Sri Lanka in 2005. The Esala Perahera (the procession of Esala) is the grand festival with elegant costumes held in July and August in Kandy, Sri Lanka. This historical procession (perahera) is held annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, which is housed at the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. A unique symbol of Sri Lanka, the procession consists of many traditional local dances such as fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandyan dances and various other cultural dances, in addition to the elephants who are usually adorned with lavish garments. Southeast Asia holds strong appeal. The Buddhism makes for some really nice people and the art and architecture is inspirational in it’s form and it’s intention. My focus is the daily life of the ordinary people who are living in an extraordinary environment. The times can be tough as we were there post Tsunami and many people were still rebuilding their lives.