Newsletter aus Sri Lanka von Royston Ellis
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Premasiri
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ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 186
TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 10 November 2013.
Greetings to all the delegates descending on Sri Lanka this week for CHOGM, the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting ever to be held in Sri Lanka. And best wishes to HRH Prince Charles, celebrating his 65[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday in Colombo on 14 November 2013. (Yes, I’ve been invited!)
Made In Sri Lanka
Although Sri Lankans have a sweet tooth, the plastic pot of cream I bought at my local supermarket last week, is spicy not sweet. A 100gm tub of Instant Rasam Cream cost Rs58 [£ 0.27p; $ 0.44c ] for a thick paste looking like river bed sand. The uninitiated might also say it tastes like sand too; it certainly had a muddy appearance when I added boiling water to a teaspoonful of the compound.
Rasam Cream not river sand
Its ingredients are listed as Cummin [sic], Garlic, Coriander, Pepper, Salt, Cinnamon, Tamarind, Ginger and Tropical Spices with No Artificial Preservatives. It’s manufactured by a Sri Lankan company, Nikado, which recommends it as an appetizer. It originated in Southern India where it is a popular drink when it’s cold or raining; just right for the weather we’ve been having lately. The taste? Better than it looks and, yes, appetising!www.nikado.bizness.lk/index.php?ID=3?
Visitor
Last week it was fauna in my garden; this week I had an unwelcome visitor in my bedroom.
Bedroom visitor
It was small enough to be chivvied away with a broom. I was lucky, with the recent rains and consequent flooding, a family living near the river here found a crocodile in their garden.
Indian Palm Bob
Lots of interest on this topic, with an adiditonal comment from Michael Friend:
I am pleased that with Nancy van der Poorten's greater specialist knowledge of Sri Lankan lepidoptera she was able to identify the exact species. Perhaps I may be forgiven for postulating that it was most likely a moth rather than butterfly larva because the Indian Palm Bob is one of "the Skippers".
Indian Palm Bob (Photo by B Kumarasiri)
These are not true butterflies but day flying insects and members of the family Hesperiidae of which there are 48 species in Sri Lanka (the UK has only eight species, many of them rare). They are a sort of halfway house between butterflies and moths. They are all small or smallish and their predominant colour is brown. Generally they look more moth like than a true butterfly with broad bodies, big heads and large eyes.
Expressway
I wrote about its opening last week and this week I tried the new Expressway to the airport, and the north. Starting from Colombo Fort Railway Station, via the suburbs and the expressway, we reached the interchange to the airport in 35 minutes. However, the return journey through rush hour traffic to the centre of Colombo, although just as swift and enjoyable on the Expressway (where did that all that green scenery come from?) took nearly an hour.
Airport expressway toll gate. (B Kumarasiri)
Nevertheless, it’s a wonderful introduction for visitors to Sri Lanka, and costs only Rs300 [£ 1.42; US$ 2.30] at the toll gate (oddly located during the Expressway journey, not at the end of it.)
Segart
I have written before about the amazing Sri Lankan artist, Segar. Now comes his autobiography with paintings. This just-published coffee table book not only presents Segar, the artist, unadulterated, unplugged and unabashed, it is also purely a Segar product: he credits himself with the text, layout, photography and graphics as well as being the publisher and copyright holder of the entire contents.
Hardly the signal of a modest man but, on the contrary, Segar is a gentleman of extreme integrity and modesty, facts that are easily gleaned from the simple text. He is, we learn from this autobiography, like his paintings: colourful, vibrant, astonishing in technique, adamant and slightly calculating.
A work of art by Segar (whether in watercolour or oil) is so easily identifiable - because of the boldness of colour, intriguing conjunction of shapes and the sheer verve and passion demanding attention - that I call it “Segart.” Even a simple and gentle watercolour like his 1982 painting of two fishermen (The Sail) has the movement and depth more strongly captured in paintings like the 1992 watercolour Kerosin Lamp and his more recent work such as the glorious, fervid Rhythm of Dance, oil on canvas, 2012.
Rhythm of Dance by Segar
It’s easy to feel familiarity with Segar’s work thanks to the illustrations of 286 different paintings in this book’s 288 pages. So many of them could be cut out and framed to add distinction to any wall, but Segar is so prolific that original “Segart” (not just a print or a postcard) can be acquired from his stock on show at his Gallery in the bowels of Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel.
Segar’s story is full of surprising anecdotes, and is illustrated with the kind of mementoes (letters, bills, tickets) most of us would discard. He recalls that his favourite food as a kid was the fish bun, triangular in shape. “That was my first love towards geometrical forms.”
