Sri Lanka, known as the "pearl of the Indian Ocean", lies 30-odd miles off the southeast coast of India. It is a fabled land of jewels and spices, boasting a recorded history of more than three thousand years.

Its riches have drawn countless visitors, some welcome as merchants, teachers, adherents of religion, while others less welcome as invaders seeking loot or lands for colonization. These people, and their respective cultures, came both from the nearby subcontinent and from as far as Arabia and even more distant lands--Portugal, Holland, and England.

Now tourist and pilgrims come from every point on the globe. Rather than jewels or spices, some of these modern travelers seek natural beauty, others spirituality, although a goodly number are simply looking for "fun in the sun" and a temporary respite from the cares of their own worlds.

This work shows some of TaleTwist later photography, this time in taken in Sri Lanka (winter of 2006). It is more a pictorial record from experience in a two week winter sojourn rather than a thorough survey of Sri Lanka.
It also reflects the perspective of a non-native, an angrez, seeing, but not fully understanding, what was seen, instead responding mainly to what was caught by the photographer's eye. It is a collection of puzzle pieces, which only after the fact and with reflection and research could be reconstructed into a more complete picture.