Newsletter aus Sri Lanka von Royston Ellis

[Premasiri]

TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 15 September 2013.
Welcome to this week’s newsletter with art rampant.

Made In Sri Lanka
More confectionery this week in the pellet shape of these Gingelly Rolls. Actually they came beautifully packed with each one (of 24) being wrapped in cellophane and then neatly rolled, with frilly ends like a Christmas cracker, in tissue paper and with an accompanying label. The gift box of 275g cost Rs365 [£ 1.78; $ 2.76]

Gingelly Rolls, a Sri Lankan sweetmeat ​

A traditional sweetmeat of Sri Lanka, these rolls are made with gingelly and coconut jaggery. Gingelly is another name for sesame and jaggery is the fudge-like extract of the sap of the kitul palm tree. Wow – quite a sweet taste and lots of little gritty bits. Good for kids, I suppose, but not for those of us with gaps between our teeth where such bits like to lodge.


Heritage: George Beven

Invitation to a preview ​

I was privileged to be invited to the preview of an exhibition of paintings by Sri Lanka’s world famous artist, George Beven, at the Barefoot Gallery (704 Galle Road, Colombo 3; www.barefootgallery.com) and was astonished by the vigour and fun of the paintings. Beven was born in 1929 in Sri Lanka’s western fishing town of Negombo. Although he lives now, after a lifetime of travelling and painting, in England, the heritage of Sri Lanka, the people and the influence of some of the country’s artists of his youth, can be seen in his work.

George Beven, photographed by Dominic Sansoni ​

This photograph is reproduced from the fascinating 2004 book George Beven A Life in Art by Neville Weereratne (ISBN 0-9548038-0-9; www.georgebeven.com).

The preview was especially exciting because of the impact of the paintings and also as it brought together many old friends of Beven who revelled at meeting each other and discussing his work. The works on display were remarkably low priced (averaging Rs100,000 [£ 487; $ 757] each) considering the pleasure to be derived from owning such robust and joyful paintings (as well as their potential investment value!)

The exhibition closes on Sunday 29 September so there is time to view and purchase a painting, if they’ve not been snapped up already.

Anastasia
At the preview I was delighted to be accosted by a tall gentleman and his gracious wife whom he introduced as Anastasia. He charmed me immediately by saying that he and his wife were Russian and had read my Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka in the Russian translation and that is why they had decided to live in Sri Lanka.

“Island” by Anastasia ​

As I left them, Anastasia pressed something into my hand which, the next morning as I recovered from the jolly night out, I realised was a postcard (reproduced above) with a note in Anastasia’s own hand on the reverse that said: “I want invite you to my exhibition in Russian Culture Centre in Colombo 20[SUP]th[/SUP] September 2013, 10am to 7pm. Welcome, Anastasia.” Another date with art for the diary.

Colombo Hotel
There is so much building going on in Colombo, it’s daunting to speculate what the city will look like when it’s all finished. I stayed at The Park Street, a bungalow hotel with 10 rooms grouped around a courtyard, and saw the construction cranes looming above it as I swam in the pool before breakfast.

A crane looms over Park Street Hotel ​

The breakfast itself was a fine example of the best of Sri Lankan cooking with milk rice and egg hoppers (like crepes), fish and dhal (lentil) curry and a relish of chilli and onions.

Park Street Hotel, breakfast by the pool ​

In keeping with the pursuit of art that was the reason for my visit, I was astounded by the large paintings in my bedroom. The one behind my bed left me wondering what was going on but, nevertheless, the paintings added character to the room that mainstream city hotels lack.

Park Street Hotel, rampant art in the bedroom ​

Healthcare in Sri Lanka
From Australia I have received an enquiry from someone keen to live in Sri Lanka but who is concerned about health care. Regular readers will remember the impromptu operation I had at the local doctor’s surgery a few months ago to drain a swelling in my elbow. All went well, so I can vouch that health care here is extraordinary, much better and more caring (and costing less) than in most countries. However, while hospital treatment is free for locals, both foreigners and locals must pay for private treatment (not expensive).

There are several private hospitals with top rated doctors and the latest equipment; even if the hospital rooms are a bit dreary and the nurses all seem to be giggling teenagers, the matrons are strict and the care heartfelt. Of course, anyone visiting Sri Lanka even for a holiday should make sure they have proper travel insurance and medical insurance too, as one never knows… So my advice is to seek proper health insurance and come and enjoy Sri Lanka without any qualms.

Gone Man Squared

The scent of beat ​

The boys of the Beat Generation had a reputation for being unwashed bearded weirdos. Perhaps that’s why Kicks Books, the publishers of my collection of beat generation poetry written from 1959 to 1967 when I was a beat poet, has produced a perfume. Called Rave, it has vigorous hint of cardamom and coffee to neutralise beat sweat.


The poems will get some readers into a lather too. The perfume’s available, as is the book, from
http://nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks/ellis.phpwith the Kindle version sold by www.amazon.com which, incidentally, carries this newsletter every week.

Rave, the perfume, and Gone Man Squared, the book, now available. ​

“Dig? Cool! Then let’s split the scene.”

Beat regards
Royston Ellis

LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 22 September 2013.

Welcome to this week’s Topics including CHOGM, a marathon, and a pseudonymous novel I’d be proud to call mine.


Made in Sri Lanka
Ever a sucker for something new and Sri Lankan I pounced on this sachet of Instant Pol Sambol without knowing what it was. On the packet it gave the ingredients as “Coconut, Maldive fish, Onion, Chilli powder, Salt, Sodium Metabisulphate (E223)” and instructions for preparation as simply “add boiled water and sliced onion.”

Coconut sambol from a packet ​

I did, and the result was pretty grisly, a poor and tame attempt at the Sri Lankan breakfast delight of chilli and coconut relish. It cost Rs85 [£ .41p; $ .64c) for the 55gm pack “sufficient for a family of 3-5 persons for one meal.” Next time, the real thing.


