The Immigration and Emigration Department has set up an Electronic Travel Authority to simplify the visa process and facilitate short stay visitors.!!

On-line visa system active
by Manjula FERNANDO

The Immigration and Emigration Department has set up an Electronic Travel Authority to simplify the visa process and facilitate short stay visitors.

Immigration and Emigration Controller General Chulananda Perera said the Authority allows tourists who would like to come to Sri Lanka for a short stay to apply and obtain a visa online.

"This service will be available for travellers from 78 countries including India from which tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka take place at present," he said adding that visitors from Singapore and the Maldives can continue to obtain an on arrival visa as a reciprocal gesture as these two countries offer the same facility to Sri Lankan visitors.

"After obtaining the processing fee, we will refer the application to the migration intelligence unit for profiling and vetting. This is done to verify if the applicant is a frequent or suspicious traveller or if he is from a health risk zone such as a country where there is an outbreak of an epidemic."

Such people will have to face an interview at a Sri Lankan mission in the country where they hold citizenship.

The Controller said this profiling would be made within hours and the visa will be issued within three days under the regular service or within one day at a higher fee. The Department will also operate a 24-hour calling centre to receive inquiries on visa matters. The visa will be sent via e-mail or mobile Short Message Service. The visitor has to submit the visa number and his passport at the Immigration counter at the airport and he will be granted access for a short stay.



Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2011 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, Chulananda Perera in an interview with the Sunday Observer.!!!

Biometrics to keep impostors at bay:

No more dual citizenship for asylum seekers
By Manjula FERNANDO



Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, Chulananda Perera in an interview with the Sunday Observer said his Department will make changes to facilitate bona fide travellers and ordinary citizens but tough action is in the offing for economic migrants who sell country's name to gain asylum in the West.

"We will not issue passports to such people and no dual citizenships for those who gain asylum in the future."

He said the Department will introduce biometric based passports shortly. A hi-tech project which is about to take wings to link the ID Department, the Registrar of Births, Foreign Employment Bureau, the Defence Ministry and the Interpol online along with the biometric readings, will forestall impersonations and enhance credibility to Sri Lankan passports.

An interview with the Immigration Controller General, Chulananda Perera

Q: How do you propose to modernise the role of the Department of Immigration and Emigration in the future?

A: The Department of Immigration and Emigration has four key functions; issuing passports, issuing visas for foreigners, border control and border management and citizenship matters.

The citizenship matters involve issuing of dual citizenships and registrations of birth of persons born outside the country. Thus this Department is not just a passport issuing body as many think.

Next year our main target is to introduce biometric capturing for the issuance of new passports. We will not be having a biometric passport but instead our target is to capture biometrics, such as the thumb and facial print, etc of the applicant before a passport is issued to minimise impersonations by enhancing security.

This compels the applicant to call over at the passport office in Colombo or one of the three branches in Anuradhapura, Matara or Kandy to submit the biometrics but the outcome would be highly rewarding.

The Australian government is extending financial support for the project. The technical aspects will be covered by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). They are assisting us in this project. We have submitted our guidelines and requirements to the IOM to develop the software.

This will go a long way in improving the credibility of Sri Lankan passports. Although we carry more than 20 security features in Sri Lankan passports, conforming to the best international standards, there is suspicion or lack of confidence among foreign immigration officials towards Sri Lankan passport holders.

The passport is issued based on the supporting documents, mainly the national ID and birth certificates, provided by the applicant. If they are forged there is a possibility they could get away with a passport with forged details. By next year we will have on-line links with the National Identity Card office and office of the Registrar of Births. This will enable the Department to cross-check the bona fides of documents. Already we have made preparations to link the Colombo Kachcheri office with the Department before the end of 2011.

Collecting biometrics will further improve and keep impostors at bay. This will freeze an individual's identity and there won't be room for criminals to maintain multiple passports. This is what we are going to block. This way we will also prevent sending over-age or under-age women as domestic aides. The National ID office will also introduce biometric based IDs along with the passport office.

We will be implementing this together.

In addition, before the end of this year, we will link up with the Foreign Ministry, Foreign Employment Bureau and the Defence Ministry online to share data of over four million people in our data bank.

