Sri Lanka
Part of Sri Lanka's irresistible charm lies in the way it interweaves past and present. Whilst being forward-looking and progressive, this remains an island deeply imbued with a sense of pride in its traditions. Commuters and taxi drivers will stop on busy highways and queue at roadside temples to pay respects to their ancestors; businessmen will swap the comfort of their air-conditioned offices for an exhausting pilgrimage to the island’s most sacred sites; and the timing of even the simplest events is governed by ritual and religion.
It is perhaps not surprising that Sri Lanka's diverse ethnic groups have clung fiercely on to their traditions in the wake of centuries of invasion by foreign powers. The island’s early settlers migrated from India, establishing a 2500 year old Buddhist tradition that survives here as a potent symbol of the national identity, despite having long since faded in its native land. Hinduism, too, made its mark, proudly protected by Tamils across the nation. Arab traders brought Islam, while in later years the colonial powers of Europe fought over the island’s riches. Their legacy survives in the island’s tumble-down forts and creaking railways, tea plantations and passion for cricket.