CHOGM Alert
The puzzling acronym of CHOGM is a reference to the event known formally as The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting – and this biennial roadshow of Heads of Government and their entourages hits Colombo this year. There are 54 HOGs expected with a further 10,000 delegates joining in the separate forums for business magnates (Colombo), youth (Hambantota) and people (Hikkaduwa).

The CHOGM 2013 logo ​

From the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office comes this advice:
“The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is scheduled to take place in Colombo during the week of 11-17 November 2013. Commonwealth events are also scheduled to take place in Hambantota and Hikkaduwa. There may be high levels of travel disruption around that time, like frequent road closures, high security at airports and difficulties in booking hotel rooms.”
So visitors to Sri Lanka during that week would be advised to head for the hills.
Health check
From a regular reader in Galle comes this comment, which I have edited for brevity.

“Unfortunately, I have to disagree with your report on Sri Lanka medicine! Firstly, most drugs here are made in India, and very often not as efficacious as those produced in Europe, US and Australia, and I would advise your correspondent to bring any medications with him. I don’t know where he intends to stay, but the medical faculty in Galle is very much hit-and-miss, and a good GP/diagnostician almost impossible to find.”

Home first aid ​

However, my correspondent adds, “I have found a very good orthopaedic, western-trained doctor, who also deals in pain-management, which I always need. If I am worried about anything else, he provides me with the best specialist in Colombo, and since I first saw him in January this year, he has been supremely helpful. So AT LAST I feel positive about the medical situation in Sri Lanka, but nearly always go to Colombo.”

Run to Negombo



It’s exactly 42.195km to run from Colombo to Negombo. I know because the Vice President of the Association for International Marathon & Distance Races, visited Sri Lanka earlier this month to measure out the course for the annual Colombo Marathon, taking place on Sunday, 6 October. Sri Lanka is one of 54 countries officially recognised by the Association, out of 110 that hold world marathons. The originator of the Colombo Marathon, Thilak Weersinghe, founder of Lanka Sportsreizen, has recently been elected as a voting member of that Association.

Follow the race ​

Weerasinghe initiated the Colombo Marathon in 1998 because he wanted his company, Lanka Sportsreizen (LSR), to branch out into sports tourism for visitors to enjoy competing with locals. He realised that a marathon would not only require sustained competition for a few hours, it would also open up Sri Lanka to foreign athletes who could take part while having a holiday in the island.


His idea caught on and over the years more and more international athletes, visitors and locals have taken part, with the entries for this year’s marathon topping 5,000. While some compete for fun, others are serious athletes who run for recognition and the (modest) prize money.

My last race ​

Alas, I won’t be taking part, my days as an athlete climaxed with this win in 1955, after which I retired from sporting pursuits...and became a teenage beat poet.


Pseudonymous man


Ashok Ferrey is a pseudonymous man as well as an author; he is a man of many parts, and his newest novel, The Professional, reflects his disparate personalities. Like the man himself, the novel is seductive; it captivates the reader from the start. I really didn’t want to put it down, but to keep on reading to see how the end came about.

I use the word “seductive” deliberately because the book is not, as the author himself wrote on the fly-leaf of the copy he sent me, “shocking and outrageous.” If it strikes anyone that way then they must either be very young or too old to remember their youth. But, of course, not everyone had a youth as swinging as “Ferrey” and (20 years before the time of the novel) those of us who started the Swinging Sixties.

Ashok Ferrey’s seductive novel ​

The story swings between the activities of a young Sri Lankan (the professional of the title) in London in the 1980s and his older self, settled down (washed up?) in Sri Lanka 35 years later. While some notes are out of tune (a character 35 years ago using that dreadful modern phrase “I’m good”) the book’s rhythm is staccato humour with some wonderful characters including two hilarious old biddies, Ginnie and Bar, leading the chorus. Ferrey dares to write (and gets away with) such lines as: “They bought themselves a puppy. A boxer named Shorts.”

The book is published by Random House India (ISBN 978-8-184-00421-2) and is sheer delight. I’m looking forward to Ashok Ferrey’s next and (since he’s a reader of this newsletter) I hope you’re already working on it, Ashok, even under another pseudonym.

Gone Man Squared

Now available ​

For another view of swinging times, there’s Gone Man Squared,my book of early 1960s beat poetry available from: http://nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks/ellis.phpwith the Kindle version sold by www.amazon.com.

Beat regards
Royston

Habe den Newsletter erst heute Abend bekommen...Sorry Premasiri

 

[Biggi]

Hallo Premasiri,

Habe den Newsletter erst heute Abend bekommen...Sorry Premasiri

danke einfach an Dich für`s Einstellen!

Zum letzten NL, ich bin absolut nicht der Marathontyp und wenn ich mir dann noch vorstelle, die km in der Hitze zu laufen...

Zu dem NL vom 15.9., das Park Street Hotel sieht sehr gut aus, ist aber bestimmt auch entsprechend teuer. Auch das Frühstück schaut richtig lecker aus, wobei ich sagen muss, dass mir morgens mit Toast, Omelett und vor allem Kaffee ausreicht.

Liebe Grüsse, Biggi

 

[Premasiri]

Zu dem NL vom 15.9., das Park Street Hotel sieht sehr gut aus, ist aber bestimmt auch entsprechend teuer. Auch das Frühstück schaut richtig lecker aus, wobei ich sagen muss, dass mir morgens mit Toast, Omelett und vor allem Kaffee ausreicht.

Hallo Biggi,

habe noch das gefunden klick mich

habe im Dezember eine Nacht für zwei Personen eingegeben....ca.200sfr...nicht so meine Preisklasse....

LG Premasiri

 

[Biggi]

Hallo Premasiri,

hab ich mir gedacht. Ob wir da mit dem Rucksack und verstaubt von der Busfahrt überhaupt anklopfen dürften...?

Btw, bist Du im Dez. in SL?

