www.bellagiocolombo.com430, R. A. de Mel Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

# Hotline : +94 755 886 688 / +94 770 294 400

Experience the Excitement

We take your experience beyondgaming with world-class live entertainment, complimentary dining and drinks and free transport with in Colombo city limits.

Our Best Compliments from

to

KUMARA REISEN GmbH Heidelberger Straße 34 • 51065 Köln

Tel.: (0049) (0)221 962930 Fax: (0049) (0)221 625219

www.kumarareisen.de E-mail:info@kumarareisen.de

Tour Operator and Travel Agents in Germany since 1988

Specialists in organizing Tours to Sri Lanka; Hotel bookings,Special individual Round Tours with Chau�eur guide a/c car

Flight bookings; IATA Agent & Agents for Srilanka Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Oman air, Condor, Air Berlin, etc.

Agents for major Tour Operators in Germany - TUI, Neckermann, DERTOUR, Meiers Weltreisen, ITS, Jahn Reisen, All tours, etc.

www.bellagiocolombo.com430, R. A. de Mel Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

# Hotline : +94 755 886 688 / +94 770 294 400

Experience the Excitement

We take your experience beyondgaming with world-class live entertainment, complimentary dining and drinks and free transport with in Colombo city limits.

Our Best Compliments from

to

KUMARA REISEN GmbH Heidelberger Straße 34 • 51065 Köln

Tel.: (0049) (0)221 962930 Fax: (0049) (0)221 625219

www.kumarareisen.de E-mail:info@kumarareisen.de

Tour Operator and Travel Agents in Germany since 1988

Specialists in organizing Tours to Sri Lanka; Hotel bookings,Special individual Round Tours with Chau�eur guide a/c car

Flight bookings; IATA Agent & Agents for Srilanka Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Oman air, Condor, Air Berlin, etc.

Agents for major Tour Operators in Germany - TUI, Neckermann, DERTOUR, Meiers Weltreisen, ITS, Jahn Reisen, All tours, etc.

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Welcome to the land of long life!

Ayubovan!

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RADO D-STAR GENT AUTOMATIC

ENGINEERED IN CARBON-DIFFUSED STEEL

Hrithik Roshan

ENGINEERED IN CARBON-DIFFUSED STEEL

COLOMBO: NO. 528 HAVELOCK ROAD, COLOMBO-06, TEL: 2367209 | NO. 46 MALWATHA ROAD, COLOMBO-11, TEL: 2329778 CRESCAT BOULEVARD, SHOP L24, TEL: 2438058 | MAJESTIC CITY, SHOP 3-43, TEL: 2555225 | KATUNAYAKE, DEPARTURE/TRANSIT AREA, TEL: 2258115

KANDY: KANDY CITY CENTRE, SHOP L3-18, TEL: 0812200455

CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE: W.A. DE SILVA BUILDING, 6-C PAGODA ROAD, NUGEGODA. TEL: 2826377 EMAIL: SERVICE@WADESILVA.COM

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Contents08 Sri Lanka Facts File

09 Hon. Minister’s Message

10 Chairman’s Message

11 Editorial

12 Jogging for a healthy lifestyle

14 Modernising the Weekly Fair

16 Facilitating Domestic Seaplane Travel

24 Negombo For All That’s Fun in Sri Lanka

34 Busy Bandarawela

40 Aluthgama Gateway to The South

52 Magical Creations of COIR

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RADO D-STAR GENT AUTOMATIC

ENGINEERED IN CARBON-DIFFUSED STEEL

Hrithik Roshan

ENGINEERED IN CARBON-DIFFUSED STEEL

COLOMBO: NO. 528 HAVELOCK ROAD, COLOMBO-06, TEL: 2367209 | NO. 46 MALWATHA ROAD, COLOMBO-11, TEL: 2329778 CRESCAT BOULEVARD, SHOP L24, TEL: 2438058 | MAJESTIC CITY, SHOP 3-43, TEL: 2555225 | KATUNAYAKE, DEPARTURE/TRANSIT AREA, TEL: 2258115

KANDY: KANDY CITY CENTRE, SHOP L3-18, TEL: 0812200455

CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE: W.A. DE SILVA BUILDING, 6-C PAGODA ROAD, NUGEGODA. TEL: 2826377 EMAIL: SERVICE@WADESILVA.COM

PG565_Rado_Ad_HR_D-StarAut_WaDeSilva_203x275mm.indd 1 8/17/12 11:54 AM

L24A 24B, Crescat Boulevard, No. 77, Gale Road, Colombo 03, Tel: 2438058 | No. 46, Malwatha Road, Colombo 11, Tel: 2329778No. 528, Havelock Road, Colombo 06, Tel: 2367209 | 1/35V, Liberty Plaza, Colombo 03, Tel: 2370997 | 3-43, Majestic City, Colombo 04, Tel: 2555225

Kandy City Centre, Shop No. L3-18, Tel: 0812200455DUTY FREE SHOP: 10D, Departure/Transit Area, BIA, Katunayake, Tel: 2258115

CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE: W.A. De Silva Building, 6C, Pagoda Road, Negegoda, Tel: 2826377, E mail: service@wadesilva.com

56 Ella Highlighted

60 The Galle Fort A tourist destination from the past

68 Pettah

Colombo’s Bizarre Bazaar

74 Colombo’s Great Museums

78 Chinese Acupuncture

80 Currying Flavour

86 Sigiriya The Wonder of the World

92 The Veddas of Sri Lanka

96 The Western Province Helps Service Providers

99 Western Province The Development Front

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L24A 24B, Crescat Boulevard, No. 77, Gale Road, Colombo 03, Tel: 2438058 | No. 46, Malwatha Road, Colombo 11, Tel: 2329778No. 528, Havelock Road, Colombo 06, Tel: 2367209 | 1/35V, Liberty Plaza, Colombo 03, Tel: 2370997 | 3-43, Majestic City, Colombo 04, Tel: 2555225

Kandy City Centre, Shop No. L3-18, Tel: 0812200455DUTY FREE SHOP: 10D, Departure/Transit Area, BIA, Katunayake, Tel: 2258115

CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE: W.A. De Silva Building, 6C, Pagoda Road, Negegoda, Tel: 2826377, E mail: service@wadesilva.com

SRI LANKA FACT FILENational FlagThe National Flag of Sri Lanka is the Lion Flag. A Lion bearing a sword in its right paw is depicted in gold on a red background with a yellow border with four Bo leaves pointing inwards in the four corners of the �lag. Two vertical bands of green and orange at the left end represent the minority ethnic groups. It is an adaptation of the standard of Sri Wickramarajasinghe, the last King of Sri Lanka.

Country Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri LankaSize: 65,610 km2/25,332 sq mi Location: An island off the south-eastern coastal shores of India, 880 km north of the Equator, in the Indian Ocean.Administrative Capital: Sri JayawardenapuraCommercial Capital: ColomboGovernment: Independent RepublicLanguages: Sinhala, Tamil and English are widely spoken throughout Sri Lanka.Ethnic Groups: Sinhalese - 74 % Tamil - 18 % Muslim - 07 % Burgher (descendants of Dutch and Portuguese colonists) and others - 01 %Religions: Buddhism - 70 % Hinduism - 16 % Christianity - 07 % Islam - 07 %Climate: Low Lands - tropical, average 27C0 Central Hills - cooler, with temperatures dropping to 14C0. The south-west monsoon brings rain to the western, southern and central regions from May to July, while the north-eastern monsoon is from December to January. Sri Lanka climate is ideal for holiday makers throughout the year.National Flower: The Blue Water Lily (Nymphaeastellata).Population: 20,926,315Population Density: 309 people per sq kmLife Expec. at Birth: 74 for female, 64 for maleLiteracy rate: 91.8%

An Island A Paradise

SRI LANKA FACT FILENational FlagThe National Flag of Sri Lanka is the Lion Flag. A Lion bearing a sword in its right paw is depicted in gold on a red background with a yellow border with four Bo leaves pointing inwards in the four corners of the �lag. Two vertical bands of green and orange at the left end represent the minority ethnic groups. It is an adaptation of the standard of Sri Wickramarajasinghe, the last King of Sri Lanka.

Country Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri LankaSize: 65,610 km2/25,332 sq mi Location: An island off the south-eastern coastal shores of India, 880 km north of the Equator, in the Indian Ocean.Administrative Capital: Sri JayawardenapuraCommercial Capital: ColomboGovernment: Independent RepublicLanguages: Sinhala, Tamil and English are widely spoken throughout Sri Lanka.Ethnic Groups: Sinhalese - 74 % Tamil - 18 % Muslim - 07 % Burgher (descendants of Dutch and Portuguese colonists) and others - 01 %Religions: Buddhism - 70 % Hinduism - 16 % Christianity - 07 % Islam - 07 %Climate: Low Lands - tropical, average 27C0 Central Hills - cooler, with temperatures dropping to 14C0. The south-west monsoon brings rain to the western, southern and central regions from May to July, while the north-eastern monsoon is from December to January. Sri Lanka climate is ideal for holiday makers throughout the year.National Flower: The Blue Water Lily (Nymphaeastellata).Population: 20,926,315Population Density: 309 people per sq kmLife Expec. at Birth: 74 for female, 64 for maleLiteracy rate: 91.8%

An Island A Paradise

REGENERATING TOURISM

As part of my efforts to promote tourism in the Western Province, in keeping with my mandate as Minister and following the vision presented by Sri Lanka’s President, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his cabinet, it was decided in 2011 to pub-lish this magazine, Amazing Sri Lanka.

It was always my wish to promote not just matters and places of inter-est to visitors to the Western Province, but to reveal the extraordinary attrac-tions for tourists to be found throughout Sri Lanka. The Western Province is currently the gateway through which all visitors to this island must pass.

However, that is changing as development is steered beyond the West-ern Province in an effort to extend the benefits of tourism to other parts of the country. This is spearheaded by the construction of both a seaport and an airport in the south of the country, another of the enterprises inspired by the vision of President Rajapaksa.

We support wholeheartedly the improvement of the tourist infrastruc-ture throughout Sri Lanka, and the Tourism Ministry of the Western Province is working in tandem with central government to play our part effectively. In this respect we are sponsoring many events that appeal both to tourists and Sri Lankans. The Colombo marathon is an example and for sponsorship in this we are indebted to support from Lanka Sportreisen.

Today, Sri Lanka - and particularly the Negombo zone (which is an important part of the Western Province) - enjoys a very good German market share (as well as from the rest of Europe). I have worked tirelessly to regen-erate the relationship and affection that the people of Germany have for Sri Lanka.

As a result, we have built up a cordial and very close friendship with top business communities there. We have also forged links with members of the Chefs’ Association of Cologne. This has resulted in an exchange of three top chefs between our two countries every six months for cross-cuisine exposure, both to promote Sri Lanka cuisine and to train Sri Lankan chefs.

Every year we tie ourselves with the Essen Trade Fair, the third largest fair in Germany in which almost all the European countries take part. Sri Lanka was the partner country at this fair in 2011 - a rare opportunity from which we gained good exposure making this a very successful promotion. As a result 60 top businessmen visited Sri Lanka with a view to promoting investment in Sri Lanka.

This was the result of my invitation and even today from time to time these same businessmen visit Sri Lanka often with their friends and I am proud to say the friendship we have built up has proved very productive. As a new venture, the Western Province Tourist Board will be one of the main sponsors at the launch of the Merian Magazine in Germany in March 2013, in which Sri Lanka will be enthusiastically promoted.

Our own magazine, Amazing Sri Lanka, is now in its third edition. It has expanded so much thanks to the dedication and hard work of my chairman of the Tourist Board, Claude Thomasz. To him and his loyal team, I extend my thanks and congratulations for a job well done. I am proud that visitors to Sri Lanka, because of the efforts of my colleagues at the Western Province Tourist Board, now have an interesting and reliable source of information about amaz-ing Sri Lanka!

Hon. Nimal A. Lanza

Minister of Road Development, Animal Production & Develop-ment, Housing & Construction,

Fisheries and Tourism - Western Province

A warm welcome to tourists to Sri Lanka! Whether you are on your first visit or returning to see more of this amazing island, I wish you a wonderful time and hope you will take home with you many pleasant memories of Sri Lanka.

Although Sri Lanka has attracted visitors from overseas since ancient days, you are in a way a pioneer. You have arrived as many initiatives are being introduced by both the government and private sector to make Sri Lanka even more appealing to tourists.

In support of the government’s aim to host 2.5 million tourists by 2016, the Western Province Tourist Board, under the dynamic leadership of the Minister of Tourism for the Western Province, the Hon Nimal A Lanza, is at the forefront of these developments.

One of our initiatives to encourage tourism is the publication of this magazine, with the objective of providing helpful information for visitors, as well as a keepsake of the interesting places to be seen in Sri Lanka.

In this issue we carry features on places as diverse as the island’s first tourist town, Negombo, as well as on the Western Province’s southernmost coastal town, Alutgama. Tourists can try train travel with the two-and-a-half hour journey from Colombo to Galle, where the ancient Galle Fort is an irresist-ible attraction, as our articles reveals.

We carry articles on the attractions of two hill country towns, the busy Bandarawela and that ‘Hikkaduwa in the hills’ – the beautiful Ella. Colombo is not ignored as our writers explore Pettah and discover some little known mu-seums in the commercial capital.

Market life is an essential part of Sri Lanka and we feature a govern-ment initiative to make markets more convenient for daily business. Markets are popular for the ingredients that go into Sri Lanka’s national dish, rice and curry, the topic of our appetising article, Currying Flavour. We also look at an ancient craft, that of coir making, and at our cultural heritage site of Sigiriya, together with an article on the Veddas.

I am pleased to welcome as the Editorial Consultant for this issue of Amazing Sri Lanka, the famous British author, travel writer and long-time resi-dent of Sri Lanka, Royston Ellis. He lives in a restored century-old cottage in In-duruwa and publishes a weekly newsletter about Sri Lanka, with a readership of 200,000. (www.roystonellis.com/blog).

Sri Lankans are friendly and helpful to visitors and, in that manner, if there is any way that I, as Chairman of the Western Province Tourist Board, or my staff, can be of assistance during your stay here, please contact me.

SRI LANKA PIONEERS

Claude A. Thomasz

Chairman Western Province Tourist Board

Board of Directors: (From left to right)

Mr. Palitha Abeywardhana Director

Mr. W.M.R. Roy Tissera Deputy Chairman

Mr. Claude A. Thomasz Chairman

Mr. S.G. Wijayabandu Director

Mr. F.R. Karunanayake Director

My association with Sri Lanka began serendipitously.

Sri Lanka is associated through legend and copywriter’s plagiarism with serendipity. It is an easy acceptable word that conjures up the serenity of old Cey-lon with the rapidity of change in modern Sri Lanka.

Serendipity is defined by the dictionary as ‘the faculty of making happy and unex-pected discoveries by accident.’ It is attributed to Horace Walpole who coined the word, in a letter written in January 1754, from the title of ‘a silly fairy tale called The Three Princes of Serendip’ that he had read as a child.

The author of that story was an Italian, Michele Tramezzino, who pub-lished his book in Venice in 1557. The news then of the introduction of Christian-ity to a mysterious, distant island known variously as Ceilao, Zeylan, Taprobane and Serendip, would have made the setting for the story topical as well as tropical.

SERENDIPITOUSSRI LANKA

Royston Ellis

Editorial Consultant

I knew nothing of that when the publisher of my bestselling series of historical novels set in the Caribbean, suggest-ed that I write a novel based on the life of James Brooke, the white rajah of Sarawak. To make the long haul flight to Sarawak bearable, I looked at the map and decided to stopover for a few days in Sri Lanka.

Like so many visitors from the 19th century onwards, my first night in Sri Lanka was spent at the Galle Face Hotel. I wasn’t to know then that I was beginning an association with this island that has so far lasted 34 years.

To be honest, I didn’t think much of Colombo on arrival and hired a taxi the very next day to drive me to Trincomalee. I rented a room on the beach at Uppuveli and decided to soak up the atmosphere as well as the sun. After a couple of weeks relaxing and making new friends I continued my journey to Sarawak where I spent several weeks researching for my novel.

