STEPHEN SCOURFIELD, TRAVEL EDITOR, The West Australian September 20,
2012, 8:38 pm
I am sitting in the warm early morning, facing palm trees, golden sand
and the ocean, sailing canoes passing with big, seemingly tea-stained cotton
sails, surrounded by sarongs and saris, eating my first beautifully spicy
breakfast of the trip.
Where to start with this tour of Sri Lanka? Well, at the beginning. For
the island's flavour will both gently and strikingly unfold day by day on this
tour with Wildlife Safari.
And I simply must start with this scene - this breakfast - because
spiciness permeates this Indian Ocean island off the southern tip of India.
And so I enjoy my first hopper of the trip. A hopper is a Sri Lankan
food specialty. Similar to a bowl-shaped pancake, it is swirled around the deep
lip of a small pan while cooking, giving crisp vertical sides and a thicker,
soft yet spongy, bottom.
With it, usually, comes sambol or mallum - leafy vegetables blanched and
chopped finely, often with grated coconut, to make a dry dish. And with that
the moistness of lentil dhal, and vegetable, chicken or fish curry.
Curry for breakfast?
It is a quite wonderful and appropriate start to the day; the
unsuspecting Western stomach's delight.
And tea, of course. This is, after all, the land of quality high-country
tea, and there is nothing quite like a pot of deep biscuit-coloured Ceylon
English Breakfast to start the day.
The hotel Jetwing Blue, in Negombo, north of Colombo and close to the
airport, is my first very pleasant encounter, with its interesting contemporary
design, wonderful position and cuisine, and immediately endearing staff.
And so enters to this story Susantha Jolita, the knowledgeable,
gentle-mannered and humorous Wildlife Safari guide who will accompany our small
group throughout the week. Wildlife Safari is a WA-based company with many
itineraries and long experience in Sri Lanka.
Its reputation for quality touring has been earned and is deserved.
Without further ado, we are in a comfortable coach, with Donald at the
wheel, the amiable Rasanga as his offsider. "It's a little bit
complicated, our way of traffic," explains Susantha, as Donald weaves
calmly through it. We are in safe hands.
Through the melee of three-wheel auto rickshaws and motorcycles, past
fish drying by the ocean, we head east, to the interior, past bungalows and
rice paddies, coconut plantations and brick-makers, teak trees and clay-tile
factories, white mourning decorations and washing drying on bushes, to Pinnawala
Elephant Orphanage.
Elephants from Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage are taken
to the nearby Maha river to bathe.
It is estimated that there are 4500 Asian elephants living in the wild
in Sri Lanka, with the 60 at the orphanage being cared for here for good
reason. Over a Sri Lankan curry lunch at Pinnalanda Restaurant, we watch a big
group which has been brought to the river below us to drink and bathe.
Later, at Minneriya National Park, we will witness the annual elephant
gathering - the biggest gathering of Asian elephants in the world. We see
perhaps 200 elephants in two adjacent herds, with lots of young, matriarchs
leading their clans to the water. It happens in August and September, and has
done through the island's long natural history. It is not surprising that such
a throng of vehicles gathers.
At the hotel Heritance Kandalama, we get a taste of the depth of Sri
Lanka's human history. For while the outstanding architecture of the hotel,
built into the rock and jungle surrounding it, makes it a contemporary artwork
in its own right, it looks down upon a reservoir, or tank, built in the third
century.
Near the town of Anuradhapura, in the cultural heart of Sri Lanka, we
visit the 5th century irrigated gardens of Sigiriya with the high fortress
above them on Lion Rock.
This is where King Kashyapa lived with his 500 concubines and seeing the
paintings of them in 1500-year-old frescoes is a highlight of the week.
Throughout, we are treated to wonderful accommodation and food.
But at Cinnamon Lodge Habarana, the stakes are raised.
At its buffet, I attempt to keep the volume down, while still trying
much of what's on offer. The lotus root tempered (which we work out means
"blanched") is delicious. So too the kekiri red curry, cabbage leaves
mallum, beans dry curry and curry leaves sambol, with mango chutney, lime
pickle, ladies finger sambol and coconut mallum.
And, of course, the ubiquitous rice - both white and the more textural
local red rice - and a golden-glow dhal. Through my travels in Sri Lanka, the
texture and flavour of dhal and "standard" Sri Lankan curries varies
from place to place, maker to maker.
But surely Cinnamon Lodge Habarana's showpiece this evening is its
chilled dessert room. Mango cheesecake, passionfruit mousse, cashew nut
blondies, homemade avocado ice-cream and marshmallows, and even dishes of
jujubes sweeties.
Surely one of the best buffets, anywhere, ever.