Herzliche Grüsse, Biggi

 

[Pak Bahasa]

Ob wir da mit dem Rucksack und verstaubt von der Busfahrt überhaupt anklopfen dürften...?

dürft ihr garantiert wenn ihr zahlt und zur Sicherheit die Kreditkarte durchziehen lasst

@Premasiri: auch von mir an dieser Stelle Danke für die immer wieder interessanten Newsletter.

LG Joerg

 

[Premasiri]

Btw, bist Du im Dez. in SL?

Hallo Biggi,

nein bin erst ab 17.01.2014 in SL....habe einfach mal ein Datum eingegeben um zu schauen was so ein Zimmer kostet.

LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

@Premasiri: auch von mir an dieser Stelle Danke für die immer wieder interessanten Newsletter.

Vielen Dank für die Blumen wie lieb von Dir

dieser Song ist mir einfach so spontan in den Sinn gekommen als ich Dein Danke las....

LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 180
TROPICAL TOPICS for Sunday 29 September 2013.
Welcome to this week’s topics including some official advice for those contemplating leaving Britain.
Apologies
My apologies for the late delivery of last Sunday’s newsletter. I don’t understand what went wrong. However, you can read the newsletter every Sunday (and the 179 previous issues) on [url]www.roystonellis.com/blog[/URL]. I hope this one gets to you on time.



Made in Sri Lanka

A useful box made of coconut palm wood ​

This week’s prized purchase is a wooden box. Not just any wooden box but one beautifully crafted with grainy coconut palm wood. I use it to keep paper serviettes in place on my patio breakfast table – so they don’t fly away in the wind.

Junk? Not to Upul Nishantha ​

Secondhand items galore ​

I bought it at a new store run by a chap, Upul Nishantha, I’ve often seen at auctions. He specialises in buying items in bulk, like 50 second-hand letter racks, and then selling them singly to customers like me who only want one of an item.

His store is on the Galle Road, at Bentota, and he has some interesting items, like bathtubs, chandeliers and showcases. It’s an enterprising idea and, with a sign only in Sinhala, he’s not out to fleece tourists, as can happen in some “antique” shops.

Devilled
A devilled dish in Sri Lanka is not like the traditional devilled eggs with yolks mashed up with mustard and mayonnaise. It really is a fiery creation with capsicums, leeks, tomatoes, onions, garlic and, of course, chillies tossed in a pan with whatever one fancies (meat? prawns? fish?). It makes an ideal bite (nibble? tapa?) with a drink.
So when a Sri Lankan friend told me he had enjoyed the best Devilled Beef he had ever tasted, I went to Susantha’s Garden Hotel in Bentota to try it. Devilled Beef so often incorporates bits of tough, leftover beef that’s been deep fried to a cinder on the assumption that who ever ordered it is probably drunk anyway and just wants something to chew.

Scrumptious devilled beef and chips ​

Susantha’s Devilled Beef turned out to be gourmet-tender with man-sized slices of beef in a kind of sweet and sour sauce but with plenty of kick from the chillies. What made it even better was that one portion is enough for two people – and it came with a separate plate of French Fries (chips to me). The unbelievable price for such a great dish was Rs690 [£ 3.28; $ 5.11].


Map of Ceylon
Another map of Ceylon has just fallen into my eager collector’s hands. This time, though, it’s not one that’s 300 years old but is equally charming. It was published 82 years ago under the orders of A H G Dawson, Surveyor General of Ceylon, by the Survey Department of Ceylon, Crown Rights Reserved.
With a scale of 24 miles to an inch, it shows areas of the island coloured and devoted to Rubber (purple), Tea (green), Coconut (yellow) and Cacao [cocoa] (orange). The coconut belt stretches from Kalpitiya in the northwest to Tangalle in the south, with rubber inland in the southwestern quarter of the island, and tea in the central hills, from Matale down to Balangoda with some green dots near Galle. (Those low country tea plantations still exist.)

Bucolic Ceylon, 1931 ​

The 1930 average rainfall figures are shown (100 inches a year at Induruwa where I live; 50 inches in the hills around Nuwara Eliya) and average temperature (80 degrees Fahrenheit at Induruwa; 60 degrees in the hills). It seems to me (and to people living in Nuwara Eliya) that the rainfall patterns have reversed today.

The map also shows botanical gardens, agriculture research stations and lots of paddy seed stations. It’s fascinating as it presents the island in its bucolic days, when it was renowned for its tea and rubber plantations and before tourism took over in the 1970s and Ceylon became Sri Lanka.


Moving to Sri Lanka?
The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is remarkably concerned that Britons leaving Britain to settle in other countries, including Sri Lanka, should not make complete fools of themselves. The FCO has produced videos cautioning eager emigrating Brits to take care, and has just published Top 10 Tips for Moving or Retiring Abroad.

Settle in Sri Lanka? ​

These tips advise: proper prior research; familiarisation with local customs and protocol; caution in property purchasing; the seeking of legal advice; wise financial and health planning; advising the UK authorities of the move; and being prepared to integrate oneself in the local community and not live in isolation.

Little England is a housing subdivision in Nuwara Eliya. ​

If I’d read those tips 50 years ago when I left England they would have blunted the spirit of adventure and discovery that makes re-location so thrilling. My own tip to anyone wanting to switch countries is: Do it while you’re young and adaptable, not leave it to retirement when you’re going to be old and hidebound.

Beatles Party

Detail of a prized invitation ​

I’m highly chuffed to have been invited to the launching party of The Beatles: All These Years, Volume 1: Tune In, the biography of The Beatles by Mark Lewisohn that “covers everything up to 31 December 1962.” Mark has spent 10 years writing the book and has proved a charming, responsible as well as indefatigable researcher. We are still in touch even after he interviewed me many years ago, when he unearthed film footage and references to my own association with the Beatles in 1961.

The book, out as a mass market paperback in the UK from Little, Brown on 10 October and from Crown in the USA on 29 October, promises to be the ultimate definitive biography that will put the record straight about the Beatles and those who were associated with them. Mark is extraordinarily frank in interviews to be heard at www.kenmichaelsradio.com which will surely make listeners dash out to buy the book.
Alas, I won’t be able to attend the launching party, intriguingly at the Liverpool College of Art, but I’ll drink to the success of Mark’s book with a sundowner in the garden at my beach bar on that day.


