Getting under the skin of people in these places, walking all over the landscapes, was just wondrous. My main fresh discovery, traveling around the island properly, was the back-of-beyond places that I didn’t really get to see as a child. The attraction of Sri Lanka beyond that, for me, is all wound up with being half Sri Lankan and having been born and spent my childhood there, and then coming back to write a travel memoir about the country. You see that expressed in the way people dress and what they eat, where they go to worship, and the languages: Sinhala and Tamil as well as English. It’s an incredibly diverse country, culturally, ethnically and religiously. I like to think of the Sri Lankans as the Irish of Asia or the Irish as the Sri Lankans of Europe, because they’re very friendly, open, warm and welcoming. Most of it is very green and lush-that’s the wet zone of the country, which covers over half of the landmass. There’s the immediate charm of the place. ![]() Before we get to the books, I wondered whether, as an introduction, you could tell me why Sri Lanka is such a fascinating place to discover? You then rediscovered it as an adult so, in a way, you’ve experienced it as an outsider as well. You were born in Sri Lanka and lived there until you were 12. Foreign Policy & International Relations.
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