Sri Lanka | GlobalSalsa: travel writer Belinda Jackson

Nov

20 reasons to visit Colombo, Sri Lanka

Colombo classic: The historic Galle Face Hotel. Photo: Getty Images

1 PETTAH
Brave the streets of Pettah to pick up everything from
fabrics and fruit to watches and wedding invitations. “It’s utter
chaos,” the locals cheerfully admit. “You can get a suit made in two
hours, though it may last only three.” The streets are crammed with
saris, electronics and ayurvedic medicines, while the fruit and
vegetable market heaves with sacks of outrageously fierce-looking
chillis.

2 GALLE FACE GREEN
It’s easy to forget Colombo is a seaside city when you’re
stuck in a 1pm traffic snarl on the Galle Road. The best way to
reconnect with the Indian Ocean is by making like a local and
promenading on the Galle Face Green. Sundays are a big day for local
families, kite flyers and food trucks serving deep-fried snacks.

3 SRI LANKAN CRAB
Singapore’s famed chilli crabs actually come from Sri Lanka,
so go back to the heart of it all at Ministry of Crab, one of
Australian-Sri Lankan chef Peter Kuruvita’s top picks on the Colombo
dining scene. It may be the priciest place in town, but chef Dharshan
Munidasa’s cooking is worth it (ministryofcrab.com). Crab gets the Tamil
treatment on Sundays in a Jaffna-style crab curry at Yarl (56 Vaverset
Place, Wellawate, Colombo 6) or little sister Yarl Eat House (Cnr Galle
and Station roads, Wellawatte).

4 OLD DUTCH HOSPITAL
Until recently, the Old Dutch Hospital was a crumbling ruin.
Dating from 1677, it’s the oldest building in town and now its long, low
courtyards are Colombo’s new heart. It’s a one-stop shop for clothes
and gifts, spa treatments, chic dining, serious tea drinking at Heladiv
Tea Club or more relaxed pizza and steins of beer at Colombo Fort Cafe.
Come nightfall, it’s a buzzy hotbed of locals and tourists.

5 CLOTHES SHOPPING
Odel is Colombo’s fashion house of choice (5, Alexandra Pl,
Col 7) and KT Brown its designer, with ethnically inspired designs (7
Coniston Place, Col 7, ktbrownstudio.com).
For leaner budgets, Cotton Collection (143 Dharmapala Mw, Col 7) has
fab finds and nearby Kelly Felder (117 Dharmapala Mw) employs only local
designers with new stock every Tuesday. For cool beachwear, check out
the super-colourful Arugam Bay label, in Odel, Barefoot and their
showroom (32 Ward Place, Col 6), which is also home to contemporary
Buddhi Batiks. Grab a tuk-tuk and skip between ’em.

6 BAREFOOT
It’s a cafe, an art gallery, a performance space and shop.
Established 40 years ago by Sri Lankan artist, entrepreneur and
philanthropist Barbara Sansoni, its signature style is hand-woven,
hand-dyed yarns made into brightly coloured children’s toys,
free-flowing clothing and fabrics manufactured ethically by women across
the country. Also one of the best places for books on Sri Lanka (704
Galle Road, Colombo 3 and Old Dutch Hospital, barefootceylon.com).

7 BOUTIQUE HOTELS
It’s a small country and Sri Lanka has embraced the small,
boutique hotel concept. Lovers of classic interiors head to style guru
Shanth Fernando’s 10-room Tintagel (tintagelcolombo.com) while Casa Colombo is a playful (some would say over-the-top) 12-suite remake of a 200-year-old mansion (casacolombo.com). Park Street Hotel mixes minimalism and antiques (asialeisure.lk) while Lake Lodge’s 13 rooms overlook South Beira Lake (taruhotels.com). Newcomer Colombo Courtyard doesn’t have the design pedigree but it’s small and centrally located (colombocourtyard.com). Because of a government tariff, Colombo hotels aren’t cheap. They also book up quickly, so get in early.

8 AYURVEDIC SPAS
The subcontinent’s traditional ayurvedic medicine morphs into
a sublime spa experience at the Siddhalepa Ayurveda Spa (33 Wijerama
Ma, Col 7, siddhalepa.com) or Spa Ceylon, with its scents of white tuberose, red sandalwood and jasmine (Dutch Hospital, Park Street Mews, spaceylon.com).
A warning: be prepared for days of oily hair or plenty of hair washing
if you’re signing in for Shirodhara, where warm oil is continually
dripped onto your third eye (forehead).

9 ART MARKET
Support local artists with a visit to Colombo’s kala pola
(art market) on Sunday mornings, where affordable artwork is hung around
Viharamahadevi Park (Col 7). If you miss the market, Saskia Fernando
Gallery exhibits Sri Lanka’s top artists (61 Dharmapala Ma, Col 7) or
cool down at artist Harry Pieris’ serene Cinnamon Gardens mansion, the
Sapumal Foundation (34/2 Barnes Place, Col 7). Barefoot and Paradise
Road Gallery and Cafe (2 Alfred House Road, Col 11) show and sell the
country’s greats.

10 GEM & JEWELLERY SHOPPING
Sri Lanka is most famous for its blue sapphires, as worn by
the British royals. Slip in to premier gem dealer Colombo Jewellery
Stores for a quick education and check out the well-priced men’s watches
while you’re there (1 Alfred House Gardens, Col 3, also Old Dutch
Hospital, Galle Face Hotel, cjs.lk). Ridhi is a good stop for affordable silver jewellery (74 Lauries Road, Col 4, ridhi.lk).