My Beat(les) Days
The poem I read when the Beetles, as they then were, backed me at the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool, appears in Gone Man Squared a collection of poems evocative of the days of the British beat generation as they segued into the Swinging Sixties. It’s available from: http://nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks/ellis.php with the Kindle version sold by www.amazon.com.

Signed & paperback editions now available. ​

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

sorry, habe den Newsletter am Sonntag bekommen, habe aber bis gestern Abend gearbeitet und konnte nicht an den PC. Darum stelle ich ihn erst heute ein.

LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

Das devilled beef and chips im Susantha Garden kann ich auch nur empfehlen. Die French fries waren die besten dort. Mmmh Hunger krieg...

LG Premasiri

 

[Biggi]

Hallo Premasiri,

jetzt waren wir schon so oft in der Ecke, aber immer noch nicht im Susantha`s.
Das sieht wirklich verdammt lecker aus.

Danke und l.G, Biggi

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 181



TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 6 October 2013.
Welcome to this week’s newsletter with a request for Tips of What’s Top for Tourists (see below).


Made in Sri Lanka
For years in Sri Lanka we were told that coconut oil, used for cooking, carried a risk of increasing one’s cholesterol level. Now all that seems to have changed, according to the label on a bottle of Virgin Coconut Oil I found during my latest forage at the local supermarket. The 400ml bottle cost Rs480 [£ 2.28; $ 3.69].

Bottled virgin coconut oil ​

Its slogan is “switch to the healthy choice” and the label states that virgin coconut oil is made out of “A” grade coconuts, grown on the company’s own organic certified plantations. “It is amongst the healthiest of dietary oils in the world and is an excellent cooking oil full of natural flavour and aroma.” A little disturbingly it then adds: “Also an ideal skin moisturizer [sic] and perfect for scalp and hair.”

Does one want to cook in hair oil? Anyway, it certainly smells delicious (burnt coconut). It’s made in Sri Lanka by the Renuka Group founded in 1866 and describing itself as “a diversified conglomerate listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.” The company also produces “ethnic food” as well as this virgin product that it calls: “The earth’s miraculous oil.”

Fish Lunch
There seemed to be a glut of fish last week, and a friend brought a few to the cottage for lunch. We don’t usually have fish at home but Kumara knew what to do, although I was surprised when he started by cutting a leaf from the banana grove. He warmed it over a flame and then placed the fish, seasoned with lime and spices (he can’t remember what he used), on the banana leaf.

Fish for baking in a banana leaf ​

He added margarine (not virgin coconut oil) and wrapped the fish in the banana leaf, placed it inside a fold of aluminium foil, and put it in the oven to bake. It emerged more poached than baked, succulent in flavour. Fortunately I recently bought some antique silver fish knives and forks, so I did the fish justice as I enjoyed the fresh taste of the sea...and banana leaf!


Books in Abundance
Paris has her bouquinistes, the used and antiquarian book vendors lining the banks of the Seine, and London has its alleyway of rare book sellers by Leicester Square Station. The equivalent in Colombo are the seven wayside booksellers opposite the traffic island where D R Wijewardena Road meets T B Jayah Road.
I discovered them over 30 years ago when I was looking for books about the history and manufacture of Pure Ceylon Tea. Here I found precious volumes, 1930s novels with art deco covers, as well as old copies of Reader’s Digest, culled from the libraries of tea plantation bungalows.

Sarath Books ​

Sarath Thewarahennadi of Sarath Books has been dealing in second hand books for nearly 40 years. He inherited his knowledge and love of books from his uncle who began selling books in Maradana in the 1950s. His shop appears to be a disorganised jumble of books but Sarath knows where everything is. “It’s in my memory,” he says cheerfully. “My only filing system is my brain.”

Sarath of Sarath Books with the original Colombo Plan booklet ​

Sarath knows the price of every volume he sells, and keeps prices low. He will even give a full refund, less a reading charge, if someone buys a book and then returns it. This is the way he runs his own private lending library. Customers can deposit the cost price of a book and borrow it to read (at a reading fee of Rs100), and then collect the deposit when they return the book.

A wall of books ​

The second hand book business, even in the age of Kindle, remains brisk with Sarath selling over two dozen volumes a day. His customers are students seeking text books when the brand new editions are too expensive; Sri Lankans looking for a good read; researchers after a rare tome; the curious; as well as tourists in search of interesting books about Sri Lanka.


Tops for Tourists
I need your help. I’d like to publish a list of tips of top places for discerning tourists in Sri Lanka – by that I mean those visitors prepared to be adventurous and try new experiences while here. I’ve drawn up my own short list and asked my fellow British Consular Wardens for their tips, since they are residents too and know the country and places that would appeal to visitors. Now I’d like to flesh out the list with readers’ recommendations. I plan to publish the list in the year-end edition of this newsletter, on Sunday 22 December 2013.
“Top” here means it’s the best place you know in its category worth recommending.
Top Hotel Bathroom
Top Beach Hotel
Top Boutique Hotel
Top Bungalow Resort

Top hotel garden bathroom? ​

Top Colombo Pub
Top Colombo Theme Restaurant
Top Colombo Fine Dining Restaurant
Top Colombo Hotel

Top beach hotel? ​

Top Kandy Pub
Top Kandy Theme Hotel
Top Restaurant Out of Town
Top Restaurant for Sri Lankan Cuisine
Top Swimming Pool

Top swimming pool? ​

Top Theme Hotel
Top Upcountry Pub
Top Upcountry Hotel

Top theme hotel? ​

Please send your tips to royston@roystonellis.com

Beat Street
A friend writing from San Francisco, USA, says: “And yes, San Francisco was wonderful and it was such a lovely coincidence to see your name on the street sign after having coffee in the best known beat generation bar of the city.”
That coffee must have been strong! I didn’t know my name is on a street sign in San Francisco. If it’s true, my name as a British beat poet means more in the USA than in the UK. Perhaps that’s why my collection of beat generation poems, Gone Man Squared was published there. To see what that book’s all about, you can buy it from: http://nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks/ellis.php with the Kindle version sold by www.amazon.com which, incidentally, carries this newsletter every week.

