Strolling in Sri Lanka: Part -1

The Galle Face Hotel from The Taj Samudra.

Gurmeet with Asoka our guide and the trusty steed!.

The snooze induced by the background drone of the jet engines is interrupted by the ‘fasten seat belts’ announcement. A flash of calm seas from the window, the flare out, a thump and reverse thrusters go on, the slow taxi to the terminal, you step off the aircraft to be greeted by the humid warm air faintly smelling of the ocean and copra. One has arrived in Sri Lanka. Immigration and customs formalities are mercifully short and one steps out to be met by Asoka, our driver  and guide for the duration of our trip.

Center Court, Galle Sea Face. 

Colombo. The bustling, colourful, friendly city, as seen through the windows of our slowly moving car, seems to be bursting at the seams with people and with horrendous traffic. There are oases of quiet, however, especially around the Galle Sea Face and other up-market residential areas.

Pretty maids all in a row at Taj Samudra!.

We arrive at our hotel, warm and friendly smiles and we move up to our room. A double take! Is this the Taj?? The room is down at heel and tatty!. This actually being the Taj, smiles and apologies all around and we are upgraded to a ‘renovated’ floor. Much better, but the room is still old fashioned and requires a facelift.   

The Taj meeting facilities and Galle Promenade.

The long civil war with consequent drop in business has resulted in most of the up-market hotels becoming a little run down as managements cut down on upkeep and renovation expenses. The traveler will probably find that many of the pricier hotels are not very good value and are a little outdated.  With the economy and business picking up, most properties are now slowly renovating. 

Sri Lanka known as Lanka, Serendib, Taprobane, and Ceylon  during various times in its history, is a beautiful tropical island nation, located just off the southern tip of India. Its ancient history is connected to that of south India. It was an important center of Buddhism, with the ancient ‘Temple of the Tooth’ in Kandy still regarded as one of the most important Buddhist holy shrines.

Street food stalls on the Galle promenade.

Located on one of the main sea routes connecting Europe and the Far East, Sri Lanka came under the sway of European colonial powers, the earliest being the Portuguese followed by the Dutch and finally the English. This admixing of Asian and European cultures has resulted in Sri Lanka having a unique tolerant and progressive aspect to its way of life where various religious are welcomed and exist in harmony.

Foreign Tourists once again visiting World Heritage sites!.

The country has great tourism potential and offers the visitor a wide spectrum of choices from pristine beaches, tropical rain forests, ancient monuments and archeological sites, high mountain vistas and scenic tea gardens as well as bird and game sanctuaries. This juxtaposition of great attractions, all within easy reach, resulted in a tourism boom to the country. Unfortunately, however, a prolonged civil war led to a precipitous drop in tourism. Since the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka has once again found a place in the international tourists’ itinerary.

The Old Parliament House Galle Sea Face. 

The, author, revisited Sri Lanka after a gap of five years and found that the people were as friendly as ever and tourism activity in the country was spooling up with a new sense of confidence.

The Sea Side Bar at the Galle Face Hotel.

Baloon Seller on Galle Green.

Foreign Tourists at Cave Temples

The Galle Sea Face with its vast green, surrounded by elegant buildings, is a favoured strolling and play area for Colombo residents.
At one end stands the elegant, colonial Galle Face Hotel, at the other, is the old Ceylon Continental. The one and a half kilometer long Sea Face is a bustling hubbub of families out to have a good time and vendors doing brisk business in the evening. 
The Sea side bar at the Galle Face Hotel is the perfect place to settle down for a cold beer or tall drink after a brisk walk along the promenade. 

High Tea by the Sea!.

This hotel also offers a very popular ‘High Tea’ everyday, a must for any visitor wanting to get acquainted with the quaint English system of taking Tea in the evening, a meal featuring sandwiches, scones, cakes, cold-cuts, salads etc. accompanied of course by  steaming Tea. The author committed the solecism of absent mindedly asking for ‘Darjeeling’,  forgetting that Sri Lanka also has its own ‘High Grown’ tea.

Buddha Painting at Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara. 

There are a few places in Colombo that are worth a visit, the most notable of them being the National Museum, Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, Wolvendaal Church, and some Hindu Temples. That apart, most tourists shop for clothes and fabrics in Pettah Bazar or at high end malls like Odell. Porcelain in Sri Lanka is of excellent quality and Noritake and Dunkotuwa brands are world famous. The factory outlets for these firms in Colombo, offer nice designs at prices unmatched anywhere else. No wonder that the luggage of most Indians leaving Colombo features a box of ‘Naari Taake’. 

Sri Lankans having fun at Negombo Beach!. 

Beach Scene. 

There are many beaches around Colombo with Negombo, Mount Lavinia, Kalutara, Beruwela, and Bentota being the easiest to access.

