Surviving Colombo

Surviving Colombo - Kandy - Bentota
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The sun is getting rather too much for my eyes through these windowpanes even as I sit in the waiting lounge at the Negambo Airport, about 45km from Colombo - officially Sri Lanka's largest airport - waiting to take my flight out to New Delhi.

So I have put my shades on and that is how I am writing this to you. I suppose that this is reason good enough for any oversights and faux pax that may continue to remain in this post, like the last few fish that remain in the nets after one has unloaded the lot on the deck of the trailer.

I have been hibernating for too long on this blog site. The reason is not the lack of substance, no sir, in fact my nomadic lifestyle is as intact as ever and gives me enough fodder for thought. I have been in between vacations, and travels - Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Indore, Saat taal (twice), even outside the country to Bangkok and Pattaya (second time). But it was just that - what Newton immortalized in his classic book on Physics – the so-called ‘Inertia’.

This trip to the Emerald Island has, however, shook me up, moved me, blown a warm breeze in the ears and made me push the keys of the notebook yet again.

The island is indeed a ‘Serendipity’ – lucky discovery. (The word in English comes from Serendip – or ‘Swarn-dip’ in Sanskrit – i.e. ‘the gold island’). I had no idea how beautiful and clean this small proud country would be before going there. Let us start with some basic observations on the country:

Basic Observations
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- Weather is always hot and humid in the city of Colombo. Evenings are pleasant for walks. If you move towards the Central Province (Kandy area), which is hilly and absolutely green, then of course weather is much better.

- Main food is rice / string hoppers and curry. String hoppers are very thin noodles made from rice flour. Most known type of curries is Jaffna style – similar to our Kerala Chettinadu curries – with coconut milk and curry leaves (kadi patta). Oh by the way, people here are crazy about kadi patta. You even get a kadi patta juice! Yaaiikes!

- Most popular beverage is called Arrack. That is the national drink as well as national pass-time. It is a more distilled version of our ‘Toddy’ – made from coconut palm. The taste is usually described as somewhat between ‘a whiskey and a rum’. The most famous brand is called V.S.O.A. (‘Very Special Old Arrack’).

- Some of the guys who attended my course and then were kind enough to take me to their watering hole for a good evening with VSOA told me that Sri Lanka is known for the highest per capita consumption of alcohol across the world. It is also known for the highest rates of suicide.

- For those interested in great architecture, Geoffrey Bawa - known for ‘tropical modernism’ - was from Sri Lanka. You can see his Gangaramaya Temple on Beira lake in Colombo – a very beautiful wooden temple with great architecture and sculpture.

About Colombo city:
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- Airport is not at Colombo, but about 1-hour drive away at Negambo. The road connecting the airport to the city is long, narrow, and very busy. In case you are traveling on this road during the day in rush hours, sometimes it may take 2 to 3 hours.

- Most of the times, the delay is due to stoppages and recurrent checkings. You see commandoes with sten-guns every 2 minutes. They can stop the car, ask for your ID (passport), make you open luggage if they like. Thankfully I am spared of this. Normally, once you say you are Indian, they smile and let you through.

Travel and Stay in Colombo:
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- No cost for visa, that is the best part. You get travel visa for 30 days on arrival, for free. At the immigration counter itself. No separate form, queue, … nothing! Just walk in.

- Sri Lankan and Jet Airways have direct flights. JetLite is the cheapest, but the timings are odd and the flight route is via Chennai.

- Hotels are reasonable. If you go through local travel agencies, you might get some very good deals. Recommended is Walkers.

- I stay at Transasia, which is equivalent to any 5-star hotel in New Delhi NCR, and it costs me just $60 per night, inclusive of bed & breakfast for two people and inclusive of taxes too, which is a great deal. Typically, you can get a 5-star equivalent between $65 - $90 per night.

- However, that is the only place I can use the word 'reasonable'. Everything else is bloody expensive. Restaurants and eateries are expensive. There are no mid-range food joints. Very few coffee shops, ice cream parlors and zero street food. Even the 3-wheelers charge a lot for local transport and you need to haggle a lot.

- Some hotels to be avoided: Hotel Renuka, Hotel Jubilien. Both are close-by. Both have nefarious reputations. These are very ordinary hotels, who charge you the same amount of money as Transasia. These are worse than normal 2-stars in India.

- Hotel Renuka has a very poor breakfast buffet. The breads are stale. The cooks can't make omelettes. The spread is very limited. It took 2 days for the hotel to arrange for a water bucket. There are mosquitoes in the room, and when you ask them to do something about it, they send a spray. The spray is so strong, that the room becomes a gas chamber once sprayed and you can forget your sleep in the room that is sprayed.

- All in all, a totally avoidable experience. The Jaffna restaurant at Hotel Renuka – called ‘Palmyrah’ is just about the only thing that can be recommended to others.

Moving Around:
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- Best way to travel around in the city is to call up a radio taxi. One of the numbers is 2588 588 - called Kangaroo taxies. Good drivers. Punctual. And they usually give you some good discounts. Usual price is 65 LKR (USD 0.65) for a kilometer.

- The road surface is smooth and clean. It is a pleasure to drive. The roads are narrow though, and people drive like maniacs. Indians will find themselves at home. Indian driving license is permitted.