11 SUNDOWNERS
The verandah of the Galle Face Hotel, looking over the Indian
Ocean, is the place to be seen for a sunset cocktail or dinner
aperitif. The grand dame has been swizzling sticks since 1864. Budget
alternatives include the sleepy rooftop bar of the Colombo City Hotel
beside the Dutch Hospital, or join the locals on Galle Face Green with a
bottle of pop.

12 CRICKET
Go to a cricket match. “There’s no sledging here, it’s just a
big party,” swear the locals. Catch the internationals at the R.
Premadasa Stadium. For more slap of leather on willow, pop in for lunch
and current matches or old classics on the many big screens at the
Aussie-owned Cricket Club Cafe, (34 Queens Road, Col 3, thecricketclubcafeceylon.com).

13 TEA TASTING
Taste some of the world’s finest teas at Mlesna Tea Centre
(89 Galle Road, Col 3) or the Australian favourite, Dilmah Tea Shop (5
Alexandra Pl, Col 7). If you can endure the seriously lacklustre service
in the government-owned Sri Lanka Tea Shop, you’ll find a broad range
of teas, from working-class brews to elaborately packaged gifts.

14 WALKING TOUR
Colombo local Mark Forbes takes you by the hand through the
Portuguese, Dutch and British architecture and influences on Colombo.
Pause for a cuppa, butter cake and harbour views at the Grand Oriental
Hotel, which dates from 1837, before continuing on through the Pettah
markets and into the ramshackle 180-year-old mansion that is the Dutch
Period Museum (colombocitywalks.com).

15 SHORT EATS & HOPPERS
Colombo’s short eats are a vast collection of pastries with
such fillings as curried chicken, seeni sambol (caramelised onion) and
fabulous fish rolls. Kollupitiya, in Colombo 3, is fertile hunting
ground for short eats cafes: try Perera & Sons’ modern, super-clean
branches (2 Dharmapala Mw), stalwart The Fab (474 Galle Road), Cafe on
the 5th (108 5th Lane) or Sponge, which many rate the top short eatery
in town (347 Galle Road). Hit local fave Green Cabin for hoppers, thin
pancakes made with coconut milk, designed to scoop up curry sauces (453
Galle Road). Don’t expect gushing service.

16 UNIQUE SOUVENIRS
Resist globalisation and discover unique, locally produced
artisan products: find textural elephant dung paper, ceramics at the
government-owned handicrafts shops Laksala (60 Fort St, Col 1) and
Barefoot’s signature bright woven linens. Sri Lanka’s premier homewares
store, Paradise Road, prints the curvaceous Sinhalese alphabet and
elephant motifs on to household linens in a palette of black and French
beige (213 Dharmapala Mw, Col 7). Find affordable gifts at Casa Serena
(122 Havelock Rd, Col 5) or try Lakpahana (14, Phillip Gunawardena Mw,
(Reid Ave, Col 7), Suriya (39 Layards Rd, Col 5).

17 FEEL-GOOD TOURISM
Shop for fair-trade toys, ethically produced food and craft
at the kid-friendly Good Market, every Thursday from noon-8pm (Water’s
Edge Park, Battaramulla, thegoodmarket.lk). The Warehouse Project gives
good reason to eat more cake: profits from its Wonderbar soul food and
Cakes for a Cause projects help run community programs for the local
Maradana population. Email for a tour of the watta (shanty community).
See warehouseproject.lk.

18 MULTI-FAITH VOYEURISM
Pick a religion, you’ll find an elaborate place of worship in
Colombo: the Buddhist Gangaramaya temple on Beira Lake was designed in
part by the influential architect Geoffrey Bawa. Wolvendaal Church is
the country’s oldest Protestant church, from 1749, while the red and
white striped Jami-Ul-Alfar is open for visitors except during prayer
times. For a hit of intricacy, visit a Hindu kovil: the old and new
Kathiresan Kovils in Pettah were built to appease the war gods. The
Catholic St Lucia’s Cathedral is modelled on St Peter’s Basilica in the
Vatican and the Sambodhi Chaitiya is a shining white dagoba (stupa)
raised so seafarers could see it offshore.

19 THE FORT DISTRICT
Fort is the heart of Colombo, named for the 17th-century,
Dutch-built ramparts pulled down by the Brits in 1879. Its modern face
is the glitzy World Trade Centre (where you can get a decent coffee) and
the revitalised Old Dutch Hospital. Its British Raj face is undoubtedly
the gothic pink-and-white Cargills Building on York Street, the Old
Parliament building (1930), the old GPO (1891) and the Lighthouse Clock
Tower, built two years before London’s Big Ben, in 1857, now towered
over by skyscrapers.

20 MOUNT LAVINIA
Dive into the Indian Ocean at Mount Lavinia, half an hour
north of central Colombo. The waters are far cleaner than off the Galle
Face Green and the beach is lined with seafood restaurants. For a taste
of luxury, check into the five-star British colonial Mount Lavinia Hotel
for colonial-style High Tea overlooking the ocean, from 3.30pm daily (mountlaviniahotel.com).

By Belinda Jackson, published in the Sun-Herald newspaper.

Oct

A ghost in the jungle: spotting lost leopards in Sri Lanka

It’s late, I’m slogging away on a deadline about Sri Lanka. Ok, I’m not. I’m blogging instead. But to take a break from wringing words from a bleeding brain, I started hunting for photos to accompany the piece, which has a breakout on leopard spotting in Yala National Park.