Sailing into a new dawn!.

These are popular with locals and foreign tourists alike, with local Sri Lankans outnumbering tourists at the nearest ones.

The Serene Kalutara Beach. 

These beaches are great for a relaxed holiday, though it must be said that there are other beaches, further away from Colombo, that are prettier, more serene and offering other activities like diving on coral formations.

Owner & Chef of Oyster Restaurant. Great Food!.  

An Elegant Home to Stay In!. 

Stay, food and beverage prices in Sri Lanka are generally reasonable and outside of five star hotels, the tourists would consider them a bargain. 

Good Street Food on the Beach!.  

What Bar?? 

A wide variety of stay options are available to the traveler, and many Sri Lankans are opening out their homes and offering home stays, which are great way for a traveler to get to know the country and its people. There are many restaurants around the beaches, some of which are run by owner chefs. These offer the tourists fresh sea food and other delicacies at prices that are good value for money. Street food is invariably good and fresh. Egg hoppers especially are very good.

Comfortable and Clean Road Side Restaurant. 

Its time for the author to take the road out from Colombo and follow in the footsteps of Samuel Baker, towards the mountains and tea gardens of Nuwara Eliya. 

On the Road in Sri Lanka. 

Driving in Sri Lanka is generally relaxed as the roads, even the main highways, are quite narrow and the traffic volume is high. As Sri Lankan drivers are generally polite and follow rules to a large extent, average speeds are low and the traveller should allow plenty of time to reach his destination. There are nice, clean roadside restaurants where one can halt for a pit stop and a refreshing beverage.

The Road to Nuwara Eliya. 

Gurmeet and Asoka Tea Tasting.

The views along the road from Colombo to Nuwara Eliya are quite stunning, especially in the hill country. The road passes through villages and small towns offering an unending kaleidoscope of day to day life. Wooded Hills, Burbling Streams, Tea Gardens and lovely Vistas are a part of the landscape. Many Tea Gardens offer facilities for Tea tasting in relaxed settings. One can also purchase fresh Teas. 

The Tea Factory Hotel, Nuwara Eliya.

Trout Stream and Tea Bushes.  

Tea Garden, Nuwara Eliya.

Nuwara Eliya is a lovely hill town, with some beautiful colonial buildings, at an average altitude of 6,000 feet. The best Tea in Sri Lanka is grown around these hills. The area is also famous for growing European and English vegetables, a rarity in tropical Sri Lanka. Some of the old Tea factories have been converted into lovely heritage hotels. The streams in the area are famous for trout fishing. There are game sanctuaries nearby which are great for viewing leopards and a wide variety of birds. 

Homes and Tea Gardens on Hills.

The Hills are beautiful and seductive, and the weather is great, but alas! Its time now to move on to the holy city of Kandy and from there on to other parts of Sri Lanka, but that is another story, which shall follow .....

An Elephant's Salute!.

Goa - The Forgotten Facets and Vistas

The Sand, Sea and Palms. The Essence of Goa.

Bacardi Breezers on the Beach Anyone? 

Goa ..Gooaah!, the very word conjures up evocative images of white sand beaches, clear waters, palm trees swaying in the breeze, good food and relaxing in a lounger with a tall drink at hand. This imagery, true to a large degree, ensures Goa one of the top spots in India's pantheon of popular tourist destinations, with both Indian and Foreign tourists.

In the tourist season, however, at popular beaches, reality can often mean, over crowded hotels, littered sand infested with supine evolutions of Homo Erectus, waters filled with shrieking family groups, drunken louts and harried staff at popular restaurants.

When Will We Party?

Now, Now!. The author is not trying to drive you away from visiting Goa, it still remains a great place to go to, with its vibrant culture and relaxed pace of life. 

The point one makes is that there are still areas where the thinking traveller, with a little bit of effort, can find peaceful vistas, less crowded lodgings and partake of the unhurried pace of life, so beloved of Goans.

Britona Church from the River.

In Portuguese times, roads were few and narrow so most people and commerce moved along Goa's rivers and water ways. The village fronts facing the river were the hub of village life and most public buildings were also built with their fronts to the river. After liberation, the development of the road network ensured that the focus of travel shifted from Boats and Launches to automotive transport which was faster, more efficient and cheaper.

A Boat Trip Up River.

Passenger traffic along the rivers dwindled to almost nothing and the focus of life shifted to the 'Tintos', the village squares, which were served by road. Expanding population, too, ensured that villages and towns moved away from scarce river front land, with real estate developers making hay by developing inland plots.

The Author's Transport, Lent by a Gracious Friend.

Mangroves and Birds.

Carrying Iron Ore to to The Sea Port.

