The romantic Sri Lanka 🇱🇰
Sri Lanka is all about beautiful people, and I would not do justice if I didn’t talk about this beautiful hostel—perchance 1 hostel; I stayed in Sri Lanka, which is close to Negombo beach. This was my last night in Sri Lanka, and I didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out to be one of the most exciting nights of my life, wherein I made two friends, and we talked about life while sipping tea and watching the sea/lagoon from the garden. Gayan (on the right) barely spoke English, but his childish smile and helpful attitude made me fall in love with Sri Lanka. I had a flight back home the next morning, so we lay together on the couch and chatted the whole night, overseeing the beautiful stars from the bedroom window.
Gayan showed me his photos from the beach as he loves swimming, and I showed him all my travel pics too. In the morning, I bid him goodbye, not knowing when to return to this place and recreate those memories. Travel makes us wonder what we want in life, absolutely throwing ourselves into the unknown where we expect the unexpected. We receive love from total strangers and we learn to live in the moment, those memories remain in our life forever. We might have a lover back home and how many times we might have made love, but that love and eyes of your lover while you travel – embracing you hard, knowing that it is that time which matters most as we both know that this time is what we will remember forever.
Places might change and people might change but those memories remain forever. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with beautiful beaches and beautiful people. I made so many local friends and realised how much we all are similar in life – we all crave love & compassion and joy & happiness – no matter what skin colour we have and what language we speak. Love has no language – when we travel we fall in love with our own self – travel helps us realise how much we love our own self. Sri Lanka just showed me and taught me how life can be so simple and yet enjoyable. Those simple meal at the roadside shop with my shopkeeper and an extra spoon of curry and some free water with ice is the kindness we remember.
It is certainly not the five-star meals that attract me but eating with the local people and experiencing how they love one another, how they exactly understand my emotions without speaking my language and how I understand them – the feeling is magical. One needs to experience that since it’s beyond what my words can express – you find a glimpse of home on the road while you travel. That extra fish or the spoon of rice is the kindness that you remember and thank life for. Sri Lanka was beautiful and their food is cooked from the heart for you. I made so many friends in Sri Lanka and I never felt out of home – Sri Lankan boys are very friendly and they would invite me to the beach with them and we would swim together and eat together, play together and watch the sunset together..
I never felt even once I am in a different place as they just made me feel so much at home with so much love always, it just felt like we are friends for long. Everyone was so happy in Sri Lanka, it was like entering a land of happiness where everyone is there to greet me and make them a part of me by being in me – a part of those memories always remains even after months and years. Since happiness is elusive and yet it is non-elusive, we can never recreate those moments but we can relive them in our minds. I did meet a few Europeans like my friend in the hostel who was from France, she was so beautiful and we instantly liked each other.
She was in advertising & branding too and worked in Paris – the city where I celebrated my new year 2020 pre-pandemic. So, we could so relate to each other and I will never forget that breakfast and chat with him too. She opened my eyes to life as she went for her meditation retreat and I went to the airport to preserve those precious memories in my heart. And the trains in Sri Lanka are so lovely, it is one of the greatest joys in life to take those small train rides in Sri Lanka and experience its beauty with its most beautiful people. Sri Lanka, you are indeed so beautiful and I will never forget you, such a beautiful place that remains in my heart. And Gayan, my lovely dear friend, will always remain in my heart forever ❤️❤️❤️