Different Names – Same Place

When my grandmother visited Columbo and Kandy during her world cruise in 1933, the country’s name was Ceylon.  During my visit to the same places as a teacher on a school trip in November 2005 it was (as it is now) Sri Lanka.

Unfortunately I failed to take any pictures of Kandy, (I was too busy counting students!), but from my memory little had changed up in the hills of Sri Lanka. We visited tea plantations and an elephant sanctuary.

Windy beach near Colombo

Both trips enjoyed a bit of beach time (even the hard-working teachers)

Beach time 1933 – 2005

1933: My grandmother is in the middle of the group (swimsuit & white shirt). 2005:  I’m second from the right (short red hair).

The beaches when we went were rather quiet, partly because the elections had just taken place and also because many parts of the country were still recovering from the devastating tsunami that had engulfed many coastal regions in December 2004. Sri Lanka is a fantastic place to visit. It’s becoming increasingly popular now that the civil war has ended, though it also seems to have increasing incidents of religious extremism – in this case Buddhism.

For more on my trip to Sri Lanka click here