The intrepid traveller would do well to take a boat trip up any of Goa's rivers, as the author did a few weeks ago. It is a great, relaxed experience slowly moving up or down stream, a drink in hand, with new vistas opening out with every bend in the river. The only other traffic one meets is the Iron ore barges, and the odd fishing trawler or cabin cruiser. One does not speak of course about the polluting eyesores called 'Deluxe Casinos' which are permanently moored on the Mandovi river near Panaji.

Temple,Trust in God but Keep The Clothes Dry! 

Small fishing ports, lovely promenades, temples, quaint villages, bird and game sanctuaries, mangrove forests and imposing churches are all easy to access by water and offer an ever changing palette of colour. Even the world heritage site of Old Goa can be accessed via the river. It needs be said that some effort has to be made for hiring boats for river journeys as this facet of tourism is not well developed, but with a little effort one can hire a launch or cabin cruiser. It is well worth the trouble, even if a little expensive. 

 

Fishing Trawlers Moored on the River.

     Small Boutique Hotel. Pool Facing Rooms. 

Experienced travellers, during tourist season, who are normally fed up with hordes of tour groups at all popular hotels, would do well to look out for boutique hotels and home stays. Luckily, Goa has a wide variety of boutique hotels, catering to most budgets. Many of these boutique hotels do not cater to tour groups and as such, offer a more interesting variety of fellow residents.

Boutique Hotel Room.

Home stays, too, are becoming popular and can range from high end stays at gracious mansions to shoe string costs at basic but clean homes. As at all popular beach destinations, stay costs decrease proportionately as you move away from the beaches.

The Interior of a High End Home Stay.

  .A Gracious Home to Stay In

Relaxing at a Home Stay. Tall Drink In Hand!

In Goa this isn't  a problem as the

state has many other attractions to offer the active traveller.

In the author's opinion, the best time to enjoy Goa's beaches is early in the 

morning, before the attack of the tour 

group hordes.                                                 

A Morning Dip is Good for Dreadlocks!

The sands are clean and uncrowded, the light is excellent for photography and one can strike up conversations with Residents taking their morning constitutional.
One can always escape to other attractions during the heat of the day.

Calm, Uncrowded Mornings at the Beach.

Eating is An Art!.

     

Imbibing Wisely?!.

No vacation in Goa would be complete without an emphasis on food,drink and music . Goan cuisine is a happy blend of Indian and Portuguese cultures. Its treatment of sea food and meats is to die for.

This often hot cuisine, is best accompanied by Goa's own spirit, Feni. This potent liquor, distilled from cashew apple   for its 'Caju Feni' version, and, palm toddy                                                           

Cocktails of The World!. 

for the 'Palm Feni' avatar, is ideal for aesthesing inflamed taste buds when you indulge 'Not Wisely but Too Well' in some of the tasty but fiery Goan dishes. Feni, however, is an acquired taste and beer does just as well.

What's Your Poison?

Goa luckily is one of the few Indian states  that do not have a sanctimonious attitude to imbibing, unlike most, so it is possible to get a decent drink almost anywhere and at prices that don't break the bank. 

Not Exactly The Wharf!.

The influx of foreign visitors has ensured that there are a plethora of  restaurants serving every conceivable cuisine under the sun. Many are of excellent quality and normally are good value. The traveller is well advised to ask hotel staff and local residents as to the most popular  ones, as attrition is high and                                      

They Have 'A' Fresh Sea Rood and 'Wanton' Soup!.

popularity ratings tend to change, due to change of chefs or management.

The popular 'Beach Shacks', many of which have been there for decades, are invariably good and reasonable, but inevitably, crowded.

Food of Love. Play On!.

Music, too, plays an important role in Goan life and there are bands and rock groups aplenty. Some of India's best rock groups and music stars have emerged from Goa. Quite a few restaurants will have a band playing or at least a crooner. At times, however, at popular beaches there can be quite a cacophony with one group trying to outdo the other in adjoining restaurants. Generally though, one can enjoy a variety of music, most of it quite good.  

Which God Would You Like to Pray To?

One hopes that this article offers the traveller a slightly different perspective on Goa, different from the beaches and churches and temples that are most often written about.

Ayurvedic Centre for Russians!.

A Beach Shack

It also offers as 'food for thought', another facet that can be used to promote Goa, and, say something of the business opportunity value for the canny entrepreneur to promote boat tours, an investment avenue which will surely offer decent return on investment.

  

Lazy Lounging, Boutique Hotel Pool!

Boat for Hire.

Goa is well linked to India and other parts of the world by rail, road and air. 

The journey by road and rail from Mumbai, is a visual delight as traffic moves along the scenic Western Ghats. All domestic air carriers have connections to Goa from major cities in India. Foreign carriers like British Airways, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Aeroflot, Thomas Cook Airlines and various charter operators fly in directly to Dabolim International Airport. 

Happy Travelling!.