And you know those weird things that get in your computer system and fidget with your photo catalogues? Yes, those. They were in there, and this is the photo they lost.

The young female leopard was standing on the side of the dirt track we were cruising in our 4WD. Noel Rodrigo, internationally hailed as Sri Lanka’s leopard whisperer, saw her and pulled up sharp. She wandered across the track in front of us, then padded along the dirt road before turning back into the scrub. Within seconds, she had disappeared from view once again, a ghost in the jungle.

Noel’s camp is located around the back entrance to the park: up to 400 trucks pour through the main gate every morning, cowboys roaring through the park, two-way radios blaring, each promising a glimpse of these elusive cats. We crept in the back gate early and slowly to find our girl. And now I’ve found her again.

www.leopardsafaris.com

Aug

Colour my world: the textiles of Sri Lanka

Barefoot’s design house, Sri Lanka.

I have fondled hemp throws in Morocco, lusted for
Kashmiri embroidered cushions, gone cammo with Arabic scarves, and when
my husband told me not to buy any carpets in Iran I deduced the man was
obviously delusional: I was going to Persia, home of the rug. He’d given
up by the time I announced the Sri Lanka trip.

In my defence,
textiles are surely the ideal souvenir. They usually pack down easily,
they’re not fragile, they are useful and, importantly, they are a direct
link to a country’s culture.

I showed him photographs of women working on traditional handlooms
and waxed lyrical about the colours of the country: peacock blue, russet
red and saffron yellow.

“You
have to use bright colours in Sri Lanka because of the sunshine,” says
British interior designer George Cooper, who has lived in the southern
seaside town of Galle for the past decade and stamped his mark on a
string of villas along the coastline.

“In England and France, muted colours work, but you have to up your palettes here.

Traditional batik.

“The colours are more primary. They’re simpler.”

The country’s
textiles were born in the time of legend, says Sri Lanka-born,
Melbourne-based textiles artist Cresside Collette. She’s talking way
back: as far as the Ramayana, the Indian epic from 3000BC; in Sri
Lanka’s royal chronicle, the ancient Mahavamsa, even the queen is
spinning yarn.

Cresside, who recently led a new textiles tour
through her home country, says the main industries are weaving,
lacemaking, embroidery, dyeing and batik. Don’t expect the massive
factories of Bangladesh or India: Sri Lanka’s textiles industry is
small, secretive and, in some instances, even dying out. You’ll need a
knowing local on hand to help eke them out.

Luckily, I have Cresside’s tips and my friend Andrea, a writer, guide
and friend of the arts, who has a flair for design. Happily, she’s also
an English-speaking Dutch burgher – an exotic, ethnic blur of of Dutch,
Portuguese and indigenous Sri Lankan: the woman is a strolling atlas.

In
Galle, the Portuguese element is obvious in the southern province’s
reputation for its cotton lace. Intrepid Portuguese were blown off
course from the Maldives and landed here in 1505. “There’s a strong
sense of Lisbon through the lacemaking,” Cooper says.

One morning,
as I leave my hotel, the luxurious Amangalla, a quiet man sells me a
beautiful child’s white cotton nightdress. Strips of handmade lace
decorate the chest, hem and armholes, and although a delicate white
dress is a green light to my rambunctious daughter for wildness, I have
to buy it. I’m undertaking a classic transaction that’s been taking
place for centuries: Amangalla’s own history notes recall local
Sinhalese women sitting tatting on its verandah, making lace to sell to
tourists until the 1970s.

Waxing a batik. Photo: Alamy.

Andrea translates for me the story of
Manikku Badathuruge Priyani – or Priyani, for short – an internationally
recognised lacemaker. Now 53, she first sat down to lacemaking when she
was five, the fourth generation in her family to do so. Her work is
stocked in local handcraft stores including Lanka Hands and Laksala, and
each year, in her tropical home, she tats snowflakes that are exported
to Finland as Christmas ornaments.

Priyani has a cabinet full of
awards for entrepreneurship thanks to her own one-woman campaign to
preserve the craft by visiting stay-at-home women and disabled women,
giving them knowledge and small orders. You’ll spy Galle lacemakers’
work on the silver screen in Jane Austen movies Persuasion and Mansfield
Park, yet she’s not optimistic about the future of lacemaking.

“It’s
hard to sustain and is dying out rapidly because of the lack of
resources to preserve this craft that has survived for hundreds of years
and preserves our Portuguese heritage,” she says, echoing the time-old
complaint: “Young people are not interested.”

In contrast,
handloomed fabric is enjoying a renaissance, as we Westerners fall in
love with the seeming simplicity of design and clarity of the colours
employed by Sri Lankan designers. Treadle looms weave bright tableware,
and rolls of fabric are on sale in the country’s high-chic shops.

In
KK Collection, Cooper’s interiors shop in Galle, I unfurl cotton
handloomed fabric from its roll. The cotton is woven in villages near
the capital, Colombo, hand-dyed into smart stripes using vegetable dyes,
which creates variation that is frowned upon by puritans but loved by
those of us who see humanity in its imperfection.

Loom weavers at work. Photo: Cresside Collette.

On her tour,
Cresside visits the cloth weavers of Dumbara Valley, Sri Lanka’s
indigenous weavers, who draw on the countryside for inspiration. In
little Henawela village, the traditional motifs of elephants, deer,
peacocks and snakes gallivant along agave fibre stained with plant dyes
and woven into mats. All cotton used in Sri Lankan fabrics is imported,
mostly from India. Sri Lanka is about the same size as Tasmania but with
a population of about 20 million, and while its rumpled geography is
fine for delicate tea terraces, it defers to India’s vast plains to
produce raw cotton.

