From the moment you enter the wooden gates, the gentle breeze and the wide open green spaces just wash you over with a sense of peace and calm that cannot be brushed aside. This feeling would continue even through the welcome by the gracious and smiling hosts and the refreshing drink of thambili and it… Read More »
Rest-houses For a taste (literally) of colonial Ceylon, I go to one of the few rest-houses that remain which are found in towns in the interior of the country. These were originally bungalows developed by the British colonial administration as a network of cheap accommodation and meals for travelling officials. They were usually built in… Read More »
Go East The season to visit the East Coast of Sri Lanka begins this month, May, and lasts until October, as the monsoon storms switch coasts and the sea in the east becomes calmer and the weather bright, while the beaches on the west shrink under rough seas. Trincomalee is the best known… Read More »
City Birds As park and playing field walls are being torn down and roads cleaned up, Colombo is fast regaining its colonial reputation as a Garden City. Although the original sprawling cinnamon gardens that once formed the city’s boundary has become the prime residential district of Colombo 7, Vihara Mara Devi (formerly Victoria) Park… Read More »
Highest Peak Now Open The hill country town of Nuwara Eliya has always been a favourite of travellers who want something different after exploring the cultural ruins and exotic beaches of the rest of Sri Lanka. With its colonial bungalows and chilly, misty nights, it seems an anachronism situated within seven degrees of the tropics.… Read More »
The Flowering of the Lotus Pond Theatre The inaugural ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Colombo in November 2013 brought to the world’s attention the magnificent Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre. This spectacular building, familiarly known as Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Theatre, began life as the… Read More »
By Rasitjha Wickramasinghe A few months ago I realized one of my lifelong ambitions. I am 41 years old and lived in Sri Lanka until the age of 18. All that time the furthest north I have been was to Mannar. With the heightening of civil war and the JVP insurrection I… Read More »
Colombo’s Bouqinistes Paris may be famous for its bouquinistes, stalls selling second hand and antiquarian books lining the banks of the River Seine, but Colombo also has them. They don’t line the banks of the Beira Lake and tourists seldom find them but they are invaluable for the traveller. These wayside booksellers are to be… Read More »
Escape CHOGM The CHOGM roadshow rolls into town from 10 to 17 November 2013. CHOGM is the acronym for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and 54 HOGs representing Commonwealth nations around the world, plus 10,000 delegates, spouses and entourage members, as well as participants in Commonwealth youth and business forums, will be taking over… Read More »
Kandy in a Day August is the month of the world famous Kandy Perahera. It climaxes this year on the Full Moon day of Tuesday 20 August with the evening parade of whip crackers, fire dancers, jugglers and elephants, including one bearing a casket containing the revered Buddha’s tooth (or a replica of… Read More »
