Sri Lanka - May defaults on debt a sobering lesson to us all. Should we tourist visit there to help break the spiral downward ?

[lol-lol]

The beautiful island of Sri Lanka, allegedly run by an incompetence and corrupt political elite family, faces economic ruin and the poorer people maybe even face starvation.

 

Loved by many UK visitors, should we help them as we have other countries, should we visit or is it no longer safe or should avoid and watch the melt down from afar of this wonderful land the Brits love, a must on the overseas cricket visits ?

Edited 8 April, 2022 by lol-lol

[cheezemonkhai]

Really? Maybe we should lighten up on some of the headlines?

Want to put some links in, perhaps remove the potentially liable comments (unless you have a source of course?)

 

 

Edited 8 April, 2022 by cheezemonkhai

[lol-lol]

2 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Really? Maybe we should lighten up on some of the headlines?

Want to put some links in, perhaps remove the potentially liable comments (unless you have a source of course?)

 

Yes really.

Bloomberg is where I am seeing much of these news and it seems to have been covered very little on other channels.  Here is one link.....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2022-04-05/sri-lanka-may-default-amid-political-economic-crisis-video

 

It explain how they are almost inevitable to go to default and disaster for this beautiful country which I was hoping to visit soon as it is high on my bucket list and it is so saddening it is looking so bleak for many of the near 30M who live there.

 

  

 

 

 

[cheezemonkhai]

Sorry, but putting the moderator hat on for a minute, I'm more than a little bit concerned about the number of light the touch paper headlines on many threads.

 

As such, I'm asking that you review your thread title and also using such sweeping statements without links.

I'm not particularly happy with the way this and other threads turn into a vis-a-vis disagreements.

 

The first post can be altered, or you're welcome to start a new thread with a title/first post that isn't going to set people off.

That's without getting into how people from the countries in question feel about things.

 

 

 

[lol-lol]

20 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Sorry, but putting the moderator hat on for a minute, I'm more than a little bit concerned about the number of light the touch paper headlines on many threads.

 

As such, I'm asking that you review your thread title and also using such sweeping statements without links.

I'm not particularly happy with the way this and other threads turn into a vis-a-vis disagreements.

 

The first post can be altered, or you're welcome to start a new thread with a title/first post that isn't going to set people off.

That's without getting into how people from the countries in question feel about things.

 

I have had a go editing the title and first post hope you find it better.

I hope people like Romesh Raganathan promote some ways of helping Sri Lanka through the dark days it looks to have ahead.

They had a terrible time through the Boxing Day Tsunami and I fear this may be very bad for them too.

I recall one of my first teachers when I came back to the UK was Sri Lankan, well Ceylon as it was called then and she left an impression on me of her country.  Also my brother has been several times and have been looking forward to going there so I am hoping they get back on the forward development path ASAP.    

 

[cheezemonkhai]

I think you know full well I refer to the thread titles, which tend to stir up people before they've even entered and read the thread.

We shall see how this thread develops, but I'll make it very clear that the forum isn't here to provide the monty python argument service...

[lol-lol]

9 minutes ago, cheezemonkhai said:

I think you know full well I refer to the thread titles, which tend to stir up people before they've even entered and read the thread.

We shall see how this thread develops, but I'll make it very clear that the forum isn't here to provide the monty python argument service...

 

My main aim is to trawl for ideas of how to help Sri Lanka.

 

Should I try and single out buying their tea or is their other ways ?

 

I am quite keen to go over there for a holiday for a couple of weeks or so but is there some places safer than other.

 

Probably are some people on Briskoda who know Sri Lanka quite well and I would love to draw on their local knowledge and also help Sri Lanka by my buying patterns if that genuinely can work via Fair Trade system if that operates in that country.

 

Edited 8 April, 2022 by lol-lol

[J.R.]

Send them a few of your fat pensions, you probably wont miss them.

[skomaz]

Sri Lanka...   Beautiful place, beautiful people but ravaged by wars and religious divide. 

