of a sudden we heard the train begin to shriek before it came to an abrupt stop and jerked us all forward, knocking us out of place. A man came running up yelling “suicide!? suicide!?” They had thought that she was about to commit suicide by jumping out of the train as her arms straddled the open door and they had emergency stopped the train. While we were all stunned, and all the passengers had commenced in hanging their heads out the window to look over at us and see what was going on, it gave her a chance to get off safely. Before even giving us a chance to explain, the train immediately began its departure again, not even affording us a chance to say goodbye properly. It ended in a simple confused wave at each other. And honestly, that was perfect as we called each other right after it happened, laughing our asses off on each end.

Once we arrived back in Colombo, we checked back into the the same Airbnb rental we showed up to in (yes, it was that good…if you’re ever in Colombo, Sri Lanka, check it out), took our first hot shower in almost two weeks (and it was GLORIOUS!), and then ran right back out to indulge in the creature comforts of Colombo that we had not had the luxury of while in the North. This, of course, included drinks. Lots of drinks. We first met up with her friend from part 1 and picked up right where we left off – sandwiches and wine at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel before graduating to double scotch neats, deep intellectual emotional already forgotten what the heck were we talking about conversation, and billiards at the nearby Cheers Pub. Once the pub shut down, we had a tuk-tuk take us down to the beach where we all, including the driver, hazily splashed around the Indian Ocean (another one to check off the proverbial bucket list). Figured why not. It was a very intense past two weeks and we were letting off a bit of steam. Besides, this was our last night together. I had a ticket to board a train to Nuwara Eliya in the central region – the apex of the world’s tea plantations and production.

However, perhaps the final round of vodka-on-the-beach-at-3am part of the evening was unnecessary as I completely slept right through that train. Once I was up and tried to get another ticket for a train the next day, I was informed they were all sold out for the next 3 days. NOT good. This left me with two options – taking a tuk-tuk the 90-odd miles up a winding single lane mountain road (uh…NO!) or hiring a private driver (uh…suuuureee). So once that was set up, it was time to indulge in yet another fine day in Colombo.

We started with a lunch of fresh falafel and smoothies at the expat-friendly Barefoot. After lunch, while Pradeepa headed to her favorite salon to get her hair done did, I decided it was a perfect time to spend a few quality hours with my Samsung NX1 just walking around the streets of Colombo capturing a few street scenes. A woman and her Acupuncture & Surgery Dispensary. Tuk tuk drivers taking nap-breaks in the back of their vehicles. Tuk tuk drivers hanging their clothes out to dry on their vehicles. Vendors selling pastry items out of the back of a tuk-tuk! A collection of images of the bus attendants and drivers, who had a style and panache all their own (I spent a solid 20 minutes just at one bust stop as bus after bus pulled up, dropped off, picked up, and carried on…click this image below for a little slideshow).

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As the evening began to draw, we made plans to meet with more of her local friends for dinner. We descended upon the Barracuda Seafood Grill, where a table adorned with a myriad of drool-worthy cuttlefish preparations waited for us on the sand, just mere feet from where the waves were breaking. The dinner conversation was dominated by talk of the evenings upcoming cricket match, the first game Sri Lanka was involved in in the World Cup of cricket. Since they were playing away, the locals wouldn’t be able to see the game until about 3am, and, if you know anything about cricket, the games can go on for hours, so wasn’t scheduled to be finished until about 10am. While the group tried to convince me to stay awake with them to watch the thing, well, no way was I going to let myself miss my ride out of Colombo two days in a row. They didn’t make it easy on me, but I was able to pull away to get back to the flat to take a nap for a few hours before the car was scheduled to pick me up in the morning.

It was time. It was time to journey solo. First stop? Nuwara Eliya in the Highlands. Tea country here I come…

Click here to read Part 5 : The Solo Journey Begins. First Stop: Nuwara Eliya – The Heart Of Tea Country

If additional digital procrastination is desired: Instagram: @wasimofnazareth Ello: @wasimofnazareth Google+: +WasimMuklashy

And if you’ve missed the first 3 parts of this adventure, start with 3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 1 : The Most Meaningful Work I’ve Ever Done

All images and videos for this series of blog posts were shot with a Samsung NX1.

If you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, your little helps me a LOT.

April 2, 2015
A Slice Of Sri Lanka For Your Mobile Phone

So I just threw one of the images I made in Sri Lanka on my mobile phone as the background. Kinda dug it. Figured I’d share it. If you want the thing, click here to download a high resolution 2400-pixel version that should fit any phone or tablet you so feel fit.
This was shot on a Samsung NX1 as the sun was setting behind the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka last month. The temple houses the relic of the tooth of Buddha. “Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings and is a UNESCO world heritage site mainly due to the temple.” [via Wikipedia]

If you missed yesterday’s post, I began with the back story of how and why I found myself in Sri Lanka. Here’s the link:

3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 1: The Most Meaningful Work I’ve Ever Done.

And for more stuffymajigathings:
Instagram: @wasimofnazareth
Ello: @wasimofnazareth
Google+: +WasimMuklashy

March 12, 2015
3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 1 : The Most Meaningful Work I’ve Ever Done

It was the most meaningful and rewarding work I’ve ever done.

