Villagers bathing in a lake, Sri Lanka, March 2022

Villagers bathing in a lake, Sri Lanka, 2022
Three young men from the local village bathing in a lake. They thought I was an American LOL.

Continuing on the theme of the day…. Change. The site’s look has changed, and I will now focus on my photography. I’ve chosen this design because it allows one stunning photo to be displayed and celebrated. The first photo I chose for that is this photo of three young men bathing in a lake in Sri Lanka in 2022.

Why this photo? It doesn’t reference change, so it’s not my first photo for the rebrand of Englishbay.com for that reason. If anything, it shows a version of Sri Lanka that has existed forever. Trust me; if you have never been, it is a literal paradise and paradox. Sri Lanka is a part of me. I am Sri Lankan in my soul. I am not lucky enough to have been born Singhala, but my husband is. I’ve chosen this photo to be the first because I love it and the memory of that day—no better reason.

So what was that day? Picture it… Sri Lanka March 2022, finally a return after our last trip in 2017. COVID, I hate you! Anyways I digress… I was finally back in Sri Lanka and having a great time. That day my nephew, not nephew, hooked me up with some Sri Lankan weed. It is costly there. So expensive that no one smokes just marijuana; they always mix it with tobacco. That is something I wouldn’t do. Tabaco is the line. So I paid about $30 Canadian for 1 gram and smoked the whole thing.

Stoned and in the mood to take some photos, my nephew, not nephew, set out on a walk to the local tank (lake) to get some photographs of birds. It was said that there were lots of Egyptian Ibises. Seeing only a few, we didn’t take long to walk the lake and headed home. At this point, a kid yelled at me, “American!”. Or one young man and two older boys from the local village were bathing in the lake. This is early in 2022, so the sight of tourists is new again. Yelling something else at me this time in Singhala, my nephew, not nephew, tells me he’s asking me to take their picture. So I obliged.

This has become one of my favourite pictures from Sri Lanka. That is how warm and friendly this paradise of an island is. I have no idea how such a small place can contain the mulitude of energies, people, nature, religions, corruptions, wars and harms, love, and beauty. It would do your head in trying to understand what that island has been through and continues to go through, but the average person is so warm, wonderful and friendly. Sri Lanka keeps turning the other cheek.

Sri Lanka is my paradise and my love. My last day on earth should be there.

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