It has been my first time visiting Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, an island situated south of India in the Indian ocean. I’ve never been too sure if I’d set foot on India but I guess this is the closest I’ve ever been to India.
This short 5 day trip to Sri Lanka saw me spending only 1 day in Colombo, while the rest of my time was spent at the vicinity of Mirissa beach, Galle Fort and the rest at Ella, the “Cameron Highlands” of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the only camera I had with me; the Fuji X-T1 broke down on me on the very first day! Its alternating mood swing between working and defiance proved too frustrating to bear until I totally gave up photographing towards the end of the trip.
Hence, I felt so terribly handicapped throughout the trip without having a proper working camera to capture numerous potential scenes as they unfolded before me. However, to a certain extent, I supposed it was a blessing in disguise as I spent more time enjoying the trip and taking in the scenery without the burden to capture all that I witnessed.
In short, it was a rather rushed itinerary. Too rushed perhaps. Altogether, I spent 8 hours travelling by boat, 7 hours on the bus and a whopping 13 hours on the train throughout the trip! All in the name of seeing more and going easy on the wallet.
If I had to pick the best part of this trip to Sri Lanka, it would be in Ella. Specifically, it has to be the train ride from Ella station back to Colombo, passing through winding tracks hugging steep hills and snaking through valleys of tea plantations with the occasional peek into people’s homes, backyard farms and watching children playing by the railway tracks. That was simply awesome; unfortunately, without a camera to capture it all.
I’ve decided to convert and process all my selected shots for this post into black and whites. Perhaps an expression of my regret for not being able to capture more in light of an inoperable camera. A bleak lamentation if you will.
In hindsight, I reckon this presentation would reveal the true grit and harshness of this rugged but beautiful land of rainforest. Stripping colour off them serves to easily direct viewer’s focus unto the subject matter and form, and I’ll leave the pictures here to do the talking.