Bold statement for a man well into his thirties? Perhaps. But I’ll start from the beginning. I received an email from a friend that simply said “What are you doing the first two weeks of February.” Mind you, this was closing in on the last week of January. 48 hours later, a round trip ticket to Colombo, Sri Lanka in my name arrived in my email box.

This friend is Sri Lankan. While she works as a producer in Los Angeles, most notably as head of production for YOMYOMF, Justin Lin of ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise fame’s network, and runs Jeeva Productions, her own production company, creating advertising and publicity campaigns for clients including TheTruth.com and Bedsider.org, Pradeepa Jeeva has made it a point every year to return to her home country to work on some social project to help out the impoverished nation, especially the Northern Province, which was hit extremely hard by a bloody and brutal 30-year civil war that came to an end just 6 years ago. To this day, they are still finding mass graves from the brutal onslaughts brought about by the fighting, and the UN is currently debating when to release its findings in a detailed human rights abuses report. Not to mention, in the middle of all this, the country was hit by the now infamous 2004 tsunami that ravaged the coastal cities throughout the nation. Not surprisingly, amongst the chaos of mother nature and the unforgiving nature of war, the region’s infrastructure was destroyed, and not the least of which being the education system.

The project she flew me out for was based specifically around this.

My first 24 hours in Sri Lanka were spent tuk-tuk’ing around Colombo, the capital city, as I tried to fight jet-lag, a battle I’ve never quite struggled with to this degree before. It might have something to do with the fact that the 16 hour leg of the flight from Los Angeles to Abu Dhabi found me squashed in between two people that decided to use my shoulder to prop their heads, leaving me no opportunity for relaxation, let alone sleep. I felt like I was a zombie lurking in a dream for most of my first two days while Pradeepa led me through a hazy tour of town that included my first (of what would be very very many uniquely decorated and equally terrifying) tuk-tuk rides (which I’d quickly realize is the lifeblood of this country – people eat in them, sleep in them, serve food out of them, work in them, and they are the primary source of transportation throughout the island…a terrifying fact on your first one, but something you get quite used to, and, eventually, fond of).

Next stop? A poolside beer and club sandwich at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel because “Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but for the next 12 days you’re going to be eating nothing but Sri Lanka food, so might as well get this while you can,” mojitos at the historic Galle Face Hotel pool bar straddling the Indian Ocean, picking up linen pants and a shirt at the local mall (because the airlines lost my luggage and figured if I was going to be frolicking around Colombo, Sri Lanka, might as well do it in style), brazenly swerving through traffic to get to the rombutan stand on the other side of the street (if you don’t know the fruit…Google it…trust me…worth it!), buttery sushi and sashimi in a private room at Nihonbashi, one of the cosmopolitan city’s premier Japanese food joints, and Scotch neats at the Sky Lounge, overlooking the city, the ocean, and the Sri Lankan capital’s skyline. Yes, we were living it up, and I had nooooooo problem with that, but I would soon understand why she was so intent on “getting it while we can.” As Deepa so eloquently put it, “The next 2 weeks are going to be drastically different.”

The day that I arrived marked less than two weeks that the universally detested President of old was ousted and replaced by a new President that everyone seemed to have hope would bring things back together. He placed a self-imposed ultimatum to begin progress in all sectors of government, including unifying the country’s spirit and split populations as well as instituting constitutional reforms based on an executive cabinet responsible to parliament within 100 days of taking office. One of the first things he did was double the budget for education from an obscenely insulting 6% to a slightly more respectable 12%. Not a bad start.

The even better news here was that $20,000 was allocated by the Ministry of Education to helping build a small studio in a town called Vavuniya in the central Northern Province. The purpose of this studio was to begin recording educational videos based on the country’s curriculum. The idea behind this purpose was to help spread education in a more accessible, interesting, and interactive way to students that have been stifled by an uninterested educational system at best. The reason behind the idea behind the purpose for this studio was that the education system needed a boost – the children needed to be interested – the perpetual cycle of memorize and regurgitate outdated information had been well past tired. A key figure behind the reason behind the idea behind this purpose was one Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam.

Ethirveerasingam came to fame in Sri Lanka in the mid-1950s when he became the first Sri Lankan to compete in the Olympics in 1952 and 1956, and the first Sri Lankan to medal in the Asian Games, winning gold in 1958. He is a native to the Northern Province and has made it his life’s work to reform the education system to break that perpetual cycle that was was more adept at creating fighters and laborers than educated children with a wide-open and limitless future. He was so dedicated that he found himself literally hopping through trenches to collect information from schools during the height of the war.

This was the man we’d be traveling to meet the next morning.

And that is where the next part of story, 3 Weeks In Sri Lanka – Part 2 : Jaffna And The Northern Province , picks up.

Until then, here are a few images from that first hazy jet-lagged half-day in Colombo.

For more thingamastuffs: Instagram: @wasimofnazareth Ello: @wasimofnazareth Google+: +WasimMuklashy

All images and videos for this series of blog posts were shot with a Samsung NX1.

If you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, your little helps me a LOT.

March 11, 2015