Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Old photos, Ceylon, Pinterest,

Ruwanweli Saeya 1874


Weighing and packing tea - 1892

Galle road 1900-

1929 - Ox cart near Colombo

 

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Opium, Papaver somniferum.


"The two Opium Wars of 1839-–1842 and 1856 - –1860 between Britain and China, are recounted for the first time through the eyes of the Chinese as well as the Imperial West. Opium entered China during the Middle Ages when Arab traders brought it into China for medicinal purposes. As it took hold as a recreational drug, opium wrought havoc on Chinese society. By the early nineteenth century, 90 percent of the Emperor's court and the majority of the army were opium addicts.

Britain was also a nation addicted―to tea, grown in China, and paid for with profits made from the opium trade. When China tried to ban the use of the drug and bar its Western smugglers from it gates, England decided to fight to keep open China's ports for its importation. England, the superpower of its time, managed to do so in two wars, resulting in a drug-induced devastation of the Chinese people that would last 150 years.".

 From

"The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another"

 Paperback – Illustrated, February 1, 2004

Raid on an opium plantation

                                          

 "A poppy bulb oozes opium paste, in a field in Badakhshan Province. To harvest opium, farmers score the bulbs and then wait for the sticky paste to dry before scraping it into containers. Most of the opium is pressed into bricks and sent to refineries to be made into heroin, which is then smuggled out of Afghanistan. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that Afghan opium kills more people worldwide—up to 100,000 per year—than any other drug" - "National Geographic".

Harvesting opium


Opium den China

Opium den  -  Indonesia

 

Monday, January 4, 2021

Traffiic on the Ruwanwella to Thalawakelle highway.


Transport of timber

Transport of fruits

Transport of wood carvings

Railway level crossing, approaching Thalawakelle



 

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Young days. Photos from Pinterest,




Small girl- Big Dog

Children taking a 'Selfie'


Supreme self-confidence

Enjoying candy floss

'Friends'

Something to laugh about

'Curiosity' at a tender age

Bounced Baby

Street fight

Sharing a  joke


 

Friday, January 1, 2021

New year 2021, Best wishes.

 

Please click on the web-link below:-


https://youtu.be/PD9KLA4qz3A

 

Our best wishes to You  all.

May the New Year 2021 bring you Happiness and Joy.

 

From  Philip and Ramya