Steered through Sri Lanka

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It’s best to see Sri Lanka at a slow pace, but when on someone else’s time, you must keep up and do your best to size up the country in six days.

The first thing that hit me when I got out of Colombo airport was the humidity. The weather is pretty similar to Malaysia except that it’s slightly more humid. Happily, it was free from haze.

I was thankful to escape the horrible haze in Malaysia, if only for a few days.

We were a bunch of journalists invited by Air Asia for their inaugural flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Our itinerary was organised by Sri Lanka Tourism so we didn’t have much say about where to go and what to do. Many of my friends told me to check out the colonial buildings that have been converted into boutique hotels and cafés but we didn’t have time to visit those places. But I did see a few lovely cafés as we passed by in our coach.

Sri Lanka’s version of the tuk-tuk.

The city itself is, well, just like any other city. Skyscrapers are not common but I liked the colonial architecture. It’s a pity that most are not well maintained. One of the better maintained ones is the National Museum, custodian of Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage. They have very nice stone carvings and fascinating ancient stone toilet facilities there.

We visited Independence Square, built to mark the country’s independence on Feb 4, 1948 from the British, and headed to the Gangaramaya Temple after that to see an elephant with unusually long tusks. His tusks were so long that they crossed in front of him! There we met a couple who were taking their wedding shots at the temple.

We stayed at the Hilton Colombo Hotel, in Colombo 1, a high security area where all the luxury hotels and government buildings are located. Even though the fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) has ceased, military presence is still felt within the city.

There’s a 1½km promenade by the sea about 500m from the hotel where the locals go to exercise, picnic on the grass or stroll while enjoying the breeze during the day. You can’t swim there because the sea is too rough. It’s a different scene at night where plenty of soldiers patrol the area with their AK47s, and one cannot take photos or even stop. You have to keep moving along.

The street markets sell mainly local clothes, electrical goods, belts, toys and leather bags. What caught my attention were the restaurants where dishes like roti are cooked right in front of the customers. (The roti is similar to our roti canai but it’s chopped into strips and mixed with vegetable and meat). I was also fascinated by the hole-in-the-wall liquor shops operating behind bars that looked like jails. There’s not much of a drinking or night scene here.

One place I did enjoy was a beachside restaurant called Seafood Cove at Mount Lavinia Hotel, a lovely colonial resort that was once the British governor’s house built in 1805 by Sir Thomas Maitland. Just pick the seafood of your choice, and they’ll serve it to you right on the beach. Lovely ambience.

Feeding a baby elephant at the orphanage.

On to Kandy

Next day, it was on towards the hill country of Kandy, 115km or three hours away from Colombo. En route, we stopped at The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, a refuge for orphaned and abandoned elephants.

Before the arrival of the British in 1815, the island was home to an estimated 30,000 elephants. The elephant population almost went extinct in the 1960s, prompting the government to establish the orphanage in 1975 for young elephants that had lost their mother or herd. The orphanage is thought to have the biggest herd of captive elephants in the world.

We arrived just in time to see the feeding of the baby elephants. It was cute to see them drinking from a big plastic baby bottle. Some of us even had the chance to feed one.

A little further away is the herd of elephants roaming freely in the 24-acre (9.7ha) open space. The elephants are not separated by any fence or barriers but there are “Do not cross’’ signs that warn tourists of the safe distance to maintain. Many mahouts are on standby just in case, but you can go up to touch an elephant if you give the mahouts some money.

Among the elephants that caught my eye were a tiny two-month-old baby elephant and one slightly deformed elephant with a hump on her back. She had lost her foot when she stepped on a mine and the hump came about because her remaining three legs couldn’t take her weight.

The elephant herd will head towards a nearby river twice a day to bathe but unfortunately, due to our tight schedule, we were not able to witness them frolicking in the water.

On the way to Kandy, we made a stop at the Island Spice Grove, another government-run place for some insight into herbal remedies. They had all sorts of stuff there made from Sri Lanka’s flora.

Picking tea by hand.

Among the memorable ones was a lipid lowering agent derived from lime skin. It is taken with organic honey (no sugar) to reduce phlegm and cholesterol. Apparently, it can achieve this within two months, if taken twice daily after meals. It is supposed to help with weight loss, too.

There was also a natural hair removal cream, made from a mixture of organic herb extractions that painlessly removes hair at its roots after being applied for 10 minutes. We tried the cream on a colleague’s hairy arm. His skin was as smooth as a baby’s bottom after he wiped off the trial patch. The guide said that the hair would take time to grow back and if used more than three times, the hair would hardly grow back. Prices were a bit steep probably because it was a tourist spot.

We finally reached Kandy after another hour’s drive. Kandy is the royal capital of the last Sinhalese kingdom, which fell to the British in 1815. The town is famous for Dalda Maligawa or Temple of Tooth.

Built in the 17th century, the temple houses a sacred relic — one of the Buddha’s teeth. It is said to have been snatched from his funeral pyre and smuggled to Sri Lanka in the hair of a princess. The temple is one of the sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the world.

Kandy Esala Perahara, a spectacular display of medieval pageantry, takes place for 10 days in late July or early August. It is one of the most colourful processions in the world with thousands of drummers and dancers accompanying a parade of ornamented elephants performing in the streets of Kandy. The leading elephant carries the sacred tooth relic for the people to venerate. A definite must-see for visitors.

A blushing bride at Gangaramaya Temple.

Rafting at Kitulgala

Rafting is a fantastic way to enjoy Mother Nature. And what better way to see Sri Lanka’s beautiful countryside than from an inflated yellow raft as it shoots the rapids of the Kelani River?

White-water rafting in Kitulgala, three hours’ drive from Colombo, is just the thing for adventure junkies. There are many rafting operators but it’s best to enquire about their safety standards beforehand.

Kelani River has seven Grade 3 and 4 rapids with names like Head Chopper, Killer Fall and Drop. Our guide said the river rose as high as 12m during the rainy season and dropped to 2m in the dry season. When we went in mid-August, the river was about 8m!

Rafting here is not too scary for first-timers, and it’s really peaceful cruising down the river along calmer spots. Our guide let us jump in and float down for about 700m before he asked us to climb on board for the last rapid. The cool river water was very refreshing on that hot day but I picked up a leech in the process. No harm done, though. It helped suck some of my dirty blood out.

Six days in Sri Lanka is not enough to see the country. I thought that the itinerary would have been better if we got to see what Sri Lanka is famous for — their beautiful pristine beaches, lovely tea plantations and the amazing wildlife at their many national parks. We did manage to see a few local women picking tea on the way to Kitulgala, though.

Staying in Colombo for the entire duration didn’t help either as we spent a lot of time travelling on the road. Maybe I’ll come back again. But for the next trip, I’ll definitely spend more time in the countryside.

Quick facts

The island of Sri Lanka lies south-west of India, with a climate similar to Malaysia. Days are mostly sunny, warm and humid with occasional evening showers. The western and southern coastal areas are best visited between Dec and April, when the weather is at its best.

The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population while Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs and Malays. Roughly 70% of the island population is Buddhist.

Colombo is Air Asia’s third destination in South Asia after Dhaka, Bangladesh and Tiruchirappalli, South India. The inaugural Kuala Lumpur-Colombo direct flight with Air Asia’s new 180-seater Airbus A320 commenced on Aug 15 and flies daily from LCCT at 6.30am.

Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, group CEO of Air Asia Bhd, says they have plans to increase flight frequency as they have been experiencing more than 85% load factor for each flight. He also says they are planning to add another direct flight to Colombo from Bangkok and one from Jakarta.