Batticaloa, Sri Lanka (February 2020)

The following morning, we had breakfast at a traditional foot market located in front of the tea plantations.

Afterward, we started driving towards Batticaloa, a town located by the seashore.

We made a stop at Nuwara Elya, a resort town particularly for foreigners. We stopped in at Grand Hotel and had coffee with some nice deserts.

We decided to avoid a pathway through Kandy because of heavy traffic. Initially, the road was very nice to a pleasant surprise. Also, the scenic road by the lake was beautiful.

But, the last part of the road was all under construction, ranging 80 km. The total time to drive well exceeded 10 hours. Moreover, on the last section of the road under construction, two trucks crashed into each other, blocking the entire road. Fortunately, we were able to get by them within 20 minutes. 

We stayed at a bungalow hotel by the beach.

The next morning, we woke up at the noisy chanting of Hindu countered by the Islamic chanting coming from the mosques. In between, I heard the Buddhist temple bell sound. Moreover, the roosters added their crows to the orchestra harmony. The early morning amplified unwanted orchestra ended by 6am. By the time I woke up again around 7am, the town regained the tranquility. What a way to begin the day! The high pitch chanting from the Hindu temples was quite annoying to say the least.

But the beach scenery was peaceful and soothing.

The area was devastated by the tsunami caused by the 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia in 2004. After so many years, the beach area still remained in ruins. A few huts on the beach made the area look peaceful.

As we passed through the area, we found a few interesting spots, including a stand for fishing.

Around the Easter in 2019, Sri Lanka faced five bombing incidents by Islamic terrorists, all targeting Christians. They occurred at two Roman Catholic churches, two hotels and one Protestant church. The Protestant church was Zion Church located in Batticaloa. 30 people died out of the bombing at this church, mostly children. The Zion Church;s main building still remained destroyed and the holes on the wall made by the bearing balls showed the cruelty of the incident.

 
 Later in the morning, we visited a house that used to be owned by Pastor Mohan and is now owned and lived by his sister and her husband Alex with Pastor Mohan's father.

Pastor Mohan's sister is working at World Vision now for 7 years. Alex worked as restaurant manager in Saudi Arabia and he seems to want to go there again whenever possible. For now, he has been taking care of household needs. He said he was considering going there again in May or June.

They had two young kids  I played with them and a young girl from the neighborhood through English vocabulary games. It was amusing to play with them.

 Batticaloa is truly a town of many religions. - Jeffrey

Kotagala, Sri Lanka (February 2020)

After we landed at the Colombo International Airport, we drove a few hours at night to a small town. We went to bed at 2am and the facility was minimal.

The following morning, we drove to Kotagala in the central region at the elevation of 1,341 meters high. This place is well known for its tea plantations.

We first visited Pastor Mohan's house and a small church attached to the house. According to Joseph, he found him very independent and tried to stand on his own feet under significiant challenges he has faced. In fact, he is from a wealthy family in Battikaloa, where we visited later, and he could have lived a comfortable life, but he accepted the opportunity to serve people in Kotagala as God's calling and his family has been serving in this area for the past 15 years or so. What a commitment!

We had lunch together and I could sense the peace and joy in the faces of Pastor Mohan's family members, including two sons and his wife. Particularly, their older son Hoshan, 19 years old, was amazingly mature and cool in dealing with life challenges. He wanted to start an IT business, and he was assembling a computer with parts he has been purchasing here and there. He was trying to buy the mother board and processor. I was impressed by his firm and cool attitude for going through the process without any outside help. I asked for the opportunity to invest in his first computer and gave him $100. I will see how he progresses.

Pasator Mohan was leading the church at his house and also a satelite church he started at someone else's house. We attended the worship service at the satelite church. I was asked at the last minute to share the message. Oh well... At the church, Hoshan was leading the praise time at a satelite church and also translated my message into Singali and his mother to Tamil. It was entirely a family ministry.

We visited a waterfall that appeared to have little water due to continuing drought.

We visited a Tea Castle and enjoyed tea with some snacks. The view was panoramic.

We slept at a lodging close to the church. A lot more comfortable than the first night lodging. - Jeffrey

General Information - Sri Lanka (February 2020)

I embarked on a 4-month long journey on February 1 in the midst of concerns about the new coronavirus 19 that was spreading like a wildfire, not only in China but also in Singapore and in several other countries. Fortunately, the countries that I was scheduled to travel to were reported not to have any serious issue. Thank God.

The first destination was Sri Lanka. It was an opportunity to travel with Joseph Choi who has been serving Sri Lanka for the past 4-7 years on and off. While Joseph was following up on his previous visits, my purpose was to explore ane discern if SfK should serve in Sri Lanka.

We took the same flight in Bangkok to Colombo on Feb 1. A brother in Christ, called Condred Manuel, came to pick us up. We were to travel together in his car. He lived in Korea for 17 years or so and our conversation was done all in Korean. Amazing.

Sri Lanka's official name is Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Its former name was Ceylon called as such from 1948 when it gained independence from the UK and changed its name from the British Colony of Ceylon. In 1972, its name was changed to Sri Lanka when it became a member of the Common Wealth.  But, Sri Lanka's history was marred by the 26-year long civil war that ended in 2009. It was a conflict between Singali-majority army and Tamil-minority Liberation Tigers of Tamil..

It is located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. It is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait.

The legislative capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, which is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city Colombo.

Ceylon is well known for its quality tea. Its climate makes the tea taste unique and attractive. This island nation looked small on a map, but once we started driving up the mountain area, we felt the island was huge. Also quite diverse in elevations and microclimates.

The name Sri Lanka came from the combination of the island's ancient name Lanka and Sri meaning resplendent or attractive and impressive through being richly colorful. Indeed, Sri Lank maintains colorful garments, architecture and decorations.

Its history spans 3,000 years with the evidence of pre-history human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Sri Lank is known to have the first known Buddhist writings dating back to the Fourth Buddhist council in 29 BC. Its location is strategic as part of the ancient Silk Road and even the Chinese ambition of Belt and Road Initiative.

For a week, we drove around the island nation and thoroughly enjoyed the diverse beauty of this country, the 93rd country to visit for me.. - Jeffrey