Go to our villages. Remember that Sri-Lanka, like most other Asian countries, lives in its villages. See our people at work. Join them if you wish to. Accept their hospitality. Listen to the age-old songs of women, singing to ease the back-breaking task of transplanting paddy. Watch the toddy tapper do his tight-rope walk from the crown of one coconut tree to another.. Have a drink of toddy. If your taste is for stronger tuff, try Coconut Arrack. See the fishermen go out to sea in craft which have changed little through the ages. Listen to the chant of the fishermen as they haul the net. Join them and earn your fish for the day.

Visit a temple, and if you feel that way, offer flowers at the feet of Buddha. Enter the temple unshod and feel yourself humbled in the presence of the Compassionate One. Listen to the chant of Buddhist stanzas. Accept the flower given by a smiling child… Watch the serenity of a yellow-robed monk begging for alms in the true tradition of the brotherhood.See rural craftsmen at work. Turning out ornaments in silver filigree ; beating out a design on a brass tray ; applying bright coloured lacquer on wood. Watch as skilled fingers of women weave designs into mats and baskets. See the potter mould his dreams in clay.

Observe how people bathe at rivers, streams, canals, wells, wayside taps, spouts, at any time of day, and add your opinion to the growing theory that the Sri Lankans are the most bathed people in the world.

RESERVOIRS

Don't miss the gigantic reservoirs built many centuries ago, which still provide much-needed water to irrigate the rice fields of the rural farmer. Such marvels of irrigation were unrivalled in ancient days. They were the products of the unique genius of Sinhala-Buddhist civilization.

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