It was only when I returned home and began to receive letters from the friends I had made in Sri Lanka, inviting me back to this amazing island, that I realised I was missing the country. I missed the enchantment of the scenery, the rich culture, the lifestyle, the beguiling smiles and the healthy, flavoursome cuisine, all of which invigorate a visitor who has an open mind.

My chance arrival in the isle of serendipity was indeed a happy discovery, as I hope is the arrival of every visitor to these shores. As with any long relationship, there are times of difficulties but the compelling personality of Sri Lanka makes such problems trivial.

During three decades of living here permanently, I have tried in my writing of guidebooks and magazine articles to attract readers to visit Sri Lanka as tourists. Nowhere in the world offers the visitor so much.

I know that people who have never been here are intrigued by Sri Lanka. My own weekly newsletter about Sri Lanka (www.roystonellis.com/blog) attracts nearly a million hits a month. People around the world want to know more and more about this country.

Visitors arrive first in the Western Province, the gateway to all that is great about this country. I felt especially hon-oured when Claude Thomasz, the chairman of the Western Province Tourist Board, telephoned in mid-2012 and asked if I would help him as Editorial Consultant with compiling this, the third issue of Amazing Sri Lanka.

It was a suggestion I couldn’t refuse since it gives me a chance to promote Sri Lanka, and all the government is doing for the country’s development, to tourists, business visitors and potential settlers. It’s my way of saying thanks to Sri Lanka for an enduring association, born of serendipity. I welcome readers to this magazine in the hope that all will share my enthu-siasm for amazing Sri Lanka.

Amazing Sri LankaNo. 204, Dencil Kobbekaduwa Mawatha, Battramula, Sri Lanka.General: +94 (0) 11 7631705Advertising: +94 (0) 11 7208384Fax: +94 (0) 112883472E-mail: info@wptb.lkWeb: www.wptb.lk

Layout & Designing: Nadun Egodage Feather Pen Visual Studios

The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or part in any form without the written consent of the publisher.

All rights reserved © Amazing Sri Lanka 2012

Opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the writers and not necessarily endorsed by the publisher.

12 | ASL

Joggingfor a healthy lifestyle

Jogging as a means of improving physi-cal fitness began in Britain in mid-17th Century. Walking, jogging and other exercises are essential for a healthy life. Physical exercises are most im-portant in preventing / controlling dia-betes, heart aliments, high blood pres-sure and mental depression. William Shakespeare talks about jogging in his play The Taming of the Shrew written in 1593 and Australian Author Rolf Bol-drewood refers to it in his 1884 novel My Run Home. This led to the subject being cited in dictionaries.

Today jogging tracks are found in many areas of Sri Lanka. In the past the most popular jogging track was the Galle Face green. Later jogging spread to Kiribathkumbura in Kandy, the area near Diyawanna Oya close to the Par-liament and to Independence Square. Colombo 07. Now plans are underway to build jogging tracks in several other

selected cities and towns. It helps to de-velop an efficient and fruitful life-style thus making an important contribution to the progress of a community and a nation.

The focus of this article is on the jogging tracks of Oruthota, Gampa-ha and Kelaniya-Mahara which have been built under the Rivers and Water-ways Management Project of the Sund-ara Gampaha (Beautiful Gampaha) pro-gramme. Dawn was breaking and the first rays of the sun were upon Gampa-ha when we began walking along the newly-built jogging track in Oruthota. The track-building was done under Western Provincial Council Minister of Tourism Nimal Lanza’s direction on the advice of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. The objective is to promote physical fitness and good health among the people, the Sundara Gampaha programme aims to con-

trol floods, develop paddy cultivations for ensuring food security, improving bio-diversity of the area and create a healthy community by protecting the natural environment. Protection of marshes and wetlands will help to pu-rify water resources. Gampaha District is experiencing rapid urbanisation and the Gampaha town is fast developing.

The history of Oruthota goes back to the time when the Sinhalese ar-mies fought against the Portuguese in-vader. Since the Oru (boats) the Sinha-lese soldiers used were anchored here it earned the name Oruthota. In the past the only road in Oruthota was a cart track and the chief livelihood of the vil-lagers was paddy cultivation. They also cultivated rubber, coconut, betel and pineapples. Their products were trans-ported by boat across the Ooruwal Oya. In the 1940s this place had a wooden bridge. Later in the 1960s a better one

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was built which is now being replaced with another new bridge. Kalu Palama or the black railway bridge has enhanced the beauty of Oruthota. Among the first settlers in Oruthota was Lewnis Appuhamy who hails from Hasalaka. Not being far from Gampaha Town, Oruthota became a populated area by the 1990s.

The area where jogging tracks have been built was earlier a marshy land and had abandoned paddy fields. The lack of a system to allow the smooth flow of water from the Ooruwal Oya caused floods in Oruthota. Today the entire irrigation channel system has been properly built. The scientifically built jogging tracks are located in an attractive environment. The Ooruwal Oya flows calmly. The repaired channels and canals have helped to re-cultivate the abandoned paddy lands. The ap-proach roads to villages have been developed. Protection for river banks has been provided at a low-cost. Hundreds of plant varieties including herbal plants cultivated on either side have added to the beauty of the surroundings. These include aquatic plants that help to purify water. Thermal power is used providing lights to the jogging tracks. The But-terfly Bridge there looks identical to its counterpart in Galle.

At Oruthota we met Chandra Menike (63), her son Mahesh Pallewatta (34), daughter-in-law Nishanthi (32) and granddaugh-ter Nethumi (03). Chandra Menike said it was a great joy for her to see jogging tracks in the area during her lifetime. She is confident that the flood control system will prevent floods like the ones that occurred 1956 and 2010. Oooruwal Oya which begins from the Pilikuththuwa Mountain flows into the sea at Ja-ela. The jogging tracks have joined three villages – Oruthota, Bendiyamulla and Moragoda. This has also resulted in a bio-diversity bridge between Pilikuththuwa forest boundary and Gampaha Botanical Gardens.

This project is part of an extensive programme focused on Attangalu Oya river basin in the Gampaha District. It will become a waterway connecting the Gampaha Botanical Gardens and the Pilikuththuwa Forest and improve the living conditions of the people. The project will help to protect and improve the natural environment and water resources in the area. Increased cultivation of different plant varieties have helped to yield more springs bringing water to wells, according to Karunathilaka Bandara (53), a father of two and a polio victim. He comes there daily to do physical exercises. The presence of mobile sales outlets proved that the current development trends will soon raise the economic level of the rural community there.

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Modernising the Weekly FairThe Sathi Pola -- or weekly fair -- concept is a long-standing and important feature of the national culture of this country as it serves as a centre for the exchange of village urban produce. Recently, Sri Lanka’s Economic Development Minister, Basil Rajapaksa, opened two modernised Sathi Pola facilities, one in Minuwangoda and the second in Bopitiya in Wattala, both in the Western Province. The Government has taken steps to introduce the Divi Neguma Sathi Pola programme for modernising the main weekly fairs throughout the country to meet consumer require-ments, since 80 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population live in rural and the plantation areas.

Minister Rajapaksa addressed the meeting held after the ceremonial launching of the Divi Naguma Sathi Pola programme at the Minuwangoda town on 20 May. The extent of the main building of the Minuwangoda Sathi Pola has all modern facilities and was built with Economic Development Ministry funds. The construc-tion was undertaken by the Western Province Road Development Authority (WPRDA).

The minister observed that weekly fairs have been popular in the country since ancient times as they were places where people could do trading by bartering and consumers were able to buy their needs at reasonable prices. These fairs re�lected a way of life and were part of the people’s culture. “Therefore President Mahinda Rajapaksa has entrusted the Economic Development Ministry with the task of modernising weekly fairs throughout the island,” Minister Basil Rajapaksa said.

He explained that the President’s objective in launch-ing the Divi Naguma programme is to make the country self-suf�icient in food, to ensure food security for every citizen and also to generate self-employment. It is with this aim that the Sathi Pola construction programme

commenced at Minuwangoda, heralding a new era in social progress.

As soon as the President entrusted the Economic Devel-opment Ministry with this task Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga undertook the responsi-bility. Thereafter Western Province Road Development Authority General Manager, R.M.S. Bandaranaike, directed the work under the supervision of Western Provincial Council Minister, Nimal Lanza. Work on the Minuwangoda Sathi Pola was completed in four months. Minister Rajapaksa stressed the need for keeping the Sathi Pola clean and reminded that it was the responsi-bility of the Minunwangoda mayor and councillors. He said that any renovations, repairs and maintenance should be done according to proper advice, and meas-ures should be taken to ensure that not only people’s needs are met but also public property is protected.

Minister Rajapaksa added the fair would serve as a sales point for home grown vegetables and fruits and other local products. Excess products could be sold to traders doing business in other area. He said that today everything is being done in Gampaha District according to a proper plan. Projects cover highways and byways, maternal clinics, pre-schools, reservoirs, tanks and irrigation canals, jogging tracks, culverts, bridges and toilets among others.

Agrarian Services Minister S.M. Chandrasena, Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, Provincial Council Minister Nimal Lanza, Deputy Ministers

Duleep Wijesekera, Pandu Bandaranayake, Pariamen-tarian Sudarshani Fernandopulle and Provincial Road Development Authority engineers and other of�icers were among the large crowd present on the occasion.

On 21 June 2012 Minister Basil Rajapaksa addressed a meeting after opening the renovated Sathi Pola at Bopitiya in Wattala. He said that the Sathi Pola occupies a special place among people resident in 36,000 villages in 14,000 Grama Niladhari divisions in Sri Lanka.

The Minister said that nearly 80 per cent of the people in the country in general patronised the Sathi Polas, while almost 90 per cent of rural folk, including the plantation community, patronised Sathi Polas. The development of Sathi Polas was one important feature of the President’s programme of bringing the bene�its of development to the people.

The Bopitiya Sathi Pola, covering an area of 1.5 acres and consisting of 150 stalls, was built by the WPRDA under the supervision of Provincial Council Minister, Nimal Lanza. It brings to 47 the number of Sathi Polas in the Gampaha District of the Western Province.

State Resources and Enterprise Development Deputy Minister, Sarath Gunaratne, Wattala SLFP Chief Organ-iser, Neil Rupasinghe, and Wattala Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Thyaga de Alwis also spoke. Provincial Minis-

ter, Nimal Lanza, Provincial Council Mem-bers Janaka Sooriyabandara and

Randiv Rodrigo were among those present.

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15 | ASL

Modernising the Weekly FairThe Sathi Pola -- or weekly fair -- concept is a long-standing and important feature of the national culture of this country as it serves as a centre for the exchange of village urban produce. Recently, Sri Lanka’s Economic Development Minister, Basil Rajapaksa, opened two modernised Sathi Pola facilities, one in Minuwangoda and the second in Bopitiya in Wattala, both in the Western Province. The Government has taken steps to introduce the Divi Neguma Sathi Pola programme for modernising the main weekly fairs throughout the country to meet consumer require-ments, since 80 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population live in rural and the plantation areas.

Minister Rajapaksa addressed the meeting held after the ceremonial launching of the Divi Naguma Sathi Pola programme at the Minuwangoda town on 20 May. The extent of the main building of the Minuwangoda Sathi Pola has all modern facilities and was built with Economic Development Ministry funds. The construc-tion was undertaken by the Western Province Road Development Authority (WPRDA).

The minister observed that weekly fairs have been popular in the country since ancient times as they were places where people could do trading by bartering and consumers were able to buy their needs at reasonable prices. These fairs re�lected a way of life and were part of the people’s culture. “Therefore President Mahinda Rajapaksa has entrusted the Economic Development Ministry with the task of modernising weekly fairs throughout the island,” Minister Basil Rajapaksa said.

He explained that the President’s objective in launch-ing the Divi Naguma programme is to make the country self-suf�icient in food, to ensure food security for every citizen and also to generate self-employment. It is with this aim that the Sathi Pola construction programme

commenced at Minuwangoda, heralding a new era in social progress.

As soon as the President entrusted the Economic Devel-opment Ministry with this task Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga undertook the responsi-bility. Thereafter Western Province Road Development Authority General Manager, R.M.S. Bandaranaike, directed the work under the supervision of Western Provincial Council Minister, Nimal Lanza. Work on the Minuwangoda Sathi Pola was completed in four months. Minister Rajapaksa stressed the need for keeping the Sathi Pola clean and reminded that it was the responsi-bility of the Minunwangoda mayor and councillors. He said that any renovations, repairs and maintenance should be done according to proper advice, and meas-ures should be taken to ensure that not only people’s needs are met but also public property is protected.

Minister Rajapaksa added the fair would serve as a sales point for home grown vegetables and fruits and other local products. Excess products could be sold to traders doing business in other area. He said that today everything is being done in Gampaha District according to a proper plan. Projects cover highways and byways, maternal clinics, pre-schools, reservoirs, tanks and irrigation canals, jogging tracks, culverts, bridges and toilets among others.

Agrarian Services Minister S.M. Chandrasena, Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, Provincial Council Minister Nimal Lanza, Deputy Ministers

Duleep Wijesekera, Pandu Bandaranayake, Pariamen-tarian Sudarshani Fernandopulle and Provincial Road Development Authority engineers and other of�icers were among the large crowd present on the occasion.

On 21 June 2012 Minister Basil Rajapaksa addressed a meeting after opening the renovated Sathi Pola at Bopitiya in Wattala. He said that the Sathi Pola occupies a special place among people resident in 36,000 villages in 14,000 Grama Niladhari divisions in Sri Lanka.

The Minister said that nearly 80 per cent of the people in the country in general patronised the Sathi Polas, while almost 90 per cent of rural folk, including the plantation community, patronised Sathi Polas. The development of Sathi Polas was one important feature of the President’s programme of bringing the bene�its of development to the people.

The Bopitiya Sathi Pola, covering an area of 1.5 acres and consisting of 150 stalls, was built by the WPRDA under the supervision of Provincial Council Minister, Nimal Lanza. It brings to 47 the number of Sathi Polas in the Gampaha District of the Western Province.

State Resources and Enterprise Development Deputy Minister, Sarath Gunaratne, Wattala SLFP Chief Organ-iser, Neil Rupasinghe, and Wattala Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Thyaga de Alwis also spoke. Provincial Minis-

ter, Nimal Lanza, Provincial Council Mem-bers Janaka Sooriyabandara and

Randiv Rodrigo were among those present.

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FacilitatingDomestic Seaplane Travel

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Economic development Minister Basil Rajapaksa recently commis-sioned the float aquadrome and

air corridor at Dandugam Oya, Ja Ela further boosting tourism and providing a solution to frequent flood threats to the area.

The Minister said that this would open a new chapter in the coun-try’s tourism with the Sri Lankan Air-lines air taxi service operating from the scenic surroundings at Dandugam Oya, Seeduwa thereby helping infrastruc-ture development in the Katana and Ja-ela electorates for the benefit of people there. It would also open for them new employment opportunities, according to the minister at the commissioning of the float plane aquadrome and the air corridor.

A special event at this meeting was Minister Rajapaksa and other in-vitees being received by Negombo La-goon Managing Committee Chairman Ranjit Fernando and Secretary Nimal Viani Rodrigo who earlier organised a massive protest at the Negombo town against the construction of the float plane aquadrome.

They welcomed the construc-tion of the aquadrome and expressed their appreciation by handing over to Minister Rajapaksa a present to be giv-en to the President.

The Minister said that the aquadrome would not only boost tour-ism but would also make a major con-tribution to the country’s socio-eco-nomic progress. He also said a year ago it was proposed to construct the aero-drome at Negombo Lagoon.

But taking into account the re-quests the fishing community made to the President he found an alternative location for the project since it is the duty of a people’s government to pay heed to public requests. Consequently the work was completed within a year. Various problems are not uncommon when developing a country, the min-ister noted. Consequently people are sometimes compelled to make sacri-fices.

From the float plane aquad-rome Katunayake, Sri Lankan Airlines will operate domestic flights to approx-imately 14 destinations within a very short period. It would hugely benefit both international and local travellers. This will also provide the opportunity to make the area a centre for estab-lishing small and medium scale indus-tries for the benefit of the people of the area which is near the Katana and Ja-ela electorates. Minister Rajapaksa expressed his gratitude to the Western Province Road Development Authority and Provincial Council Minister Nimal Lanza who is also the Minister of Tour-

ism for the Western Province.