 

We went years ago for a Sri Lankan friends wedding when the tamil tigers were still at large and Colombo was full of craters and then spent three weeks touring the County, including using railway bridges in a van to bypass blown up road bridges in the northeast of the country, staying with tea plantation workers and in local guesthouses and would love to go back! 

 

They are a hardy nation of people with a positive outlook and will survive, regardless of what the like of lol-lol does when buying tea... 

Edited 8 April, 2022 by skomaz

[@Lee]

2 hours ago, skomaz said:

Sri Lanka...   Beautiful place, beautiful people but ravaged by wars and religious divide. 

 

We went years ago for a Sri Lankan friends wedding when the tamil tigers were still at large and Colombo was full of craters and then spent three weeks touring the County, including using railway bridges in a van to bypass blown up road bridges in the northeast of the country, staying with tea plantation workers and in local guesthouses and would love to go back! 

 

They are a hardy nation of people with a positive outlook and will survive, regardless of what the like of lol-lol does when buying tea... 

 

I was with you and appreciated your thoughts and experience of your visit. Thanks, it's not somewhere I know much about other than there's been ongoing problems there for some time.

I know Arthur C Clarke retired there and did a few of his TV shows from there in the 80's.

As an aside, when I lived in Minehead many years ago, I rented a bedsit in the house he grew up in.

Back to my first sentence; I was with you and appreciated your thoughts right up until the slight on lol-lol. Not needed IMO. 

[@Lee]

I don't know much about the situation there tbh as it's not something I've looked into.

 

There's equally, or maybe more pressing, problems closer to home IMO. 

[lol-lol]

6 hours ago, J.R. said:

Send them a few of your fat pensions, you probably wont miss them.

 

Only have one pension fund at that is the one with my current employer and it is only a smidge above the average size.  Average size is £190K and my fund with my employer is £216K so neither numerous or fat.  Got given my HMCE civil service pension last year when I turned 60 but that is only £230 a month after the tax I pay on it.  I had to handover some pension money during divorce and I am still partially looking after two kids as they are either at home or still at Uni so still lots of out goings ie mortgage at over £1200pm. Just trying to use as much as possible of my salary in to my pension pot ie my annual allowance of £40k so that if I have to retire in the next few month or couple of years through ill health I have done my best to cover the basic costs between now and when I get my state pension at 67 ie 6 years time. 

 

Anyway back to Sri Lanka, found a shop in Birmingham, Bristol and Gloucester that do Sri Lankan goods, nothing in Worcestershire I could find.  Other items I recall from Sri Lankan are gems and I recall wedding ring had Sri Lankan jewels in it.  Lots of clothes were made also in LK but I think much of that moved to Bangladesh sadly for them.  As I mentioned it has been top of my holiday destination, maybe stay on board a cruise ship rather than stay ashore if it gets a bit dodgy.  Hopefully they can find a way though with World Bank or the like helping them through the upcoming difficult time.

https://www.rolcruise.co.uk/cruise-detail/1911075-india-sri-lanka-2023-11-20  

 

 

 

[lol-lol]

4 hours ago, @Lee said:

I don't know much about the situation there tbh as it's not something I've looked into.

There's equally, or maybe more pressing, problems closer to home IMO. 

 

I get a bad feeling about Russia-Ukraine in that there is more to this story than we are hearing in the West.

Sounds like a lot of Russian people are supporting Putin and did feel threatened by Western expansion on the Russian door Steppe.

 

The Sri Lankan people probably just woke up and found out that the coffers were empty and their governing body had heavily lent international money but now that had not the ability to repay those loans.

Sri Lankan citizens building businesses in tourism and other special goods that the world wants but now there are power cuts, fuel shortages and it is difficult to live even if you are doing everything right in the way you live but those in charge just mess up big time and ruin you and your families future. Very sad. 

Hopefully other countries will not follow though I fear a repeat of the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis as interest rates soar and more near defaulting.

 

Edited 9 April, 2022 by lol-lol