Q: Is Australia involved in this because they have a major problem with illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka?

A: Not fully. We have good bilateral relations with the Australian Government and when we were confronted with financial constrains to implement the biometrics project, they agreed to help us. We had discussions with several countries for assistance. A decision to introduce biometric readings was taken following a research initiated by the Department with the help of IOM recently. This research evaluated measures to be taken to enhance credibility and security of Sri Lankan passports

Any embassy can obtain information on any passport issued by the Department via e-mail. The service is called the Integrated Inquiry Management System. They maintain close links with us. Thus it was easy to convince them to help us.

Q: Will there be any new branches set up to cater to the growing needs?

A: One of the other ambitions for this year is to shift the visa office in Anuradhapura to Vavuniya. There are very few callers at the Anuradhapura office. The applicants from the North and the East prefer to get to Colombo for their passport matters. Thus the plan to shift the office was submitted for Cabinet approval recently and was given the green light. The Kandy and Matara offices will remain. But there are no new branches in the offing for the time being.

Q: Moves are afoot to simplify passport renewals. What is the progress and has this been successful?

A: Very much successful, it is a great relief for people. The Immigration and Emigration Department is a facilitating institution in addition to a regulating body. If an individual already possesses a travel document that means that he has already proven his identity. We may ask for proof of any address change but the birth certificate and other basic documents need not be re-submitted.

What we want to ascertain is whether this person is a Sri Lankan citizen, whether he is actually who he claims to be and whether this is his correct age. That will be the key issues we want to be 100 % sure about. The collection of biometrics and online links with the ID department and the Registrar of births will help us in this aspect to a larger degree.

If the person needs to change his name or civil status due to marriage or divorce or any other reason, he may have to submit the marriage certificate and the court order in case of a divorce or other documents.

There won't be a need for a JP's (Justice of the Peace) involvement in this whole process. I want to eliminate the role they play. This is a menace for passport applicants. I want to make it as pain free as possible but without compromising the credibility of the Sri Lankan passport.

Q: Can't you take some action about the touts who torment mainly the innocent people who call over at your office?

A: I expect the media to educate the people about the pack of touts who operate outside the Immigration and Emigration Department. A passport can be obtained within a matter of three to four hours at my Department now.

There is no need to go behind touts for help. That culture has long expired. But people are yet to realise this. They still get hoodwinked by these vultures.

When they corner a victim, these touts lie that his/her documents are not in order and pretend to call someone inside the 'passport office'. Then they instruct his 'catch' to go to a particular counter where their so called friend is present. Actually this is the counter the applicant has to reach even if he goes as a regular applicant. For this superficial service they charge some thousands of rupees. I don't know why the people still believe their stories.

Announcements are made from time to time via the Department's public announcement system, asking people to seek help only from an officer wearing an official ID. There are such ushers all over the place. But still people do not make their contribution to make this 'culture of vultures' a history.

They should stop patronising these touts and help us improve our service. There are surprise raids by the Police and the Army. But the moment they sniff it, these shrewd operators vanish into thin air.

This is a difficult battle for us. My staff has been trained to help anyone who walks in. I am prepared to fill an application form for someone who needs help and so is my staff.

Q: What is the situation with the child passport applicants? Is it still mandatory to have the consent of both the parents to include the child in the passport or get a separate passport for a child?

A: It is like this. According to Immigration and Emigration laws, a mother or father can submit an application with regard to a minor - a child below 16 years. This is a privilege because they don't have to bring the child here. But the mother and the father both have to give the consent.

Those days we allowed one parent to call over with a letter of consent from the other party. But people misused this facility to smuggle children of broken families out of the country. There were cases, a mother or a father forging the signature of his partner and submitting bogus letters of consent.

This huge framed picture of the little girl was given to me by her mother sometime back. I call her the modern day 'Patachara'. Even today this mother is looking for her daughter. She was very shrewdly smuggled out of the country by her father.

Because of this practice, we have now stopped issuing passports for minors with consent letters. Now both the parents must visit the Department personally to obtain a passport for a child below 16. In case of one parent living overseas, he or she has to visit the Sri Lankan mission there and get a consent written in front of an officer. The officer has to certify this letter. If one parent is dead, then they will have to submit the death certificate. This is to minimise malpractices. In case of a child we can never take a chance.