Stories of Segar’s other loves, and the tragedies as well as the triumphs in his life, are recounted almost ingenuously, including his mother’s fury on checking the bed sheet after his wedding. (He declined to consummate the marriage until his wife became his “secret lover.”)
Segar book signing
Segar has signed 500 copies of this book of which less than two hundred remain. For a record of an artist in tune with modern times and traditional rhythms, and for the sheer pleasure it gives, this beautifully illustrated and produced book is worth its weight in gold.
SEGAR, Autobiography with Paintings, publisher D Raja Segar (ISBN 978-955-44697-0-9). (www.segar.8m.com)
Those were the days...
Books by Royston
More about my books. The Big Beat Scene, mentioned in the huge new biography of the Beatles by Mark Lewisohn (which I’ll review when I’ve finished its 946 pages) can be bought from amazon.co.uk or from direct from the publisher: http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Here’s a long link but click on it and you’ll find out how easily to order copies of my collection of beat poems, Gone Man Squared: the ideal birthday gift for the retro kids (of any age) in your life.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
sende allen nach starkem Wind kühle Grüsse Premasiri
TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 10 November 2013.
Greetings to all the delegates descending on Sri Lanka this week for CHOGM, the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting ever to be held in Sri Lanka. And best wishes to HRH Prince Charles, celebrating his 65[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday in Colombo on 14 November 2013. (Yes, I’ve been invited!)
Made In Sri Lanka
Although Sri Lankans have a sweet tooth, the plastic pot of cream I bought at my local supermarket last week, is spicy not sweet. A 100gm tub of Instant Rasam Cream cost Rs58 [£ 0.27p; $ 0.44c ] for a thick paste looking like river bed sand. The uninitiated might also say it tastes like sand too; it certainly had a muddy appearance when I added boiling water to a teaspoonful of the compound.
Rasam Cream not river sand
Visitor
Last week it was fauna in my garden; this week I had an unwelcome visitor in my bedroom.
Bedroom visitor
Indian Palm Bob
Lots of interest on this topic, with an adiditonal comment from Michael Friend:
I am pleased that with Nancy van der Poorten's greater specialist knowledge of Sri Lankan lepidoptera she was able to identify the exact species. Perhaps I may be forgiven for postulating that it was most likely a moth rather than butterfly larva because the Indian Palm Bob is one of "the Skippers".
Indian Palm Bob (Photo by B Kumarasiri)
These are not true butterflies but day flying insects and members of the family Hesperiidae of which there are 48 species in Sri Lanka (the UK has only eight species, many of them rare). They are a sort of halfway house between butterflies and moths. They are all small or smallish and their predominant colour is brown. Generally they look more moth like than a true butterfly with broad bodies, big heads and large eyes.
Expressway
I wrote about its opening last week and this week I tried the new Expressway to the airport, and the north. Starting from Colombo Fort Railway Station, via the suburbs and the expressway, we reached the interchange to the airport in 35 minutes. However, the return journey through rush hour traffic to the centre of Colombo, although just as swift and enjoyable on the Expressway (where did that all that green scenery come from?) took nearly an hour.
Airport expressway toll gate. (B Kumarasiri)
Nevertheless, it’s a wonderful introduction for visitors to Sri Lanka, and costs only Rs300 [£ 1.42; US$ 2.30] at the toll gate (oddly located during the Expressway journey, not at the end of it.)
Segart
I have written before about the amazing Sri Lankan artist, Segar. Now comes his autobiography with paintings. This just-published coffee table book not only presents Segar, the artist, unadulterated, unplugged and unabashed, it is also purely a Segar product: he credits himself with the text, layout, photography and graphics as well as being the publisher and copyright holder of the entire contents.
Hardly the signal of a modest man but, on the contrary, Segar is a gentleman of extreme integrity and modesty, facts that are easily gleaned from the simple text. He is, we learn from this autobiography, like his paintings: colourful, vibrant, astonishing in technique, adamant and slightly calculating.
A work of art by Segar (whether in watercolour or oil) is so easily identifiable - because of the boldness of colour, intriguing conjunction of shapes and the sheer verve and passion demanding attention - that I call it “Segart.” Even a simple and gentle watercolour like his 1982 painting of two fishermen (The Sail) has the movement and depth more strongly captured in paintings like the 1992 watercolour Kerosin Lamp and his more recent work such as the glorious, fervid Rhythm of Dance, oil on canvas, 2012.