The bright interiors of another indigenous
design house, Barefoot, are a celebration of all that’s wild and lovely
on the island. In 1958, Barefoot’s founder, textiles designer Barbara
Sansoni, began teaching village women weaving and needlecraft. Under
principal designer Marie Gnanaraj, they now create vivid, high-quality,
hand-woven and hand-dyed fabric while earning a living wage, and their
beautiful fabric, toys and fashion are exported all over the world,
including to Australia.

While I love a good shop, show me the
creator and I’m sold. You’re bringing that person’s skills into your
home. Cresside ventures in to the village workshops around Kandy that
specialise in mat weaving, silversmithing and wood carving, and on to
Matale Heritage Centre, between Kandy and Matale.

The centre is at
Aluwihare, the ancestral home of batik and embroidery artist Ena de
Silva, dubbed Sri Lanka’s grand dame of batik. Her signature pieces are a
wild batik ceiling in the Bentota Beach Hotel and a set of banners of
heroic proportions, hanging in front of Sri Lanka’s parliament. De Silva
is widely regarded as one of the major catalysts in Sri Lanka’s craft
revival: her women’s co-operative operates out of Aluwihare, where local
villagers balance wax and dye to create traditional batik. Their
embroidered cushions and toys are for sale and lunch is also available.

The
time is right for such tours, as Sri Lanka itself awakens to its own
riches. The Colombo National Museum has just opened a new textile
gallery, and there’s an international appreciation for the social
consciousness that guides much of Sri Lanka’s home-bound textiles
workforce.

When I finally, regretfully, leave Sri Lanka, Andrea
and I exchange gifts: flowers and wine for my friend, while she presses a
handmade paper bag into my hands. Inside is a long scarf, dyed strong
fuchsia, grassy green, blood red and a deep royal purple. It is
hand-block-printed with a black motif of stylised flowers and bordered
with strips of gold.

The scarf encapsulates all that is Sri Lanka:
its blazing palette, ebullient nature and the rich embellishment worthy
of a culture of tradition and vivacity.

The writer was a guest of Banyan Lanka Tours and Sri Lanka Tourism.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION
banyanlanka.com; srilanka.travel

GETTING THERE: Singapore
Airlines has a fare to Colombo for about $1125 low-season return from
Sydney and Melbourne including taxes. Fly to Singapore (about 8hr) and
then to Colombo (3hr 40min); see singaporeair.com. Malaysia Airlines
flies via KL from $975 return including tax; see malaysiaairlines.com.

TOURING THERE: Cresside
Collette will lead Active Travel’s next Sri Lanka Textiles & Crafts
tour July/Aug 2014. From $4842, 15 days. 1300 783 188, see activetravel.com.au.
Her next tour is a 20-day tapestry tour of Europe, from London, September 2, priced from $5950. See tapestrytour.blogspot.com.

FIVE MORE TEXTILES TOURS

Burmese Lun-taya acheik, globetrottinggourmet.com

MYANMAR: Join
textile designer and weaver Morrison Polkinghorne from Yangon to Bagan
and Mandalay, where handloomers create weaves at an inch (2.5
centimetres) a day. The tour coincides with Waterfestival. Departs April
next year, from $4500, 14 days, see globetrottinggourmet.com.

LAOS: The
20th-anniversary Laos Textile & Culture tour is escorted by the
head of textiles at the ANU, Valerie Kirk. From Hanoi into Laos’
mountainous villages, the birthplace of Lao weaving, to Luang Prabang
and Vientiane. Departs January 15, next year, from $4375, 17 days, see activetravel.com.au.

INDIA: Gujarat
Tribals + Textiles is a five-star tour through western India exploring
the clothing, jewellery and fabrics of Gujarat’s indigenous people.
Departs January 26, next year, from $US7250 ($8095), 15 days, see mariekesartofliving.com.

MOROCCO: From
Marrakesh to the imperial cities of Rabat and Fez,through museums and
palaces, experiencing Amazigh (Berber) food and hospitality. Departs
September 28, next year, from $3180, 15 days, see culturaltours morocco.com.

BHUTAN
With
textiles artist Barbara Mullan, travel from Paro to the annual Thimphu
Festival, pausing to admire striking architecture and the view from high
mountain passes. Departs each September, from $4290, nine days, see worldexpeditions.com.

This article was published in the Sydney Morning Herald & The Age newspapers (Australia)
Belinda Jackson

May

Find beauty in Sri Lanka, Tasmania or Madagascar: island & beaches’ travel deals May 5, 2013

Colours of Tasmania’s Bay of Fires.

Find beauty in a Sri Lankan boutique hotel, in Tasmania’s Bay of Fires or in the bright eyes of a Madagascan lemur.

QUEENSLAND

Save up
to $450 on a three-night stay on the Gold Coast’s beautiful beaches in the
happening QT hotel. The Family Fun package gets you two interconnecting rooms
(hey, no kids sharing your bedroom!), breakfast for two adults and two children
under 12 and a family pass to Dreamworld, worth $230. Psst: starve yourself in
advance for the hotel’s fabulous buffet restaurant, Bazaar. Costs from
$360 a night, minimum three night stay. Available until December 24. (07) 5584
1200, qtgoldcoast.com.au.