In case of a divorce we need the court order to check as to who has the child's guardianship. Even a baby born few days ago can obtain a separate passport.

We are planning to do away with the practice of including child in mother's or father's passport in the near future as this is contrary to the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) standards.

Q: When the foreign embassies started to collect biometrics for visa, there was a huge public uproar. Will the passport office have to face public antagonism if biometrics based passports are introduced?

A: This has a lot of benefits for a genuine traveller. For example there will be no room for impersonation. The credibility to Sri Lankan passports will be high.

The world is moving towards biometric based passports. This is the modern trend now. This will have no bearing on your privacy. This is a way of proving your identity without a doubt.

In addition bona fide travellers will have less hassle in obtaining visas to any country as the recognition to Lankan passports will increase following this addition. Due to actions of bogus travellers who account for about five per cent all others are inconvenienced. Our aim is to restrict this five percent.

Q: What is the situation with the border control mechanism?

A: We are going to link up with the Interpol for border control activities in the future. The Criminal Investigation Department is helping us with this initiative. We are going to obtain quick access to data of most wanted people with the Interpol so that such persons will never be allowed to travel out or into the country. We are also seeking online access to the worldwide directory of lost and stolen passports to block imposters.

This is how we plan to strengthen the internal border control mechanism in the future.

With the assistance of the Australian Government we have installed a laboratory that can read security features in any passport or a visa issued by any country. Our passport is one of the best secured passports but there is a problem with the processing of support documents. This is a loose end.

We will be initiating a border surveillance unit this year under the direction of the Defence Secretary. This unit will carry out random checks at the airports. They will make raids at the final point of departure, just before boarding, to make sure that the same person who clears from the immigration gets into the plane. We have information that sometimes at the point of boarding people switch boarding passes. The Defence Secretary's approval is pending for this.

Q: When are you going to reactivate issuing of dual citizenships?

A: Dual citizenship is issued under several categories. If the person has property in Sri Lanka, if the person concerned is a senior citizen, if he is a degree holder or if he maintains an NRFC account with a balance equivalent to Rs. 2.5 million.

Anyone who fits in one of these categories can obtain the dual citizenship. But what happened is that the people who obtained dual citizenship did so for things such as to sell their property and take the money away. The dual citizenship protected them from paying taxes to the Government. This was not helping the country. So far we have issued over 35,000 duel citizenships, with Rs. 200,000 fee. When we analysed this 35,000, that is what we realized.

We communicated our findings to the President and the Defence Secretary. They have instructed to revise the old procedure of granting dual citizenships. Now we have reviewed the procedure and it will be introduced shortly after the President's approval.

Q: The people who have claimed asylum status, can they obtain passports or renew their passports? Will they not be granted dual citizenships?

A: There are three categories of asylum seekers; those who have applied for asylum, those who are in the processing stage and those who have obtained asylum.

Those who have obtained asylum are citizens of that country. They will not be issued Sri Lankan passports.

But those who are in the other two categories can be issued, but not passports. They will be given a travel document to get back to Sri Lanka. We will issue a passport once they get back and deal with their problems here.

May be he was forced to leave due to problems in the past but the situation may have changed now. So he is welcome to come back. But we cannot give him a passport and let him travel to another country and tarnish the image of Sri Lanka once again. That is a very fair decision in my opinion.

We have given dual citizenship to asylum seekers in the past but in the future there will be no more. That person has sought asylum because Sri Lanka is not good for him to live. Then there is no reason for him to seek citizenship here. There are a lot of economic migrants who claim asylum. We don't welcome such people.


Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2011 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Large nr of Chinese who Arrived in SL for Projects in Hambantota/NESL & Indians who came for Employment,also Included with 600,000 TOURISTS.!!!

Sri Lankan Tamils who are citizens overseas also included in the 600,000 tourists who visited the country



2010-12-23

Although the head of the Tourism Promotions Authority, Presidential relative Nalaka Godahewa has carried out a media campaign saying that 600,000 tourists have so far visited Sri Lanka, Ministry sources say that over 200,000 of these so called visitors are Sri Lankan Tamils who have migrated during the war. These persons who had arrived in the country to visit their relatives and friends after the end of the war have also been included in the list of tourists.

