One country, two names. Ceylon officially became Sri Lanka in 1972, putting more than symbolically an end to colonial references. But shall we then speak of Sri Lankan tea rather than Ceylon tea which we have all known, all the time? I guess not. So, let's keep it simple. Anything recent or present is referred to as Sri Lankan, what's back into the colonial era is Ceylonese.

For decades Sri Lanka was more or less, more more than less, off limits for travellers, due to a quite vicious civil war between the Sinhalese majority government and the Tamil Tigers, claiming independence or autonomy for the Hindu minority. The religious dimension worsened things a great deal, Tamil Hindus attacking Buddhist places of worship, Sinhalese doing the same with Hindu temples. And each time, human sacrifice. A weird thing, observing how naturally statues of Shiva and Ganesh have had their place in Buddhist temples since many centuries, and how nowadays Buddhist and Hindu temples, but also Christian churches and Muslim mosques smoothly coexist. War does strange things with people. It is indeed difficult to tie the atrocities of the 1980s, 90s and first millennium years to the gentle, smiling Sri Lankans one encounters today, every day, everywhere.

Not only the people are gentle. Nature is gentle and smooth too, cyclones apart of course. Coasts and beaches are idyllic, inland vegetation in valleys and on mountain slopes is lush and generous, wildlife parks are densely populated with elephants, ancient sites of rock summit palaces, cave temples and monasteries throw their fascinating light on a rich history. And all this variety of experiences and discoveries within reasonable distances from one another, making a voyage through Sri Lanka a real delight.