Tags: Sri Lanka

January 19, Day 14

Today we left Jaffna at 9.30 and drove South to Sigiriya. Since our bus is still getting fixed, we had to take two minivans. Even though it is dry season here in Sri Lanka, we experienced a lot of rain during the drive. Throughout the drive, we drove past a lot of flooded areas. We also drove past a lot herds of cows.

We arrived at Sigiriya about 3 o’clock, where we stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch, and got served rice and curry. After lunch we drove to the Hotel we are going to stay at. Our hotel has a view to the Sigiriya rock. The Sigiriya rock has a citadel on the top, build by King Kasyapa who ruled from 477 to 495 AD. It became an UNESCO world heritage cite in 1982. The rock is 200 meters high, and well known by tourists, who come from all around the world to get a glimpse of the rock. You can climb the 1200 steps to the top to get a nice view of the current area. Before dinner we all had a meeting and an evaluation of the trip so far, where The Head of our Department, Morgan, joined us. We ended the day with dinner from the nearby resturants.

Group 2: Emma, Jenni, Leah, Karoline

January 14th, Day 9

January 14th, Day 9

Today we left at 07.30, to go visit and celebrate Tamil Thaipongala day with local students and teachers. We went to the Kurinchijumaran temple, which is a temple at university grounds, to celebrate the festival. The festival is called Pongal, which is a Tamil holiday in which they make sacrifices to the sun. The main purpose is therefore giving the first harvest of the year to the gods. Additionally, in this celebration, they pay full respect to the cows. Pongal is very important to the Tamil people who are a minority in Sri Lanka. Even though it is considered a Hindu holiday, many Tamil people of other religions also join the festivities. Students and teachers of the university were celebrating together wearing traditional saris.

During our visit, it started to rain. However, even though it was raining, the spirits were high amongst the students. The temple we visited was beautiful and filled with colorful decorations and paintings of Hindu gods. During the celebration, it was a ritual, where many sacrificed different items such as fruits, flowers etc to the gods. There was also a distinct smell of incense which they use. Similar to the temple we visited yesterday, we had to go barefoot. Later on, we returned to the hotel for a late breakfast, with toast and scrambled eggs. We then had some time to relax and explore the city if we wished to do so, although with the full program we’ve had since our arrival, many students decided to stay at the hotel to relax. Some of us decided to eat lunch at the hotel, where we were served some local foods. Now we are soon ready to head to Anuradhapura, but first we have to pack our bags!

January 13th, day 8

January 13th, day 8

Today we started the day with breakfast at 8 am, and we were going to the Dalada Maligava tooth relic temple here in Kandy. Here we got to experience the Duruthu Full Moon Poyaday with the locals. The reason the temple has the name it has is because it is said that the tooth of Buddha is located inside the temple. The group were also wearing white so symbolize purity and walked barefoot as a sign of respect. We got to visit different rooms in the temple, and see how the locals were celebrating the holiday. They were also bringing flowers and gifts to honor Buddha. In one of the rooms it was a taxidermy elephant, because it had served the temple for 40 years, and was seen as a royal elephant. 🐘🪷

Later we walked to a vegetable market where they sold different varieties of vegetables and fruit. After that the we free to do as we wanted. 🛺

We ended the day with a dinner together as a group, and had a quiz about Sri Lanka, sports, history, politics and geography. 🪫

Third day in Sri Lanka, January 8th

Third day in Sri Lanka, January 8th

After todays breakfast we headed to the University of Ruhuna where we had a second lecture about Sri Lanka’s economy and the economic crisis from 2019 to 2023. The lecturer, Dr Nandasiri Keembiyahetti, mentioned the large debts the country is in, especially to China, India and Japan which all have lended Sri Lanka money for various reasons. He also spoke of investments done by the Sri Lankan government with money loaned by other countries which went to non-income generating projects. This has in some cases, such as with China, led to Sri Lanka having to sell these projects back to the country which they lended the money from. Lastly, he summarized and differentiated between natural causes and man-made causes for the economic crisis. The natural causes included covid-19, global economic downturn and the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Man-made causes were structural problems in balance of payment, short vision of politicians, corruption and excessive money printing.