NSW

With Tiger now joining Virgin and Qantas
flying up to Coffs Harbour, the NSW north coast just got a whole lot closer to Sydney. The strip, from
Coffs to Nambucca Heads, is a market lover’s paradise, with growers’ markets,
beach markets and even Bollywood markets on the beach at Woolgoolga (coffscoast.com.au).
Book five nights in a beachfront apartment at Smugglers on the
Beach and get a bottle of wine and save $125. For stays until August 31. Costs
from $625, five nights. (02) 6653 6166, smugglers.com.au.

VICTORIA

Cycle the iconic Great Ocean Road, from Mt Gambier’s Blue
Lake, just across the SA border, to Geelong, covering 610km. This is the 30th
year for the RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride and up to 6000 cyclists are
expected to take part in the ride, from November 23 – December 1. You can do a
nine-day, fully catered camping holiday, with medical and bike repairs support,
opt for the three-day leg from Gellibrand to Geelong, or the last day’s day ride
from Torquay to Geelong. Registrations open for the general public on May 20. Book
by July 29 and save $100. Costs from $895 adults, nine days, $460 adults, three
days, or $70, one day. 1800 639 634, greatvic.com.au.

TASMANIA

Keen walkers know that Tassie’s east coast is the home of
the happy hiker. Get your boots on for three days walking the white beaches of
Wineglass Bay, the fossil cliffs and peaks of Maria Island or the glorious Bay
of Fires. Complete the immersion in all things Tasmanian with starlit dinners
with Ninth Island wines and local cheeses. Get in early for next season and
save up to $150. Book by June 30 for travel from September 2013 to March 2014. Costs
from $849 a person for the three-day Bay of Fires walk. (02) 9913 8939, lifesanadventure.com.au.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The epitome of Australian luxury, and constantly voted
one of Australia’s top stays, the Southern Ocean Lodge is on sale. Pay half
price – saving more than $3600 – when
you stay three nights at the 21-suite Kangaroo Island retreat. The
all-inclusive rate covers all gourmet fare and naturalist experiences to show
you the best of KI. Book by May 31 for stays until August 23. Costs from $3600
a couple, Ocean Retreat, three nights. 1300 851 800,
abercrombiekent.com.au.

At Kahanda Kanda, the order is to drink tea and watch the
peacocks and monkeys at play.

SRI LANKA

One of the country’s top boutique hotels, the eight-suite
villa Kahanda Kanda is on a working tea estate by the serene Koggala Lake and
its stilt fishermen. Stay three nights, pay for two or stay seven nights and
pay for just five, with a free upgrade and spa treatments included. The villa
does not take children under 12. For stays from June 1 – July 31. Costs from
$548, three nights. +94 (0) 91 494 3700, kahandakanda.com.

CHINA

Tagged as the Chinese Riviera, Hainan Island is
officially going off, as Julia Gillard would have noted when she visited
recently. The newest addition is the Raffles Hainan, in Clearwater Bay. There are 299 rooms and 32 villas in the
resort, beside two championship golf courses and a 200-berth marina. Stay three
nights, pay for two from September 1 – December 31. Includes an upgrade to a
Grand Ocean view room, airport transfers, breakfast and checkout at 6pm. Yes,
6pm. Costs from $297 plus taxes. 0011
800 1723 3537, raffles.com.

MADAGASCAR

Madagascar’s nature – including lemurs, chameleons and humpback
whales – makes it a haven for adventurers. Save up to $1440 a couple on Bentours’
eight-day Barefoot Luxury South Explorer journey through rainforests, islands
and bays. Includes stays at Mandrare River Camp, two regional flights, all
transport, park fees, guides and excursions. Book by July 1 for travel June 25
– July 31. Costs from $3490 a person, twin share. 1300 799 783, escapetravel.com.au.

TAHITI

For the quintessential overwater bungalow experience, go
back to where it all began. Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora’s Surf & Turf
packages is no steak-and-prawns affair, it combines three nights in an
overwater bungalow (surf) and another three in two-bedroom beachfront villa
(turf). Included is daily buffet breakfast, a two-hour walk and snorkel with
their resident marine biologist and a reef walk, saving up to $1168. Costs from
$9241, six nights. +(689) 603 130, fourseasons.com/borabora.

VIETNAM & CAMBODIA

Spend 15 days exploring the
waterways and architecture of the Mekong River, Ha Long Bay and Angkor Wat
temples, and get free flights to Asia and two free hotel nights pre-or
post-tour. The tour includes seven nights on the RV La Marguerite on the
Mekong. Book by May 15 for travel between July and September. Prices include
all touring, meals, drinks and guided excursions. Costs from $4,395 a person,
twin share. 1300 300 036, travelmarvel.com.au.

TOURWATCH

It wouldn’t be Christmas without Helen Reddy, but be
prepared to turn the season on its head when the singer leads Christmas in July
on Norfolk Island. Reddy, who has a home on the island, returns regularly to
unwind amidst the island’s serenity. She is opening her house to guests for one
night during the eight-day tour, which covers all the island’s World Heritage
sites. Reddy will spend two nights with the group, including a progressive
Christmas dinner and will perform two concerts and lead the carols singalong,
of course. The package includes return airfares with Air New Zealand and seven
nights’ accommodation. Departs July 8.
Costs from $2055 a person. 1800 645 103, www.norfolkisland.com.au.

Source: Belinda Jackson, Sun Herald

Mar

Colomboscope to get the town talking

Galle Rd & the Indian Ocean, Colombo.

If you’re in Colombo next weekend, pencil in a few events from Colomboscope, an arts festival curated by Sri Lankan author Ashok Ferrey.

