In the Temple of the Tooth relic at Kandy, there's a chamber that documents how the tooth of the Buddha came to that place. Along with it is the story of the rise, the fall, and various attempts at the resurgence of Buddhism on the Sri Lankan island. Today, Buddhism is the state religion in Sri Lanka, while various other faiths coexist mostly peacefully. However, in that chamber, coupled with the narratives scattered around in the National Museum in Colombo, the artifacts in the Gangaramaya temple, on top of the Sigiriya Lion rock and other places, is the story of the corruption of the religious order, inklings of political struggle, and the various attempts to rectify, purify and put things back in order. The pattern is reminiscent of the usual arch of how things happen when humans are involved.
Sri Lanka has beautifully maintained roads, and people mostly drive safely. From what I could sense from the limited contact that I've had with the locals, most of them are kind. People in Ladakh were also kind. It could be sampling bias, Buddhism, or simply that humans, on average, aren't a bad lot.