Rhythm of Dance by Segar It’s easy to feel familiarity with Segar’s work thanks to the illustrations of 286 different paintings in this book’s 288 pages. So many of them could be cut out and framed to add distinction to any wall, but Segar is so prolific that original “Segart” (not just a print or a postcard) can be acquired from his stock on show at his Gallery in the bowels of Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel.
Segar’s story is full of surprising anecdotes, and is illustrated with the kind of mementoes (letters, bills, tickets) most of us would discard. He recalls that his favourite food as a kid was the fish bun, triangular in shape. “That was my first love towards geometrical forms.”
Stories of Segar’s other loves, and the tragedies as well as the triumphs in his life, are recounted almost ingenuously, including his mother’s fury on checking the bed sheet after his wedding. (He declined to consummate the marriage until his wife became his “secret lover.”)
Segar book signing Segar has signed 500 copies of this book of which less than two hundred remain. For a record of an artist in tune with modern times and traditional rhythms, and for the sheer pleasure it gives, this beautifully illustrated and produced book is worth its weight in gold.
SEGAR, Autobiography with Paintings, publisher D Raja Segar (ISBN 978-955-44697-0-9). (www.segar.8m.com)
Those were the days...
Books by Royston More about my books. The Big Beat Scene, mentioned in the huge new biography of the Beatles by Mark Lewisohn (which I’ll review when I’ve finished its 946 pages) can be bought from amazon.co.uk or from direct from the publisher: http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Here’s a long link but click on it and you’ll find out how easily to order copies of my collection of beat poems, Gone Man Squared: the ideal birthday gift for the retro kids (of any age) in your life.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
sende allen nach starkem Wind kühle Grüsse Premasiri
- Registriert
- 25. Juli 2005
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- 8.351
Hallo Premasiri,
da musste ich lachen, denn genau das habe ich gedacht, sieht wirklich eher wie Wasser mit Sand aus.
Bei den Inhaltsstoffen stell ich es mir nicht so lecker vor
, aber Royston scheint es geschmeckt zu haben. Wenn ich dran denke, werde ich es nächstes Mal ausprobieren.
L.G. und danke, Biggi
da musste ich lachen, denn genau das habe ich gedacht, sieht wirklich eher wie Wasser mit Sand aus.
Bei den Inhaltsstoffen stell ich es mir nicht so lecker vor
, aber Royston scheint es geschmeckt zu haben. Wenn ich dran denke, werde ich es nächstes Mal ausprobieren. L.G. und danke, Biggi
Premasiri
Well-known member
- Registriert
- 8. Aug. 2009
- Beiträge
- 10.690
TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 17 November 2013.
Welcome to this newsletter about Sri Lanka, much in the news with the events of CHOGM (more on that next week).
Made in Sri Lanka
In time for Christmas, come some crackers to nibble with sun downers. These are Kome Rice Crackers manufactured by Munchee whose biscuits I have mentioned before (see Newsletter No. 101). I have discovered four versions: Cheese & Chilli, BBQ, Prawn and Sweet. They sell at Rs60 [£ 0.28p; US$ 0.46c] for a 50g packet of a dozen or so crisp and crunchy crackers that have that vague Thai or Chinese taste and texture, perhaps due to the rice used in their manufacture.
Crackers for Christmas
The ingredients are listed as: Rice, Vegetable Fat, Potato Starch, Wheat Starch, Salt, Gelatin [sic] and/or Sugar (depending on the cracker), Vegetable Protein, Natural Yeast Extract, Natural Spice Extract, Permitted Antioxidant (304) plus some have Soya Sauce Powder and the “identical” flavour of Cheese Powder, Barbecue & Tomato or Prawn. I suspect they are not gluten-free, but they are sinfully moreish with those sun-going-down cocktails.
Going Dutch
I first met Neil D’Silva by chance nine years ago when he had just agreed to buy 184 acres of land on Dutch Bay Island, at the time when the area in North West Sri Lanka was riddled by war. I was astonished to see that D’Silva has finally managed to make his vision come true by opening the first phase of his three-phase development project on Dutch Bay Island. The project, called Dutch Bay Resorts, currently consists of 17 solid white-painted clay brick buildings which he calls Chalets, but that are really sturdy, Dutch-style Lagoon Lodges.
It took four hours to drive from Colombo, even using the new Expressway, to Kalpitiya where Neil waited with a speedboat to ferry me to the jetty of Lodge Number 16, deep in the mangroves.
