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I like Sri Lanka.. no.. I love Sri Lanka. Maybe going to a poorer country helps my need to feel fatherly, colonial and superior but I'm not sure its quite as simple as that.

I love the madness, the lack of tidiness, the lack of roads, the unwillingness to cut trees, Buddha's on the traffic islands, the ability to absorb influences, the multiplicity of origins, the multiplicity of religions and philosophies, and maybe this love affair is encouraged because they have some positive stories to tell about our influence and our not so distant ancestors. We Brits have sort of got used to hearing all the bad stories about our times as a colonial power, the atrocities in Ireland, the cynical abuses of power in China. So its quite refreshing to visit a country where we Brits seem to be remembered in some small way as a constructive force, in the vastness of the Indian Sub Continent we are the voice of commerce and business, we built the roads (with help). As our fellow traveler Jean Claude said "you Brits have won the battle of the languages!" Our victory in the west is shallow, for every gain there is a loss. We have lost our instinctive connection with nature.. the message of Sri Lanka is that prevention is better than cure. Some of them envy "us" our material wealth and "we" envy them their natural environment and their culture. Now if all this touches some residual xenophobia in you, you needn't worry about being overwhelmed by Sri Lankan immigrants or influence. We are talking about a distant island of ten million.. well maybe 20 million whose counting ? Historically this island has turned its head to look to both the west and the east.

But you know the sad thing about holidays is that they end and the suntan wears off, the cold northerly winters pinch your skin, the memories fade and you go back to being the same insular or even insulated person, worried about the next mortgage payment and if the neighbour has got a better car. How sad is it for an island nation that the wider world and all its influences are distant to us.. as we scramble to the stay on top of our pile. But this time for us I suspect its different when you have seen a whole different set of priorities, I'm not sure if you are sentient that you can ever be the same again, like Aldrin and Armstrong we have another world and I'm not sure "our" view of the world will ever quite be the same again.

Sri Lanka and its fat smiling Buddha's sat on traffic roundabouts has blown us away.

Learn more about this author, Andrew Mercer.
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