The Galle Face is 164 years old and completely wonderful. It doesn’t have a gym, business centre, sushi bar or a shuttle to the airport, or any of the other things associated with a modern luxury hotel. But it has large beds in large rooms, with large bathtubs (they don’t make ‘em like that any more…). I went down to breakfast – the dining room always has French doors open onto the veranda, which is 12 feet wide – the perfect place to sit with a cold beer and watch the rain in the rainy season. Luckily for me this was not the rainy season and the open windows let in a nice breeze in the otherwise heavy air.
Sri Lanka too has its troubles – the Tamil Tigers have been fighting the government for a couple of decades and exploded a bomb in one of the main hotels a couple of months before I arrived (living in New York is too dull and I have to go to exciting places for fun…). The police look very different here – whereas they tend to be asleep in Egypt, they look all too professional here, as do the various troops (including women), all wearing British-style uniforms.
During one trip I spoke to the driver about the various road blocks. He talked in broken English about the problem with the Tamils – then said that “Indian” Tamils were “good” Tamils, unlike the Tigers. The “Indian” Tamils were brought over by the British in the last century to work the tea plantations, while the native Tamils came over many centuries ago as part of the various Indian invasions. Sri Lanka has extraordinary diversity considering its relatively small size. Not only does it have great beaches (which for many Europeans are the only part of Sri Lanka they see), but beautiful hill country covered with green tea plantations, jungle, and ancient cities.
One of the pleasures of travelling in Sri Lanka is the railway system – not because it is so efficient (it isn’t) nor extensive (there are only two lines) but because the scenery is so extraordinary. Between Colombo and Kandy, and then Kandy all the way to Ella, the train climbs thousands of feet through the jungle. Tea is surprisingly green, but more impressive is the wild fauna that grows naturally or springs up in between the plantations. Plants we consider “exotic” or indoor plants grow wild, or at least unfettered by cold weather – crocodile philondendrons grow happily outside in the gardens, scarlet canna lillies sprout everywhere near houses, and morning glories of an intense purple-blue climb all over the tea bushes and all the plants nearby, along telephone wires and on road-side bushes.
This is the leaning Budda at Annaphurna, one of the ancient cities in the centre of the country. Annaphurna was built about 1000 years ago and then abandoned. Both it and Siggiria where reclaimed by the jungle and hidden for hundreds of years until discovered by the British in the last century,
Sigiria is even more impressive than Annaphurna. It is a huge rock which sticks out from the plane, quite a few miles from the nearest hill. Along the bottom were ornate gardens with running streams as well as pools. Steps wind up all the way up the rock. About half way up can be found some frescoes from the 6th century, very famous in the East – they gave rise to all sorts of graffiti on the surrounding wall, from lascivious men to jealous women. The shape of the women is quite surprising – maybe the first supermodels; certainly not the shape of Sri Lankan and Indian women today.
At the top are the ruins of what used to be the summer palace, the beginnings of which were built 1500 years ago. They are overgrown with lush plants, and as ruins are not particularly spectacular.
The real treat is finding this palace at the top of such a hill, after a long climb, and with such extraordinary views.
The final step of the Ancient Cities trip is Dambulla. This is a natural cave cut widthwise in the rock. For many centuries is has been used as a temple, with Buddhist paintings all over the ceiling. Over time, the cave has been built up so that it is now a formal temple - an odd mixture of man-made walls and weather-carved rock.
During this part of the trip, my driver engaged in a little exchange which never failed to amuse him. He would drive me up to a restaurant on the road and leave me to have my lunch, while he went round the back. After lunch he would ask me how much my lunch would cost, and I would say "300 rupees" (about $5). He would then grin, and say "50 rupees", which is what he had paid for his (and probably eaten the same meal).
Newara Elyia is a hill station - one of the many built by the British in India and Sri Lanka to escape the summer heat. It is completely different in feel from the rest of the country - it feels more like the Lake District in England than part of a tropical country. This is not just because of the weather, which is almost cool and often misty or rainy, but because, more than any part of the country, there is an English feel about the place. Below is the Hill Club, once an exclusive club open only to Europeans and men (although there is a side entrance through which ladies could gain access to the bar). Nowadays it is mostly a hotel, although it is still a club. I got a suite for $35 and the rooms even have the damp smell of English bed & breakfasts. The place not only has a dress code for dinner - rather pretentious in a place where most of the guests are tourists - but I wandered into the billiard room and was knocking balls around when a water came in and told me that I needed to wear a jacket and tie to play billiards. As I was settling into bed for the night one of the staff knocked on the door and asked me if I wanted a hot water bottle - an odd concept in such a hot country.
Further into the hill country is the Ella Gap - an opening in the mountains that provides a clear view from the mountains onto the coastal plain. This is a stunning view of which unfortunately (for all of you) I didn't take a picture - you will have to take my word for it that it is a really beautiful view, and very relaxing to sit on a veranda with a cold beer watching the sun go down.
After the hill country I headed for Hikkaduwa and the beach. Hikkaduwa was the first place in Sri Lanka to be opened up for tourism, mostly by Germans heading for sun and sea. There are plenty of people who arrive, sit on the beach for two weeks and leave, never having eaten a local meal or gone to visit any of the major sights in the country. Nevertheless, Hikkaduwa has a nice feel to it and has some special attractions. I was trying out my new snorkel and mask on the first day in the sea - I put it on and stuck my face in the water, and there, 12 feet away from me, was a giant turtle. I tried to follow it around, and it slid away, keeping about the same distance in between us. I came across turtles several times while snorkelling - on one occasion I followed three around for several minutes before I lost sight of them.
Also in the Hikkaduwa area are 14 wrecks within an hour of each other. I dived two of them and it was definitely the best diving I have done - the water is warm (warmer actually than the air temperature, since it was raining that day). One was a sailship, the other a small tanker. It was breathtaking to swim around the bows, then through the wreck, which seems to attract fish as a sort of artificial reef. One of the fish was a puffer - usually about the size of a fist (when they are not puffed up) but this one was about the size of a head (unpuffed).
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