The bedroom of a Dutch Bay Resort lagoon lodge
A huge glass door on the wooden deck of the Lodge swung open to reveal a room of startling white-painted, unplastered brick (manufactured in clay works in Kalpitiya). The bed, at seven feet by seven feet built of solid mahogany and raised to waist height for easy sliding under the luxury linen duvet, had a mattress that gave me the best night’s sleep I’ve had for years.
The Lodge’s interior is sensibly designed with television and DVD player at the foot of the bed, a dressing alcove with plenty of shelves, drawers and hanging space, complemented with an enormous mirror. There is a minibar, a safe, and free Wi-fi.
Dining by the pool at Dutch Bay Resort
The bathroom is as brilliantly white as the rest of the Lodge with an individual solar power heating unit, a rain shower, two wash basins, and super soft white towels, each with the Dutch Bay logo in gold of a shield with ponies rampant topped with a crown. The ponies acknowledge the wild ones that roam the island, while the crown commemorates the ancient kings of Kandy and the Portuguese, then the Dutch who settled the island, built churches (there’s a ruined one to be seen) and forts.
Dining by the pool at Dutch Bay Resort
There is a recreation complex fronted by a saltwater swimming pool and with a restaurant serving delicious fusion seafood (no pork or beef). There the pioneer of this unusual and enchanting holiday retreat told me the motivation behind his dream.
Neil D’Silva; his vision became reality (Photo by B Kumarasiri)
He glossed over the difficulties of construction (with everything having to be ferried in by tractor when the tide was low as only a sand bar provided vehicular access from Kalpitiya) while praising the area’s rich biodiversity.
D’Silva is proud of having created a unique development that is bringing wealth to the rural area, supporting local industry as well as creating not just jobs but career opportunities.
It’s not awards from Trip Advisor that Neil D’Silva deserves for making Dutch Bay Resorts a reality; he merits an award for Social Empowerment. Through realising his dream he has changed for the better the lives of the neglected people of the area. His idea of sustainable tourism is giving them, and generations to come, a future.
The plan for Dutch Bay Resorts
Dutch Bay Resorts, Dutch Bay Island, Kalpitiya; tel: 0117 850850; www.dutchbayresorts.com
Sri Lanka for Romance?
Yes, of course, but I found it hard to believe the result of a survey by ABTA, the UK’s leading travel association, that Sri Lanka is one of the top destinations for British couples to get married and for a honeymoon. The data comes directly from ABTA and its members, which account for around 1,200 travel companies, and provides an insight into the travel habits and preferences of the British public in 2013. Check: http://abta.com/news-and-views/news/brits-abroad
Tops for Tourists
I have been receiving some very unexpected nominations from readers familiar with Sri Lanka for Top Places to recommend for tourists. None of the expected places appear, and I am worried that what some correspondents see as budget accommodation, others consider as a boutique hotel.
Chandra Mohotti, former General Manager of both the Galadari and Galle Face Hotels and now Chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management, used to ask hoteliers (without success) to define a boutique hotel. My definition of a Sri Lankan boutique hotel would be a hotel of no more than 10 rooms with exceptional, caring service and attention, cleanliness and comfort, remarkable food and drink, intriguing interior design, set in an impressive, tranquil setting and with an atmosphere of exclusivity.
The sign calls it a Boutique Hotel
Any comments on that? And please send in nominations for tops in any of the following categories toroyston@roystonellis.com before 14 December 2013. 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.
Retro Books
Retro presents for Beats
To end with a reminder in case you haven’t gone to http://www.amazon.com yet and purchased the Kindle or Paperback Edition of my beat generation poems (plus perfume) Gone Man Squared published by Kicks Books; or the reprint of my 1961 collectable paperback The Big Beat Scene http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html. Great for Christmas stocking stuffers.
Beat Regards
Royston Ellis
Sorry für's späte Einstellen...war bis heute Abend bei meiner Tochter und ihrer Familie
LG Premasiri
Welcome to this newsletter about Sri Lanka, much in the news with the events of CHOGM (more on that next week).
Made in Sri Lanka
In time for Christmas, come some crackers to nibble with sun downers. These are Kome Rice Crackers manufactured by Munchee whose biscuits I have mentioned before (see Newsletter No. 101). I have discovered four versions: Cheese & Chilli, BBQ, Prawn and Sweet. They sell at Rs60 [£ 0.28p; US$ 0.46c] for a 50g packet of a dozen or so crisp and crunchy crackers that have that vague Thai or Chinese taste and texture, perhaps due to the rice used in their manufacture.
