Yeoh Siew Hoon tours the affected south-western coast and finds hope amid the rubble. "The sea is so beautiful today," I remarked, as I wondered how it must have looked on December 26.
"Yes, now like baby," said my driver.
We were driving along the south-west coast from Colombo to Galle, the second hardest hit coastline after the eastern shore.
Everything seems normal for an hour outside Colombo. The traffic is as chaotic, the streets are full of people and shops are bustling with trade.
And then you see the first signs of the destruction. Beaches denuded of trees. Houses that once lined the coastline gone. Homes without roofs or walls. On the other side of the road, piles and piles of debris. A broken railway line. The train that became a death trap for nearly 2,000 souls. Tents for the homeless and displaced.
Amid the flattened landscape, you see temples, churches, mosques and Buddha statues that remain standing. They are obviously made of sturdier material but you can appreciate the symbolism this has in a spiritual community such as this.
While the damage caused by the tsunami is still clear to see, one month on, most of it is now rubble and debris contained to the sides of the road, leaving it clear for traffic and the massive rebuilding work still at hand.
Yet amid the wreckage of their lives, I saw a people determined to get on with their day to day.
I saw a boy playing on the beach. I saw a lone fisherman out at sea. I saw children playing in the tents. One man had set up a grocery store inside his tent.
One sight delighted me. On the beach close to Beruwela, two groups of fishermen were hauling their nets out of the sea and a fish stall was doing roaring business, with fresh fish and prawns for sale.
Yet realities conspire to weigh me down. As we get closer to Galle, the scale of the disaster gets magnified. With each scene of destruction, my spirits sink.
I dread to think what it must have been like a few weeks ago.
The driver, sensing my mood, said, "If Sri Lanka like this, how is Indonesia?"
My driver is a man who says a lot with few words.
By the time I arrive at The Lighthouse Hotel & Spa in Galle, I am depressed and slightly emotional.
The Geoffrey Bawa-inspired hotel is a work of art perched on a cliff, overlooking the ocean. But how can anyone find beauty amid such destruction? How can anyone have a holiday amid such sadness and loss?
It is this human issue that is perhaps hardest for any of us to reconcile. Yes, we know Sri Lanka needs tourists to return as quickly as possible. Survivors of the tsunami need tourism to survive the aftermath of losing their livelihoods.
Yet, most travellers have a guilt complex. How can I enjoy myself in a place that has seen so much sadness and death?
Well, either guilt or fear but I have less patience with those who are fearful of returning.
The facts are, according to the World Health Organisation and other health bodies, there is no risk associated with disease in travelling to tsunami-affected destinations such as Sri Lanka or Phuket and Krabi.
The facts are most of the tourism infrastructure in these places is intact. In Sri Lanka, the Negombo beach area and the cultural and heritage triangle are completed unaffected but are all empty. As someone in Kandy said, "No tsunami, no guests either."
Even in areas such as Galle, Berwula and Bentota, you find pockets of normalcy.
In Phuket and Krabi, Thailand, a large part of the infrastructure is unaffected and most hotels are in full operation.
So fearful I am not.
Guilt, yes I plead guilty to that.
Yet humans are by nature both resilient and optimistic. Some have dealt with the guilt by saying "I am doing more good by coming here than staying at home".
I met two such couples – English, of course, they are the most hardy and stoic of travellers.
One was staying at Saman Villas in Bentota (one out of two couples there); another, the only guests there, was at Tropical Villas, also in Bentota.
John and Sue Lalor are on their first trip to Sri Lanka. They arrived January 7 and toured to Cultural Triangle and are ending their three-week holiday with a beach stay at Samarn Villas, an upscale and exclusive retreat perched on a cliff. (Again, its location spared it from the worst of the waves.)
Abercrombie & Kent had offered to move them closer to Colombo but they had decided to stick to the Bentota coast.
"Are you having a good holiday?" I asked as I interrupted their reading.
"Wonderful. We have the whole place to ourselves," said John.
"The staff are so wonderful. They are so appreciative that we came," added Sue. "They tell us we are doing a good thing by coming. At first I felt a bit uneasy but they kept assuring us we were doing the right thing. They tell us they want to work, and not just have sympathy."
"I figured we could either be drinking wine in London or drinking their wine here and I'd rather be here," laughed John.
"John's a doctor, you know. He says it is totally safe to be here," said Sue.
I left them to their books and solitude.
At Tropical Villas, I ran into Peter and Lynn, veterans of Sri Lanka. This is their 17th year here and they stay an average of eight weeks every year at the same hotel.
They were here for a few weeks last November and returned to England early December. A week ago, they decided to return, armed with money they had collected from friends to donate to affected communities.
Alone in their hotel, they have sent out e-mails to friends, urging them to visit Sri Lanka, and have so far managed to convince eight other people to visit, all arriving in January and February.
"We couldn't stay away from our friends here," said Lynn.
"The trouble is tour operators are not selling Sri Lanka. Our friends tried to book but were told there were ‘no vacancies'. But look at all the vacant rooms here," said Peter.
"Our friends in Sri Lanka need us now more than ever and we shouldn't stay away," said Lynn, who said she had been busy over the past weeks raising funds and sending emails urging people to return to Sri Lanka.
Folks like these make you realise a couple of things – that guilt is futility while action is hope.
Some travellers are taking action by volunteering for rebuilding work. Indeed, some tour operators are offering volunteer and recovery tours where clients can have a holiday and, at the same time, do volunteer work.
Amid this crisis, tourism has a chance to shine and lead the economic recovery of affected destinations.
A Buddhist priest in Galle spoke of the overwhelming generosity of tourists during and after the tsunami. He had been anti-tourism in the past but now is a firm believer in the goodwill of travellers and the good of tourism.
Let us not squander this call to prove him right.
The SHY Report
A regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry by one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, Yeoh Siew Hoon.
Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her company's mission is "Content, Communication, Connection". She is a writer, speaker, facilitator, trainer and events producer. She is also an author, having published "Around Asia In 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries". Her motto is ‘free to do, and be'.
Contacts: Tel: 65-63424934, Mobile: 65-96801460Five Reasons Why You Should Sponsor The SHY Report ~ Click HERE.
