After any length of time away from the island, I usually get this gentle sense of calmness enveloping me upon landing back in Sri Lanka. It's definitely a welcoming feeling of coming home, though I find it so much more than just the literal sense of coming home to the place where I live. And this feeling happens pretty much ...
It feels like it's been yet another tough month for the teardrop island with plenty of challenges and not much respite. From monsoon woes to the persistent drought, bond scam, tax issues, ongoing dengue scare, cricket nightmares, plastic woes, and all round dramas. Personally, things have been pretty good though a little hectic. It's good to be too busy to ...
Who doesn't love a little road trip? Well I certainly do. You'd think I'd have run out of places to visit after a decade of tripping across this island. But, this just isn't the case. I still have a TBR list, which funnily enough stands for "To Be Roadtripped" . Budugala has been on my TBR list for something like ...
It's been another crazy month in Sri Lanka. I've been fielding questions left-right-and-center (here and from abroad) about what is going on in Sri Lanka and, whether I think the country is going to implode under all the political, economic and environmental pressures and the general unrest across the population. I have plenty of personal opinions, which I won't share ...
One of the aspects of life in Sri Lanka that has not changed in the time I have lived on the island has been beauty and proximity of nature. If you follow my social media feeds then you'll have noted my love of all things nature. Proximity plays a key part in all of this. Whether it's around home, along ...
June 2017 Round Up - What's been in the news? Expat ArticlesBusiness Insider: Why the world's expats just dumped Australia out of their top 10 (1 June 2017) Sri Lanka ArticlesSunday Times LK: Coming to Ceylon, their new home (4 June 2017)Sunday Observer: Mihintale... Mountain of the Kings (4 June 2017)Sunday Observer: Floods: Hotels and tourists not affected (4 June ...
May has historically been a terrible month for Sri Lanka when it comes to natural disasters. With the onset of the southwest monsoon comes thunderstorms, strong winds and torrential rains. Last May our little island experienced terrible floods and landslides after being hit by a severe tropical storm followed by a major drought. Prior to the May 2016 floods Sri ...
I was reading an article a few days ago titled, "SL fruits could fetch better prices in int’l markets" that reinforced my concerns about food safety in Sri Lanka. In this article, an Agriculture Economist at the Ministry of Agriculture was quoted as saying "Sri Lanka has a better chance to gain good market prices for fruit exports in the ...
One of the mainstay Sri Lankan customs is the gentle art of eating with your hand. If you want to eat like a local then this is something you'll want to put into practice. Eating by hand is a custom in many areas of the world, including parts of Asia and much of Africa and the Middle East. I've seen ...
Life in Sri Lanka isn't always easy, though it's easy to be misled by the Instagram feeds of many posting idyllic shots of travel and expat life on the teardrop island. But in reality, life on the island veers sharply left and right of those glamorous sponsored shots by the hotel pool or the view through a social media filter ...
I was fascinated when it was reported, back in February 2017, the Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police, Pujith Jayasundara, had ordered all police personnel to meditate before commencing their daily work duties. Apparently the Police Chief's objective was to introduce meditation as a means to improve service delivery and law enforcement; to address spiritual development within the force; and ...
Image source: CNNAn article was published late last year on the Midway Atoll in the North Pacific. It highlighted the devastation of plastic pollution on this tiny island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The video imagery that went with the article showed evidence of the direct impact of plastic pollution on the island's natural environment, inhabitants, sea ...
Can you believe we're in April already. I was fooled a couple of times on April Fools Day. If you don't have a problem with feeling foolish, which I don't, then it's a nice way to start the month... with a few laughs and giggles. Expat life continues to roll on... it feels like there are more expats coming over ...
If you follow Sri Lankan politics then you will have heard or read about National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa's fast in prison last week in protest over the High Court rejection of his bail application. Unfortunately he had to be transferred to hospital after only three days. But I suppose that outcome was expected given the reasons behind ...
The question of medical or health insurance for expats is one of those critical things that needs some proper attention. To be honest, a decade ago, I didn't think too much on it because of my personal circumstances, which was essentially that I was young, healthy and not 100% sure about my plans for living in Sri Lanka. I had ...
For a short month February was certainly a busy and event-filled one. We were lucky to have a few long weekends owing to the public holidays and that was a delight. I for one made the most of those and headed out of Colombo for some fresh experiences and opportunities to connect with the locals. All-in-all it was a good ...
We think we know what it takes to cool ourselves off in a tropical climate, but the truth for most expats and travelers from parts of the globe that have more than one season a year, is that we have no clue. And why should we? We've grown up learning about how to deal with four seasons and the challenges ...
As expats I find we fall somewhere in-between immigrant and traveler. For some expats, it's closer to immigrant because roots have been planted and time has been invested in this foreign land we call home. While for other expats, it's closer to traveler because Sri Lanka is really just a short stint on the life journey of opportunity and experiences, ...
January 2017 felt like a literal whirlwind. Travels and re-acclimating was the order for the month. Somehow it's all settled quite nicely back into how it's supposed to be. There's lots of movement around Sri Lanka. Every time I make a trip to the airport (even with the airport maintenance at BIA), it seems as if there are more people ...
With all the activity and movement over the festive season coming to an end, I realized I needed to re-connect with nature and replenish some of my energy reserves. Though I enjoyed time with family and friends over the festive season, the surrounding environment was very much an urban jungle and a huge contrast to the everyday life I've become ...