Signed & paperback editions now available. ​

Beat regards
Royston Ellis

den besten Fisch den ich je in Sri Lanka ass war an einer Beach Party...der war auch in einem Banananblatt aber auf dem Grill grilliert...einfach nur köstlich.

LG Premasiri

 

[aliel]

Salü Premasiri

Au ja.. Fisch im Bananenblatt.. mmhh
War gestern einkaufen, habe mich dann aber doch für Tigerprawns entschieden, zur Zeit Rp 800 das Kilo..

En Gruess
Aliel

 

[Biggi]

Salü Premasiri und Aliel,

Wenn wir mal in der Nähe sind, werden wir mit Sicherheit auf Schatzsuche in Sarath`s Book gehen. Toller Tip!

Au ja.. Fisch im Bananenblatt.. mmhh
War gestern einkaufen, habe mich dann aber doch für Tigerprawns entschieden, zur Zeit Rp 800 das Kilo..

Na klasse, seit dem Frühstück nichts mehr gegessen und dann muss ich das hier lesen...

Seid lieb gegrüsst, Biggi

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 182
TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 13 October 2013.
Welcome to this week’s topics with cheese, art, advice for Britons, and a birthday greeting to Sir Cliff Richard.
Made In Sri Lanka
Paneer, apparently, is not always easily available in supermarkets and there are lots of recipes on line showing how to make it. So it’s a blessing to find that the Sri Lanka company, Kotmale Dairy Products, sells it through major supermarkets in Sri Lanka. A blessing that is, if you know what to do with it.

Paneer cheese ​

Paneer is a cheese that doesn’t melt, made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice, vinegar, acetic acid and salt. The 200g packet I bought for Rs300 [£ 1.42; $ 2.30] helpfully included a recipe for Scrambled Paneer, which I tried.

Paneer as a bite ​

The dish is actually a mix of mustard seed, sliced onions, chillies, garlic and ginger fried in vegetable oil, with chopped tomato added when the spices are browned. The cheese goes into that mix and I used cubes of paneer instead of grating it as the recipe suggested. The resulting “tapa” had an interesting but not very pronounced taste, although it made an adequate bite with a malt whisky sundowner.


Segart
That’s what I call art by Segar; his style is so distinctive, a Segar is as recognisable as a Picasso. Segar’s story is fascinating and I have just bought his recently published autobiography with illustrations of dozens of his paintings and which I will review in a subsequent edition of this newsletter.

Segar in his gallery ​

Segar currently has an exhibition of his paintings with World Habitat Day as the inspiration at his own galley in the depths of the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel. Shaveen Jeewandara, reviewing the exhibition in the Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) says: “Eastern influences are ingrained in his work. Scattered across his personal gallery…are paintings of Lord Ganesh, Hindu weddings, a herd of stallions and many that depict strong emotions. Segar’s paintings do not require a third eye to see their beauty; they are direct and approachable.”

Two Tennis Players, 1995 by Segar ​

I am the proud owner of an original Segar that I bought at an exhibition in 1995 for Rs1,500, then about £20. He would sell a similar painting for ten times as much today while his popular, bigger works sell for more than £1,000. His paintings are featured throughout the hotel and he has a large range of greeting card reproductions of his unique “Segart.”


Brits Ahoy!
As a British Consular Warden I have been asked to inform the British community in my district (whom I hope are subscribers to this newsletter) about the desire of the British High Commission to be in contact with British residents in Sri Lanka. This is the request:
“Could you please send out an email or contact the British community in your district and ask them to:
Follow us on: Facebook - Follow our events, news and activities from the FCO
“Twitter @UKinsrilanka - Information for British Nationals in Sri Lanka, UKTI events, news and activities related to Sri Lanka from the FCO and British High Commission in Colombo and @JRankinSriLanka British High Commissioner John Rankin’s dedicated twitter channel on Sri Lanka affairs.
“If we need to send out any messages to British Nationals in Sri Lanka we will probably be doing them through social media.”
I’m happy to pass on the message but since I don’t subscribe to, support, or trust Facebook or Twitter or any of that, actually, anti-social media, I’ll probably never know what’s happening…


Red Dot
Two simple words (describing the sun set? the dot in the top left corner of a Word File doc that hides it? the spot on a pirate’s chart marking where treasure lies?), “Red Dot” define a holiday in Sri Lanka. Red Dot seems to have the answer to every traveller’s requirements. Go to their website: www.reddottours.com to see for yourself.
I mention that because I have recently begun contributing a monthly newsletter about Sri Lanka to the Red Dot website, giving hints for visitors to Sri Lanka. And I’m also working on a new book (see below) as well as sunset gazing every evening and puzzling over a fiendishly difficult, 1,000-piece jigsaw (all blue sky and green trees) – enough to give me red dots before my eyes.

Nostalgia puzzle ​

Happy Birthday Sir Cliff

It’s Sir Cliff Richard’s birthday tomorrow, 14 October, and he’ll be 73. Cliff looks (and surely feels) so much younger. I’m five months younger than him but the legacy of my beat poet, rock’n’roll past and “living for kicks” tropical living is happily etched in my features.

Book signing, 1959 ​

We shared memorable moments in the past and I am compiling a memoir of my days (1959-1961) with Cliff and The Drifters, who became The Shadows and backed me on television and stage shows when I was performing Rocketry, rock’n’roll poetry. I dedicated my first book of poems Jiving To Gyp, to Cliff and autographed a copy for him in Harrow in 1959.