If I was in town, I’d be making a beeline for the panel of war reporters and a Sri Lankan army representative talking about massaging the numbers of war in ‘Who Counted the Bodies?’ Too grim for your tastes? There’s also a great debate on English-Singlish-Tinglish (blends of Sinhalese and Tamil), piano recitals, poetry and a rock concert 🙂

FRIDAY 22ND MARCH 6.00 pm – 06.15 pm
Festival Opening *Free Event*
Incredibly short speeches by Festival Sponsors: Anirvan Dastidar (CEO Standard Chartered Bank), Tony Reilly (Country Director, British Council), Bjoern Keitels (Director Goethe Institut), Ashok Ferrey (Festival Curator).

6.15 pm – 7.30 pm
Announcement of Short List for the Gratien Prize 2012
*Free Event* Compeered by Nafeesa K Amiruddeen. Introduction of judging panel, comments on the judging process by chair of panel, citations on the shortlisted works, brief self introductions by the five authors, and readings of their short-listed works.

8.30 pm – 10.30 pm
*GOURMET DINNER* At Bayleaf, Dutch Hospital, and Park Street Mews
Details and tickets from February 15th at Park Street Mews.

SATURDAY 23RD MARCH09.00 AM – 09.40 AM The Kaduwa
*Free Event*
Does English serve to unite or divide? English-Singlish-Tinglish – how far should be go with the indigenization of the language? Sumathy Sivamohan, Shermal Wijewardene and Malinda Seneviratne air their views. Moderator Shyamalee Tudawe wields the sword.

10.00 AM – 10.40 AM
1- Anjali Joseph in conversation with Tony Reilly
The prize-winning author of Saraswati Park and Another Country on her writing life.

11.00 AM – 11.40 AM 2- My Life in Robes
Two men and a woman in robes – a Christian priest, a Buddhist monk and a Muslim lady – talk about what those robes mean to them: how they serve to define their identity and how they change the way others perceive them. Moderator: Jill Macdonald.

12.45 PM – 1.30 PM
3 – Lunchtime Concert: Some Musical Fun
Concertmaster Lakshman Joseph de Saram and the Chamber Music Society of Colombo. Mozart Divertimento K. 522

02.00 PM – 02.40 PM 4 – Songs from Across the Water
Four poets: Three of Sri Lanka’s finest – Holocaust poet Anne Ranasinghe, Ramya Jirasinghe and Vivimarie VanderPoorten – and T. S. Eliot Prize nominee Sean Borodale, on expressing identity and alienation through their work.

03.00 PM – 03.40 PM 5 – Flying on the Other Wing
Minoli Ratnayake talks to Carolin Emcke, Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, Koluu and Brandon Ingram about sexual identity and living an alternate lifestyle in modern-day Sri Lanka, and to film-maker Asoka Handagama about the portrayal of it on film.

*Free Events* 04.00 PM
Book Launches and readings

6.00 PM – 08.00 PM
Film show followed by Q&A: Flying with one Wing by Asoka Handagama curated by Anoma Rajakaruna

06.15 PM – 06.30 PM Dance Recitals
*Free Event* Martha Graham – The Resurrection, by Seneka Abeyratne

07.00 PM – 07.45 PM Performance by nATANDA
Choreography by Kapila Palihawadana

08.00 PM – 10.00 PM *GOURMET DINNER*
At Bayleaf, Dutch Hospital, and Park Street Mews.

10.00 PM – 12.00 AM Rock Concert
*Free Event* Kumar & Out of Time

SUNDAY 24TH MARCH
09.30 AM – 10.10 AM
The Gratien Prize *Free Event*
Former Gratien judge and nominee Neluka Silva talks to last year’s winner Madhubhashini Dissanayaka Ratnayake and this year’s short listed hopefuls about Sri Lanka’s top literary prize for English writing, and what a win would meant to their writing career.

10.30 AM – 11.10 AM 6 – Sean Borodale in conversation with Smriti Daniel
T.S. Eliot Prize nominee, poet Sean Borodale talks to poet and journalist Smriti Daniel

11.30 AM – 12.30 PM 7 – Who Counted the Bodies?
War reporters Carolin Emcke and Julian West in conversation with Rajiva Wijesinha and a representative of the Sri Lankan Army, about the problems of war reportage: Who exactly assigns the numbers in an environment where facts and figures can be massaged equally vigorously by both sides? Moderated by Savithri Rodrigo.

01.00 PM – 01.40 PM 8 – Eshantha Peiris in Concert
One of Sri Lanka’s most gifted pianists, with his own selection.

02.00 PM – 02.40 PM 9 – In the Driving Seat
Three very different women novelists – Yasmine Gooneratne (The Sweet and Simple Kind), Anjali Joseph (Saraswati Park, Another Country) and Shamila Kandatha (Just the Facts, Madam-ji, A Break in the Circle) talk to Mrinali Thalagodapitiya about what exactly drives their work. Is it plot, character or genre? Or is it just plain good writing?

