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| Tuesday, 19 August 2003 |
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Kahawa special correspondent Hans Abbink, a geographer, publicist and portraitist, and Department Head of GSG Emmen, Mentor, University Groningen in Holland, is currently in Sri Lanka, with his wife Ida, a school teacher. Duo said, it was the first time they visited Sri Lanka after travelling in India for more than two months. "The decision to visit Sri Lanka was taken spontaneously while we were in India," the duo said. Many people in India wanted us not to visit Sri Lanka saying ethnic war was still going on in Sri Lanka. We heard of the Kandy pageant in Sri Lanka while we were in India and wanted to visit Sri Lanka to see the pageant," Mrs. Hans said. We spoke to many Sinhalese, Tamils and the Muslims in Sri Lanka and we noticed that they were very friendly with one another and I don't see there is any ethnic problem among them," Hans said. Sri Lanka is fascinating because of its variations of nature and very friendly people here," they said. "We hope eternal peace for Sri Lanka, really the paradise," they wished. "Europeans have so many things to see in Sri Lanka, they said. We were highly impressed in Galle as we visited many sites of world heritage inside the Galle Fortress," they said. Reminding the Dutch invasion in Sri Lanka, Abbink said, when the Dutch came to Sri Lanka, the total population in Holland at that time was only 600,000 and today it is 16 million," he said. "When the Dutch ships were sailing around Africa, they went to Cape Town and Zanzibar, and they were told of Sri Lanka by the Arabs," Hans said. Most fascinating railway is specially from Kandy to Badulla, and we were highly impressed by the landscape. Holland is a flat country. We will visit Sri Lanka over and over again as Sri Lanka is rich with its scenic beauty, they said. |
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