Sources said that while there were close to 400,000 tourists who visited the country during the war, there has been an increase in tourist arrivals following the ends of the war.

The Authority has iincluded the large number of Chinese national who have arrived in the country for projects being carried in Hambantota and the North and East and Indians who have arrived for employment have also been included in the list of tourist arrivals for this year.


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Japanese diplomat recounts happy memories here ..!!!

The Sunday Observer invites views from diplomatic missions here and abroad for the greater understanding of their political, social and cultural relations in their respective countries.
Please submit your entries by E-mail : dpl@sundayobserver.lk

Japanese diplomat recounts happy memories here
by Sapumali GALAGODA

Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan, Kaoru Shimazaki spoke on his diplomatic career and outlined happy memories about his life and the ties between the two countries. Here are excerpts of the interview:

Q: Do you have happy memories of your childhood?

A: I have lots of happy memories with my family. Besides my father and mother I have an elder brother and an elder sister. Playing sports such as baseball, cards, visiting traditional and cultural places with my family were some of the interesting things in my childhood in Japan. I'm a great fan of music, especially the classical music.

Q: What is your educational background?

A: After my secondary education I entered Keio University in 1977 and graduated in law in 1981.

Then as a trainee diplomat I studied at the Philipps University Marburg in Germany from 1983 to 1985.

Since September 2008 I have been attached to the Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka as the Minister, Deputy Chief of Mission. As a music lover I listen to music and play the flute. I had an opportunity to play with some of the leading members of the Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Sri Lanka and this is a good chance to pursue my hobby.


Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan, Kaoru Shimazaki

Last weekend I also watched a Kyogen-play by the students of the Kelaniya University which was a Japanese Language play with a Sinhalese translation at the "Punchi Theatre" in Borella. Japanese cultural events performed by Sri Lankan artistes are also impressive.

Q:Have the ties between Japan and Sri Lanka developed during the years?

A:Japan and Sri Lanka have enjoyed extremely friendly relations. Japan's cordial relations with Sri Lanka date back to 1952 when Japan established diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka. Japan has provided relief and rehabilitation assistance in times of need for conflict affected communities and those affected by tsunami as well.

The Japanese government has provided assistance and donations to construct the Mannar bridge, Agro-well construction under the GGP (Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects) and support for medium and Long-term development such as improvement of Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital, Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project and the Southern Transport Development Project.Japan has also assisted in livelihood and development projects in the North and the East.

The Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) is playing an important role in promoting trade between our two countries by providing information and developing the private sector as well. In August last year the Government-Private Joint Forum was launched and the 15th joint Meeting of the Sri Lanka-Japan and Japan-Sri Lanka Business Co-operation Committee was held in November 2009. These efforts by the Japanese businessmen with their Sri Lankan counterparts and the Government of Sri Lanka will create a conducive environment to promote trade and investment between our two countries.

The Japanese Government has also supported us to protect and develop cultural sites which have also strengthened the bonds. The highlight in this field was the opening of the Sigiriya Museum in July 2009 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda.

Q: Are there similarities between the two countries?

A: Geographically there are similarities such as Japan's being an island country like Sri Lanka. At the times Japan suffers natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons and Sri Lanka experienced a tsunami in 2006. I personally feel that the mentality between the two people's are quite similar. People in Sri Lanka and Japan are usually smiling friendly.

Both countries are not so rich in natural resources, therefore the most important is the human resource for both countries.

Q: What are the interesting things that took place during your diplomatic career?

A: As a member of the German School of Japanese Foreign Ministry , being in Germany on three different occasions adds to 11 years.

From 1985 to 1985 I was a Vice Consul in Berlin. Ten years thereafter I was attached to the Embassy in Bonn as the First Secretary and by that time Germany was united. I was again posted to Germany as a Minister in 2005 where I worked until September 2008. During this period the Embassy was moved to Berlin following the shifting of the capital. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany were memorable.