Breakfast is a hopper and curd. This divine dish is a kind of thick
yoghurt produced from the milk of buffalo in the hotel's own farm, which also
includes six cows. I can almost see you squirming, so you will just have to
trust me on this. We all seem to agree it is one of the most incredible dishes
we've ever eaten.
The room is very comfortable - mine is like a little cottage and its
low, arched windows throw a chapel-like light into the room in the early
morning.
At the hotel Ulagalla Walawwa, based on an 18th-century manor house at
Anuradhapura, 20 luxurious stilted chalets are surrounded by 23ha, much of
which is the hotel's own farm.
Resort manager Roshan Dylan says: "We grow our own rice. We have
about 30 varieties of vegetables - we are trying a lot of things to see what
grows well and will get it down to 10 or 15."
Yam and beetroot, chillies and watercress, pomegranate and lemongrass.
He adds that there are not set meal times at Ulagalla Walawwa - guests
eat what they want, when they want, where they want - including on a special
deck overlooking the rice paddies.
The hotel also generates 60 per cent of the energy it uses and 60 per
cent of irrigation water that goes on the land has been recycled.
And from there we explore the antiquities of Polonnaruwa, with Buddhas
carved into a rock face and the remains of its 12th century garden city.
But then the tour rises to new heights as Donald weaves us up into the
high tea country.
From the dry zone we have left, which has been enduring drought, we are
suddenly in the cool, and a soft, soaking rain. In the Bogawantalawa Valley,
near Hatton, Ceylon Tea Trails have four bungalows, and we stay in Tientsin
Bungalow, on a settler site dating back to 1888.
At 1400m above sea level, Bogawantalawa is known as the Golden Valley of
Tea - a land of rolling green, tea-bush hills, mist and tea pluckers. We are
shown around a tea factory, but a real highlight is the tea itself, and what
comes with it. For with just six rooms with a full staff, pre-dinner drinks in
the drawing room and excellent meals on the veranda are a highlight.
We stay two nights - for the first evening meal we choose more western
fare, for the second, Sri Lankan curries.
And then it's back to Colombo - a lovely day winding back down through
the hills, through forests and villages, stopping for a local lunch, and
arriving at Mt Lavinia Hotel.
Just as the first hotel was a surprise, so too is Mt Lavinia. The ocean
crashes just behind the hotel and there is an epic view along the coast to the
centre of Colombo.
The colonial building was constructed in 1806 by British
governor-general of Ceylon, Sir Thomas Maitland, who had fallen in love with
local low-caste dancer Lovinia Aponsuwa - a love that had to be clandestine,
though as a mark of his affection, he named his grand mansion Mt Lavinia after
her.
After a day around Colombo, finding high-quality shopping (linen,
tableware, quality clothing, men's shirts and suits) at prices at least a third
of those in Perth, and nice places to eat, we return to Mt Lavinia.
We sit out by the rooftop pool, above that roaring ocean and the city
far beyond, as the sky darkens and then the almost-full moon rises. Naturally,
with its romantic history, it is popular for weddings - indeed, we have been
bumping into a procession of weddings all day.
And there is one going on right now, with accompanying live local music
and a sense of it building to crescendo.
Sitting out here is our last moment before we head off to the airport.
We savour it.
"Well," says Terri Cordin, our wonderful host and guide from
Wildlife Safari, "I suppose we'd better go."
And with that reluctant last word, a massive chrysanthemum firework
bursts overhead in the velvet sky.
FACT FILE
• WA-based Wildlife Safari has several itineraries in Sri Lanka, after
flying five hours to Singapore, and then just over three to Colombo.
• Its eight-day Cultural Sojourn includes time in Colombo, Kandalama -
visiting Sigiriya - and Kandy. It is from $1495, including seven nights luxury
accommodation twin share, private vehicle with chauffeur guide, breakfast
daily, and entrance fees.
• Buddhas and Beaches is nine days, visiting Negombo, the cultural
sights of Sigiriya and Kandy, and finishing with a beach stay at Bentota. It is
from $1995 per person including seven nights luxury accommodation twin share,
private vehicle with chauffeur guide, breakfast daily, and entrance fees.
• Over 10 days, Wonders of Sri Lanka spends time in Colombo, Kandalama,
Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Yala and Negombo. It is from $1995 per person, including
nine nights accommodation twin share, private car with chauffeur guide, jeep safari
at Yala National Park, breakfast daily and entrance fees.
• Its 12-day Sri Lanka in Style includes visits to Negombo, Sigiriya,
Kandy, the high tea country and Ulagalla Resort in Thirappane. It is from $3795
per person, including 10 nights luxury accommodation twin share, breakfast
daily and all meals at Ceylon Tea Trails.
• 1800 998 558, www.wildlifesafari.com.au and travel agents.