The Minister added that they were taking great effort to protect the area’s natural environment and said the Thekka Gusela canal repair project and the program for cleaning the Mu-thurajawela canals had already com-menced.

Welcoming the invitees Avia-tion Minister Priyankara Jayaratna said that the air base has three docking bays, rest rooms, ample parking space for over 30 vehicles and a long timber pier overlooking the lake and fish-ing village. He further said travelling by float planes reduces travel time by more than 85 percent and gives a better opportunity to see the most attractive scenic spots in the country.

Sri Lankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe, Chief Ex-ecutive Kapila Chandrasena, Social Ser-vices Minister Felix Perera and Parlia-mentarian Sudarshani Fernandopulle were among the others who spoke. Also present were Western Provincial Council Minister of Tourism Nimal Lan-za, Deputy Minister Duleep Wijesekera and Parliamentarian Ruwan Ranatun-ga,

The designing and construc-tion of the aquadrome was done by the Provincial Road Development Author-ity.

FacilitatingDomestic Seaplane Travel

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FROM THE KATUNAYAKE AIRPORT

NEGOMBO HOTELIERS ASSOCIATION

GATEWAY HOTEL AIRPORT GARDEN COLOMBO

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CLUB PALM BAY HOTEL GOLDEN STAR HOTEL GOLDI SANDS HOTEL

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JETWING SEA PALACE HOTEL PALM VILLAGE HOTEL

NEGOMBO HOTELIERS ASSOCIATION

PARADISE BEACH HOTEL PARADISE VILLAGE HOTEL PRGASUSU REEF HOTEL

RANWELI HOLIDAY VILLAGE SANMALI BEACH HOTEL SILVAS BEACH HOTEL

STAR BEACH HOTEL SUN SET HOTEL SUNFLOWER BEACH HOTEAL

TAMARINE HOTEL TOPAZ

Dedicated to serve you !

Step right into the Traditional Gateway of Sri Lanka....

The Negombo Hoteliers’ Association (NHA) was inaugurated in 1970 by founder member, M R Herbert Cooray, with just six members. It has now grown into a 25-member body, aiming to transform Negombo into the most

attractive city for tourists in Sri Lanka.

Development projects have begun at all tourist hotels, tourist bungalows, guest houses and pavilions, together with the category establishments such as tourist information bureaus, with a view to promoting and developing tourism both internal and international in Negombo. Maintenance of places of interest to tourists (e.g. parks, beaches, places of beauty and recreational sports, streets illuminations and development of street isles with more greenery) will steadily transform the area into a tropical holiday resort for leisure. Since Negombo is the gateway to Sri Lanka, being the entry and exit point from the airport, the impres-sion the visitor receives is of great importance.

The creation of travel and transport counters to coordinate with hotel staff and neighbouring public, enabling safe travel avoiding delays, is an objec-tive that could be achieved with the help and support of the Hon. Minister Nimal Lanza. The Western Province Tourist Board (WPTB) with the generous support of the Hon. Minister Nimal Lanza has installed solar power lighting on the beach and a beach cleaning machine was purchased for the first time to maintain a cleaner environment. Chairman WPTB, Claude A. Thomasz, has also made arrangements to provide beach scooters (buggy scooters) to be handed over to the Tourist Police in the area to patrol the beach (a 2.5km stretch of golden sand). In addition pro-jects initiated to create awareness among the general public and school children in the vicinity on the value of tourism, have resulted in a better awareness among people of tourism standards. Tour guides, hotel employees, drivers, beach vendors and the community at large have been included in these educational programmes.

Cultural shows, dances, music, concerts, sports and games, the provi-sion of shopping facilities to tourists, establishment of art galleries, exhibitions of paintings and other works of art, may cater to the interest and convenience of tourists and the need for such have been identified and reviewed. Negombo with its stretch of golden mile beach and the sea beyond offers the ideal location for a holiday in the palm-fringed paradise isle of serendipity: Sri Lanka.

TOURISM IN NEGOMBO

Ms. Rookamanie Fernando General Manager Jetwing Sea Hotel

President - Negombo Hoteliers Association

T: +94 (0) 31 22 76719 F: +94 (0) 31 48 70765 M:+94 (0) 77 31 16779

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FUN IN SRI LANKA

NEGOMBOFOR ALL THAT’S

For the tourist, Negombo is surely Sri Lanka’s most exciting place for a holiday. Our travel

correspondent looks at the west coast town’s history, culture and amazing attractions.

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Negombo is a lively, vibrant town where the action that begins with dawn can be pursued

throughout the day until well after mid-night. Incredibly, it is also a holiday re-sort where guests can enjoy total self-indulgence in doing nothing all day but lazing around a seaside swimming pool and dining off glorious seafood.

Negombo is one of those spe-cial holiday destinations that have evolved to cater for tourist demands alongside a traditional coastal culture and lifestyle. The visitor isn’t isolated from local life, even though hotels wall off most of the beach, and can enjoy every minute of interacting with Sri Lankans. There is nothing artificial about Negombo; it is real Sri Lanka and its regular guests who return year after year hope it will never change.

It probably never will, having survived for nearly 50 years, keeping its identity as a thriving fishing town, since first being discovered by mod-ern tourists after an international air-port was built on the nearby site of the former British Royal Air Force airstrip that opened in 1944. Negombo’s hotels and guesthouses sprang up from 1967

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to cater for the demand by passengers stopping for a break during long haul propeller flights between England and Australia.

But foreign travellers discov-ered Negombo long before that, many in search of the cinnamon that grew there. The shallow waters of the lagoon provided a natural harbour for seafar-ing vessels calling in to provision. The lagoon has an area of 2,883ha and a mean depth of only 1.5m. It was used as a base by the Singhalese kingdoms to conduct external trade.

When Muslim Arabs began to arrive in the country in the 7th & 8th centuries, they dominated the east-west trade routes, monopolising the cinnamon trade and using Negombo as a base. The Sri Lankan Moors are their descendants and today are the largest minority group in Negombo.

In the early 16th century, the Portuguese, attracted by trade, ousted the Moors and constructed a fort in Ne-gombo, taking over the cinnamon trade for themselves. During the time of the Portuguese occupation, the Karawa, the traditional fishing clan of Negom-bo, embraced Catholicism. The result is that today almost two thirds of the population are Catholics.

Having restructured the tradi-tional production and management of cinnamon to their advantage, the influ-

ence of the Portuguese began to decline in 1630 as an on-going war between the Portuguese occupiers and the Kingdom of Kandy reached a stalemate. The King of Kandy turned to the Dutch for help and they were happy to oblige, taking over the settlement in 1646 and enforc-ing their presence with the building of a fort in Negombo in 1672.

When the British conquered the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815, Negom-bo’s importance changed from being the prime outlet for cinnamon exports, to prosperity gained from its energetic fishery industry. The tourist industry, which began informally soon after the international airport opened, added to the expansion of the town with beach-side hotels and tourist shops.

There is not much evidence today of the original Portuguese and Dutch buildings, although old (and, alas, dilapidated) houses can still be glimpsed in the town. The Lagoon View Old Rest House is said to date from Dutch days, and the prison began life as the Dutch Fort. However, the concen-tration of ornate and brightly painted churches is testimony to the influence of the religion of the Portuguese and Dutch.

Because of its geography, stretching along the coast from the tip of the lagoon in the south to the tour-istic environs of the town’s northern boundary, Negombo is an easy place to explore. Visitors usually stay in one of the independent guesthouses at the

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southern end of the town or in the more refined, boutique-aspiring hotels of Ethukula, to the town’s north. Others venture inland to bungalow properties whose the owners vigorously protect their exclusivity.

The layout of Negombo with its many bars, cafés and shops adds to the appeal of taking a stroll through the town. There are always plenty of three-wheeler taxis to ferry guests back to their hotels if the walking be-comes too tiring or too hot. There are also freelance guides who are keen to help strangers. The official ones, who have been trained in courtesy and have passed a knowledge and aptitude test,

carry an identity card and number, showing they are licensed by the West-ern Province Tourist Board.

However, Negombo is easy to experience without an escort, since the townsfolk are naturally hospitable and will readily answer any questions. It’s part of the charm of a holiday in Ne-gombo that there is plenty to see and enjoy for guests inquisitive enough to leave the sometimes synthetic or ster-ile atmosphere of their hotels.

The town is certainly not ster-ile. Although there are signs in Sin-hala that the tourist won’t understand urging citizens to respect natural re-

sources and to keep the place clean, the cleanliness campaign still has a long way to go. If one appreciates that this is a working community, not an enclave cleaned especially and reserved for tourists, and that its fascination cannot be achieved without evidence of the detritus of modern, consumer-oriented civilisation, Negombo becomes a pleas-ure.

Visitors in search of ecological-ly correct surroundings where inhabit-ants don’t live or discard their refuse, don’t have to go far from Negombo. To the south, and within a short boat ride, are the Muthurajawela Wet Lands.

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Negombo’s day of intrigu-ing vibrancy begins at dawn as huge, wooden catamarans powered by the wind in their sails, and fibre-glass fish-ing launches with outboard motors, make their way back to land with the night’s catch. The sight is repeated in reverse in the evening as they sail off to the horizon, a sight that could easily have inspired Bing Crosby’s 1935 song, Red Sails in the Sunset.

Negombo is synonymous for Sri Lankans with fresh fish of all sizes, prawns, crab and cuttle fish. To see the catch being landed at the beach and then auctioned to wholesalers means getting up with the sun rise. The fishing harbour and the beach fish markets are open to everyone, and everyone seems to gather there to chat, haggle and pur-chase fresh fish to carry home in a plas-tic bucket or slung across the carrier of a motorbike or bicycle.

If getting up at dawn is too daunting, no need to worry; the clam-our and commerce of the market and the beachside where fishermen pluck the catch from their nets, continues until mid-morning. Tourists generally don’t buy fish anyway, unless they have self-catering facilities or someone to cook; for them the market is to catch a good photograph, not a fish.

The fishermen and the fish vendors are extraordinary characters. They are dressed for business, with sarongs hoicked up above their knees, bandanas wrapped around their heads, and a rapid repartee. Their gruff exte-rior is softened by a roguish twinkle in their eyes as they answer a visitor’s questions. Photograph? No problem, they say, but don’t ask them to pose; they don’t have time for that.

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It’s not just the characters that are so inspiring for a photographer; it’s the colours of the fishing vessels, the shades of light and dark (even on a gloomy day the fish market seems bright and jolly), and the movement. There are odd sights, too, such as the wooden shed amidst the fishing boats, where fresh pork is butchered with cut-lasses and offered for sale alongside the fish and prawns.

Fishing boats are moored along the banks of the lagoon, and people cleaning and coiling nets for the next fishing expedition throng the shore, or sit in the shade of trees and watch others at work. There is a sense of camaraderie, of shared hardships and triumphs, that communicates itself to the observer.

Aside from the romantic side of the scene is the unseen lifestyle of Negombo’s fishing folk. They use the beach that visitors like to enjoy so the strand of sand that stretches north-wards from the lagoon, is not the pre-serve of pampered tourists. For privacy, holidaymakers have lavish swimming pools created by their hotels, and that’s where they spend the day relaxing.

The town itself, after the hustle and bustle of the fish markets, seems to

start late. Shops and cafés are clearly unused to people arriving early in the morning, since both guests and shop-keepers, and café owners, invariably sleep late after the night before.

For the visitor, the day can also be passed in exploration. There is a chance to try a trip out to sea in one of the narrow canoe-like catamarans that are perched on the beach with a parallel outrigger float and huge sail. A catama-ran and helpful crew can be chartered by the hour offering an opportunity to fish and, perhaps, catch prawns.

While the beach in front of the major hotels is kept as clean as possi-ble, locals have their own beach area created by the local government, where the cars of day visitors can park. The handcarts of snack vendors are also parked there during the day, making a colourful sight. Lovers and friends hap-pily enjoy the area protected by huge boulders from the sea, or stroll togeth-er along the beach.

For visitors, there is an oppor-tunity to take a boat trip on the Dutch legacy to Negombo: the canal. With fishing boats tied up on both banks, and houses on both sides, this is an experi-ence of Sri Lankan canal-based life that can only be enjoyed in Negombo. The

canal itself extends southwards from the Negombo Lagoon to the Kelani River on the northern outskirts of Co-lombo.

If the tourist strip of Negom-bo takes a long time to wake up in the morning, it makes up for it in the even-ing. Out of Colombo there is nowhere in Sri Lanka (not even the old hippy haunt of Hikkaduwa) that has as many bars, restaurants, and endless nightlife as Negombo has.

This is not downmarket and off limits to visitors, but a strip of ec-lectic restaurants and lively bars that could put popular Spanish resorts to shame for high jinks. There are pubs for holiday boozers, bars for genteelly sipping cocktails, and discos for the young at heart. Restaurants offer fast food, seafood, and local cuisine refined for foreign palates.

The delight of all this is that it is in walking distance of most ho-tels, adding to the boundless charm of Negombo, whether as a base for a Sri Lanka holiday or just in transit for a day or two while awaiting an onward flight. Just 25 minutes from the airport, Negombo is a surprising encapsulation of all that’s fun in Sri Lanka.

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No. 39B, Poruthota Road, Eththukala, Negombo, Sri Lanka. Tel: +94 31 2275866

Enjoy the romance of live Seafood, a tables set right on the beach facing the ocean, candle lightings, warm ocean breeze and the surf breaking softly just a few feet away with the many catamarans at sea.

Watch the �ickering illumination of hurricane lamps throw shadows of history on the soft sand under youe bear feet. Designed to make your heart softly beat, shades you from the sun and shelters you from the rain, perched on the pristine sands of the paradise beach overlooking the Indian Ocean.

What Negombo & Tastees Banana means

It is a quaint yet stylish venue with the signifying natural aesthetic beauty, a setting that is nothing short from your expected deam. The cool night breeze will caress you while waiters at island style attire cosset you.

Freshly caught seafood straight from the Indian Ocean is on displayed at your very eyes to be cooked just the way you want it, grilled, deviled, poached, fried or any other style that you prefer that would leave you with great satisfaction.

Tamarind Tree Hotel is strategi-cally located within close prox-imity to the Bandaranaike In-

ternational Airport. Upon arrival at the hotel, guests immediately feel the warmth of hospitality at our garden resort, with its amazing landscaping of greenery.

The hotel has enhanced its reputation over the last three years in terms of business and standard, having benefitted from a refurbishment cost-ing more than Rs60m. In support of the refurbishments, there is to be upgrad-ing of the lobby in 2013.

The Italian owner, Mr P Berta-relli, has put in a lot of his time and in-vestment to ensure a worthy return. With the boom of tourism in Sri Lanka he is optimistic about the future, confident it will grow and bring in more foreign exchange to the country.

Neville Rogers, the General Manager of the ho-tel, has brilliant ideas for the development of The Tama-rind Hotel. He projects high standards and better returns over the years ahead. Com-pleting three years in office, Rogers has complemented the promotional activities of the Sri Lanka tourism authori-ties with events and hospitality to attract holiday makers and travellers. He sees this as the key to pave the way for increased tourism.

Neville Rogers was edu-cated at Trinity College, Kandy, and

Mr. Neville Rogers The General Manager Tamarind Tree Hotel

Tamarind Tree HotelKatunayake - Sri Lanka

is a professional product of the Con-fifi Group and has also been involved in Hotel Management Training in the Netherlands. In addition he has the ex-perience of overseas exposure in lead-ing, star-class hotels across the globe.

The Tamarind Tree Hotel con-sists of 59 rooms nestled amidst acres of lush green lawns and swaying palm fringed gardens, with a category of 36 Bungalows and 24 standard rooms all air-conditioned and equipped with a

range of guest facilities. The bungalows are furnished with king sized beds or twin beds for plush comfort. Among are two lavishly furnished suites with two bed rooms , Living room on each fully with A/C, and dining area making it a perfect choice for families . Enjoy your stay at our cozy rooms decorated with traditional wall hangings and portraits, opening out to the emerald lawns. The Tamarind Tree offers a selection of hol-iday packages converted as you desire.

No. 39B, Poruthota Road, Eththukala, Negombo, Sri Lanka. Tel: +94 31 2275866

Enjoy the romance of live Seafood, a tables set right on the beach facing the ocean, candle lightings, warm ocean breeze and the surf breaking softly just a few feet away with the many catamarans at sea.

