Europe's place in the world

Whenever I leave Europe, it always feels so small. It's about a 3 hour flight from UK to the Black Sea coast of Romania - the edge of the EU - and yet still between 7 and 8 hours flight to Colombo.

A few impressions of my visit (the main purpose was to watch England play cricket, but we'll draw a veil over that....)

1. Sri Lanka does not quite have the entrepreneurial buzz of Singapore, Hong Kong or Mumbai but many people make a living through small businesses in the informal economy - a total contrast to the old EU

2. We rush around so much in modern life and find it difficult to find true contentment - David Cameron's ideas about quality of life strike a real cord. I found true relaxation being lashed by the monsoon rains at the top of Sigiriya rock, a palace complex built in 7 years - evidence of a technologically intelligent civilisation in 5th century AD which built the rock fortress and advanced irrigation systems

3. As far north as Habarana Sri Lanka's 30 year old civil war seems far away but from there it's only 50 miles from the city of Trincomalee which has seen fighting in the past - the war is an ethnic conflict which the country can't afford but can't find a way to escape from