Wildlife of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island in the Southern tip of the Indian Sub- continent. It was also known as Ceylon when it was under the British rule.  Even though it is close to the Tropical, the oceanic climate enables rich collections of wildlife and flora flourish in the island.  In the early trade between Europe, Mid-East and Asia, Ceylon provided many treasured commodities, such as gems and spices, to the West.  Harry Williams wrote a book on Ceylon in 1950 and called it pearl of the East. 

My wife and I made our first visit to Sri Lanka in March this year.  Initially, we had reservation due to safety concerns.  After thirty years of racial conflicts and civil wars, Sri Lanka had just put the Tamil separatists under control few years ago.  Our trip turned out to be quite interesting and safe.

(Wild elephant in the Yala National Park)

Majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhists, along with Hindus, Muslims and Christians. The island is getting crowded with local population over twenty millions.  There are seven national parks in Sri Lanka to sustain its wildlife and flora.  

(Monkey taking rest in the tree)

   

(Male deer in the Horton Plains National Park)

(Migrant birds resting in the wetland)

We enjoyed watching many wildlife during our trip.  The morning tour of the Yala National Park was the highlight.  We saw not only elephants, deers, boars and many beautiful birds, there were footprints of jaguar. 

(Wild boars with their little one)

(Indian peacock)

The British Empire had turned many of their colonies into plantations to provide required commodities for its global trade.  Sri Lanka was famous for its tea - Ceylon tea.  Many natural forest areas were converted into tea plantations in the central highland areas.  This had caused soil erosions and depletion of wildlife and flora.

(Workers picking tea leaves in the plantation)

At the same time, we noted that population pressure and economic development have put pressure on the national parks and wildlife.
There are cattle and buffalo farming on the national parks.  The blooming tourist business leads to many hotel development projects in the natural forests. 

New Zealand : the Land of the Long White Cloud

We had wonderful experience travelling through New Zealand in our previous land trips.  This time, my wife and I took a cruise from Sydney to see its beautiful South and North islands. 

The cruise sailed across the Tasman Sea in two days. We did not see a single boat for these two days as we were not sailing along the sea trade route.  In the early morning, we finally arrived Fiordland in the South.  This was what we saw.

(High mountain shut up from the sea with hanging white cloud)

(Beautiful and peaceful Milford Sound)

(Glacier, waterfall and hanging valley)  

The cruise spent most of the day sailing across the Fiordland from Milford Sound to Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound.  Quite contrast to the Tasman Sea, water in the inlets was calm. The moist air from the Tasman Sea reached the mountain ranges and formed long white clouds in the fiords (as New Zealanders called sounds). When Maoris first came here, they possibly saw the same beautiful scenery.  No wonder they called it the Land of the Long White Cloud.

When the settlers of the Free Church of Scotland came here about one hundred seventy years ago, they found a place in the South Island that was close to Scotland - hilly, windy and cool.  They built a garden city in Dunedin.  Reputable schools and the University of Otago were established here.

(Garden of the Olveston House)

    

(Century-old Botanical Garden in Dunedin) 

(Maize in the Botanical Garden)

As we sailed further to the North, weather became warmer with more sunshine.  We revisited Picton, the gateway to the South Island.  Many years ago, I took the ferry from Wellington to Picton. When Captain Cook explored this part of the world three centuries ago, he stopped here several times.

(Sail boats in the Shakespeare Bay near Picton)

(With abundant sunshine, palm trees grow in Picton)

Visitors coming to the North Island would love to see Auckland and Tauranga.  We also visited Waltangi. This was the historical place where the British misrepresented the Waltangi treaty to the Maori tribal leaders.  Under the treaty, Maoris would under the British colonial protection. However, it took more than one hundred fifty years for the Maori to regained their rights in the country.

(Beach in Waltangi)

(Cruise ship off the shore of Waltangi)

Mostar of Bosnia and Herzegovina : bridge over trouble water

Mostar is a major city of the Herzegovina region in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It is just two-hours ride from the coast of Adriatic Sea.  You will pass by many vineyards in the Neretva canton area before entering the city. 

Since Medieval time, Mostar was already one of the important cities along the trading routes in the Balkans. When the Ottoman Turks expanded their rule over the Balkans about six centuries ago, Mostar was the base of Turkish garrisons.  