Watch the �ickering illumination of hurricane lamps throw shadows of history on the soft sand under youe bear feet. Designed to make your heart softly beat, shades you from the sun and shelters you from the rain, perched on the pristine sands of the paradise beach overlooking the Indian Ocean.

What Negombo & Tastees Banana means

It is a quaint yet stylish venue with the signifying natural aesthetic beauty, a setting that is nothing short from your expected deam. The cool night breeze will caress you while waiters at island style attire cosset you.

Freshly caught seafood straight from the Indian Ocean is on displayed at your very eyes to be cooked just the way you want it, grilled, deviled, poached, fried or any other style that you prefer that would leave you with great satisfaction.

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Bandarawela is not on the usual list of places to see in Sri Lanka, which is a shame because it has

so much to offer the visitor who wants to venture beyond the usual tour-ists towns. While Kandy and Nuwara Eliya attract thousands of tourists a year, and specifically pander to them, Bandarawela gives the impression that it has other things to do.

Visitors touring Sri Lanka often overlook Bandarawela in the tea growing hill country, but it has a bustling personality combining the business

of daily life with memories of the past. Richard Tresillian visits Bandarawela for a taste of

the colonial past and dynamic present.

BUSY BANDARAWELA

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And it has. It is at the heart of Uva tea country; a tea that has a special (and much in demand) quality impart-ed by the caressing of seasonal breezes. The undulating landscape is dedicated to tea, not tourism, and dominated by tall tin factories that never manage to blend into the shorn hillsides. Although tea planters cut down the forest, wood-ed ravines remain. Valleys harbour

paddy fields and vegetable plots.

Bandarawela is 257km by rail from Colombo (think 160 miles and a journey of between eight and ten hours) or 119km by road, via Ratnapu-ra and Haputale. It is superbly situated at 1,230m (4,036 ft) above sea level. With an excellent climate year round (but sometimes sweaters are needed at night) and inspiring mountain scenery

beyond the boxlike concrete buildings of the town centre.

In 1908, H W Cave writ-ing in his Book of Ceylon described Bandarawela as “devoid of all attrac-tions in the way of amusement.” He also commented, “We look around in sur-prise at the desolate appearance of the place that possesses so fine a climate, and is moreover the terminus of the mountain railway. Three or four bunga-lows and a very nice hotel comprise the entire European portion of the place...we wonder that so few people find their way [to Bandarawela].”

It was tea that helped Bandarawela grow into the thriving town of today. The forging of the rail-way line through the hills from Nanu Oya to Bandarawela in 1894 brought speculators and businesses to the area. It had taken nine years to extend the line that stirred entrepreneurs to see the potential in the then little known hamlet.

Rail passengers, it was rea-soned, would need somewhere to stay, which is how the Bandarawela Hotel came into existence in 1893, as record-ed in the foundation stone dated 1893 that can be seen at the corner of the present grand hotel building. In fact in the 1920s, the hotel was known as The Grand Hotel, Bandarawela, being part

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of the group that ran the Grand Hotel, Anuradhapura, the St Andrew’s Hotel in Nuwara Eliya, and the Mount Lavinia Hotel outside Colombo.

The hotel was designed like an extended plantation bungalow and was much frequented by tea planters, later becoming popular with Europeans flee-ing the humid climate on the coast. It became known as a sanatorium for the enervated and even today some bed-rooms still have wind-up, hospital-like beds with brass knobs.

A British woman, Mrs Barber, was the Grand Hotel’s manager in the 1930s, at a time when the hotel was advertised as “recently enlarged and renovated” and having “many improve-ments” including “own electric light-ing.” Also provided were “own excellent cuisine, high class wines and spirits, tennis, golf and billiards.”

Curiously, while other ho-tels today revamp themselves, the Bandarawela Hotel prospers because it seems never to have changed, reassur-ingly locked in a time warp somewhere between 1930 and 1950. The hotel has managed to preserve its style as it is located above the town and even today its lawn serves as a perfect spot to take afternoon tea, fresh from the surround-ing Uva highlands.

From the hotel, though, it is only two minutes walk to the hustle and bustle of busy Bandarawela. By the hotel’s entrance gates is the town’s old

post office, now painted an engaging pink. Outside it are three letterboxes, blue for airmail, green for local and red for Colombo. Opposite is the town’s de-partment store with pigeons nestling on its colonial edges although the in-terior has been ruthlessly modernised with marble and timber counters re-placed by supermarket shelves.

At the intersection of roads, in the centre of the town where a police-man energetically directs the surging traffic, the road to the right is for the railway station. There is a tunnel under the tracks for quicker access, and now a gentle pathway has been constructed along the road for pedestrians to walk without danger.

Until 1924, the station was the terminus of the hill country line, which was then extended to reach Badulla. There are three main up and down trains a day linking Bandarawela with the rest of Sri Lanka. An old Hunslet

shunting engine is permanently parked in a siding.

The upper road leading from the intersection is Main Street and the main shopping area. Triple sto-rey buildings are bright with bunting, which is actually an array of textiles fluttering in the breeze to attract shop-pers’ attention. The shops are a fasci-nating reflection of rural life, although plastic buckets and brooms now have pride of place over stone spice grinders and wooden coconut scrapers.

Down the road parallel to Main Street is the Commercial Centre on the site of the earlier market compound. Market stalls are behind it and where-as Sunday is the quietest day in most towns, for Bandarawela it is Market Day, the busiest day of the week with the market in full voice as vendors yell litanies of their wares.

Spiritual needs are catered for generously in Bandarawela, proof of the multi-religious nature of the town. Within walking distance of each other, and of the Bandarawela Hotel, are the town’s main mosque, a Hindu kovil as well as some traditional neo-gothic Christian churches, Buddhist temples and even a Japanese Peace Pagoda.

The hills around Bandarawela are delightful to explore. The Dowa Rock temple, five kilometres away, has murals and a great carving of Lord Buddha on the sheer rock face. Pic-nics and hikes can be organised to tea estate landmarks like Pilkington Point at Poonegala, and Lipton’s Seat beyond Haputale.

The site of the former Boer War prisoners of war camp, now devot-ed to naval and military encampments

in the valley at Diyatalawa is just six kil-ometres from the town. A road through it goes on to Haputale, from where Sri Lanka’s only stately home, Adisham Hall, now a novitiate, can be visited at weekends.

If Bandarawela is a strategic base for exploring the nearby hill coun-try, it is also a pleasant place to learn more about country lifestyle. During the day, the town always seems busy and the variety of shops packed with people buying textiles, gadgets and foodstuffs while traffic throngs the one-way Main Street and the lower road back to the town centre.

At night, all is quiet; the town’s charisma dulled. For night en-chantment, guests need to stay at the Bandarawela Hotel or in one of the guesthouses converted out of colonial cottages that have opened up in recent years, complementing the Bandarawe-la Hotel in style and quirkiness.

Saffron Hill House is one guesthouse where the past can be experienced in reality. Overlooking Bandarawela, a short drive up a road beside the bus station, it was built in the 1930s as a holiday bungalow. Incred-ibly, it retains its art deco furniture and glassware in tact. The formal, rectan-gular shape of the bungalow has been softened by swirls of saffron-coloured paint. It stands proudly as an antidote to the cacophony of commerce in the town, whose frenzy can be glimpsed while sipping tea at a teak table on the plateau of lawn fronting the bungalow.

Just 5km northwest of Bandarawela, at 1,219m (4,000 ft) above sea level is another type of bun-galow; newly built and furnished in plantation style, it overlooks the 30 acres of tea and fertile valleys that form its estate. Called MF Bungalow (after the initials of its two owner-brothers) it has six bedrooms and can be rented in its entirety or by the room.

Its charm is its homeliness, matching Bandarawela in its appeal to visitors who want to sample the real, rural Sri Lanka, away from the tradi-tional tourist traps.

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ALUTHGAMAGATEWAY TO THE SOUTH

Look up Aluthgama (it means New Town) in a guidebook and, if it is mentioned at all, the remarks will

be disparaging. One book comments: “Aluthgama is not a pretty town but it does mark the end of the built-up area before the road crosses the Bentota River and the scenery brightens. It is 61km from Colombo and exists as the place you go through on the way to somewhere else.”

Its location seems to have de-creed Aluthgama’s fate. Although so near to the sea, it is actually built on the bank of the wide lagoon that has formed at the mouth of the Bentota River. So it is not a town that tourists would normally head for.

When the railway line was built down the coast from Colombo to Galle it arrived at Aluthgama in 1890 (laying of the track from Colombo having begun in 1875). For five years Aluthgama was the terminus for steam trains from Colombo. It was during that period that the small fish-ing settlement expanded to a new town.

It would have remained a small, modest town, serving the needs of its fish-er folk and agricultural worker residents

had tourism not come to the surrounding areas, bringing development to its neigh-bouring villages of Beruwela and Bentota.

Beruwela is an “old town.” It began as a Moorish settlement and has a 1,000 year-old tomb of a Muslim saint overlooking its busy fishing harbour. Bentota was much smaller, known only for its colonial resthouse with pano-ramic view over the ocean and Bentota Riv-er. The resthouse has gone, re-placed by the Ben-tota Beach Hotel.

When Ben-tota became a Na-tional Tourist resort in the early 1970s as gov-ernment encouraged the

development of tourism among the coco-nut groves beside its long, pristine beach, Aluthgama expanded rapidly. It became the source of sup-

41 | ASL

The southernmost coastal town in the Western Province is Aluthgama, at the gateway to the south. It may not seem very interesting to tourists in transit but, as Sasindu Balage sug-

gests, it has some fascinating aspects to discover.

plies and staff and accommoda-tion for the newcomers attracted to the area by the tourist dollar.

Its function as a dormitory and market town for Bentota, just two minutes walk across the road bridge spanning the Ben-tota River, helped preserve the tranquil quality of the tourist resort. Even today, Bentota only has a few small stores and shops.

It is to Aluthgama that the tourist staying in Bentota looks for “local life.” That is provided aplenty by the Monday mar-ket, whose site on the northern bank of the Bentota River was, in

November 2012, undergoing major renova-

tion. Permanent terraced stalls have been built with a transparent blue arched roof to protect shoppers from sun and rain.

Street-side, however, vendors still crouch on the pave-ment offering assorted wares like fruit and spices. The road in-land past the market links Aluth-gama, via Dharga Town, with the Southern Express Highway between Colombo and Galle. A reminder of slower, more gra-cious days is the pink ginger-bread style mansion behind a high wall just outside the town.

In Aluthgama, surpris-ingly, there remains a building de-fiantly resisting the modern world. It is over 106 years old and is dis-tinguished by its wooden lattice screen at eye-height concealing its interior. Clay pots can be glimpsed on its veranda beside bundles of mysterious looking dried leaves.

Visitors are warmly wel-come to step inside this store, which has become an anachronism in the new era of development that is engulfing Aluthgama. Inside the store, Wijedasa, who has worked there for 66 years, is hap-py to show visitors what’s on sale. Nothing much, the tourist might think. But those sacks contain pure tobacco leaves and the store is the wholesaler of tobacco, usually bought for chewing, for the entire district.

The shop opened in the year Wijedasa was born, 76 years ago. It re-mains almost as it has been from the be-ginning because of the respect the owner (a gem dealer) has for the old staff and the old traditions. Close to it a new kind

of enterprise is flourishing, an independent supermar-ket stocked with goods sourced in Germany.

Behind it is a beer garden and restau-

rant

with a sweeping view of the river and a regular clientele of expatriates living in the area. It has become popular with tourists who venture out of Bentota and across the bridge to investigate Aluth-gama’s attractions. Above it, the demand for independent accommoda-tion by long-staying tourists has been met by the addition of some self-catering apartments.

The new prosperity of Aluthgama can be seen by the number of banks that have opened there during the past decade. Traditionally, as elsewhere, it was only the nationalised banks, Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank, which served the town. Now the Bank of Ceylon has two branches and half-a-dozen other local banks have opened up, together with branches of Co-

lombo’s finance companies. There is even a place called “Tiny Tots,” a Montessori school where the prosperous of the town send their kids for pre-education in Eng-lish medium. Some shop signs are even in Russian and German as well as English.

A new bus station has been built and the opening

of a

branch of a major su-permarket resulted in the collapse and closure of small grocery stores. Those have been replaced by shops selling mobile phones, computers, kitchen appliances and the latest fashions.

The town’s fish market is no longer “raucous” as it used to be de-scribed in guidebooks, but rather mod-est. Another sign of Aluthgama’s ad-vancement in the world is the recent opening of a proper pub with draught beer, snacks cooked on demand, and a garden. Tourists are beginning to find their way there to relax with locals.

Strangers visiting Aluthgama need have no concern about finding what-

43 | ASL

ever they want to see or do. The town has a tradition of touts on hand promot-ing various attractions. Now, how-ever, they have trans-formed themselves into freelance guides, many being helped by a Western Prov-ince Tourist Board training programme to educate freelance workers on the periph-ery of tourism to offer a genuine, courteous ser-vice to foreign visitors.

These guides can arrange a boat trip either by mo-tor launch or tradi-

44 | ASL

tional log canoe, or even a fishing safari, on the Ben-tota River. A popular out-ing from Aluthgama is to Brief, a private house with a landscaped garden open to the public. This combines a European layout with a tropical wilderness. It was original an 8h rubber estate when it was acquired in the 1920s by a barrister, using funds made from a legal brief. His son, Bewis Bawa, decided to make his home and garden there in 1929, gradu-ally selling off rubber lands to reduce it to manageable propor-tions. As he did so he created a landscaped collection of several

small gardens each leading to another, whether by paths, steps or vista. There are over 105 different types of trees, countless plants and bushes, but only a few varieties of flowers in the 2h area.

The ramble through the gar-den finishes with a tour of the house where Bawa, who died in 1992, lived. It contains many relics of colonial days, including a gallery of photographs of Bawa who was ADC to four governors.

Brief is 9km from Aluth-gama but is far away from the real-ity of today’s burgeoning prosper-ity of Aluthgama, gateway to the beach resorts of Bentota and the south.

46 | ASL

LSR is short for Lanka Sportreizen, the name under which

a company was begun by its young founder, Thilak Weerasinghe, in 1982 to cater for the European market. LSR has since grown to being the tour op-erator to go to for a personalised, top quality holiday in Sri Lanka.

“One of the reasons for our success as a Destination Management Company,” said D K R Dharmapala, the CEO of LSR, “is our employees. We have 153 of them and they all are experi-enced, dedicated, capable and reliable, whether they are ‘on the ground’ or in administration.”

During a recent interview for Amazing Sri Lanka, Dharmapala gestured across the office to the desk

where the company founder and own-er, Thilak Weerasinghe, was discuss-ing a tour programme with one of his guides, and other members of staff were at computers dealing with the hundreds of email enquiries the com-pany receives every day.

“Our structure enables us to make decisions quickly, based on our ‘open office’ principle,” he said. “LSR prides itself on a quick response to dealing with inquiries for individual niche-style holiday requests.”

Niche for LSR embraces eve-rything an individual or group might want to do in Sri Lanka, from arranging mini or major conferences and tours for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Confer-ences and Exhibitions) groups, to put-ting together a cycling trip around Sri

There are over 100 inbound travel agents and tour operators in Sri Lanka but only one has attained the enviable niche of consistent high quality as guaranteed by LSR.

A Niche For Quality

Mr. Thilak Weerasinghe Chairman - LSR

Mr. D.K.R. Dharmapala CEO - LSR

Lanka for a couple of friends.

From its start promoting Sri Lanka for scuba diving enthusiasts, and running diving centres that are both PADI and CMAS certified (for which organisations LSR is the Authorised Partner in Sri Lanka), the company has branched out into the niche markets of Adventure and Sports Tourism.

The activities that can be ar-ranged by LSR include agro and na-ture tours, home stays, cave explora-tion, tours by air and rail, traditional Sri Lankan weddings and folk dances; culture, ayurveda and eco tours; indi-vidualised tours to clients’ own itiner-ary of ancient cities, hill country, wild life, hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, rafting, camping, wind surf-ing, surfing, water skiing, white water

rafting, deep sea fishing and sailing; and tours of Sri Lanka for competitive players and spectators of golf, cricket and rugby.

