VISIT TO SRI LANKA
 
The people from Sri Lanka are very warm and friendly.  I felt very safe while travelling although there has been war in the northern part of Sri Lanka for quite some time.  The weather was extremely warm/hot since it is quite close to the equator.  There is little relief from the heat, although many establishments and residences have ceiling fans and some have air conditioning.  There is much to see and appreciate about Sri Lanka.  The coastline is beautiful and traveling inland offers an array of rolling hills and mountains.  The capital is Colombo, which is along the coastline and Kandy is the inland city in which to visit/tour.
 
 
It is not uncommon to see tourists and local people gathering around men who train cobras by the sound of a flute-like instrument.  With this group, they had a monkey also who was quite trained and was able to perform as well.
 
 
Elephants are used as work animals in this part of the world to move heavy loads and various field and farming chores.  The cost of an asian elephant is approximately $18,000.  Asian elephants tend to have smaller ears and generally have the discoloration on their nose in comparison to the African elephants.
 
 
 
The Vedda people are the indigenous culture of Sri Lanka.  They hunt and eat roots.  They do not farm or do any agriculture but are beginning to due to the influence of modernization.  They live in mud huts and do all of their cooking inside.  They carve figures out of ivory and wood and  essentially live in a jungle environment.  They only have 1 wife.
 
This is the city of Kandy which offers tourists much to do and see while in the area.
 
 
 
 This is the Elephant orphanage just outside of Kandy.  These elephants are fed and cared for over a period of time and then released in the wild again.  Baby elephants are fed milk by a bottle twice a day.  All elephants have a feeding and watering regiment twice a day for tourists to see.

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