(River Neretva flows through the city)

(Roman Catholic church and its tall tower) 

The landmark of Mostar is its Old Bridge which was built over the Neretva river for more than five centuries.  The project architecture was under the master Ottoman architecture Sinan who built many famous mosques in Turkey. The stone bridge is 28 meters wide and 20 meters high.  It looks like an arch of a big mosque. The bridge was recognized as one of the master Ottoman architecture works.

(Mostar Old Bridge reconstruction)

(From the other side of the Mostar Old Bridge)

(Over the stone bridge)

Mostar suffered serious damages when ethnic wars broke out in the 1990s.  Many buildings and the Old Bridge were damaged. After the war, European Union and United Nations helped Mostar in its reconstruction works.  Now, the Old Bridge has regained its landmark position in Mostar.  It is not only a popular spot for international tourists.  It also has important meaning to the locals.  The bridge represents communication and linkage between people of Mostar.  They wish the regained peace will stay with them forever.

(Damaged house as reminder of war)



(Cheerful street seller)

There are cafes near the Old Bridge.  It is a good idea to enjoy the Turkish coffee while watch the bridge from a distance.  Try this when you are there next time.

 

 

Montenegro : a small, young and beautiful country

Montenegro is in South Europe and lies between Albania and Croatia along the coast of Adriatic Sea.  Its population is just above 600,000 with territories of just over 5,000 square miles.  It joined Yugoslavia during its creation in 1918.  It avoided the bloody ethnic wars when Yugoslavia broke down into different states in the 1990s.  Until 2006, people of Montenegro voted to declare its independence and became one of the young sovereign states with the United Nations.

During our trip to the Balkans, my wife and I spent two days in this beautiful country.  Monte-negro means black mountains.  In fact, you can see its high mountains raising up right from the Adriatic Sea coast.

(Montenegro coast along the Adriatic Sea)

(Big cruises ship can dock at the old city of Kotor)

Within its small territories, Montenegro has diversity of landscapes, plants, birds and marine lives.  Lake Kadar is one of the most important fresh ecosystem in South Europe.  Hundreds species of European birds past through the lake during their migrations.

(Many birds rest in the Lake Kadar)

(Can you see the kingfisher - blue bird)

The coastal areas along Adriatic Sea enjoy warn weather with lot of sunshine.  Traditionally, Montenegro has great olive oil, orange and wines.  We had tried them and they were really good. Because of its limited production, you may not find their farm products in your department stores. 

In the past years, Montenegro attracts millions of tourists from Europe and all over the world.  They come to enjoy the sunny warm weather, beautiful natural scenery, great seafood and wines.

(Evening in the seashore resort)

During summer time, the old cities Budva and Kotor are packed with tourists.  This provides important source of foreign exchange and employment opportunities to Montenegro.  Properties along its beautiful coast also attract foreign investment.

(Sveti Stefan island is now converted into a hotel resort complex)

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania : long road to independence

This was our first time visiting the Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  My wife and I took the cruise from Stockholm to Tallin, capital of Estonia.  From there we travelled south to Latvia and Lithuania by bus.  It was Spring.  We were lucky to have sunny weather in most part of the trip.

(Beautiful spring flowers on sale in the market)

 

(Blue sky and clear water surrounding the Trakai Island Castle)

History of these Baltic countries can be traced back to the medieval world around the 12th century.  Denmark king first cross the Baltic Sea and subdued the local peoples.  This was followed by Sweden as its power overtook Denmark in the Northern Europe.  The Germanic traders and landlords gradually dominated this area around the 16th century.  Until the 19th century, the Russian Tsars took control of the Baltic land.  Later, Nazi Germany and USSR had fought over this flat forest land.

(City of Tallin with church towers overlooking the surrounding houses)

(School children touring the old town of Tallin)

(Historical Germanic guild house in Riga)

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania first got their independence as countries in the 1920s.  However this did not last long.  Their people experienced hardship with occupations by Nazi and Red Army.  Eventually they were drawn as part of the USSR in the 1940s.  Not until the breakup of the USSR in the 1990s, these countries regained their independence for the second time.

(The Hill of Cross as memory of the loved ones and the struggle of Lithuania)

(Modern buildings shown up in Vilnius)

The road to independence for these Baltic countries is by no mean simple.  There were ups and downs with the experiments of democratic governments.  They had been living between strong national neighbors.  With their limited populations, economic and military strengthens, their independence were not always rock solid. 