I was in Jakarta, in Indonesia from March 1998 to September 2000 and two months later after my arrival in Jakarta, Suharto regime was overthrown. I was in Indonesia in the midst of the East Asian monetary crisis. During that time my task was very hard because I was in charge of Japanese ODA to Indonesia, but it was also a very good experience.

One of the most impressive events in Sri Lanka was the end of the 30-year conflict.

Q: How do you spend your leisure?

A: Listen to classical music, play the flute and the violin. I also read music scores and books on history, literature, biographies of famous artistes and statesmen of Japan and those the world over. I am now reading a book about Sri Lankan history.

Q: What are your favourite books among all the biographies you have read?

A: As a diplomat who served in Germany for more than 10 years, I would like to mention biographies and memoirs of German artistes and statesmen such as Bach, Beethoven, Furtwaengler, Bismarck and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl who contributed to the German reunification and the European integration.

I am now reading the autobiography of Margaret Thatcher with great interest.

Q: What do you think of Sri Lanka and its people?

A: Sri Lanka is wonderful and beautiful. After the end of the conflict the country is peaceful with great potential. There are various kinds of animals. Sri Lankans are very friendly and are always beaming with smiles. Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Hikkaduwa, Horton Plains and Sripada are very beautiful.

Q: How can Sri Lankans understand the Japanese people better since there is a language barrier?

A: I think if we have mutual understanding and respect, we can overcome the language barrier. Despite the language barrier Sri Lankans can understand the Japanese people. At the same time over 12,000 Sri Lankans are now learning the Japanese language. There is a marked increase in the number of Sri Lankans learning Japanese. They are very good at learning. Many people of Japanese origin have great interest in Sri Lankan culture. For example, two years ago Sri Lanka's cultural heritage exhibition which displayed about 150 artifacts including some of Sri Lanka's national treasures was held in Tokyo. The average number of visitors to the exhibition exceeded 1,200 daily. The Emperor and Empress of Japan also visited it. I think the exhibition was very successful and a good opportunity for the Japanese people to learn more about Sri Lankans history and its tradition.


Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2010 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

SL: Japan visa information -1

Japan visa information -1
Visa Counter: 9:00-10:30 (Monday to Friday)

(to apply for Visa) 15:00-16:30 (Monday to Friday)

Consular Counter: 8:30 - 12:30 and 13:30 - 17:00 (for passports, other certificates etc.) Tel: 2693831 -3/Fax: 2674555 documents to be submitted when applying for temporary visitor Visa.

(With effect from 1st April 2010)

How to fill the visa application
a. The visa application form must be completed in full, leaving no details incomplete.

b. Details given therein must be true and correct.

c. The maximum period of stay in Japan for a short term visit is Ninety (90) Days.

d. Applicants should decide on the exact period of stay in Japan according to one's schedule, which may cover a maximum period of (90) days.

e. Visa applications should be typed or legibly hand written in (Block Letters).

f. Each applicant should fill a separate visa application, including child applicants.

Compulsory visa requirements
* Applicants visiting Japan for the first time should produce the original birth certificate with a photocopy and an affidavit declaring that they have not changed their original name.

* A letter from the Travel agent confirming the itenery (The Embassy does not assume responsibility as regards obtaining (Refund on Air Tickets).

* A photograph taken within the past six months. (Refer Application Form for specifications on Photo).

* A valid Passport (a minimum validity of Six (6) Months) and previous cancelled passports; if any.

* Applicants if married, should produce the original marriage certificate with a photocopy.

Documents required for business visit
1. A letter from the local company (reasons for entry, period of stay & Japanese company intending to visit).

2. Original business registration of the local company with a photocopy.

3. Company's Bank Statements (Originals) for the past Six (6) Months.

(Fixed deposit Certificates will not be accepted)

4. The latest Original Tax payment receipt of the Company.

5. Original guarantee letter from a Japanese Company with Japanese Company Registration (Original).

Documents required for tourism, to visit relatives or attend seminars etc.
1. Bank Statements (Originals ) for the past Six (6) Months. (Fixed Deposit Certificates will not be accepted).

2. Employment Certificate; if employed. (or other relevant certificates i.e. original business registration certificate if owner or partner of a business). For student applicants a letter from the school Principal

or head of the institution.

