Why, when we see the world in colour, do we often find black and white portraits so engaging? With the distraction of colours stripped away we are driven to focus on elements such as the direction of a gaze, skin texture and the interplay of light and shadow on the face. Elements such as clothing and jewellery fade into the background and the expression on the face takes centre stage.
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Kandy is Sri Lanka’s second largest city after Colombo and was listed by UNESCO in 1988. It has a long and proud history. It was the last stronghold of Sinhalese independence, resisting both Portuguese and Dutch rule long after the rest of the island had been conquered.
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How do you feel about organised visits to local communities while travelling? Are they a welcome opportunity to learn more about the culture and history of a place? Or are they uncomfortably intrusive and too staged to offer genuine insights?
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You might think that the place where Buddhism was first introduced to Sri Lanka would be among its most visited sites, but Mihintale seems to be off the radar for most tourists. Hence we found it surprisingly quiet and peaceful even visiting mid-afternoon.
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Dambulla Cave Temple consists of five caves carved into a massive rock. Each cave contains Buddha statues and is decorated with intricate murals and frescoes. In total, the temple houses over 150 Buddha statues and statues of Sri Lankan kings, Hindu gods, and guardian deities.
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While significant parts of Hull were bombed during WWII, and many lives tragically lost, its Old Town survived and has been well preserved. The historic buildings and cobbled streets make it an ideal stand-in for Victorian or Georgian London. These streets have been transformed many times by film and TV studios for productions including The Crown, Victoria and Blitz.
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These simple, practical vehicles are ubiquitous in Sri Lanka, as they are in many other countries in the world. While tourists tend to refer to them as tuk-tuks, to the locals they are usually known as three-wheelers or simply three-wheels.
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I’ve never been particularly good at sports, and I’m too competitive to enjoy the feeling of losing … or even coming second! But I do like to watch others excel at them. It’s exciting not to know what will happen next, and to cheer on a favourite individual or team to success.
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For many years the northern region of Sri Lanka was the stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, usually abbreviated to LTTE and better known as the Tamil Tigers. But when the civil war hostilities ceased in 2009 visiting the region again became a possibility. It’s a long drive north, but well worth it to see a different side of this island.
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I was never captivated by history at school. Maybe it was the dull manner in which it was taught. Maybe I was unlucky with the teachers I had, unable to bring the past to life. Or maybe it was the focus on kings and queens, generals and politicians, rather than the lives of ordinary people. Certainly it is the latter that most interests me today.