LSR possesses one of the larg-est fleets of vehicles in Sri Lanka, con-sisting of luxury limousines, cars, micro vans, mini coaches, large luxury coach-es and adventure backup vehicles. It has more than a score of vehicles based at the airport, where LSR operates its own transport desk. At its water sports centres LSR has its own boats and all the equipment needed for windsurfing, water skiing, canoeing, deep sea fishing and scuba diving, and lots of fun equip-ment such as banana boats, ringos and jet scooters.

LSR through its enthusias-tic team takes an active part in all its guests’ interests. The efficient way LSR looks after guests and promotes Sri Lanka has been recognised with Presi-dential Awards in the past three years.

LSR is the innovator and spon-sor of the Colombo marathon, which had over 200 participants in its first attempt. For the 12th marathon held in October 2012, 3,670 runners, many of them from overseas representing 25 countries from all continents took part.

LSR collaborates with leading travel agencies around the world and has expanded to having its own offices in China, France, Germany and India. The company’s resources include a multi-storied office, foreign and local branch offices, travel centres in two of Colombo’s star-class hotels and at the airport, water sports centres on the east and west coasts; a cottage site in

Mr. Thilak Weerasinghe Chairman - LSR

Mr. D.K.R. Dharmapala CEO - LSR 47 | ASL

Uwa Kuda Oya; the Catamaran Beach Hotel in Negombo, the Water Garden Hotel in Belihul Oya, the seaside Marina Hotel in Bentota and a new Marina and Luxury Villa property being built at the emerging east coast resort of Passiku-dah.

LSR is the sole ground han-dling, layover agent for Sri Lankan Airlines and Mihin Air. This entails ar-ranging accommodation at short notice for an average of more than 100,000 enforced transit passengers a year. LSR

also handles the Air Taxi operations at the Bandaranaike International Air-port, Dandugama, Peliyagoda and Ben-tota.

“We conduct vigorous train-ing programmes with special sessions for young people in the areas where we have a presence,” said CEO Dhar-mapala. “We actively encourage young people to become qualified in the vari-ous aspects of the tourist industry, so we can serve our clients with pride and professionalism. Our aim is to remain

the best outfit for the adventure tour-ist.”

Dharmapala said that the ma-jority of guests LSR welcomes come from Europe. “Business is increasing daily. None of our guests were put off by the difficult situation in Sri Lanka during the past few years. They seemed to regard it as part of the adventure of coming to Sri Lanka.”

Recognising a new niche de-mand at the upper end of the market for boutique style accommodation offering luxury as well as adventure, LSR has started a subsidiary company called Tropical Destination. Its mission is to ensure “a consistent and quality service of all products to our custom-ers.” The vision is “to continue being the market leader in adventure and sports travel in Sri Lanka, and to diver-sify into other leisure activities within the country and internationally.”

Thanks to the inspired idea of one young Sri Lankan 30 years ago, LSR has grown into a secure and depend-able operation, designed to help visi-tors discover Sri Lanka and its diverse attractions as part of a memorable holi-day of activity and fulfilment.

The Palace HotelA Retreat for Everyone

The Palace Hotel welcomes the holiday maker as well as the MICE traveler with amenities such as single and

double bedrooms, hot and cold water, safety vault, attached bathroom as well as extra beds on request for children and offers airport pickups and travel solutions

from arrival to departure.

Ours is a homely hotel with plenty of reasons to take it easy. The main one would be of course the private

rooftop and swimming pool where guests can soak up the sun, view the Indian Ocean or have a quiet dip.

The Palace Hotel140, Lewis Place, Negombo, Sri Lanka. Te l : + 94 ( 0 ) 312227028 + 94 ( 0 ) 314873301 Fax : + 94 ( 0 ) 312238155 E-mail: sales@thepalacehotel.netWeb: http://thepalacehotel.net

We are just 15 Km from the Bandaranaike International Airport. Negombo makes a convenient location for the

leisure as well as the MICE traveler.

Postal, courier and internet facilities; vehicle hiring, a choice of retail outlets, places of worship and banking

facilities are all within close proximity to the Palace Hotel.

A specialist inbound tour operator, Airwing Tours is your gateway to the paradise island of Sri Lanka. Our services range from Special Interest Tours, Sports Tours, Nature Based Tours, Eco Holidays, Adventure Tours, Study Tours, Cultural Tours, Beach Holidays, Wellness Holidays, Incentive Tours, to Tailor Made Holidays for Luxury to Standard clientele. Established 15 years ago, we possess years of experience in organizing comprehensive travel packages for groups, individuals as well as families, bringing you the best tour packages in the island. With the knowl-edge of your special needs and requirements in mind, we o�er complete holiday packages to suit every budget.

Please contact us for any inquiry. We can customise your holiday to your expectations.

Head O�ce:Airwing Tours (Pvt) Ltd.No: 68, Colombo Road,Negombo, Sri Lanka.

Sub O�ce:At the Colombo international airport arrival lobby.Tel: +94(0)31 2236620, +94(0)31 2238376 , +94(0)31 2238377, +94(0) 31 3338116 Fax: +94(0)31 2238155E-mail: sales@airwingtours.com, info@airwingtours.comWeb: www.airwingtours.com

The Palace HotelA Retreat for Everyone

The Palace Hotel welcomes the holiday maker as well as the MICE traveler with amenities such as single and

double bedrooms, hot and cold water, safety vault, attached bathroom as well as extra beds on request for children and offers airport pickups and travel solutions

from arrival to departure.

Ours is a homely hotel with plenty of reasons to take it easy. The main one would be of course the private

rooftop and swimming pool where guests can soak up the sun, view the Indian Ocean or have a quiet dip.

The Palace Hotel140, Lewis Place, Negombo, Sri Lanka. Te l : + 94 ( 0 ) 312227028 + 94 ( 0 ) 314873301 Fax : + 94 ( 0 ) 312238155 E-mail: sales@thepalacehotel.netWeb: http://thepalacehotel.net

We are just 15 Km from the Bandaranaike International Airport. Negombo makes a convenient location for the

leisure as well as the MICE traveler.

Postal, courier and internet facilities; vehicle hiring, a choice of retail outlets, places of worship and banking

facilities are all within close proximity to the Palace Hotel.

52 | ASL

Coir is not produced in a coir factory, it is a cottage in-dustry,” the woman said firmly as she welcomed a tour-ist to a grove of coconut palms by a creek off a river

in the lowland, Western Province of Sri Lanka. She proudly informed her visitor that she is the third generation of her family to be involved in coir production. “This is family land,” she said, indicating the cluster of coconut trees that are the source of coir.

Coir is the term used for the fibres harvested from the protective casing around a coconut’s shell. This casing is a fibrous husk 5-8cm thick and is usually peeled off and discarded. In Sri Lanka, where the annual production of co-conuts amounts to around 2.5 billion, less than a quarter of the coconut husks are utilised for coir.

Nevertheless, according to a study by Oxfam Inter-national, Sri Lanka is the single largest supplier of brown

coconut fibre - coir - to the world market and, with India, accounts for 90 per cent of global coir exports. There is an estimated 350,000 metric tons of coir produced worldwide each year.

Processing coir is a lot older than three genera-tions. About 2,000 years ago, boats made with planks sewn together with coconut fibre rope were trading along Africa’s east coast. By the 11th century, Arab traders (whose route stretched from China to Madagascar) were teaching residents of the countries that are now Sri Lanka and India how to extract and process coconut fi-bres.

Marco Polo visiting the port of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf in the 13th century discovered Arab sea-

Coir has been produced in Sri Lanka for hundreds of years as one of nature’s by-products, and coir making still provides employment and income for rural folk. Sasindu Balage investigates and learns some coir lessons.

MagicalCreations of

COIR

53 | ASL

men built their ships without nails, sewing them together with coconut fibre.

In 1859, former colonial secretary of the then Cey-lon, Sir James Emerson Tennant, wrote that coir had been produced in the Maldives and used for cord for over a thousand years in islands known

as Diva-Kanbar. He claimed coir was a corruption of kanbar. He stated that cayer is also the Tamil name for rope, while dictionaries say the term comes from the

Malayalam (also spoken in southern India) word for cord, kayar. He recorded seeing in Ceylon pits by

the roadside where ‘the husks of the nut are steeped to convert the fibre into coir.’

The processing of coir has changed little over the centuries although in many of the 300 coir mills in Sri

Lanka, gradual modernisation is speeding up the process. While 85 per cent of the coir mills are in the northwest and western provinces, where coconuts are grown commercially on large plantations, 10 per cent of the fibre is produced by traditional methods using coconut husks sourced from smallholdings in the south. This coir, known as white fibre, is softer than the brown variety, and is used for rope, uphol-stery stuffing and fertilizer.

The production process in rural areas is simple. In riverside gardens, women take coconuts freshly plucked from a tree and jab them swiftly on spikes stuck in the ground to remove the fibrous husk. With practice it would be possible for one woman to de-husk manually 2,000 coconuts a day; a machine can do 2,000 in an hour.

The split husk is then tossed into a shallow gully of brackish water where it soaks for three months or longer, a process known as retting. This partly decomposes the husks and makes them pliable, allowing them to be separated into fibres and a residue of dust, called coir pith.

The fractured husk is beaten with a mallet (made of palm wood) to shred the fibres. The residue that falls to the ground is swept up for compost; the fibres are braided into rope. This is done in village gardens using a recycled bicycle wheel lodged in a wooden frame as two women working in unison spin the yarn.

In the west of Sri Lanka, inland from luxurious ho-tels lining the beaches, coir production is an important liveli-hood for many villagers. There are several small mills, some employing as many as 20 people, while about 40,000 are em-ployed in the coir industry island-wide.

In a mill a mangle-like roller of spikes tears and des-iccates the coconut husks and spews out the fibre. An electric motor-pow- ered conveyor belt shimmies and shakes as it winnows the fibre fed on to it by hand. Small parti-cles of coir pith fall to the g r o u n d while the fi-

b r e is con-veyed on to a heap. Another machine in-geniously separates the fibres into separate strands that are fed, ten at a time, into a braiding machine that breaks down the strands and twines them into thin rope.

Excess dried fibre is piled into a mould where it is compacted into bales for shipment. These are sold as raw material or processed in Sri Lanka into value added prod- ucts such as brooms,

brushes, boot scrap-ers, twine, matting,

woven and stitched geo-textiles, rubberised

coir mattresses, and up-holstery. An important by-

product is the pith sifted by the winnowing process. This is spread out on the

ground to dry while women walk barefooted through it to stir it up and expose it to the sun.

54 | ASL

Villagers compress the pith into pastry-sized moulds where it hardens and produces coir cake or bri-quettes. These are exported as an eco-friendly, natural soil treatment and hydroponic (without soil) growth medium that is much in demand by horticulturists as a peat substi-tute.

Although it is bio-degradable, coir pith takes 20 years to decompose. An Australian company has begun turning this pith into an absorbent product to remediate oil spills. Coir is the only natural fibre resistant to salt wa-ter; it is strong and nearly im-pervious to the weather.

While a lot of Sri Lanka’s coir production is in-formal, the Ceylon Coir Fibre Exporters’ Association was set up in colonial times to enhance the product’s ap-peal. This was followed by the formation in 2004 of the Coir Council International established to promote the growth and development of the Sri Lanka coir indus-try. Both Oxfam International and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have sponsored initiatives in the past to improve methods of produc-tion, productivity and demand.

Two new market trends that have emerged in re-cent years have been the positioning of China as a principal buyer of Sri Lankan coir fibre for use in its rap-idly expanding domestic mattress market, and the demand from German automotive manufac-turers for twisted fibre for use in high-end car seats.

The Sri Lankan coir industry has also benefited from the demand for coir-based geo-textile erosion control products such as blankets of coir laid out on bare soil to control erosion and stimulate the growth of protective ground cover.

Coir may have been manufactured for thousands of years; in Sri Lanka it is contribut-ing to the development of the modern world.

56 | ASL

To the delight of lovers of legend, Ella features in the Ramanya, the great Indian epic dating to more

than 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. Sita, the beautiful wife of Rama, is said to have been hidden in the caves at Ella by Ravana, King of Lanka.

This legend, and the magnifi-cent view through Ella Gap, has attract-ed many visitors, especially from India, to the small town as they trace places mentioned in the Ramanaya. Ella’s popularity, however, owes much to in-dependent travellers passing through on their way to the beaches of the East Coast, as well as to pilgrims.

Ella is 240km from Colombo and makes the perfect transit stop on the way to and from Arugam Bay on the east coast, or for travellers head-ing down through Wellawaya to Kata-ragama, Yala and Tissamaharama in the south.

It became an important tran-sit point for government officials in the days of the British regime, which re-sulted in a rest house being built in Ella to accommodate travelling officials. As

usual with government bungalows, this one was placed in the most scenic posi-tion, commanding a view of the famous Ella Gap.

Even as recently as 25 years ago, the Ella Rest House (then renovat-ed) was the main place for foreigners to stay, supported by a few neighbouring rustic establishments that let rooms to passing hippies. In 2000, the rest house was transformed into a more upmarket property and given the name Grand Ella Motel, helping to stimulate the awaken-ing of Ella as a convenient upcountry halt.

The increase in visitors want-ing to stay in Ella inspired the open-ing of purpose-designed guesthouses in the hills overlooking the village, al-though none could match the former rest house for views. The success of the rest house as a motel and the demand for better accommodation resulted in the transformation of the property in 2011 to become The Heritage, Ella.

At 1,041m above sea level, the hotel is poised at the edge of a view that seems to go on forever. Meals can

be taken on the lawn against a breath-taking backdrop. To the left of the Gap view is a mountain known as Small Ad-am’s Peak, while to the right is Rawana Kandha (Ella Rock).

The hills stretching to the far horizon include the Maha Galbokka Rock, the Hambegamuwa Mountain Range, the Kotawehara Gala Mountain Range, the Bubula Kandha and the Bambaragama Kandha Mountain Rang-es. Beyond the mountains the southern seacoast twinkles in the distance.

Naturally the area affords many opportunities for trekking. Even in the mid-19th century, it was known for its stunning beauty, as recorded by Sri James Emerson Tennent in his semi-nal 1859 book, Ceylon. He wrote: “Per-haps there is not a scene in the world which combines sublimity and beauty in a more extraordinary degree than that which is presented at the Pass of Ella, where, through an opening in the chain of mountains, the road from Badulla descends rapidly to the low-lands...for more than sixty miles, the prospect extends, unbroken by a single eminence, till, far in the distance, the

ELLAHIGHLIGHTED

57 | ASL

A small hamlet with the pretty name of Ella has become a highlight of Sri Lanka’s hill

country for the independent traveller. Our special correspondent finds out why.

58 | ASL

eye discerns a line of light, which marks where the sunbeams are flashing on the waters of the Indian ocean.”

Travellers today reach Ella either by bus or train; train is the most popular way as the journey from Colombo or Kandy passes through staggering mountain scenery. The railway station at Ella reflects the nature of the place; ignor-ing the modern steel girder and galvanise tin platform shel-ter, the station building resembles a granite cottage from the British shires.

Inside the stationmaster’s office is a “Tyers Patent Train Tablet Apparatus” that has been in use since the rail-way line opened in the 1920s. Through the use of a token released by the machine and issued by the stationmaster to

the engine driver, it assures the train can only proceed when the single-track railway is clear.

It is a walk of only a few metres from the station to the A23 road that leads to the village junction with the B97 Passara road. At the junction there is a large signboard with illustrations of the area’s attractions. These include the Raw-ana Cave and Temple (3km), the Mini Adam’s Peak (2km) and, at Demodara (8km), the Nine Arches Railway Bridge and the unbelievable Loop where the railway line tunnels under itself outside Demodara Station.

The joy of Ella is the way it has developed in re-sponse to the modern independent traveller. In addition to the neatly furnished guesthouses, a range of restaurants sell-ing fast food as well as local dishes has opened up, creating a convivial atmosphere in the evenings as visitors stroll up and down the sole street. There is even a local bar that has embraced the influx of foreigners as customers, and opened a roadside terrace with steward service.