03.00 PM – 04.00 PM 10 – Kaveri Lalchand: One woman show
Side-splitting laughs with a born entertainer.

*Free Events*
04.00 PM – 04.30 PM Book launch – M.T.L. Ebell

05.00 – 05.30 PM CD launch by Spa Ceylon

06.00 PM – 08.00 PM Film show followed by Q&A: August Sun by Prasanna Vithanage curated by Anoma Rajakaruna

07.00 PM – 07.45 PM Dance Recital: ‘Absence’, created by Ruhanie Perera in collaboration with Sally Dean and Jake Orloff

08.00 PM – 10.00 PM AFTERPARTY – Street bands and food carts

Keep in touch with it all here

Mar

Going floral like a kid in a Kandy shop

The crush at the Temple of the Relic of the Tooth, Kandy

I read a
travel decorating piece a few years ago that gave tips on how to make your
arduous journey more comfortable. One suggestion for the deco-minded was to buy
oneself flowers for the hotel room – just like home.

Our guesthouse tonight is far less salubrious than the one the magazine had in mind, but we’ve
done the same trick.

It’s easy
when the hotel faces the flower stands that make the beautiful floral tributes
offered to Buddha in the nearby revered Temple of the Relic of the Tooth, which
houses on of Buddha’s teeth – though you’ll never see it. It’s housed in a
golden casket, and like Ho Chi Minh’s corpse, you’re ushered past at a
seemingly irreverent pace – we glimpsed the casket for all of a second, after a
good half hour’s solid pushing and nudging.

Cardboard
trays of jasmine flowers and Sri Lanka’s beautiful national flower, a blue
water lily, are constantly sprinkled with water to preserve their beauty for
hard-shopping pilgrims – 100 rupees, about 70c, will get you a huge handful of
the most exquisitely fragrant jasmine flowers.

Mar

Travelling, Sri Lanka style: Hatton’s tea plantations

Last night, we stayed in an old tea mansion in Hatton, high amongst Sri Lanka’s verdant tea plantations. The hills roll and tumble, every inch covered in short, green tea bushes that look so much like my wild camellia at home.

The house, the Governor’s Mansion, is all very jolly hockey sticks, with a picture of a young Queen Elizabeth above the fireplace, and more four-poster beds than you can poke a walking stick at.

This morning, after breakfast, we borrowed one of the house’s mountain bikes (other gear includes fishing and tennis equipment, and waterproofs for bracing walks in the rain), and headed off down to the tea workers’ village.

I strapped Yasmine on my back and tore down the steep hills. We were mobbed by kids en route, demanding photos (and the occasional request for money) and took some lovely snaps of the picturesque tea processing factories and hillsides. Then I realised I didn’t have my mobile phone: I could have called my driver, Lucky, and have him pick me up at the bottom of the hill.

A week into the trip and I have completely given myself over: Australia with its housework and supermarket slogs are but a blurred memory.

Feb

Colombo via Rum Jungle and Connemara

Flying from
Melbourne to Colombo via Kuala Lumpur, the tv map on the aircraft wall has
thrown up some gems – it’s listing Arthur’s Seat (a beauty spot on the
Mornington Peninsula), Rum Jungle near Darwin (never heard of it but its allure is undeniable), and I learn there’s a place
called Connemara somewhere near the NT-SA border.

Crossing the country diagonally, it always seems to be five minutes to 4pm on the
wall screen, (which Yasmine uses to try to skype her uncle Berny).

We fly over
Alice Springs, the flat land broken by two long ridges that curve gently like a
dog’s spoke military-strain roads cutting into the soft pink ground. By the
time we hit the end of Australia at the Kimberley coast, it’s dark and the next
view are the lights of KL, and finally, around 1am, Colombo welcomes us with warm, thick heat and the scents of a tropical jungle.

Also, just
a short aside to praise Malaysia Airlines’ customer service line: They. Do.
Callback. Imagine! No more waiting in the queue: just a polite message telling
you your position in the queue and estimated callback time. Amazing. Australian
airlines, take note please!

Feb

See Tokyo in style and go warp-drive in Sri Lanka: travel deals 10 February 2013

Click on for Mark Jensen’s bbq octopus recipe, Noosa Food & Wine, Qld.

Beautiful people eating beautiful food: it’s Noosa in a nutshell come this May. Otherwise, Tokyo in style and knowing your warp and weft in Sri Lanka, in this week’s domestic and international travel deals.

QUEENSLAND

Foodies will flock to Noosa from May 16-19 for the 10th Noosa International Food & Wine festival. Highlights
include Edible Music, which sees musicians and chefs combined, degustation
dinners, sunset concerts and a new Barefoot beach marquee for cocktail
competitions and a seafood feast. Tickets cost from $40, which include
celebrity chef cooking demos and live entertainment, up to $330 for a Weekend
Gold Pass, which includes cocktail parties and preferential concert seating.
Book before April 1 and save 10 per cent discount (excluding some events and
the Platinum Experience). (07) 5455 4455, noosafoodandwine.com.au.

VICTORIA

“Autumn is a delightful time to escape into our wonderful alpine landscape, with epic sunsets and soft meadows filled with wildflowers,” says Alan Fenner of ParkTrek. The highlight of the ‘Alpine High Plains’ wfour-day walk (March 23-26) is a trek along the Razorback from Mt Hotham to Mt Feathertop. Team it up with the four-day ‘Easter in the Victorian Alps’ walk (March 29 – April 1), which criss-crosses the high country, visiting historical huts, staying at a ski lodge in Falls Creek. Walks are graded easy to medium, averaging 12-16km daily. Book both trips and save $120. Costs $2080 a person for two trips, includes meals, accommodation and guides (03) 9877 9540, parktrek.com.

