Also has culture-rich cities, ancient temples, interesting
forts.
COLOMBO (DPA) - We had finished breakfast at the comfortable table
on our balcony, but it was difficult to tear ourselves away and say
farewell to the fabulously beautiful view over the bay, with its palm
trees and old-fashioned fishing village.
Closenberg Hotel in Galle is certainly one of a kind. Built as a residence for
British sea captains during the colonial era, it takes its guests back to a
different time and a different rhythm. One of quietly looking out over the sea,
enjoying the peace.
But it was indeed time to leave Galle, on Sri Lanka's southwestern coast,
since we still had things to do on our last day in the country. For one thing, a
friend had asked us to deliver a present to Upali, a fruit vendor in the town of
Bentota; three years ago, Upali had found her wallet lying on a beach with
money and papers inside, and returned it, saving her holiday.
Bentota is about 60 kilometers up the western coast, half-way between Galle
and Colombo, from where our flight home would be departing that evening, and
in front of our hotel Karu was waiting with his trusty, if rather old, Japanese
car, which he uses to drive tourists around for 5,000 rupees (about $65) a day.
Our route took us, again, past the old center of Galle, which puts the visitor in
mind of a small Dutch beach resort - but with palm trees. The Dutch chased
the Portuguese out in 1640 and built a fort to defend their new outpost; today,
tourists walk on its walls to circle the old town.
Leaving Galle, we turned north and proceeded up the west coast, which looks
the very picture of the tropical paradise which people from colder climates
dream of on winter nights. Simple fishing huts under swaying palms, and
kilometers-long beaches fronting a deep blue sea under a cloudless sky.
Local people, however, see things rather differently: they use parasols to
protect themselves from the burning sun, and those picturesque huts often
conceal desperate poverty: fishing is a hard, and often dangerous, life.
The ride with Karu is most enjoyable, for not only is he a safe driver but he
speaks good English and knows all about the many interesting sights along
the way. He had previously taken us on an interesting excursion to Kandy, the
last capital of the former Sinhalese empire.
Kandy, 500 meters high in the interior, was the center of the long-successful
rebellion by people of the region against Portuguese and then Dutch advances
in from the coast, although the British eventually took the city in 1815. Today,
in addition to the temple, it is an important pilgrimate city for Buddhists
because of the important temple said to hold one of Buddha's teeth.
Karu, as a devout Buddhist, bowed at each statue of the Buddha we passed;
he also showed us Kandy's beautiful artificial lake, and the paths around it
which make for a very pleasant walk.
Kandy, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa make up the famous "cultural triangle"
of Sri Lanka, one filled with interesting temples and forts. Inside the triangle,
the town of Dambulla is known for its Buddhist cave temples, which date back
to the first century AD And Sigiriya has 1,500-year-old rock paintings which
are, in a seeming change of pace, not religious in nature: instead, they show
beautiful women.
Anuradhapura has a famous banyan tree said to be more than 2,000 years
old: it was under a banyan tree in northern India that Buddha was meditating
when he found enlightenment and laid the basis of an immensely influential
religion: all life is suffering, and the suffering is born of desire from which
human beings must learn to free themselves.
The Buddha taught this 2,500 years ago, and a princess brought a shoot of
the banyan tree back to Anuradhapura, which, beginning in 380 BC, was for
the next 1,300 years the capital of several Sinhalese empires.
Today, Sri Lanka - still known to many by its colonial name, Ceylon - is ruled
from Colombo, on the west coast, and here the evidence of the ongoing, brutal
conflict between Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan army is visible at every turn.
The capital can be a shopping paradise, but if a visitor has a chance it is
better to obtain Sri Lankan souvenirs closer to their point of origin: the famous
tea produced around the resort town of Nuwara Eliya, jewelry of all colors from
the gems mined near Ratnapura, and the masks of Ambalangoda.
This last town we visit on the long ride up the coast with Karu.
Ambalangoda is the capital of mask carvers, and dancers wear the
demoniclooking, brightly-colored wooden masks during theater appearances in
the countryside and during festivals and processions; many tourists love to
take them home.
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