Sri Lanka has a fascinating history with one of the first written references to the island made in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, which mentions how Lanka was created by the divine sculptor for the Lord of Wealth. The first recorded kingdom, the Anuradhapura Kingdom, was established in 380 BC. Buddhism arrived in the country around 250 BC and continues to be the dominant religion, affecting many areas of life in Sri Lanka today. I recently visited the country again and, as always, was impressed with its beauty, its dedication to the environment and its friendly people. I encourage travelers to check out Sri Lanka, which has much to offer tourists including warm weather, expansive beaches, and an interesting heritage with many cultural attractions. My team and I weren’t there to simply soak up the sun and sights—we toured the country with an eye on potential investment opportunities. In this first part of a two-part blog, I explore the country, examine the infrastructure and talk to people on the ground—and in the air. To Colombo and Back We first arrived in Colombo, the seaside capital of Sri Lanka, but stayed only one night, as we had to depart the next morning for Trincomalee by way of a Cessna single-engine plane. Finding the exact location of the small airport adjacent to the new international airport was a problem—our takeoff point was a military airfield down the road—but after a few frantic phone calls to find the airport we were on our way. I expected a bumpy ride on the small plane, but the pilots avoided the clouds and the plane was low enough for us to get a wonderful view of the countryside. The plane stopped at Sigiriya to drop off four Spanish tourists before proceeding on to Trincomalee. At Trincomalee, we noticed a number of beach resorts catering to budget travelers and local tourists on company-sponsored tours. We thought the tourist potential for that part of the country was excellent because of its long beaches. While Sri Lanka’s population is 21 million, in 2014 a record 1.5 million tourists arrived in the country,1 so tourism is a major source of income. After overseas workers’ remittances and garment exports, tourism is Sri Lanka’s third-largest earner of foreign exchange.2 The next day we departed by car, heading across the country back to Colombo, giving us the opportunity to check out the road conditions. The road turned out to be very good—a smooth, two-lane highway. We stopped along the route to indulge in some ox milk yogurt with treacle, a form of honey made from coconut juice (a local specialty). It was a good example of how low-income people supplement their farming income on the tourist trade. As we drove on, our driver said that during the long war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that finally ended in 2009, the LTTE remotely set and detonated many bombs along the road in order to kill government troops. We noticed roofless houses where the military found the LTTE and bombed them. Along the way we also saw large reservoirs created under kings of past eras to irrigate large tracts of land for sugar cane and rice. In the town of Matale, we noticed large and opulent homes. In the middle of the town stood a very elaborate Hindu temple done in a riot of colors with hundreds of statutes. The town had become rich from the spice trade, particularly in cinnamon. Although the majority of the country’s citizens subscribe to the Buddhist faith, there are a significant number of Hindus and Muslims in addition to small clusters of Christians. The drive from Trincomalee to Sigiriya took two hours. Sigiriya (Lion Rock) is an amazing ancient palace on a massive rock column about 200 meters high located in the center of the country. The gardens are particularly important and are among the oldest landscaped gardens in the world. According to legend, in 477 AD, King Kasyapa selected the site for his new capital and built his palace on the top of the rock, decorating its sides with colorful frescos of dancing ladies and carving out pools on the top to gather and store water. Halfway up the side of the rock he built a gateway in the form of a giant lion. It is reputed to be one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning and is the most visited historic site in Sri Lanka. It is said that Kasyapa murdered his father and usurped the throne from the rightful heir, his brother Mugalan. Preparing for the inevitable return of his brother, Kasyapa built the palace on the summit, which seemed impregnable. But when the final battle took place on the plains below, Kasyapa’s elephant took a turn that looked to his army like he was retreating, and this led to his army abandoning him. Too proud to surrender, he committed suicide by falling on his sword, according to legend. It was an hour’s drive from Sigiriya to the Dambulla Buddha caves (and the Golden Temple of Dambulla). This was an important stop since it underlined the significance of Buddhism in the country, certainly as evidenced by the numerous pilgrims, dressed in white and holding flowers, who climbed 160 meters of stairs with us to reach the caves and pay their respects to the 153 Buddha statues and exquisite paintings related to Gautama Buddha’s life. Our trip onward from Dambulla to Kandy, the former capital and second-largest city after Colombo, took about two hours. High up in the middle of the country, Kandy is known by film buffs as the location where parts of the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were filmed, but it also has an interesting ancient history. A major tourist stop, its main attraction is the Temple of the Tooth Relic, one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. Between 1815 and 1948, Kandy was a British colonial city and traces of British influence can clearly be seen all over, most particularly in a large church right next to the palace holding the...
Investment Adventures in Emerging Markets - Notes from Mark Mobius
Mark Mobius, Ph.D., executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, joined Templeton in 1987. Currently, he directs the Templeton research team based in 15 global emerging markets offices and manages emerging markets portfolios. As he spans the globe in search of investment opportunities, his “Investment Adventures in Emerging Markets” blog gives readers a taste for what he does, when, where, why and how. Dr. Mobius has written several books, including “Trading with China,” “The Investor’s Guide to Emerging Markets,” “Mobius on Emerging Markets,” “Passport to Profits,” “Equities—An Introduction to the Core Concepts,” “Mutual Funds—An Introduction to the Core Concepts,” ”The Little Book of Emerging Markets,” and “Mark Mobius: An Illustrated Biography."
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