Later in the day we visited The Matara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry which is a vital institution dedicated to empowering businesses, fostering economic growth, and driving innovation across various sectors. It serves as a dynamic platform that brings together individuals, companies, and associations from diverse industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, services, finance, tourism, and construction. By offering membership benefits and specialized initiatives, the Chamber aims to strengthen the business ecosystem and facilitate sustainable development.

Through initiatives like the Export Development Hub, the Chamber supports businesses in entering and expanding into international markets. The Digital Marketing Hub empowers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to harness digital platforms for growth, while tourism development efforts promote local attractions, cultural events, and eco-tourism. International relations management and trade fairs enhance global partnerships and provide members with opportunities to showcase their products and services to a global audience.

As mentioned previously in Prof. K.H. Nandasiri lecture about economic crisis and its influence on different sectors of the economy in Sri Lanka, tourism is one of the most important income for Sri lankas economy.

The Matara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry wants to focus on tourism and how they can raise tourism in Matara. While there are many tourists in southern Sri Lanka during high season, many restaurants and hotels remain silent during off peek season. This affects large numbers of the southern population, as tuktuk drivers, restaurants, hotels and others are heavily dependent on tourism. The Matara District Chamber of commerce and industry, therefor wants to figure out ways to promote southern Sri Lanka during off peek seasons. They have among other things been wanting to promote different festivals for tourists. Recently they have made “international food and cultural festival”in 2023.

In addition, the Matara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry provides essential marketing support to its members, many of whom face challenges in accessing computers and digital tools. This support helps bridge the gap, enabling businesses to effectively promote and develop their products despite these limitations.

We ended the day with a long-awaited swim in the Indian ocean at Polhena beach where the water was warm and the sunset beautiful☀️

We are looking forward to the rest of the trip!

Group 3 - Martine, Rebecca, Signe, Kristin

Second day in Sri Lanka, January 7th

Today, january 7th, we left at 9 am to spend a few hours in the university of Ruhuna, where we learned about the economy of Sri Lanka. The lecture was held by Dr. Sumanarathna, where he explained that Sri Lanka had an economic crisis and not a financial crisis. The normal salary to make in a year is approximately 50 thousand kroner, which is 1.3 million rupi’s.

Later we drove about one hour to visit a fabric factory called Miami Exports, located in Ranna. We learned a lot of interesting things about the process of making clothes. When the fabric arrives at the factory, it has to be pressed so it is nice and without wrinkles, then it is placed in shelves where they have different places for different colors and the fabric type. The fabric has to go through different stages before it can be sown into clothes. After the long process, it goes through different stations where different people make different parts of the product, some fix the waistband, others work on the stitching around the neck.

We also learned that there are approximately 1200 employees, where the age goes from 18 all the way up to 50. The worker here typically work 10 hours a day. The factory have two different stations where the buildings are packed with workers. When walking inside the buildings, we could se that the majority of the workers were women.

Group 2 - Karoline, Jenni, Leah, Emma

First day in Sri Lanka, January 6th

We left the hotel at 9 am to visit the University of Rahuna, a partner school to UIA. Although the structure itself was old, it was upkept with agricultural features such as the rock formations, trees, flowers, and lakes. We were welcomed by some from the school’s administration, including the vice chancellor, before we were taken into one of their conference rooms. We got to ask questions about the university life, including the gender imbalance and living accommodations. Surprisingly, we learned that the ratio was 80%-20% where the women represent the 80%. Similar to Norway, many students live in dormitories on the campus, and eat subsidized food in the cafeteria.

This was our first day the university of Ruhuna, were we got a little tour of the buildings and got to meet some of the professors and staff. Our first meal at the university was a traditional Sri Lankan morning snack and tea in the administration cafeteria. After this, we went on a short bus trip to the most southern tip of the island, where we also got to see the rebuild after the 2004 tsunami. On our way back to the university, Ajith gave us some knowledge about the domestication of elephants in Sri Lanka.

This would later be brought up in the lecture by professor Kumara when he discussed the ecological situation of Sri Lanka. Professor Kamara highlighted the vast biodiversity on the island and the subsequent geopolitical situations. As it turns out, the biodiversity contributes to the tourism industry due to bird watching opportunities.

Group 1 - Andrea, Julia, Kaja and Lorelei