- The next best mode, and usually unavoidable, is taking the 3-wheelers, or tuk-tuks, or quite simply our very own Bajaj Autorickshaws. Note that nobody apart from foreigners calls these contraptions tuk-tuks here. Tuk-tuk is for Bangkok. Here, you call them '3-whees' if you are Singhali, Autos if you are 'Tamil' (you don't want to be that, do you?), or 'merchants-of-death' if you are my taxi driver.

- By the way, Sri Lankans have great sense of humour. You just need to be ready to catch it, since their wisecracks are usually accompanied with a straight face and no indication at all.

Places to see around Colombo:
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- Mount Lavania, which is at the south border of the city, has a great restaurant called the Golden Mile. Must go for those nostalgic evenings – with beer, fried calamari and fish and chips.

- Bentota Islands (2.5hr drive one-way) for a dip in the turquoise sea, and Hikkadu for snorkeling adventure (further ahead, about 4hr drive one-way). Also at Bentota, go to Bentota Area – it has a couple of nice restaurants. Blue Lagoon is inexpensive and good. Maharaja is expensive.

- You can order food, beer, sit under a shack, go for a cool dip in the water. It is all heavenly.




- There is Kaluthara on the way to Bentota (2hr from Colombo), which also has a nice beach. But if you are on the way, might as well go to Bentota. Kaluthara has an added attraction – a river safari. They take you in a motorboat for a ride in the river and you can spot a variety of tropical birds.

- Kandy for a trip in the mountains inland – towards the center of the island. Wonderful weather. Great hills and view. This part is called the Central Province and is one of the richest in terms of cultural heritage, after Anuradhapur.

- On the way to Kandy is Pinnawela - Elephant Orphanage. A must see. Where else will you see hundreds of elephants roaming around on a plane, having a bath in a river, and eating bananas?

- Mostly paddy fields on the way. Flower gardens in many places. The botanical gardens at University of Kandy are very famous. The lawn at the Temple of the Tooth is specially recommended for that late afternoon walk, which lifts your spirit to an altogether new spiritual level.

- The Tooth Temple is especially recommended – even for non-believers. Note, shorts and skirts are not allowed inside the temple. Also, recommended that one wears light colored clothes and not dark black / blue. The Temple is serene and has an aura around it. The architecture is an amalgamation of different eras. Some parts were rebuilt by the British.

- The Royal Mall in Kandy has a good food court. Cheap and good. Try the meals – a meal has fried rice, vegetables, and devilled non-veg dish (fried and spicy). Ask for devilled fish instead of devilled chicken, get a caramel custard at the end and you are set for the day.

- If you have 2 days and can do an overnight trip, Anuradhapur – the ancient city of ruins - is highly recommended.

What to eat, buy and shop:
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- House of Fashion in Colombo-4 is of course not to be missed. Where do you get Van Heusen shirts for as less as $8? Do not expect a fancy mall though. There is no trial room. So you need to try the clothes on what you are wearing. Carry a spare suitcase / bag along for these. I was 10kg over-weight on luggage while returning.

- Ceylon tea is famous. Can be bought at ODEL, a high-end shopping mall, in case you care for the ambiance, or can be bought from teashops on the road around Colombo. Dilmah seems like one established brand here.

- ODEL is known for high end branded clothes and goods. Not as cheap as House of Fashion, but slightly cheaper than the malls in India.

- No one in Colombo buys the wooden artifacts, supposedly Lankan specialty. It is meant for tourists. Avoidable, unless your idea of interior design is hideous masks with tongues pulled out and painted in gaudy reds and greens and blues.

- Do not miss the seafood. I have had my biggest crabs ever at Long Feng, the Singaporean restaurant at Transasia. Typical meal for two is around $25.

- Palmyrah – the Jaffna specialty restaurant at Hotel Renuka – is famous for their milk hoppers and egg hoppers. They are like Appams we have in Chennai. Very nice. Crab curry is also recommended.

- I have mentioned about The Golden Mile at Mt. Lavania. There is also a Chinese place next to Golden Mile, which is supposedly good.

- I need to dedicate one separate point for the coconut water. You get a coconut for $0.2 (20 LKR) to $0.35 (35 LKR). The coconut water is heavenly. You get it almost as frequently as you see the commandos, which is like every 2 minutes while you are walking in the city.

The people, the most important part:
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- Sri Lankans are proud people, proud about their small island country, about their government, proud about their trade, proud about their religious beliefs and about their cricket team. Sanath Jayasuriya adores more billboards than perhaps any other cricketer in India, with the exception of Sachin Tendulkar.

- They wake up early and go to bed early, as compared to Indians. Typical office go time is 8:30am. Dinner is around 8:00pm and sac time is 9:00pm. Only a few eateries are open till 11pm. Nightlife is non-existent.

- Usually jovial people, with a rather relaxed attitude to life. The commandos in the city chat with everyone around, while checking the permits. Of course this is based on my interactions with about 50 people that I trained, about 6 drivers, and about 10-15 others at the restaurants. I may be wrong to judge the 20 million people based on such small sample size.

- Of course, most people are fanatic about cricket. In fact, cricket is the major religion on the island, just like the case with its neighbors.

- Most people can speak English and read / write. The country has one the highest literacy rates in the world – a staggering 92%.

- People are slightly late in reaction as compared to Indians, so you might wonder if they are responding at all. But they are definitely smart, and are usually sweet to the trainers … maybe this is one personal experience!

Whichever way, this is one great trip memories of which I will cherish for a long long time …

More Later!

Best
Shreekant
29 January 2009