Perhaps because its expansion has been so unex-pected, Ella manages to retain an unpretentious, laidback friendliness, with prices to match. Some visitors who are en-chanted by its informality, say Ella has become like Hikkadu-wa in the hills. Now it has over 35 guesthouses catering not just for the adventurous young but also for the middle-aged and reasonably prosperous couples travelling independently on a holiday whim.

About 11km south of Ella, overlooking the A23 where it winds downhill to Wellawaya, is a bungalow origi-nally built in the 19th century and now taking paying guests. Aptly named Planter’s Bungalow, it was the home until 1948 of Scottish planter Malcolm George. Now it is owned by a British couple who have restored it and added their own idiosyncrasies. This has resulted in a charming retreat, so typical of Ella, in an exotic tropical garden 1,000m above sea level.

Whether visitors choose The Heritage Hotel, a plan-tation bungalow or a village guesthouse, it is well worth staying for a few nights to enjoy the views, the salubrious climate, and the calm, evening atmosphere of the delightful Ella.

60 | ASL

THE GALLE FORT A tourist destination from the past

In contrast to the rapid modernisation of Colombo as a bright business and holiday destination with new hotels and green public spaces, gentrification is taking place at the Fort in the southern city of Galle. Our travel correspondent reports from the ramparts.

Galle Fort has always been a popu-lar place for foreign residents and visitors. In the days of the

Dutch, maritime pilots were forbidden to leave the Fort in retirement in case they divulged the secrets of navigating its harbour to invaders.

Its gentrification in the past three decades has come about almost by chance, and not without contro-versy. It began when a few foreigners, recognising the potential in the fort’s charming, albeit dilapidated, buildings, bought a few to convert into second homes. This set a trend that eventually resulted in the fort’s infrastructure, not just crumbling private houses, being improved.

The result today is a compact residential area, like a gated commu-nity, with appropriate street lighting, modern cobbled roadways, and houses developed and preserved under strict building codes. This is to keep the very allure that attracted visitors to Galle Fort in the first place.

One attraction of Galle Fort for visitors is its easy-to-reach location. It

is within a few minutes by foot from the Galle train and bus stations, at 116km south of Colombo. Travel by special bus or private car down the Southern Expressway that emerges just east of Galle, and it is within an hour’s driving distance from Colombo.

Galle Fort invites exploration by day, perfect for strolling its neatly laid out streets, popping into its many easy-going cafés and restaurants, wan-dering around its museums, browsing in its antique shops and trend-setting boutiques, and taking in the sea breeze or watching cricket from its broad ram-parts. Because people live and work in the Fort, it is not some kind of Disney theme fortress but a thriving commu-nity with schools, temples, churches and mosques and almost 500 buildings, some of which have become elite guest-houses.

Although the city of Galle itself is a thriving metropolis (it is the capital of the Southern Province), its history lies in the Fort. In spite of its recent gentrification, the sombre grey walls of the Fort still exude an air of mystery.

A tourist destination from the past

62 | ASL

Those brooding hulks of stone – shipped in as ballast and hauled into place by slaves imported from Africa – dominate the town, walling off a small peninsula and guarding the harbour. It has been there for more than four centuries. According to one travel writ-er: “It was the thin edge of the wedge driven by European invaders to open up their conquest of the island. Portu-guese, Dutch and British – following the sea-lanes of Arab traders – lived and died in the fort.

“Even when the fort’s battle-ments are brightly lit at night, there

hovers a sense of foreboding, as though ghosts of soldiers past are waiting only for the light to dim so they may march again along its ramparts. As dusk gath-ers, its narrow streets and cloistered inner courtyards of shuttered man-sions echo softly with the murmurings of bygone evenings. The Fort is steeped in history; you will sense it from afar and feel its spell the moment you pass through its gates.”

If the first sight of the fort’s huge, darkly satanic, granite walls, inspires flights of fancy, walking the streets yields enough visual evidence

to speculate on life in the past. It is the best-preserved colonial sea fortress in the whole of Asia.

Galle is believed by some schol-ars to be the Tarshish of Old Testament history, the great emporium of the East with which ships of Tyre and Phoenicia traded, to which King Solomon sent his merchant vessels and to where Jonah fled from the Lord. In 1344, the restless Arab traveller, Ibn Battuta, observed Moorish vessels in the harbour. The peninsula was then an entrenched set-tlement in the lowland territory of the Kandyan kings and remained so until

the Portuguese – who first saw Galle in 1505 – invaded in 1589.

They built bastions, embank-ments and a small fortress to guard the natural harbour. The Dutch took it after a fierce battle in 1640 and stayed for 156 years, adding ramparts and more bastions around the edges, and church-es, houses and streets within the walls, together with a complex network of underground channels that enabled the sea to flow in and out, flushing away the sewerage.

The Dutch ceded the Fort to

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the British in 1796. Entrance then was by a drawbridge. Now the moat is filled in and the British coat of arms adorns the outer wall of the Old Gate, with the crest of the Dutch East India Company, dated 1669, on the inner side.

The British reclaimed land (now the Cricket Stadium) to broaden the peninsula’s link with Galle town. In 1873, they tunnelled through the em-bankment that connects the Star, Moon and Sun bastions to create a road ac-cess. Although it is recognised as Num-ber 200 on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, entry to the Fort costs nothing, and residents and visitors pass freely through its two gateways.

All the buildings in the Fort have been counted by the staff of the

Archaeological Department, which maintains an office in a converted Dutch building opposite the Old Gate and which pursues a vigorous cam-paign to restore and preserve the Fort’s architectural heritage. Some 50 build-ings predate the British occupation, with about 100 having been construct-ed pre-1850.

A stroll along the streets re-veals the varying styles of British and Dutch buildings, adapted by local builders to tropical living with colon-naded verandas and ornate gables, giv-ing glimpses though open doorways of plant-filled courtyards and latticed screens. Styles of Art Deco from the 1930s and earlier Art Nouveau are rep-resented too, together with the brash frontages of more modern houses, built

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before tight planning regulations were enforced.

Behind the traditional exteriors of older build-ings some dramatic changes have taken place with court-yards being replaced by swimming pools and pastel colours brightening the patina of mahogany, ebony and teak. Foreign residents, though, are aghast at modernising their homes beyond a pool and better plumbing, as they try to replicate the gracious standards of the Fort when it was at its prime. Until Colombo became a major port, Galle was where arriv-als landed from sailing vessels, and the Fort was the social centre, welcoming all newcomers.

Today, Galle Fort is a treasure trove of discovery for visitors. Lighthouse Street and Church Street are the main thoroughfares, both different in character. The lighthouse, which used to stand at the end of the street to which it gave its name, was burned down in 1936, and a new one erected on the opposite bastion.

Church Street (opposite the British built entrance where a map of directions is displayed) boasts some grand buildings, beginning with the Amangalla, formerly the New Oriental Hotel, and a squat 18th century post office build-ing. A belfry tower, originally built in 1701, still has its bell. Opposite stands Queen’s House, which carries the date 1683 above its doorway.

The cobbled Square, now a car park but once a vil-lage green, separates the District Court on the seaside and the Magistrates Court on the other. Lawyers’ ancient, book-lined chambers line one side of the square, the Maritime Museum on the other. A wall on the seaside carries a worn inscription: Aker Sloot 1759. Behind it grows the island’s oldest breadfruit tree, and cannons in the garden point out to sea.

The ordnance and the ramparts are relics of the past; contemporary Galle Fort, forgetting the ghosts, with its quaint, mannered lifestyle has earned its status high on the list of Sri Lanka’s memorable destinations.

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I began my exploration of Pettah at Colombo Fort railway station, cross-ing Olcott Mawatha by the overhead

bridge, trying not to disturb the sleep-ing denizens sprawled beside empty plastic begging cups. From there it’s a short, but difficult walk due to the crowds, to the FOSE covered market near the Central Bus Stand.

Access to Pettah is also possi-ble by walking down Sir Baron Jayat-ilaka Mawatha, from York Street, to link up with Pettah’s defining thoroughfare, Main Street. Walking is the best way to get around Pettah because of the traf-fic competing for the right of way with porters pulling loaded trolleys. It’s also advisable to start early in the morning before the commuter traffic hits town, but even so Pettah is abuzz before most people have had breakfast.

Pettah is the haunt of Colom-bo’s streetwise and canny shoppers. It is a bizarre bazaar spreading over sev-eral city blocks where everything you have ever wanted, and most things you will never need, can be found. Original-ly a residential area for the Dutch colo-nists, Pettah had turned into “the native traders’ quarter” by 1900, according to a guidebook published then.

It hasn’t changed. A more re-cent guidebook states: “This area of six city blocks by four is the entrepôt for the whole of Sri Lanka where eve-rything imaginable, and unimaginable, can be purchased from small shops stacked with goods spilling out onto the pavement. Its jungle of streets is packed during every working day with traders from outstations seeking goods to re-sell, families gawping and herds of trucks, cars and bullock carts, all accompanied by the klaxons of three-wheelers and the shouts of porters tell-ing you to move out of their way.”

Olcott Mawatha, where I start-ed my concrete jungle safari, is named after Henry Steel Olcott, an American- born Buddhist crusader whose statue stands aloof in the station forecourt. On the Pettah side, St Philip Neri Church (built in 1859) offers some sanctu-ary from the hubbub. The spectacular, candy-striped Jumi Ul Afar Jummah Mosque deeper in Pettah is more re-cent, dating from 1909.

There is a bizarre bazaar area within a short walk from Colombo’s hotels that promises all the colour, hustle and bustle, and excitement of tropical Asia. Our travel correspondent takes a look.

PETTAH

BIZARRE BAZAARCOLOMBO’S

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The Fose Market is an instant introduction to the glorious, colourful chaos that typifies Pettah. It is a recent-ly covered area constructed to amal-gamate the city’s street vendors and began life as the F.O.S.E. market. A new sign has changed its name to the more colloquial FOSE market, an acronym for Federation of Self-Employees.

It’s impossible to pass through the market without being beguiled by the hucksters praising their wares, and the curious items on display, alongside clothes, vegetables and plastic knick-knacks, making it a kind of upmarket village market. Walking through it, I emerged into the street that leads to the old town hall, almost hidden from view by stalls and wayside vendors col-onising the sidewalk.

In a centre island where Pet-tah’s streets of stores selling gold and gems, spices and herbs, haberdash-ery and hardware merge, I saw a liv-ing relic from the past in full swing. A knife grinder and his forefathers have sharpened knives there for genera-tions, using a homebuilt contraption of a wooden frame, a rotating wooden shaft operated by foot pedal power, and a bicycle wheel with belt attached to spin the grinding wheel.

People rush over with knives to be sharpened and, when I stood too close to study the machine’s working, someone nicked my hip pocket with an exposed blade. Perhaps I was lucky he didn’t nick my wallet too. Actually eve-ryone I saw in Pettah seemed intent on minding their own business and even though it is such a crowded area, there is nothing threatening about it, as long as you keep your eyes open for the trun-dling trolleys, loaded to the gunwales.

It’s a walk of about 50m west-wards from the old town hall to Kay-man’s Gate, although you have to look carefully to see the belfry, complete with bell and crows nesting in it, that marks this historical point. Now ad-vertising hoardings hide it. The bell is believed to have been salvaged from the ruins of a 16th century Portuguese church. It is all that remains of the an-cient Kayman’s Gate, so named because it stands where crocodiles from the Beira Lake once scavenged for food.

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Public executions were held at its foot; now an electricity transformer blocks close access to it.

The Cross streets linking Main Street with the parallel streets of Keyzer, Prince and Maliban with Olcott Mawatha, each have their own identity. One of them is devoted to electrical and electronic goods, another to textiles, a third to comestibles.

To return to Colombo’s more placid commercial quarter, persevere along Main Street. It’s pointless tyring to hurry as everyone seems to be going in the opposite direc-tion, or blocking the sidewalk while they inspect bargain offers. At the end, marking one of the boundaries of Pettah is the Khan Clock Tow-er, in the centre of a rounda-bout. This commemorates the life of one Framjee Bhikkajee Khan and was erected in 1923.

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From Pettah, across a bridge where ship’s masts peep over the roofs of shops hiding the harbour views, and the portside railway line, the road forks. To the right, it leads past the entrance to the harbour and on to the venerable Grand Oriental Hotel, distinguished by a statue of a rickshaw driver outside it. To the left it brings you to the centre of York Street.

Pettah is a strident introduc-tion to a way of life it is easy for tourists to avoid when they browse the city’s boutique lifestyle emporiums and gen-teel antique stores. It’s well worth a morning’s ramble, though, even if it’s a boisterous one.

A business traveller writes: “I stay in Colombo often on business and am happy to say that I have at last found a hotel that suits me perfectly – so much so that it’s

my new address in Colombo: Colombo Cortyard.

“Where is it? Smack in the centre of the action and within easy reach of all I need to see and do while in the city. Not only does it have a perfect location, at the corner of Al-bert House Avenue and R A De Mel Mawatha (Duplication Road), it has purpose built accommodation designed specifi-cally for the business or discerning leisure visitor.

“Each of the 14 suites not only has complimentary Wi-Fi but also a 21-inch iMac computer, so I don’t need to lug along my own laptop. There is also a separate cyber lounge to serve the hotel’s 12 deluxe rooms. This deftly designed ho-tel’s bedrooms are for living in, not just for sleeping, although they do feature large, plump, modern four-poster beds.

“There are plenty of plug points, a work desk a 42-inch flat television screen with satellite feed, a mini-bar, a wine chiller, a cappuccino maker, and even a retro hand-operated juicer (plus a bowl of oranges on the coffee table. Each landing has a lounge area and every suite has a parlour useful for private meetings.

“The bathrooms have cement bathtubs and twin

wash basins with a separate waterfall shower corner empha-sising the hotel’s trendsetting, boutique character. An ameni-ties tray is packed with useful items for forgetful travellers like me, such as a comb, razor and toothbrush.

“The hotel’s décor is refreshingly different, making a stay at Colombo Courtyard a revitalising experience, and change from the tedious mediocrity of chain hotels. I loved the fascinating climbing sculpture made out of old bicycle parts, the walls of shaved railway sleepers and the cobbled entrance courtyard.

“In spite of the hotel’s busy location within easy reach of the embassy and classy residential enclaves, shop-ping malls and nightlife, its bedrooms exude an ambience of peace. With a wine lounge off the courtyard and a restaurant wing with Scarlet Room restaurant, and a long Loft Bar with signature cocktails and an alcove for smokers, and roof top Cloud Café there is no need to venture out to the city and I can happily entertain my visitors in those discreet and well-serviced outlets.

“I am telling my colleagues and friends about my new address, Colombo Courtyard so they will look forward to meeting me there whenever I have the pleasure of staying in Colombo again.”

Nestled in the heart of the city of Colombo, this urban boutique hotel perfectly captures a fusion of contemporary style with intrinsic elements of environmental design. Crafted around the concept of a series of open spaces, con-scious lighting patterns and the use of recycled material in its unique sculptures and artistic décor, stepping in, you will leave the clutter behind.

The discerning business traveller will appreciate the hotels proximity to key commercial locations and embassies. Colombo Courtyard is a quick stroll away to many of the city’s entertainment and shopping areas too.

Accommodation Courtyard

Colombo Courtyard offers a select choice of rooms & suites with your own private courtyard. Situated on the ground level this accommodation offers a heightened sense of space with a courtyard lined with tropical plants and pebbles.

COLOMBO COURT YARD, #32, Alfred House Ave, Colombo - 03, Sri Lanka.Reception: +94 114645333

E-mail: info@colombocourtyard.com Web: www.colombocourtyard.com

An industrial-style bar with furnishing con-ceived of recycled material including creative tractor seats for bar stools, this bar has a spirit of its own.

Vibrant in ambience yet relaxed, this restau-rant serves the finest European cuisine with an emphasis on Mediterranean specialties. The menu also offers variety with select Asian favourites too.

This rooftop cafe seats you under the stars with a view of the city’s skyline by night. The incredible setting with its breezy atmosphere lined by bamboo plants, and the soothing sounds will keep you completely chilled out.

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Colombo’s flagship museum is the magnificent National Muse-um, the oldest and largest in the

country. It was built specifically as a museum in 1877 at the behest of Gov-ernor (1872-1879) Sir William Greg-ory, whose statue gazes earnestly out over the building’s front lawn and the traffic sweeping along Sir Marcus Fer-nando Mawatha, Colombo 7.

