Jason Buzi

1. Sri Lanka, the Island of Serendipity
Posted on February 18, 2013 by JASONBUZI
SERENDIPITY (from the Oxford English Dictionary):
From Serendip, a former name for Sri Lanka + -ity.
- A word coined by Horace Walpole, who says (Letter to Mann, 28 Jan. 1754) that he
had formed it upon the title of the fairy-tale „The Three Princes of Serendip‟, the heroes
of which „were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were
not in quest of‟.
- The faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. Also, the fact
or an instance of such a discovery.
Formerly known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka is an island country in Southern Asia. It is located
in the Indian Ocean which is south of India. Even though Jason Buzi spent two weeks in
the country, he already had seen so many amazing things about it. He spent his first few
days in the capital, Colombo, largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of
the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte suburb (parliament capital of Sri
Lanka). The capital felt like it was in Mumbai but only cleaner and with fewer beggars
and homeless people.
Although the civil war ended in
May and there hadn‟t been any
terrorist attack on the capital in
years, there were still quite a few
military checkpoints throughout
the city. Jason Buzi planned to do
some volunteer work at a school
in the southern city of Galle but
quickly found out that it wasn‟t a
charity but a business. He also
realized that he wouldn‟t make a
difference in a short time so he
stopped volunteering after three
days. However, it was fun giving
magic pens, coloring books, postcards and T-shirts to the kids. Also, he made friends
with two other volunteers: Amanda, a British girl and Mia, a Swiss girl.

2. The beaches in the country
were really nice, however
being able to travel around
world, it weren‟t that
impressive anymore. The
waves were pretty big and
interestingly, there were only
a few surfers around. Jason
Buzi did a lot of swimming,
as it was warm outside and
the water was very nice. He
never went in too far though because of the strong currents and waves. Those waves were
nothing compared to the tsunami that originated in Indonesia and reached Sri Lanka
really hard exactly five years ago, in December 2004, and over 30,000 people died. He
met some people who lost their family members and also their livelihood.
There were plenty of Americans since many American groups came to help after the
tsunami. In fact, one “tuk tuk” driver said the Americans bought him a new “tuk tuk”.
The affected areas seemed to have recovered really well, though he is sure that many
people‟s lives
haven‟t.
After a few
days at the
beach, he
went to visit
the highlands,
where the
landscape and
climate were
completely
different from
the coastal
area. The
place was
lush and
mostly green
and with
many rivers
and
waterfalls.
The skies

3. were mostly misty and it was definitely much cooler.
Furthermore, the country is much popular with its tea and even people who know
nothing about Sri Lanka knows about its tea. Thomas Lipton, a Scotsman, bought tea
plantations here and introduced tea to the masses in Europe and beyond. Before that, it
was an expensive drink and the ones who could afford it were the elites. Ceylon, Sri
Lanka‟s name until 1972, tea became very famous around the world and in turn, Lipton
became the world‟s leading brand of tea. Today, the country is the world‟s second largest
tea producer after India and it sells for a 50% premium as it is considered the best. Seeing
women tea pickers up close was one of the things Jason Buzi was looking forward to on
his visit.
It turned out that most of the
tea laborers were brought by the
British from India until now. He
asked a Sri Lankan driver and
guide why the factories don‟t
hire local laborers but they
replied that Sri Lankans are too
lazy for this kind of work.
Consequently, in the tea
growing areas, Hindu temples
were found everywhere yet the
majority of the population was
Buddhist.
After visiting the tea plantations
and tea factories, he went to the
cultural city of Kandy, the second biggest city in Sri Lanka. He saw one of the nicest
botanical gardens he had ever seen and it was the largest in Sri Lanka. He was impressed
that it was built by a local king, long before the British came.
Jason Buzi saw a traditional dance show in Kandy incorporating fire spinning and fire
walking. Kandy‟s Temple of the Tooth was the most important Buddhist temple in Sri
Lanka and one of the most important in the world. It was a giant complex containing
different shrines and temples. A tooth kept here was allegedly one of Buddha‟s teeth
brought here in the 4th century. This is probably the most important tooth in the world and
has become a symbol of Sri Lanka‟s sovereignty.
On Wednesday, he visited the Dambulla caves which contain many Buddha statues and a
huge rock called Sigiriya. It was a difficult and sweaty climb to the top of the big rock,
only to discover that at the top, there was basically nothing. Only an old pool, two stray

4. dogs and three unsocial Finissh guys were there. He made sure to tell everyone as he was
coming down, that they should be prepared to be disappointed.
Well, the sense of achievement was possibly worth it Jason Buzi shared. It was
impossible for him not to compare Indian and Sri Lanka because there was an evident
cultural similarity. Well, you could say that Sri Lanka was the lighter version of India
because it was cleaner, less chaotic, less crowded and there was not much visible poverty.
Beggars and homeless people were rarely seen but it was less colorful in a way.
The people and culture seem gentler, and for better or worse, you don‟t get as much
sensory overload. From his experience and those of other travelers, you are also less
likely to get sick here, as it is more sanitary.
The landscape and climate were very reminiscent of Southern India. Little wonder since
Sri Lanka was just off the tip of Southern India. The English level was also much lower
here. Although also colonized by the British, and though many signs are in English, they
did not retain English as an official language.
Overall, Jason Buzi really enjoyed Sri Lanka, but there were a few places, like Thailand,
that he saw himself returning to again and again.