I’m all packed and ready for the trip of a lifetime to Hikkaduwa in Sri Lanka for a new experience and my first visit to the Asian continent.
Only a few days to go
I’ll be joining four other resident artists in Hikkaduwa including Glasgow based composer Ross, physical theatre practitioners Zoe and Lewis, and performance artist Joshua. Click the links to find out more about their work. We will meet for the first time to explore, create and produce both independently and together.
Joshua and I are travelling on the same flight leaving Heathrow at lunch time on Sunday. Sri Lanka is 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of the UK and just north of the Equator with an average temperature of 32C by day and 23C at night. We arrive at Colombo airport on Monday 13 February 4.30am local time so we are likely to see the sun rise during the 3 hour journey to our accommodation at Sunbeach Hotel in Hikkaduwa.
To prepare for the trip I have been reading blogs written by previous resident artists. I really enjoyed the fascinating daily account from John Rogers here and the insightful film of his collaborative finale performance Moving Through which provided an illuminating snapshot of Sri Lankan life for an international resident artist.
My well travelled friends kindly sent me a waterproof map of Sri Lanka with a postcard wishing me luck and reminding me that it is considered disrespectful to take pictures with your back to a statue of Buddha. The message on the front of the postcard is perfectly appropriate: “Do what makes you happy”.
In just a few days I will do my best to capture my first impression of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka facts
1,330 kilometres of coastline, 15 national parks showcasing an abundance of wildlife, nearly 500,000 acres of lush tea estates, 250 acres of botanical gardens, 350 waterfalls, 25,000 water bodies, and a culture that extends back to over 2,500 years.
