Happy New Year from Sri Lanka. No snow here. We are in peak holiday season and the Sri Lankan sun just wants to shine. After making some final checks of Red Dot’s first pdf brochure, I’ve been checking out the Southern beaches — and it has to be said it has been a more restful… Read More »

This is now officially boom time in Sri Lanka. Even the good ol’ New York Times has granted its approval. Travellers from the United States are not known as the most adventurous in the world — in recent years with good reason you might say — but the New York Times has named Sri Lanka… Read More »

Fed up with the frenzy of shopping and pre-Christmas buzz in Colombo, I escaped to Galle Fort for a peaceful couple of days with friends. My nagging list of unfinished things-to-do and a rather lengthy Christmas gift list was happily put aside to do when I return from my much earned r & r. Our… Read More »

Just before the Christmas rush I was able to escape for a day to visit some new properties in the Bentota area last week. One of these was the wonderful Bawa House 87 where I spent an utterly peaceful morning.  Enter through the large white gates and an instant sense of serenity takes over as… Read More »

With less than a month to go, Negombo is fast sprucing up for `Feel Negombo 2009’ – a beach festival to be held from 11-13 December organised by Sri Lanka Tourism Board. Planned along the lines of the popular Hikkaduwa Beach Festival, this event promises even more. From colourful street parades, adventurous watersports, family bonfires… Read More »

Some good news just in: the adventurous can once again look forward to soaring high above the untouched wilderness, ancient ruins and rock temples of the Cultural Triangle. From November, Red Dot is once again able to offer hot air balloon safaris from Kandalama to Dambulla. Galle is another spectacular location for hot air ballooning.… Read More »

Plans for Galle Literary Festival 2010, to be held from 27 to 31 January, are gathering pace. With less than 100 days to go, the excitement is brewing with several well-known local and foreign authors confirming their participation. As in the previous three years, the Literary Festival 2010 promises five days of enthralling literary discussions,… Read More »

It’s late October in Sri Lanka. I arrived from England last week expecting to spend my first month on the island seeing out the end of the monsoon – nothing of the sort! The weather has been glorious. I am sharing a flat in Colombo whilst working for a few months for Red Dot, but… Read More »

Harpo of Bay Leaf fame has done it again.  His fourth restaurant, Café Che, opened recently at Stratford Avenue, Colombo 6.  Interesting black and white photos of the iconic revolutionary and Cuban music sets the ambience here and a variety of Cuban and Italian dishes and light snacks are served throughout the day.  Sipping a… Read More »

A week of creative inspiration is on the cards for those interested in creative design. Sri Lanka Design Festival 2009, a pioneering effort that is expected to attract a global audience, will take place from Nov 27 to Dec 05 in Colombo. Conceptualised by the Academy of Design in Colombo and sponsored by the Government… Read More »