Book signing, 2007 ​

I signed a copy of my Bradt Guide To Sri Lanka for Sri Cliff when he was staying at Triton (now The Heritance) Ahungalla, in 2007. For a rare souvenir of those carefree days at the beginning of the Swinging Sixties, Kicks Books (a division of Norton Records of the USA, has recently released a collection of my raunchy beat poems, Gone Man Squared. It’s available from http://nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks/ellis.php with the Kindle version sold by www.amazon.com which, incidentally, carries this newsletter every week. You can also see the newsletter at www.expat-blog.com

GONE MAN SQUARED Signed & paperback editions and RAVE, the perfume the poems inspired ​

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

sorry, für die Verspätung...habe die letzten Tage gearbeitet...wenn ich von der Arbeit nach Hause kam war ich zu müde um an den Computer zu sitzen...mit meinem Nokia Lumia 920 kann ich alles im SLB lesen aber auf nichts antworten...auch das mail von Royston kann ich nicht im SLB einfügen...

LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

TROPICAL TOPICS Sunday 20 October 2013.



Bites again
Regular readers will know of my penchant for “bites” as nibbles or tapas are called in Sri Lanka. So you’ll understand my delight in discovering a place near to my home, and by the beach, that serves bites that are old fashioned both in quality and quantity.
To reach The Beach Restaurant you have to walk through the government –created Folk Art Centre by the Galle Road at Warahena, Bentota, and cross the railway line. It’s an unprepossessing place and doesn’t have a liquor licence (but you are welcome to bring your own.) My first order, for devilled beef, was a disaster: tough, old and inedible.
Then an old chef in grubby chef’s checked trousers shuffled into the kitchen, followed by a boy bearing a pineapple. We took that as a clue, decided to try again and ordered Sweet & Sour Pork Rs650 [£ 3.09; $ 5.00] together with prawn curry (Rs 600) and a plate of chicken fried rice (Rs450 [£ 2.14; $ 3.46] for our Sunday lunch.

Sweet & sour pork
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Not only were the portions huge, the sweet & sour pork was coated only lightly in crispy batter and was melt-in-the-mouth tender, lavishly drenched with pineapple, onions and tomato. The prawns were plentiful, fresh and lightly cooked in a pure curry sauce and no coconut cream nonsense. Even the rice was tops, too.


Fishy?
When I lived in Dominica in the Caribbean 40 years ago a favourite cheap meal was salt codfish called in the Dominican creole patois, lamouie. In French it’s morue, in Spanish bacaloa and in English, very unromantically, toe rag. We don’t have salt cod in Sri Lanka but my local village market (held on Tuesday mornings at Gonagala) has several stalls selling sun-dried salted fish of different varieties.

Salt fish at the Gonagala market
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It must be a delicacy in Sri Lanka, not a cheap meal option, since it costs Rs1,200 [£ 5.85; US$ 9.23] a kg for good quality white fish compared with whole frozen supermarket chicken at around Rs380 [£ 1.85; $ 2.92] a kg. In Dominica we used to soak the fish for a day, boil it, then shred it to pieces and toss it in butter with onions, ginger, garlic and chillies. I’m saving up to buy some and cook it the Creole way.

Rs1,200 a kg
​

Nature Notes

What is it? Photo by B Kumarasiri
​

Does any reader have any idea of what this is? Kumara noticed a leaf crawling around the terrace and when he inspected it, he realised there was a caterpillar burrowed inside of what looked like a fragment of palm leaf. He wanted to prize it out but I told him to leave it. Now we are wondering whether the “leaf” was in fact part of the caterpillar in the way a snail has a shell, or had the caterpillar just got stuck inside the leaf. Any ideas?


Top Spots
There hasn’t been much response yet to my request for recommendations about top tips for tourists: places in Sri Lanka that people who know them are happy to recommend to others. The categories for which I seek nominations are:
1.Top Hotel Bathroom

Top Beach Hotel?
​

2.Top Beach Hotel

3.Top Boutique Hotel
4.Top Bungalow Resort
5.Top Colombo Pub
6.Top Colombo Theme Restaurant

Top Colombo Theme Restaurant? Photo by Gemunu Amarasinghe
​

7.Top Colombo Fine Dining Restaurant

8.Top Colombo Hotel
9.Top Kandy Pub
10.Top Kandy Theme Hotel
11.Top Restaurant Out of Town
12.Top Restaurant for Sri Lankan Cuisine
13.Top Swimming Pool
14.Top Theme Hotel

Top theme hotel?jpg

​

15.Top Upcountry Pub

Top Upcountry pub?
​

16.Top Upcountry Hotel


I got terribly excited when I saw this headline in an email from Fodor (a hotel website) “WORLD’S BEST BUDGET HOTELS.” Surely, I thought Sri Lanka has some of those. Then I read the blurb:
You don’t have to spend a fortune for an incredible hotel stay, as the affordable prices in our Fodor’s 100 Hotel Awards clearly attest. These hotels are true gems, offering luxury amenities at manageable prices (under $285 per night for a double room).
Am I living in the wrong century? A hotel that charges less than $285 per night for a double room is regarded as abudget hotel? Isn’t “budget” a synonym for “inexpensive”? A budget hotel in my book on Sri Lanka is one that charges less than $50 per night.
So I’m adding another category to my list: 17. Top Budget Hotel. Please send your nominations to:royston@roystonellis.com .I hope to reveal readers’ nominations and comments in the newsletter of 22 December 2013.


Gone Man Squared
I was thrilled to read in the October issue of the online “roots magazine” Tales From The Woods a review by Pete Stockton of my collected poems. Here’s part of it:
“The introduction is succinct and informative, and offers the reader a detailed and amusing insight into how his writing talent was developed throughout his childhood and adolescence. I would also suggest that it was the power and influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll which liberated him from a potential life of middle class boredom and enabled him to express, in brutally frank prose, his concept of life from his own personal viewpoint…
“The book is hard to put down as, when one finishes reading one poem, there is a compulsion to turn the page and read the next one…This book is a highly intellectual selection of poems, possibly inspired by a tortured soul, with a complete sense of social commentary. Buy it!”