3. Document explaining the applicants activities in Japan.

a. If sightseeing; detail itinery of proposed travel plan and a hotel reservation.

b. If visiting relatives; detail information about relatives and proposed plan of visit

* if relative or friend is a Sri Lankan, copy of alien card, alien registration certificate issued from city office in Japan & passport copies, including a copy of a valid visa to stay in Japan.

* if relative or friend is a Japanese, his/her income certificate, resident certificate & employment certificate.

c. Documents relating to tours or tour packages, brochures etc.

d. If attending a meeting, seminar or conference; details of such venue and programme.

e. Confirmation of hotel reservation by Fax only (E-mails will not be accepted)

SRILANKA: Suspension of Visa-on-Arrival Facility extended to citizens of 79 countries, including India from 30.9.2010! Except Singapore& Maldives.!!!

Sri Lanka scraps visa-on-arrival

B. Muralidhar Reddy


COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Friday announced suspension of visa-on-arrival facility extended to citizens of 79 countries, including India, with effect from September 30.

A public notice posted on the Department of Immigration and Emigration website by said: “It has been decided that the On Arrival Visa Facility be suspended with immediate effect except as regards the countries that have been reciprocal for this facility.”

“Accordingly, the existing visa regime of granting landing endorsements on arrival for tourists will be withdrawn with effect from the 30th of September 2010. Therefore, please note that the tourists from all countries except Singapore and Maldives are required to obtain prior entry visa either from the Department of Immigration & Emigration in Colombo or from the Sri Lanka Missions abroad before their arrival in Sri Lanka.”

Affects tourism

The move could have an adverse impact on the tourism industry, which has witnessed a sharp growth in recent months.

The number of tourist arrivals went up 50 per cent to 63,339 in July 2010, compared to the corresponding period in the previous year, according to figures released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Sri Lanka was recently ranked as the number one tourist destination by the New York Times in its list of “31 Places to go in 2010”. The maximum number of tourists is from India.

Copyright © 2010 Hindu.COM

Suddenly it has become ‘cool’ to travel to Jaffna...!!!

By Rathindra Kuruwita

“I fell in love with the country, the people, and the way of life which were entirely different from everything in London and Cambridge to which I had been born and bred.”
- Leonard Woolf

Suddenly it has become ‘cool’ to travel to Jaffna. Everyone you know seems to be taking the bus, car, van or helicopter to the North and the East after the end of the war, an area which has been closed to the public for nearly three decades. And with the New York Times naming Sri Lanka as the top place to visit in 2010, a large number of foreign tourists are expected to join the locals in the coming months.
So what does every avid traveller have when s/he travels into unknown lands, apart from a passport and hard currency? A travel guide, obviously. However, there are no modern travel guides to the North and East of Sri Lanka -- two of the country’s most exotic and interesting gegraphical swathes, mostly because the ethnic conflict made extensive travelling there impossible.
The market is virtually untapped. Well, it was untapped till this week when Juliet Coombe and Daisy Perry, authors of Around the Fort in 80 Lives launched their travel guide to the North and East, Sri Lanka’s Other Half - a book that the authors hope will help the reader “wow the friends and family with tales from a part of Sri Lanka that has been totally cut off from the rest of country for the last three decades and therefore preserved from unregulated tourism.”

