A week in November hardly qualifies me as an expert on Sri Lanka. What did impress me, however, was the number of organizations there that still have the word “Ceylon” in their names. To say nothing of tea. This suggested to me that whatever colonialism may have meant to the island, it was not so bad that the name was thrown off as soon as the foreign masters had left. My visit included Colombo, Kandy, south from Kandy to the coast and back up to Colombo: the southwestern quarter, I suppose you could say. I was visiting a friend who lives and works in Colombo and he has a four-wheel drive vehicle which we used on our short trip. Which brings me to the only unfavorable comment to be made about Sri Lanka. Except for a few in towns, the roads I saw were terrible. Narrow two-lanes and badly-maintained (if at all). The conclusion is that there is no money for roads. There is, however, evidently money for education as Sri Lanka has one of the highest literacy rates in Asia, and one which compares favorably with most of the world. And if I had to choose between being able to read and being able to drive on a freeway, I know what my choice would be.
We set out from Colombo for Kandy on a sunny morning, stopping for lunch in a restaurant pavilion on a river where elephants were bathing. On then to Kandy which is higher and cooler than Colombo. We had booked rooms at the marvelously-named Helga’s Folly, a hotel which advertises NO PACKAGE GROUPS. Originally built by a prominent Sri Lankan family, the house has been enlarged, expanded and is now stuffed with everything imaginable. As one guest had written in the visitors’ book, “a veritable Aladdin’s cave of the bizarre, the beautiful and the unexpected.” Perched on a mountainside with views of the lake and the town below, the hotel is in fact very comfortable and its delicious food and drink are prepared and served with style and competence.
From Kandy we were bound for Nuwara Eliya, a few hours drive away and several thousand feet higher. On the way, we stopped at Pemberley, a former tea estate which is now a scholarly research center specializing in — can you believe it? — Jane Austen! The owners are Sri Lankan academics from old island families and if I wanted to get away from everything, I would go to Pemberley. The views were amazing and we were told that on a clear day, you could see forever — or at least to the sea. It was not, alas! a clear day.
Climbing ever up through mists, cool weather, rain and the lush greenness of tea estates, we reached Nuwara Eliya in the late afternoon. The town was swathed in mists and everywhere were flowers such as embellish English gardens which even the most talented gardeners in tropical Colombo could never successfully cultivate. We were glad to put on sweaters over our thin shirts and replace sandals with shoes and socks. As we checked into The Hill Club, we were shown into a long room with a fireplace at one end and bookcases at the other. As tea was brought in, I enjoyed looking at the books, most of which were from the 1920’s and 30’s: the typical things read by the British in those days. At dinner that night, there was a roaring fire in the dining room and we found hot water bottles had been tucked into our beds while we were at dinner. The next morning after a briskly cool walk, we had a full breakfast and set off with full stomachs for the south coast and its warm sunny weather. Down, down, down several thousand feet to a seaside town whose name I cannot now remember. In any case, we checked into a government guest house where most rooms had sea front balconies. We were a long way from The Hill Club and its jackets-for-dinner policy but the service was as smooth, efficient and pleasant as we had come to expect — and which we unfailingly received everywhere we went.
That evening we walked along the beach which was lined with guest houses and small hotels, all of which seemed to be filled with foreign tourists. We chose one at random where we dined on various kinds of perfectly-cooked seafood followed by delicious banana fritters. The next morning after breakfast, we headed west along the coast. At some points the road ran beside the sea while at others, it meandered inland. Along the sea and in the small towns on the coast, we saw a number of small hotels and guest houses in addition to some more luxurious ones. We stopped at one of the latter to look at the rooms and ask for prices. The room we saw — called a standard as opposed to a deluxe — included a large storage area, a balcony looking down into a garden and the sea, a well-equipped bathroom plus all the other usual hotel amenities. The price, we were told, was $75 and that included three meals. If fewer meals were required, the price would come down. Where else in the world would you find such accommodation at such a price? The hotel, by the way, was Italian-owned and its guests are often European.
Soon after we were in Galle where we had lunch at the Ramparts Hotel, a large rambling old place, and walked on the ramparts built by the Dutch. The walk was pleasant though the lunch was rather uninspiring — exactly what you would expect from a place serving busloads of tourists. There are a number of old houses and other buildings in Galle which are being restored. It had the feel of a real tourist town which I had not noticed in any of the other places we visited.
Sri Lanka is about a three-hour flight from Jeddah — good connections on Emirates or direct on SriLankan Airlines from Riyadh — and is worth a trip. If you want to lie on a beach, you can. If you want to hike in the mountains, you can. If you want to find out about its history, you can.
Plenty of delicious fresh fish and sea food and every kind of fruit that you can imagine. The papayas were especially memorable. I had a brief look at only a small part of the country and hope to go back in the near future to see the rest. And certainly to buy some more tea.