Beat regards
Royston Ellis

Schon ist wieder eine Woche vorbei.....es grüsst Euch Premasiri

​

 

[EAS]

Hallo Premasiri,
auch ich möchte mal ein großes DANKESCHÖN an Dich senden.
Royston's Newsletter sind sehr informativ und seine Art zu leben,den Dingen auf den Grund zu gehen,einfach das Schöne sehen,ausprobieren,imponiert mir ungemein.
Im NL 177 hat er von "Charity-Keksen" geschrieben.Jetzt habe ich sie im Arpico gefunden und bin ganz begeistert davon!
Dort gibt es drei verschiedene Sorten;die mit Kokos sind mein Favorit...
In jeder Packung sind 100g zu 160 Rs.. Die werde ich als "Mitbringsel"auf meine Liste nehmen.
Viele Grüsse von der Insel,
EAS

 

[Biggi]

Hallo Premasiri und EAS,

Royston's Newsletter sind sehr informativ und seine Art zu leben,den Dingen auf den Grund zu gehen,einfach das Schöne sehen,ausprobieren,imponiert mir ungemein.

Gut geschrieben EAS und dem schliesse ich mich auch so an! Er findet auch immer wieder interessante Sachen/Restaurants/Unterkünfte und damit viele Tips für uns hier.

Ich les hier immer wieder gern und darum auch nochmals danke an Premasiri!

L.G., Biggi

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 184



TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 27 October 2013.
Greetings from Sri Lanka with news of cruising and caterpillars, on the day the new Airport Expressway opens.


Made In Sri Lanka



This week’s forage in the supermarket (actually one in Nuwara Eliya) yielded a 50g plastic tub with the label:Camper’s Spicy Sandwich Spread. It sounded intriguing but when I tasted it as a dollop on a slice of cucumber, I realised I should have read the very small print ingredients first: Mustard, Margarine, Sugar 15%, Cornflour, Vinegar, Salt 4%, Clove, Turmeric, Pepper, Cardamom and the dreaded “permitted preservative, E211.”

Camper’s spicy (?) spread
​

It tasted just as you’d expect, of margarine and mustard cream; not pleasant at all and hardly appropriate for energetic campers. Perhaps that’s because I tried to have it on slices of cucumber and not in a sandwich as recommended. Even when I tried it on a gluten free cracker, it wasn’t a patch on Marmite for flavour and appeal. But then it only cost Rs48 [£ .23p; US$.36c].



Cruising



In August (see newsletter 173) I attended the opening of the Hamilton Canal; last week I returned for a cruise along the waterways. The introduction of a commercial and competently run boat service based on the northern bank of the Hamilton Canal and also serving the Kelani River, is a fitting complement to the newly restored canal with its cute suspension footbridge.
The footbridge is located at Hekitta Junction, Hendala, Wattala, and is easily reached on the way to or from the airport on the old route. (The new Airport Expressway opening today [27 October] bypasses it). The bridge marks a triumphant entrance to the Hamilton Canal from the sea and from the Kelani River.

Hamilton Canal
​

The bridge’s buttress of granite on the southern bank bears letters in brass stating: Hamilton Canal. The Gateway to the Aquarina [sic] in the north of Colombo. An attraction with diversity. A polished granite plaque below it records the names of dignitaries who attended the opening in August 2013, and gives thanks for the funding provided by the Government of Japan for the canal’s restoration.

The first part of the river cruise is unexciting unless you are interested in Victorian warehouses with porthole windows, sand miners in flat bottomed boats dredging the river bed, river houses on stilts and the occasional ungainly pelican lumbering skywards. Flights of concrete steps lead down the bank to the river, enabling housewives to do their laundry, and there is even a commercial river laundry complex to gaze at.

Riverbank tea shop. Photo by B Kumarasiri
​

After passing under a railway bridge, the scenery changes dramatically, with bamboo and palm trees leaning towards the water and the river banks on both sides covered in lush, and seemingly impenetrable, greenery. A pleasant stop would have been for tea in a shack on stilts made out of bamboo

A recycled boat. (Photo by B Kumarasiri)
​

Returning to cruise up the canal, we saw a woman paddling herself along in the broken hull of a fishing boat, pulling up her crab pots to see what the day’s catch was. Alas, nothing. A man sitting in the glare of the hot sun, patiently fishing with a rod and line, also had no luck.

Fishing on the Hamilton Canal (Photo by B Kumarasiri)
​

We lunched on an elegant newly converted vessel under the shade of trees on the river bank. The vessel has been cleverly designed; it has a single 45hp outboard motor with chrome tables and chairs fixed to the deck. There are glass panels at the side that can be opened to let the breeze flow through, and a high roof. There are lights on board so the boat can be hired for an evening cocktail cruise, as well as for daytime picnics.

The Floating Restaurant approaches the canal bridge (Photo by B Kumarasiri)
​

This floating restaurant is one of the tour boats operated by Hamilton Leisure Crafts. With fees starting at Rs1,000 for a group of five to cruise, it represents remarkable value for exploring the undiscovered (by tourists that is) waterways. http://www.hamiltonboatsservices.com

Indian Palm Bob

This is not another precocious cocktail but the solution to last week’s mysterious photo of a creeping piece of palm frond. Sheila Hasler, a reader who is soon to visit Sri Lanka, commented: “I wonder about the caterpillar. In Dominica there was one which used to cover itself in twigs before turning into a chrysalis.”

Michael Friend from the UK said: “This is not unusual and the leaf is definitely not part of the caterpillar but a protective “home” made by the insect rolling up a leaf and sticking it together with silk it produces from its mouth parts. This is defensive behaviour to protect it from predators (birds, wasps etc) and/or ultra violet. It is quite common amongst tropical species but not exclusive to them. It is probably lepidopteral (i.e butterfly or moth but most likely the latter) but might conceivably be a beetle larva.”