Travelling with toddlers

Most parents I know don’t like to go on vacation with their children simply because they think they will be a pain in the neck. Kids simply get in the way and hamper travel arrangements, that’s what I always hear. Imagine travelling around the North and East with a two and a half- year- old kid and a two month old infant in tow. (‘You have to breast feed them and stuff you know’) but according to Juliet Coombe (who actually did travel with her kids), having a child with you makes people open up to you more, that is, as soon as they get by the initial shock.
“Initially people are a bit shocked when I turn up with my son and young baby, but not for long. And despite all the challenges involved I can’t imagine travelling without my two children. They always get me to the front of every queue, get me waved through checkpoints and the word ‘no’ no longer exists, which allows me to go into just about any building or site even if it is closed at the end of the day. “Our books would probably still be stuck in customs now if it wasn’t for the award winning smile of baby Amzar, my No.02. Prices aren’t even an issue, sometimes people don’t charge anything and I am touched by how many people have helped in every single spot I have been to, carrying the baby, so I could take the best photos or have my hands free to write up an interview.”
She added that people have always offered to help take care of the baby. The universal concern and love for children helped her get through language and cultural barriers that she encounters during travel.
“Particularly in Jaffna for example everybody looked after the baby and at Expo Pavilions Hotel, Jaffna, the staff were so nice they not only bought me a sari, baby clothes and toys but also became so close to me whilst I was researching the book that I have an open invite to return anytime I like. A couple I met in Jaffna, who are also featured in the book, Jivitha and Burton have even invited me to their wedding. Now I can’t understand why everybody doesn’t want to have a baby. It makes the world a much more fun, open and an equal place to live in. Sadly, Sri Lanka’s Other Half, our guidebook, doesn’t come with a free baby, but it does have a complimentary photographic guide at the end, to help you improve your travel photography and take pictures that might appear in our future updates.”

Why Jaffna?

Even as kids Juliet and Daisy were fascinated by Jaffna. This was some what before the beginning of the civil war, and yes they ARE kind of old. Juliet who is an avid reader was specially interested in the Jaffna library which at one time was one of South Asia’s best libraries and has been attracted by its restoration in the late 1990s.
“From childhood I was fascinated by Jaffna and its ancient ruins submerged in the shifting sand dunes and stories of the Nallur Kandaswamy Hindu festival of self-mutilation that brings millions of devotees together every year in gruesome tests of faith. My parents talked of the magnificent public library in Jaffna - with over 100,000 books to pick from and the joke between my brothers and mum was that I was such a voracious reader that when I ran out of books to read and libraries to go to, I would have to start writing my own. So I guess the stories of the Jaffna public library made covering this region totally irresistible with its possible new sources of literary inspiration. Combined with the chance to see a city and areas of Sri Lanka that had been pretty much closed off from the world for three decades were the main reasons I went ahead with the project,” Juliet said.
“But writing a travel guide is not as easy as it seems. Until now I thought it was all about funding, getting permission and a four wheel drive, cruising around, having a chat with the occasional bystander and the hotel staff and taking ‘pretty pictures’. But apparently its not that easy -- one has to spend months researching places. This is a mix of things from reading old newspapers on line, looking for the unusual and quirky stories in the feature sections and reading books, usually literary titles, linked to the areas that should be covered.
“Also some Victorian guide books for amusement value only and talking to just about anyone who have been to the areas we were planning on including. Daisy Perry and I divided the book up and researched as much as we could based on a tight time-line and the official government permissions required to go. Some of the places in the book took weeks to get official clearance for. Jaffna in the end due to all the paper work required was written almost completely by myself with some help from Burton and Jivitha, who have a chapter in the book dedicated to them.”

Focus points

The authors tried to cover every place that was open in the region in a systematic way and focused on the subjects rather than the places that would most interest readers and could not be found in any other guide. Since both writers have a ‘personal pet hate’ to replicate information that is already out there, they often read only the contemporary guides after their books have gone to the printers.
“The North and East - a mere 50km journey can take over seven hours depending on the state of the roads or the tides and river levels if ferry crossings are involved.
But it is more than worth the effort to see Jaffna’s Portuguese-Dutch fortress even if it be in ruins, picturesque off shore islands, in particular Delft, with its wild ponies brought over by the Portuguese in colonial times and take a ride around Jaffna in a classic car, listen to singing fish at midnight in Batticaloa, watch the blue pigeons return at sun set to Pigeon Island just off Trincomalee,” Daisy said. The two authors are also co owners of Sri Serendipity publishing house in Galle. They are already getting ready for their next travel book - Addicted: Generation T: A guide to Tea and Tea Cuisine. Apparently, it’s a book about why tea is sexy.
“You can learn how to cook a delicious romantic meal using tea, find out how to travel Sri Lanka’s tea country discovering a hidden world of tea factories used as art galleries, luxurious planter’s bungalows and the best roadside tea stalls to stop for a cuppa. Plus follow our trails and meet the tea artists and wildlife experts that make any trip to the tea country unforgettable.”

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