It is a splendid British renais-sance building with Palladian flourish-es. Its gleaming white exterior exudes a dignified calm. Inside the countless, priceless exhibits include the regalia of the King of Kandy, ancient and medi-eval jewellery, a collection of rare tradi-tional masks, ivory and woodcarvings, Buddhist and Hindu bronzes, ancient stone sculptures and ornate brass and silver objects.

For a look into Sri Lanka’s long and event-filled history, a visit to the National Museum is an eye-opener, as well as a respite from the city’s pande-monium.

Hidden away in Colombo’s busy streets are three museums that visitors seldom see, but they are all worth a visit during a day out in Colombo, writes - Neel Jayantha.-

Conveniently located in the same premises is the Natural History Museum with a display of stuffed birds, mammals, reptiles and insects. It also has a collection of geological specimens and gives an account of Sri Lanka’s main agricultural crops of tea, rubber and co-conuts. Opened in 1986, it has rather a utilitarian appearance. Both museums are open to visitors from 09.00hrs to 17.00hrs and close on Poya Day.

For a more specialised insight into Sri Lanka’s rich past, there are three other museums – each one to-tally different - well worth a detour. It means heading, by three-wheeler taxi, deep into Pettah, the bazaar area inland from Colombo Fort Railway station.

There, Prince Street runs par-allel to Main Street and is reached by one of the Cross Streets from Olcott Mawatha. At Number 95 Prince Street is the Dutch Period Museum, a build-ing steeped in history.

It was original a grand, colon-naded town house built by the Dutch

in the 17th century. It is difficult to un-derstand how it managed to survive the gutting caused by modern progress around it. In its time, after the Dutch moved out, it has served as an orphan-age, a private residence, a hospital, the headquarters of the Ceylon Volunteers, a police training school and a post of-fice.

It was restored with Dutch as-sistance in 1981 to become a museum depicting life in Sri Lanka under Dutch rule, together with a hint of the culture of the Kandyan Kingdom during that period (1656-1796). The building with its tall white columns and flagstone ve-randa was originally the residence of Thomas van Rhee, governor from 1693 to 1697.

Visitors can wander around the museum at leisure discovering the intricacies of the old house, or be es-corted by a helpful guide who delights in showing off ornately carved Dutch oriental furniture on display and re-vealing their secret drawers and com-

COLOMBO’SGREAT MUSEUMS

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partments.

The master bedroom has a high roof of clay tiles and a solid tim-ber floor. It features a rickety, four-poster bed made of jak wood, almirahs (wardrobes) of calamander, and an important-looking official’s burgomas-ter chair of satinwood. There are Dutch plates, guns, coins and cannons, as well as a baby’s cot made of ebony, and a sturdy bell dated 1768.

The room’s balcony gives a view of deep, columned cloisters and a well-kept, lush interior garden with an old well, adding a sense of tranquil-lity that defies the clatter of bustling Pettah beyond the walls. If there is an ambience of lethargy and decrepitude it seems entirely apt. The museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

It’s a walk of a few blocks northwards to Main Street, to the Old Town Hall Museum, a museum that even people in the area hardly know about. It’s housed in Colombo’s original town hall and is appropriately devoted to municipal items like street furniture and civic relics.

When it was built in 1873, the building was considered a masterful testimony to British oriental architec-ture, although today it is almost forgot-ten. Only two stories tall, it is lent au-thority by its slender spires that sprout from the frieze bordering the base of its peaked roof, in imitation of the mina-rets and stupas of Colombo’s then sky-line.

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The building served as the centre of municipal government for 65 years until, in 1928, the city fathers abandoned it in favour of the classi-cally designed New Town Hall at Cin-namon Gardens. Street traders turned its courtyard into a public market for many years, until it was restored and opened as a museum in 1984.

The courtyard now is filled with reminders of the days gone by. There is a steam-driven council lorry with council crest, an old mobile library van, a huge steam roller, and a gas lamp, one of 2,000 that lit Colombo’s streets in the 19th century. A street signpost that used to stand at the crossroads outside the town hall has place of hon-our.

Here too is to be found the fa-mous landmark that once graced the seaside of the Galle Face Green. This is the original stone slab on which is carved the inspired statement: “Galle Face Walk. Commenced by Sir Henry Ward, 1856, completed in 1859, and Recommended to his Successors in the Interest of the Ladies and Children of Colombo.”

There are more eccentrici-ties to discover within the building. Upstairs the old council chamber as-tonishes visitors with its recreation of a council meeting of 100 years ago. Dusty, fragile effigies representing 16 councillors sit around a long table and, when a gust of wind through a broken

window stirs the figures, they seem to be alive.

From the interior of Pettah, a three-wheeler taxi is useful for getting to another of Colombo’s little visited museums: the Railway Museum. It is in Olcott Mawatha, east of the Colombo Fort railway station. It is open daily, except public holidays and weekends, until 16.00hrs. (www.railwaymuseum.com)

Colombo’s collection of steam locomotives used to be a source of amazement to steam and rail enthusi-asts who were occasionally allowed to view them in the rail yard at Demata-goda. Now, after many years and vari-ous attempts, this small but fascinating railway museum has gathered some railway artefacts and opened them to public view.

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0112 599 253 / 077 22 00 444 fares@shumsgroup.com33A Queens Road, Colombo 03

Hotel ReservationFlight Ticket Booking Visa Handling

The museum consists of a hall with some railway station furniture, in-cluding a Tyers Patent Train Tablet Ap-paratus over 100 year sold, and engines parked alongside a station platform called Colombo Terminus. An enor-mous narrow-gauge crane dominates the space, but the main attraction is the three locomotives at the platform.

The first is a cute saddle tank steam engine (Class 040ST); probably from the Oil & Fats Corporation, per-haps dating to 1864. The second steam engine is identified as Class 20601. The third, Number 727, is a remarkable diesel hydraulic Y1 Class Shunting lo-comotive – remarkable because it was designed and built in Sri Lanka. It long lay abandoned until rescued and reha-bilitated for display.

After a day exploring the past, it’s a shock to emerge into today’s Co-lombo where smart new office blocks and tall hotel buildings have replaced the mansions of the past, and the gra-cious way of life recalled by Colombo’s great little museums, has gone.

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Hotel ReservationFlight Ticket Booking Visa Handling

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#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Kollupitiya, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka.T: +94 (0) 11 259 9299 | F: +94 (0) 11 255 4572Hotline: +94 (0) 777 122 122, +94 (0) 777 705 805E: info@sunhill.lk | W: www.sunhill.lk

HOTEL SUNHILL, Nuwara Eliya#18, Unique View Road, Nuwara Eliya.T: +94 (0) 52 222 2878, 222 3300, 222 3710Hot Line: +94 (0) 777 801 755

HOTEL SUNHILL, Colombo#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Kollupitiya, Colombo 03.T: +94 (0) 11 259 9299Hot Line: +94 (0) 777 705 805

HOTEL SUNHILL, Katunayake#56/1, Liyange Mulla, Seeduwa, Katunayake.Hot Line: +94 (0) 714 124 186

SUNHILL CHINESE RESTAURANT, Colombo#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Colombo 03.T: +94 (0) 11 259 3535

OCEAN BREEZES WITHOUT OCEAN PRICES !-: Restyled - Redesigned - Reinvented :-

HOTEL SUNHILL, Mount Lavinia#38, Station Road, Mount Lavinia.T: +94 (0) 715 363 505

SUWATHA MADURA – AYURVEDA SPA#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Colombo 03.T: +94 (0) 11 259 3131Hot Line: +94 (0) 719 705 805

Chinese Acupuncture&

Pressure Point Massaging Techniques

It is a question why ladies take so much of effort to Preserve Beauty. They tend to spend considerable

time, money and pay lot of concern over the issue.

But the fact is that, it is not al-ways the ladies who bother very much over the topic. The entrepreneurs who invest on Beauty Culture industry share one common secret. That is that they are aware even poorest of poor will even lavishly spend considerable share of their income on Beauty.

One vender will try to prove that their product is highly scientific while other will claim that their prod-uct is natural. Yet a anther will declare it as the latest trend. There is always pros and cons on all this. In the quest to look younger, there are many modern options available. For example, some people take the medical approach of surgery, injections, or topical creams. Of course, such approaches focus en-tirely on outward appearance, with-out taking into account how the inner health of the person contributes to his looks.

Chinese Acupuncture (CA) re-fuses this competition. CA continues three thousand year old tradition and

time tested theoretic approach of Cos-metic or Facial Acupuncture.

Let’s look at this magnificent life art of stimulating specific points for healing energy, and improved health.

Basic concept of Chinese Acu-puncture is to take the human body as whole as far as treatment is concern. What is beauty of Face or skin? It is merely the reflection of smooth func-tioning of the internal organs. There-fore Secret of Beauty is well balanced whole body hygiene. Consequently, Asian Ladies shared the legend of Pret-tiness, Skin Color and Long life. Various herbal preparations, individual self-care techniques, and in ancient China specific Acupuncture procedures de-veloped and were tested extensively. The ancient emperors were particu-larly interested in learning ways to keep themselves going and constantly sought out experts who knew how to achieve this.

As a result it developed Cos-metic acupuncture which is a natural anti-aging treatment that’s intended to stimulate the body’s healing ener-gies. This has evolved over thousands of years due to the interest of women.

By Dr. Prasad Deshapriya Kalubowila Acupunture Clinic, De Silva Road, Kalubovila. M: +94 (0) 714 299 777 E: vpdeshapriya@gmail.com W: www.kalubovilaacupunture.com

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#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Kollupitiya, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka.T: +94 (0) 11 259 9299 | F: +94 (0) 11 255 4572Hotline: +94 (0) 777 122 122, +94 (0) 777 705 805E: info@sunhill.lk | W: www.sunhill.lk

HOTEL SUNHILL, Nuwara Eliya#18, Unique View Road, Nuwara Eliya.T: +94 (0) 52 222 2878, 222 3300, 222 3710Hot Line: +94 (0) 777 801 755

HOTEL SUNHILL, Colombo#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Kollupitiya, Colombo 03.T: +94 (0) 11 259 9299Hot Line: +94 (0) 777 705 805

HOTEL SUNHILL, Katunayake#56/1, Liyange Mulla, Seeduwa, Katunayake.Hot Line: +94 (0) 714 124 186

SUNHILL CHINESE RESTAURANT, Colombo#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Colombo 03.T: +94 (0) 11 259 3535

OCEAN BREEZES WITHOUT OCEAN PRICES !-: Restyled - Redesigned - Reinvented :-

HOTEL SUNHILL, Mount Lavinia#38, Station Road, Mount Lavinia.T: +94 (0) 715 363 505

SUWATHA MADURA – AYURVEDA SPA#26, Palmyrah Avenue, Colombo 03.T: +94 (0) 11 259 3131Hot Line: +94 (0) 719 705 805

Self applied Pressure Points massaging techniques:

If you are to get Acupuncture treatments obviously you need to have a proper training. Now we will enlighten you over healing technique which could be self applied.

1. Leg three miles pressure point is pressure point off the Knee joint. By massaging the exact point it will re-sult in reducing fatigue. This is also referred to as Stomach 36 or St 36. This was used by old Chinese hill climbers to regain the body strength after excessive climbing. This could befit you as well. Pressuring of the point has to be done us-ing three of the fingers. Patient should be kept at the seated position. Exact location is depicted.

2. Sea of Blood point – This was known by ancient Chinese as pressure point which gives Long life and multi-ple health benefits. Located just above two finger distance from the center of the knee joint. Massaging this point will improve liveliness. Sometimes we feel immense tiredness. There will be no liveliness at all. Then you may massage said pressure point of both legs 21 times respectively. Body will pick up energy and bring back liveliness.

What Benefits could you get from Anti-Aging Acu-puncture?

It is interesting to know results of this special approach.

• Soft Shape up of Attractiveness

• Tune up your skin

• It fills in wrinkles

• Bring back that youthful glow to your cheeks

• The color and texture of the skin brightens, moisten and smoothes

• Reduce Acne (Pimples)

• Bring back liveliness

In addition Cosmetic Acupuncture could gift you,

• A powerful treatment for depression and anxiety

• Stops sweating in midnights

• Improve body strength and immunity

• Grants a peaceful sleep

• Better Digestion and metabolism

To Stop Aging, Improve Body Strength and Preserve Beauty.

By Dr. Prasad Deshapriya Kalubowila Acupunture Clinic, De Silva Road, Kalubovila. M: +94 (0) 714 299 777 E: vpdeshapriya@gmail.com W: www.kalubovilaacupunture.com

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Rice and curry is to be found on practically every buffet table that tourists encounter while travel-

ling anywhere in Sri Lanka. Not only is it the symbol of the country’s unique cuisine, rice and curry is ideal for a self-service buffet because the curries wait-ing to be enjoyed gain more flavour as they simmer for hours over a low flame in clay pots or chafing dishes.

‘Rice and curry’ will probably seem a misnomer to visitors to describe this staple midday meal. When they are confronted with curries (sometimes more than a dozen of them) in pots alongside containers of rice of vari-ous kinds, visitors from overseas can be forgiven for thinking it should be named ‘curries and rice.’

Rice and curry is perfect for serving oneself from a buffet counter because each curry is designed to com-plement each other. Piling the rice in the centre of the plate and mixing up all the curries around the rice is the way to savour the exoticism of this healthy, flavourful cuisine. Do that with western buffet fare, combining, say, apple sauce with chicken stew, and chefs would be

CURRYING FLAVOUR

Sri Lankans will often try to curry favour with visitors by offering them the country’s traditional national dish, rice and curry.

It takes many forms and the preparation of authentic curries requires careful planning, reveals Dora De Lile.

trampling on their toques with disgust at the ruining of their fine cooking.

To appreciate the finer points of rice and curry, one needs first to understand its provenance for it is derived from many cultures. The preparation of Sri Lankan curries has evolved over centuries, from the ancient rural dishes prepared with locally grown ingredients and hunted meat or fish to the input of Oriental and Arab travellers and the meals created with a considerable dash of influence from

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Portuguese settlers in the 16th century.

Next came the Dutch contri-bution, based on both European and learned cuisine from the Dutch East Indies countries. The British contri-bution in the 19th century to rice and curry was slighter, although the British did adopt many items they found ap-pealing for their own cuisine. They also introduced new vegetables like potato and cauliflower grown in hill country climates that lent themselves beauti-fully to be prepared as curries.

The abundance of fresh vege-tables as well as forest roots and locally grown spices like cardamom, cinna-mon, cloves and the unique ingredient called curry leaves – known as karap-incha in Sinhala – produced what was historically organic and wholesome dishes.

Through trial and error over centuries, household cooks discovered what ingredients were best for really spicy curries, and what for milder ver-sions. Meat and fish and vegetables

like eggplant, cabbage, beans and even pineapple lend themselves to hot cur-ries. Root vegetables and cashew nuts work better as mild curries.

Even modern day cooks have realised that curries cooked in the tra-ditional way, in a clay pot over a wood fire take on a more spicy flavour, due to the slow cooking method as well as the seasonings used. Even the wood used for the fire makes a difference, with the favoured firewood being cinnamon for the best rural rice and curry.

One boutique guesthouse in southern Sri Lanka offers ‘organic Sri Lankan cuisine prepared on cinnamon firewood stoves by the family cook.’ In the 120-year-old kitchen retained alongside the modernised property, guests can watch the cook at work.

Many are the kinds of rice used, grown in neighbouring paddy fields or bought in quantity from the lo-cal market. While an assistant sifts the rice to remove any impurities, the cook pounds spices in a pestle and mor-

tar and sets them aside for blending with the ingredients. She adds onions, curry leaves and rampe – pandan leaf – together with hand-ground spices, to sliced lotus stems, or whatever vegeta-bles are in season, setting them aside to be cooked.

The ingredients are gently simmered in coconut milk squeezed from the freshly grated flesh of the nut. The amount of coconut milk is adjusted so that the dish has an exquisite flavour to balance the more demanding heat of richly curried meat. Curry aficionados crave even more challenging dishes, such as curried garlic or hot, red dry prawn curry as prepared in Jaffna.

