Dikwella, Sri Lanka,
Another day in lockdown,
nothing really new.
I was able to find a restaurant that delivers even though I think it is not legal since the government asked all shops to close, but anyway here is a small village, so I don’t think there is any issue about that.
On one hand, I am still sick so I try to take care of myself and take rest,
on the other hand, I was thinking that because of lockdown I would be productive at work, which is not the case. It seems that I don’t really focus much, just need some time.
Tomorrow they will reopen again, so it will feel more like a normal day. Also, I am looking for a new place for Tuesday, there is one interesting, it is 300 meters away from here, but technically not the same village. I will probably be in a better feel there, I hope so.
I can see that I am on a marvelous island here but can’t really explore much yet; so it’s kind of frustrating. I will have to wait, I have no control over that.
On another note, I don’t feel comfortable staying in this country as a place to live in. Beyond the Covid crisis, and after 1 month here, I can state a preliminary verdict about my opinion of Sri Lanka as a place to live:
In brief, I don’t see it as a good option to stay long-term. Of course, it is beautiful for Nature and sound recording, and also rich in ancient culture.
Regardless of the many praises that I have heard about Sri Lanka in the past few years, I can see that this country is not well developed, infrastructures are usually in bad shape. The only industry that is developed here is tourism, other than that not much money to make for the locals, and because of that, there is a huge disparity between some over-privileged people (mainly westerners), and underprivileged ones. I am not at ease with these striking inequalities.
It also reflects on my budget, since most interesting options are geared towards westerners and have an inflated price. For example, I compared with Malaysia, and similar options would be about double the price here; even though Malaysia is more developed.
I haven’t seen the big city of Colombo yet, but another point that I have difficulty dealing with on a long-term basis is that pretty much everyone and everything is ‘laid-back’. Some people would love that, I personally can’t stand it when there are too many ‘laid-back’ attitudes, it just makes me angry inside. I again compare with Malaysia, but I really appreciate the energy that I found there, particularly from Chinese Malaysian, they are very witty, and this helps me to propel my days.
To resume my line of thought, I think I will wait that parks reopen, and travel between provinces, so I can see, hear, and record the fabulous nature here, and beautiful culture, but I won’t linger much in the country.