Lazing weekend - and then some...

Monday is here again after a weekend of nothing but lazing. Had nothing planned, but one thing: work on my TAN ! During the week,I don't really get the chance to enjoy the sun, and since I've been sick and gone to India last weekend, I was beginning to look rather pale ! Saturday morning, I woke up at an ungodly hour - 5.30 -thinking to myself that it was WAY too early to consider getting up, I tried sleeping some more; no luck though! Instead I got up, made myself my mandatory morning fruit salat, lit some incense and sat down on my balcony and enjoyed the quite morning time ! Normally, I have gone to Mnt. Lavinia on the outskirts of Colombo, when I want some pool time, but since Anker is coming SOON, and I've booked a night at Galle Face Hotel for us, I decided to go there and check out the place (http://www.gallefacehotel.com/html_classic/home_classic.htm). The hotel is a landmark Heritage Hotel established in 1864, during the British Colonial Era, and as Mnt Lavinia it really takes you to a different time. It's right by the ocean, so when you stay at the pool, you have the sea right next to you- including a lovely sea breeze:) What you also have though, on the property right next to the hotel (I think, maybe like 150m), is a narrow 3 story building. The building itself is abandoned, but on top of it is an observation post with heavy artillery and two soldiers...... Hmmmmm, some how it didn't really fit in!!!! The reason for this rather odd post, I think anyways, is that opposite the post lies the presidential residence. Galle Road is in between also, so it is not that close, but I guess, they have a nice overview or something from the post! They must be DYING up there - they have NO shade what so ever, and I was almost evaporating on my sunbed, even though I had the sea breeze and the pool to "cool" me off. The pres. residence borders to Galle Road, which is the arterial road of Colombo - the road actually goes almost around the entire island. In Colombo, it is a one way street with 4 lanes all toghether. But infront of the pres. residency and even quite a way before and after, they direct the traffic into only two lanes. The residence is, of course, shielded by a BIG wall, but they have also barricaded it with metal 'fencing' and a lot of soldiers. I really would like to show you what it looks like, but as you might have guessed, it' not really the place to bring out your camera!!!

Anyhow, the past days have been VERY hot, and not a single cloud in the sky, so after 4 hours in the sun I'd more than enough. I walked all the way back home - pheeeeeeewwww: without exaggerating, I'm pretty sure the temp must have been 35+.

Sunday, was almost like groundhog day, though instead of going to the same place, I went to another new place, Cinnamon Lakeside (http://www.cinnamonhotels.com/CinnamonLakesideColombon.htm). The reason for all this 'hotel exploring' is also that my parents are coming to visit in December, and so I'm thinking that in this way, I'll be able to book them into a place, which is just perfect for them.

Additionally, it's also the only way for me, when I'm in Colombo for the weekend, to get out and enjoy the sun without suffering a heatstroke: having access to a pool is a must, if you're soaking up the sun, otherwise it's simply TOOO hot.

This hotel is placed right next to a big lake, Beira Lake, hence the name, and the view there is actually quite nice :) Laying there doing....well not very much, I got to talking to the woman next to me: Swiss lady, who works as a human rights lawyer for the Swiss Embassy. Very interesting company. The thing is, and it is not that easy to explain, in my daily life I'm not confronted with the brutal realities that exsist other places in the country. In particular, I'm referring to the 250,000 displaced people that STILL stay in the IDP camps in the north.... Sri Lanka has just come out of a 27 year long war, but for the people living in Colombo, it's like life has been almost the same for all of these years. I'm really puzzled by this - and I have no answer to why this terrible situation is not referred to in conversations etc. But it's not, it's like it's non-exsistent. This is why, it's so hard to explain, because people are not ignorent, or for that matter cruel, in ANY way... The thing is that the country is pretty much run by three brothers (anyone looking for checks and balances should look somewhere else!), and they have been able to do something their predecessors have not - end the war. This has, naturally, increased their popularity amongst the people. It also means though, that they hold a tremendous amount of power, so when the president argues that the IDP camps are decent places, and not inhumane, that they are necessary because, they need to screen for potential LTTE's, who might have survived and are in the camps, and beacuse they need to clear the rural villages, where the people come from, for landmines, the public generally believes this. And why shouldn't they, one could argue... He is a popular man Mr. Rajapaksa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahinda_Rajapaksa), but also very controversial figure. I'm not one to judge...how could I even...The situation is SO complex - a lot of VERY questionable (to put it politely) things have and are happening in Sri Lanka, so maybe this 'public amnesia' that seem to be very present amongst the Singalese people, is 'just' a mere survival mechanism? I don't know. I do know that there are so many good things in this country, but it's legacy has made development - not only financial, also political, vay difficult. I truly hope that good and progressive things will happen here over time, but the implications and interests - national, as well as international - are so complex that it is difficult for me to grasp. I don't blame the west for expressing concerns and stipulating demands - they do finance pretty much all of the humanitarian aid (I was told that the IDP camps cost $ 500,000 a day!), and they are by far the largest export markets for Sri Lanka(EU+US), but the rhetoric used by, especially, US and EU, has a very counterproductive effect - as seen a lot of places in the world.

At the moment, it just adds on to Mr. Rajapaksa's popularity, in the sense that his nationalistic politics strive on his anti-west rhetoric, adding to the feeling of recentment in the way the Sinahalese feel the west have handled and viewed the war. Overall, the Sinahalese feel that the west have no understanding of their situation here, and that their sympathy has been, and to some extent still is, with the tamils.

Okay, I better stop now.... I won't get a a sense of clarity on this matter, I know. I feel that the longer I stay here, there more complex and difficult the whole situation is for me to grasp. It is very interesting to me though, and I will do my best to stay as neutral and open as possible. Mistakes have been made for sure through time, but on both sides.

I cannot, and will, not judge - I will however, continue to learn as much as possible about this amazing country over next months !