It is said that the hottest cur-ries in Sri Lanka are to be found in Jaff-na, Galle, and the hill country, as well as in Colombo where all strengths of cur-ry are available. Rice and curry lunch packets are even sold by the wayside to office workers and travellers. These are neatly wrapped parcels containing rice and three or four curries, selling

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for about Rs. 120 each.

At The Tea Castle tea centre overlooking the St Clair Waterfall be-side the A7 in Sri Lanka’s hill country, the rice and curry has been gussied up to look as good as it tastes. Set out on a dining table (no tired buffet meals there) for each party of guests are to be seen curries made of plantain blos-soms, radishes, lentils, beef, fish, beans and egg plant, accompanied by bitter gourd sambol (a relish), gotakola me-dun (a leaf salad), devilled potatoes, spicy mango chutney, and poppadum served with fried red chillies and chunks of sun-dried fish. A veritable feast of sensations served with rice in-fused with green tea leaves.

Boutique hotels like to give a twist to rice and curry, recognising that their sophisticated guests might not, at first, be able to stomach the onslaught of such bold, raunchy flavours all at

once. Some dishes seems to have been created by an interior designer rather than a cook, with curries all dolled up in banana leaf doilies. Fortunately, the natural exuberance of curries resists such trendy gentrification.

Curries are not confined to lunch in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka breakfast is also traditionally a spicy one, enough for the heartiest appetite. While tourist hotels may have a token fish or lentil curry on their breakfast buffets, real Sri Lankan breakfasts are best prepared in the home or hill coun-try bungalow when the cook rises be-fore dawn to begin preparations.

Vegetable and lentil curries, together with seeni sambol (a sweet onion relish) are served alongside beef, chicken or fish curries. As well as bread fresh from the wood fired oven of the village baker, the ideal accompaniment is egg hoppers (a kind of crepe made

with rice flour and with a fried egg nestling in the middle) or string hop-pers (a nest of rice flour noodles).

To prove the heat of the local breakfast served at the Tea Factory Ho-tel at the highest elevation of any hotel in Sri Lanka (2,070m) the chef takes its temperature for interested guests with food thermometer. For a breakfast beef curry he uses coriander, chilli, carda-mom, cinnamon, rampe, curry leaves, cloves, pepper, nutmeg and ground sau-téed rice, plus onions, garlic, ginger and lemon grass. The subtle combination of spices revives the palate rather than scorching it.

Whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Sri Lanka’s rice and curry is a unique and freshly prepared whole-some meal to savour, even for the squeamish weaned on mass produced fast food.

Laid out in buffet style, or a sumptuous a’ la carte menu, patrons are welcomed to the restaurant by the mouth-water-ing aromas of Sri Lankan specialities.

The view of the ocean tantalises the taste buds with stories of spicy sea-food. Preparations of crab meat & squid, succulent shrimp & tangy fish curry-open secrets of this tiny tropical island-are laid out before the discern-ing diner.

Raja Bojun, Ceylinco Hotels Ltd, Seylan Towers, No. 90, Galle Road, Colombo 03. T: +94 (0) 11 4716171 W: www.rajabojun.lk

Sri Lankan meals, drawn from the soil & oceans of this tropical island are always well-balanced & healthy. At Raja bo-jun, we strive to maintain this healthy tradition, by making sure we put no synthetic flavouring or additives, no trans-fats & that our ingredients are al-ways home-grown & authentic. A truly Sri Lankan food experience. Laid out in buffet style, or a sumptuous a’ la carte menu, patrons are welcomed to the res-taurant by the mouth-watering aromas of Sri Lankan specialities.

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Net Metering Systems

Seven Wonders of the World is definitely in the priority list of any traveler but Sigiriya by no means is second to any of those seven under any criteria. Its history dates back to the great Pyramid era and the

technological wonders are unimaginable even at the modern day.

Sigiriyathe Wonder of the World

By Asitha G. Punchihewa

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Though it is not yet certain how water is pumped naturally to the top of the rock, it could be passive capillary movement, active pumping us-ing natural ventilation and air compression or none of the above. However due to diminishing ground water levels at recent times, there have been instances where these fountains have been dried up.

Terrace gardens are unique and these can also be interpreted as hanging gardens of Sigiriya resting 370 metres above sea level.

Sigiriya paintings of Apsaras are unique and have been used for tourism promotional purposes but giving less emphasis on the aesthetic val-ue. It is surprising how paintings can be preserved in this manner for well over 2500 years. What chemicals they used for colouring and fixing that could withstand weathering for so long is still a mystery.

Branded Paintings

To provide a glimpse of what Sigiriya has on offer at present, it rises 370 metres above sea level, high above the surrounding plain, visible for miles in all directions, many remains of the fortress are still pre-

served, perfect urban planning, natural fountains, water gardens, terrace gardens, moated palaces and well preserved branded paintings are to name a few.

Sigiriya has been a research lab for scholars in an array of disci-plines and the on site museum provides an array of pieces that depicts Sigiriya’s history that dates back as far as 20,000 years and its transfor-mation from prehistoric human civilisations to hydraulic civilisations to episodes of monarchic and monastic habitation and eventual abandonment.

Natural Fountains

Located just below the paintings, the surface of this wall is well polished and covered with the writing known as ‘Sigiri graffiti’. These writings consist of poems written by visitors to the site since the 7th century.

Terrace Gardens

Mirror Wall

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Urban planning cannot expect any more perfec-tion using perfect symmetry and asymmetry where rel-evant, placing the administrative hierarchy at the top of the rock while leaving ample room for residences with wide roadways and farming with ample water resources.

Its fountains still in operational state surprises as to how a water column over 300 metres high is pumped natu-rally. It again reiterates that the hydraulic civilisation that Sri Lanka could boast of comprised of many wonders. Yes, it was a hydraulic civilisation and the ancient Lankans have used water in every aspect. There are a number of ponds, tanks in various shapes and sizes, most of them purposely placed to maintain symmetry.

Water Gardens

Urban Planning

At the entrance to the summit one encounters the Lion staircase, one of the most visually stunning features of Sigiriya. Here, the architects have carved two massive Lion Paws into the rock face, perhaps intending to convey Kashyapa’s dominance over the Sinhalese (the race of lions). The brick wall is still preserved in its original form.

The Lion staircase

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Mahawansa, the greatest historic piece of literature that any country could boast of explains how King Kashyapa built it somewhere in 477-495CE. However, recent discoveries have taken its histo-ry way back to the King Ravana era which is said to be 2554-2517BC. It’s not at all a surprise for someone like King Ravana to come up with a masterpiece of this nature considering that it was in his era that the mer-cury vortex engine was first used for flying machines indicating highest possible technological advancements.

A busy traveler would have a glance at everything, take a few photographs and go on to the next site, but for my reckoning, it is only a most unfortunate and ignorant traveler that would not consider spending at least a full day at Si-giriya.

Among the unusual features of the garden are the impluvium of the Cis-tern Rock, taking its name from a large cistern formed out of massive slabs of granite, and the Audience Hall Rock which has a flattened summit and a large 5-metre long throne carved out of the living rock. The honeycomb of post-holes and flattened ledges of the Preach-ing Rock are others. While considerable excavation will have to be done before we can recover the original pathways of the boulder garden, at least two distinct markers are provided by two boulder arches and limestone staircases, as well as various flights of steps and passage-ways constructed of polished marble blocks and slabs.

Audience Hall

It is believed that two kings Ravana and Kashyapa who have used this site as a fortress which is still preserved

Fortress

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The Veddas of Sri Lanka According to this justification, the

lengthy period from 11000BC to 500BC consisted of Balango-

da descendants, and they are distant relations of the modern day Veddas. Similarly, the Veddas are also identified as descend-ants of the Yakkas when analysing their rit-uals, beliefs and myths. One such example is that they believe that the Ved-das are a result of the King Vijaya’s engagement with Kuveni who is a Yakka-origin lady according to the Mahavamsa. The Veddas of Sri Lanka are the descend-ants of the pioneers of the island. Their descent spans well over 30,000 years

“Balangoda anthrop

has anatomical resem-

blance to the Veddas of

Sri Lanka. There is no

doubt that the Veddas

are descendants of

the Balangoda

Anthrop”.

whereas some believe that the Ved-das pre-date the

de-c e n d a n c e

the King Vijaya’s arrival in the country 2,500 years ago. However, there is sufficient evidence to confirm that the Vedda heritage dates back 34,000 years. There have been studies conducted

on the Balangoda Manavaya (Bal-angoda anthrop or the Homo sa-pian balangodensis sub species) and the pre-Vijaya era civilisa-tions of Sri Lanka who could be ancestors of the present day Veddas. At the global level, research findings on other indigenous commu-nities in India, Australia, South and North America and other parts of the globe further justify the existence of the indig-enous aboriginal na-tives like the Veddas in

Sri Lanka for a significantly pro-longed period of time, spanning well over twenty or even thirty thousand years. Veddas had associations with the monarchs of the country in the past and kings recognised their existence and had

By Asitha G. Punchihewa

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The Veddas of Sri Lanka

mutually advantageous relationships with the Veddas. While the Veddas provided the Sinhalese with dada mas (meat of wild animals), bee honey, and wild fruits, they were given metal utensils and rice in return. Unlike the tribal communities in other parts of the world, the Veddas have throughout history interacted with the mainstream community. They were just different in their lifestyle and costume. However, in recent times, mainly within the past century, during the last period of the British regime and the post-independence era, the Veddas as well as the indigenous communities throughout the world have sailed turbulent waters. Opening up of land masses and forest covers for commercial crops, estates, urbanisation, and infrastructure develop-ment were among the many issues that resulted in the fragmentation of Vedda territory. This also resulted on new set-tlements being established in the fringes making possible modernisation to trickle into the most rural communities includ-

ing the Veddas. Veddas whose culture was based on forest and the rituals based on “Ne Yakku” or worshipping the spirits of dead relatives, were gradually influenced by the Sinhalese, Tamils and also by the Muslims. While the Veddas in the country’s inte-rior were experiencing a turbulent period

of their history, the ‘sea Veddas’ (who are believed to be descendants of the same group of Veddas in the interior, or indig-enous Sri Lankans with Yakka origins who have migrated over an unknown period of time from the central highlands towards the east coast along the Mahave-li plains) have ‘self-evolved’. The most senior generation of the Veddas could converse in Sinhala and still recollect the traditional songs and lullabies that have

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mostly Sinhala words and some typical Vedi language words. Unlike the Veddas in other parts of the country, the coastal Veddas were less influenced by the mainstream culture that was also influenced by the recent mod-ernisation and westernisation processes. They were thus unable to penetrate through to the far eastern province due to the unsettled security situation prevailing for the past thirty years. The present state of the existence of the Veddas in a nutshell could be described

95 | ASL

as “a group of people in Sri Lanka with indigenous ancestry, confined to isolated pockets extending from the eastern and north eastern slopes of the hill country to the Eastern and North central parts of the country”. Their cultural identity is rapidly diminishing and the Veddas are increasingly embracing Sinhalisation and Tamilisation within the respec-tive geographical localities in which they live in, acquiring Buddhist, Hindu and more recently Christian values rather than their own, they are following the footpath direct-ing towards accelerated moderni-sation that leaves little room for cultural diversity. This in fact could be the last generation of Veddas that will ever exist. It is highly like-ly that the Vedda’s way of life and its culture will become to extinct within a span of a few decades.

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While tour operators train their own professional staff to their company standards,

until recently there has been no re-sponsible training programme for the freelance sector. This has sometimes resulted in tourists being misinformed and even harassed by people purport-ing to be guides. Recognising the value of these freelance service providers, programmes have been devised to give them training so they have the correct knowledge and attitude to be of service to visitors.

For the first time in its history, the Western Province Tourist Board (WPTB) in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, and the Sri Lanka Tour-ism Development Authority, recently conducted an Area Guides Training Programme.

The Western Province Of the 40 participants in the first course, 30 were successful in ob-taining credit passes at the end of the course. This is encouraging in view of the need to cater properly for the in-creased number of visitors arriving as part of the programme for Sri Lanka to host 2.5 million tourists by 2016.

The WPTB has made plans to conduct two or three Tourist Guide pro-grammes annually with a target of add-ing 350 certified area guides trained through the Western Province. Should the other provinces follow the example of the Western Province we can expect an additional 2,500 qualified Tourist Area Guides within a short period.

This number will be in addi-tion to the National Guides and Chauf-feur Drivers trained by the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Manage-ment.

The Western Province Tour-ist Board is also conducting training programmes for drivers who trans-port tourists. After a thorough training and passing a final exam, drivers are awarded a special identification card. The objective is to bring them into the formal sector of disciplined and trained service providers.

Training programmes are also to be introduced by the WPTB for three-wheeler (tuk-tuk) drivers and also for leisure transportation boatmen and vendors. As a result, Sri Lanka will be offering some of the best trained and most courteous service providers for tourists of any country.

The Chairman of the Western Province Tourist Board Claude Thom-asz with all support extended by the Hon Minister of Tourism for the West-ern Province, Nimal Lanza, is dedicated

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Helps Service Providers

Area Guides Batch 01

Tourist Taxi Drivers Batch 04

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to giving this opportunity to freelance service providers to be of help to tour-ists and the community, and to main-tain good discipline under a well-mon-itored system. The aim is to convert them to the formal sector so that every tourist arriving in Sri Lanka will be able to receive a professional standard of service.

The first training course for tourist drivers in Sri Lanka was held under the auspices of the Western Province Tourist Board and the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority in Kalutara in March 2012. It took place at the A-Prima Tourist Hotel in Katuku-runda, South Kalutara, which gener-ously provided additional facilities for the participants.

There were 93 participants in the four-day course, which focused on training licensed drivers in ways to im-prove the tourist experience. Drivers were taught about tourist expectations and how each driver could personally contribute to the success of the tourist industry by treating their tourist pas-sengers with respect and understand-ing.

The drivers were presented with certificates of participation by the WPTB as well as being given an iden-tity card issued by the Sri Lanka Tour-ism Development Authority stating the holder is an Authorised Tourist Driver. It is valid for one year. They were also issued with a sticker to display on their vehicles and a name badge.

Tourists are being recom-mended to travel with the officially licensed drivers. These Authorised

Tourist Drivers will be monitored on their performance. Should tourists have any complaints about a driver, they can quote the driver’s identity number and report them to the Western Province Tourist Board for appropriate action.

The second training pro-gramme for tourist drivers was con-ducted in Colombo in June 2012, with 100 participants. Applications are be-ing invited from all freelance service providers to take part in the courses planned during 2013 in tourist resorts throughout the Western Province.

Tourist Taxi Drivers Batch 0398 | ASL

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The Western Province (in Sinhala: Basnahira Palatha and in Tamil: Mael Maakaanam) is home to Colombo - the dominant city in Sri Lanka. This is because Colombo is the Commercial Capital as well as Administrative Capital and Sri Jayawardenepura-Kotte a suburb of Colombo where the Parliament is housed, is now the Legislative Capital of the Islands. Also the International Air Port (Bandaranaike International Airport – Colombo) is located in this Province as well as the Air Port for Domestic Flights at Ratmalana.

The three districts of the Western Province taken together comprise a land mass of 3,834.6 sq. kilometre as follows:

• Colombo District 692 km²• Gampaha District 1,386.6 km²• Kalutara District 1,606 km²

These three districts of Western Province (the Colombo District, Kalutara District to South of Colombo and Gampaha District to the North and North East) is the most densely populated province in Sri Lanka.

In accordance with the policy of develop- ing powers of the Government of Sri Lanka the Provincial Council of the Western Province was one of the 8 Provincial Councils of Island that was established in terms of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the provisions of the Provincial Councils Act No. 42 of 1987. The Provincial Council encompasses the administrative districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara and include 45 Local Authority Institutions covering an area of 3684 square Km and a population of

5,622,274 which comprise 84.2% Sinhalese, 7.2% Tamils, and 7.1% Muslims and the

rest belonging to other races.

WESTERN PROVINCEThe Development

Front

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322

138

292

335

344

31

186

9 35

8 20

5 23

7 26

1 11

5

Bent

ota

Batti

colo

a 36

7 19

8 22

9 27

0 12

2

Band

araw

ela

183

167

196

243

Badu

lla

Anu

rada

pura

272

32

163

168

277

167

106

166

198

220

367

218

A'p

ussa

15

4 17

7 17

7 82

220

72