A marvel of nature
​

Thanks to Nancy van der Poorten for her swift response: “The photo is of the caterpillar of the Indian Palm Bob (Suastus gremius). The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of many different palms including coconut as shown in your photo. The caterpillar puts down silk on both edges of the leaf; as the silk dries, it contracts and so pulls the two edges of the leaf together to form a shelter. The leaves are in no way stuck to the caterpillar. It’s a little unusual to see it walking along as your photo shows but perhaps it inadvertently cut the leaf off and fell from the plant. It’s a very common butterfly.”




Beat regards
Royston Ellis

​

Auch von mir ganz schöne Herbstgrüsse...Danke an EAS und Biggi für das Feedback...das freut mich immer. LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON’S REPORT Number 185



TROPICAL TOPICS Sunday 3 November 2013.
Greetings, especially to all in Dominica (the Nature Island of the Caribbean where Ilived rapturously from 1966 to 1979) on the 35th anniversary today of that country’s Independence from Britain.
Nature Notes

Two voracious cats
​

Perhaps because I have two voracious cats (Lena & Ollie), the fauna in our beach view garden is limited to snakes, mongooses, monkeys, iguanas and chipmunks, but very few birds.

Banana for breakfast
​

So I was thrilled whilst breakfasting on the garden patio one morning last week, as a rain shower ended, to witness an invasion of colourful birds.

Iguana in the garden
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There were two parakeets chattering delightedly on the branches of a coconut tree, a party of merrily foraging babblers, a glittering kingfisher, a circling sea eagle, a drongo perched on the telephone line, and this bright and proud, endemic Black Hooded Oriole (Oriole xanthornus).

A colouful morning visitor
​

Dental Hygiene

When a dentist in the local (free) hospital gouged out a decayed tooth for me, he also managed to remove the gold crown from its neighbouring tooth. Not only was I left in agony; I also couldn’t chew anything without properly functioning teeth. So when a friend recommended “the best dentist in Sri Lanka” I went to see Dr Harindra Kularatne at his clinic at the Roseth Hospital in Ambalangoda.
The good doctor fixed me up perfectly and has mapped out a programme to save what remains of my teeth. He was appalled at what I thought was reasonably efficient dental hygiene. “When do you brush your teeth?” he asked. “When I get up in the morning,” I replied smartly. “Before breakfast?”
“Well…yes.”
“No, no, no,” he said. “That’s what Sri Lankans do. You must brush your teeth after breakfast, and after every meal. You don’t even need toothpaste, that’s a mere perfumed lubricant.” He then showed me the correct method for brushing my teeth and he seems to be right, living up to his slogan: “We design your smile.”

A designed smile?
​

High & Happy in Haputale
That’s the title of an article I wrote for the current edition of Amazing Sri Lanka the magazine published by the Western Province Tourist Board. It’s long been my favourite hill country town, mainly for the warmth of the people there, rather than the climate, which certainly isn’t warm at night! Last week I stayed at the High Cliffe Hotel (six clean and cosy rooms above the first floor bar) and, when I got up with the sun, was greatly impressed by the views.

The hills of Haputale
​

The moon hadn’t disappeared on one side of the hotel, while the sun was just spreading its rays over the magnificent mountain and valley scenery stretching down to the south coast.

The morning view from High Cliffe Hotel
​

Airport Expressway

Perhaps the only tiresome aspect of a holiday in Sri Lanka (and never publicised) was the agony of the hour-long journey between the airport and Colombo suburbs. For a new arrival, the horrendous traffic and the illogical way of driving (overtaking on the inside, never giving way) was a shattering introduction to serenity.
All that changed last Sunday when The President of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa declared open – and ceremoniously drove himself along – the newly built Airport Expressway. In the celebratary days before the opening, there were bullock cart races, a parade of elephants, marching school bands, athletic events and even art exhibitions.
The Expressway, which links with the Canada Friendship Road outside the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake, extends for 25.8km to the new Kelani Bridge in the Colombo suburbs. It consists of six and four lane sections and has been designed for speeds of 80 kph to 100 kph. There are tollgates at Peliyagoda and at Seeduwa and the toll fee for the entire length of the Expressway begins at Rs300 and rises according to the vehicle.
Its construction reduces the driving time between the airport and the Kelani Bridge to an enjoyable 20 minutes. The Expressway also links with the outer circular road at Kelawalapitiya from which there is access to the Southern Expressway at the Colombo suburb of Katawa.
In the first 24 hours of the Airport Expressway being opened, it was used by 19,000 vehicles and generated an income of Rs5.1 million from toll charges. I hope to use it this weekend when I travel north of Colombo to stay at the Dutch Bay Resort, Kalpitiya.



Tops for Tourists
My request for information about hotels and restaurants in Sri Lanka that readers consider tops for tourists, is bringing some interesting suggestions. Michael of the Slightly Chilled Bar in Kandy (who surely must know a good pub since he runs one) recommends one I don’t know (yet!) in Colombo. Two people have nominated the same hotel but in two different categories: Top Boutique Hotel & Top Budget Hotel. Now that sounds interesting…

Top upcountry bar?
​

Send your nominations, please, to royston@roystonellis.com for the tops in the following categories: 1. Bathroom; 2. Beach Hotel; 3. Boutique Hotel; 4. Bungalow Resort; 5. Colombo Pub; 6. Colombo Theme Restaurant; 7.Colombo Fine Dining Restaurant; 8. Colombo Hotel; 9. Kandy Pub; 10.Kandy Theme Hotel; 11. Restaurant Out of Town; 12. Restaurant for Sri Lankan Cuisine; 13. Swimming Pool; 14. Theme Hotel; 15. Upcountry Pub; 16. Upcountry Hotel; 17. Budget Hotel.

I hope to publish the results in my newsletter of 22 December 2013.
Recent books

Recent books by Royston
​

Meanwhile, a reminder about my latest books. My collection of beat poems, Gone Man Squared is available from http://nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks/ellis.php with the Kindle version sold by www.amazon.com) and the re-issue of The Big Beat Scene is available from www.amazon.co.uk or direct from the publisher:http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.

Beat regards
Royston Ellis

​

sende Euch allen viele Grüsse von der stürmischen Schweiz...

Premasiri