(Vilnius university as one of the oldest university from medieval time)

Brunei : paradise in the Southeast Asia

Brunei is a small country in the Southeast Asia with less than half a million people.  The country is ruled by its Sultan who succeeded his founding father from the 16th century.  With its oil and natural gas resources, Brunei chose to remind independent with support of the British.  Nowadays, Brunei still engage an army of well-trained Gurkha to safeguard its oilfields. 

(One of the beautiful mosques built by Sultans for their people)

Brunei is facing the South China Sea in the Tropical area.  The weather is hot with abundant rainfall year round.  There is absence of natural disaster such as typhoon or earthquake. With good income from oil and gas, the Sultan has provided his country free education and health care.  The country is also well served by its airline, the Royal Brunei Airline, connecting the outside world.  The crime rate here is low.  Local people are living happily in this paradise land.

(Happy children of Brunei)

 

(Houses built over the water) 

Other than oil and gas, Brunei does not have much industry.  Most of its coastal marshland and tropical rain forests are largely reminded unexplored.  The absence of tourist crowds make it a good destination to explore the nature and to enjoy its natural beauty.

(Mangrove trees in the marshland provide shelters to seabirds and marine lives)

During our short stay in Brunei, we made an interesting outing to its tropical rain forest in the Temburong National Park.  Our trip first started with an hour ride on speed boat along the narrow waterways among mangrove trees and nipa palms.  Then, a van took us into the national park. We changed to local long boat up the river.  Tall strangling figs on both sides of the river looked like giants guarding the forest from unwanted intruders. 

(Long boat sailing up the river)

(Hanging bridge inside the forest)

After the boat ride, we walked up the hill for half an hour inside the forest.  A few of us climbed up 150 feet to the tree canopy walkway.  This was my first experience up in the tree canopy.  The scenery up there was great.  Many epiphytic plants, wild orchids and inserts were found up there.  You would forget the busy city life and merge yourself into the nature.   

(Tree canopy walkway)

(Epiphytic plant growing on the tree truck)

Romantic medieval towns of Italy : Verona, Assisi and Napoli

Italy is possibly one of the countries that have many United Nations World Heritage Sites.  The Roman Empire first built its presence in the nowadays Rome.  Even after the fall of the Roman Empire, there were many medieval towns came up in the Italian peninsula.  Many romantic stories from these medieval towns are still being told in modern history.  Last fall, my wife and I visited a few of them.

Verona
Many of you remember the story of Romeo and Juliet possibly from the Shakespeare play.  Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet came from the city of Verona.  A quarter of million people still live in this lovely town that has a Roman arena and few medieval piazzas. 

(The Shakespeare play told us that Juliet talked to Romeo from her balcony)

(The Roman Arena is still a popular venue for performances in Verona)

(Center of Piazza Erbe - criminals in medieval time would be chained there) 

Assisi
If you are a Catholic, you must know St. Francis.  Even if you are not a Catholic, you possibly aware of his story or schools that bear his name.  The Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), a rich merchant's son turned a devoted and humble monk, built up the famous Franciscan school in the Catholic world.  His personal example and legend bring many followers even up today.

(Early morning in Assisi)

(The Basilica of St. Francis where the tomb of St. Francis resided)

The city of Assisi was built on a small hill overlooking the surrounding farmlands.  The city looks very much like its medieval form.  Each year, millions of Christians come to this holy place.  This time, we stayed in a nice hotel with many religious paintings.  Its quiet and present atmosphere made our stay even more enjoyable.

(One of the painting in the hotel lobby)

Napoli
You may not recall Napoli but you possibly remember the Italian lyrics - Santa Lucia. The song sings about Santa Lucia, the beautiful coast of Napoli.  We enjoyed the morning walk along Santa Lucia and the warm Mediterranean climate.

(The Norman-found Castle dell'Ovo "Egg Castle" in Santa Luca)

Napoli was first found by the Greek sailors even before Roman time.  It was well situated in the middle of the Italian peninsula and in the Mediterranean Sea.  In the Medieval time, Napoli had been under the Norman control as part of the Sicily Kingdom.  Since then, it was under the French and later the Spanish control.   

(Many cruises called on Napoli so that tourists could visit the famous Pompeii ruin)