TASMANIA

Tassie is girding its
loins for the island’s international arts festival, Ten Days on the Island,
coming up on March 15-24 (tendaysontheisland.com). Get in early and hook
yourself some seriously swank digs, at the beautiful Villa Howden, 15
minute drive from Hobart on the shores of North West Bay. Comprising 10 luxury suites looking over the bay,
the setting is serene, with wi-fi,
Australian cosmetics, full breakfast and in-suite bar included. Stay two
nights, get a third free, saving a cool $420. Book and stay by March 28. Costs
from $840 for three nights. (03) 6267 1161, villahowden.com.au.

WESTERN
AUSTRALIA

Start planning for WA’s wildflower season, which carpets the state in a rich
tapestry from June to November. Outback Spirit’s 15-day Western Wildflower
Discovery tour traverses the state’s riches, from Monkey Mia and the Shark Bay
Marina to wildlife sanctuaries as well as those beautiful stretches of native
wildflowers. Tours depart in September and October, book by February 28 and fly
Sydney-Perth return for just $199. Costs from $5595 a person, twin share. 1800
688 222, outbackspirittours.com.au.

Shangri-La Tokyo

TOKYO

Get to grips with Tokyo in style, with the Shangri-La Hotel’s new package, which sees you skipping about town in a private limo. Hotel stays usually cost from $740 a night, but the two-night ‘Explore Tokyo in Style’ package lets you snap your fingers and have the car whisk you on a tour, to the airport or just to take you shopping, until June 30. Costs from $1500, two nights. 1800 222 448, www.shangri-la.com/jp.

ITALY

Feel the rails rocking beneath you on the night journey from Paris to Rome. The Thello night trains travel up to 180km/hour and travel between Paris, Milan, Venice and now Rome with both six-berth couchette and first-class sleepers available. Book seven days in advance and save up to 50 per cent. Seats are limited, so get in early. Costs from $52 a person in a six-berth couchette. 1300 387 245, internationalrail.com.au.

USA

Get the true taste of Creole with a cooking school that
unravels the cuisine of the Deep South, with its French, Spanish, Portuguese,
Italian and Native American influences. There’s also a tour of the Jack Daniels
distillery and dinner in a Natchez mansion on this 10-day Tastes & Sounds
of the South tour. The tours depart between May 2 and October 31. Book six
months ahead and save $119. Costs from $2256 a person, twin share. 1300 663
043, trafalgar.com.

CANADA

Recovered from Christmas? It’s time to start planning for
next year, with a Canadian White Christmas tour. Have Christmas Day brunch at
Lake Louise followed by a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh, train through The
Rockies, visit the snow haven of Whistler and a take gondola ride at Banff. Departs December 16. Book by April 30, save
up to $500 a person. Costs from $6495 a person, twin share. 1300 278 278, aptouring.com.au.

MALAYSIA

Bargain hunters love Malaysia, not only for the shopping, but also for the good value on its accommodation. The Villa Samadhi is a sleek, 21-room contemporary Asian residence brimming with pools, thatch roofs and Asian antiques in central Kuala Lumpur. Stay two nights at the Relais & Chateaux property before February 28, get dinner and airport transfers and $173 off. Costs from $566 a villa, two nights. 1800 667731, globalhotelsmarketing.com.

TOURWATCH: SRI LANKA

One of this year’s hot spots, the attention on Sri Lanka
is justly deserved for its spectacular beaches, lush landscapes and intriguing
culture. Textiles aficionados have the chance to explore the island’s textiles
history, from lace to embroidery, batik and handloomed cloth. The tour is led by Melbourne embroidery
artist Cresside Colette, originally from Colombo. Highlights include private
textiles collections, weaving villages and lace workshops, as well as the
island’s main tourist sites and there’s plenty of opportunity to shop its busy
markets, with Active Travel’s wise shoppers by your side. The tour departs May
6-17. Costs from $3874 a person, twin share (excludes airfares). (02) 6249
6122, activetravel.com.au.

SOURCE: Belinda Jackson, Sun Herald

Jan

Would you visit Egypt now?

Adrere Amellal ecolodge, Siwa.

Two weeks ago, I started writing a post about the idea of visiting Egypt once again. It was time: tour prices have halved, even from the most prestigious travel companies. The Lower Nile has finally been reopened so that a visitor can sail the entire length of the Egyptian Nile, from Cairo to Abu Simbel. And the crowds that plagued the Pyramids, Luxor and all Egypt’s treasures, have stayed away in droves.

The blog was driven by a recent letter to the editor in the Sydney Morning Herald, in which the writer, recently returned from Egypt said, “I had a great and safe time. I have been there before and this time stayed mainly in Cairo, at the Sara Inn, and was saddened by the empty markets and other tourist areas. The Egyptians are, mostly, very friendly and welcoming and need the tourists to survive.”

Bab al-Futuh, Cairo

A few minutes later, my inbox was hit with a recent survey by the Hilton group, which found that 43% of Australians in the survey said they wanted to visit the Pyramids.

So it’s heartbreaking to see, in the space of a week or two, how the climate has changed, with the anger fuelled by the second anniversary of the overthrow of the Mubarak regime, to the riots in Suez over the death of 73 fans at a football match, which saw a judge sentence 21 people to death over their role in the catastrophe.

Fashion comes and goes: why, Syria was tipped the Lonely Planet’s hottest country just six months before it descended into its current, horrific civil war. And now Sri Lanka, still scarred with its own civil war, is 2013’s poster child for world tourism.

I know it is hard for Egyptians to live through these times: it’s hard to watch from the outside. But such a beautiful country, in such a politically strategic location with possibly the world’s greatest tourism riches, will rise again. We just have to hope, for the people’s sake, that it’s soon.

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