Crackers for Christmas
Going Dutch
I first met Neil D’Silva by chance nine years ago when he had just agreed to buy 184 acres of land on Dutch Bay Island, at the time when the area in North West Sri Lanka was riddled by war. I was astonished to see that D’Silva has finally managed to make his vision come true by opening the first phase of his three-phase development project on Dutch Bay Island. The project, called Dutch Bay Resorts, currently consists of 17 solid white-painted clay brick buildings which he calls Chalets, but that are really sturdy, Dutch-style Lagoon Lodges.
It took four hours to drive from Colombo, even using the new Expressway, to Kalpitiya where Neil waited with a speedboat to ferry me to the jetty of Lodge Number 16, deep in the mangroves.
The bedroom of a Dutch Bay Resort lagoon lodge
The Lodge’s interior is sensibly designed with television and DVD player at the foot of the bed, a dressing alcove with plenty of shelves, drawers and hanging space, complemented with an enormous mirror. There is a minibar, a safe, and free Wi-fi.
Dining by the pool at Dutch Bay Resort
Dining by the pool at Dutch Bay Resort
Neil D’Silva; his vision became reality (Photo by B Kumarasiri)
D’Silva is proud of having created a unique development that is bringing wealth to the rural area, supporting local industry as well as creating not just jobs but career opportunities.
It’s not awards from Trip Advisor that Neil D’Silva deserves for making Dutch Bay Resorts a reality; he merits an award for Social Empowerment. Through realising his dream he has changed for the better the lives of the neglected people of the area. His idea of sustainable tourism is giving them, and generations to come, a future.
The plan for Dutch Bay Resorts
Sri Lanka for Romance?
Yes, of course, but I found it hard to believe the result of a survey by ABTA, the UK’s leading travel association, that Sri Lanka is one of the top destinations for British couples to get married and for a honeymoon. The data comes directly from ABTA and its members, which account for around 1,200 travel companies, and provides an insight into the travel habits and preferences of the British public in 2013. Check: http://abta.com/news-and-views/news/brits-abroad
Tops for Tourists
I have been receiving some very unexpected nominations from readers familiar with Sri Lanka for Top Places to recommend for tourists. None of the expected places appear, and I am worried that what some correspondents see as budget accommodation, others consider as a boutique hotel.
Chandra Mohotti, former General Manager of both the Galadari and Galle Face Hotels and now Chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management, used to ask hoteliers (without success) to define a boutique hotel. My definition of a Sri Lankan boutique hotel would be a hotel of no more than 10 rooms with exceptional, caring service and attention, cleanliness and comfort, remarkable food and drink, intriguing interior design, set in an impressive, tranquil setting and with an atmosphere of exclusivity.
The sign calls it a Boutique Hotel
Retro Books
Retro presents for Beats
Beat Regards
Royston Ellis
Sorry für's späte Einstellen...war bis heute Abend bei meiner Tochter und ihrer Familie
LG Premasiri
Zuletzt bearbeitet:
Premasiri
Well-known member
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TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 24 November 2013.
Greetings from Sri Lanka where we've had a royal visit.
Fishing Season
Fishing in front of my cottage (B Kumarasiri)
This is not only the tourist season (but where are they?) on the west coast of Sri Lanka, but also the season for plenty of fish. Every morning, as I sit in my garret and gaze out to sea as the sun rises, I see fishing boats bobbing about off shore where village fishermen are casting their nets.
The boats, and the catch, are beached near my cottage at Induruwa and early risers can go there to buy fresh fish for the day. The eyesore in the background is a newly built but as yet unannounced and unopened hotel.
The real Caesar
3. Creating a real Caesar Salad (Neel Jayantha)
If you thought guéridon service had disappeared decades ago, fear not. It is alive and flourishing at the London Grill deep in the heart of Colombo’s Cinnamon Grand Hotel. The restaurant has somehow resisted changes in décor and ambience over its four decades and even the restaurant’s Sri Lankan manager, Denver, when we dined there last week, had the panache and discretion associated with the finest dining.
4. London Grill?s authentic Caesar Salad (Gemunu Amarasinghe)
The Caesar Salad took 10 minutes to prepare on the trolley by our table, and tasted authentic in every way. To conclude, we had Irish Coffee also created tableside with the same dedicated attention to detail. It was inspiring to experience the London Grill standard of traditional top quality food and service.
Fun with words
I get regular emails from www.dailywritingtips.com to keep myself alert; and a recent email contained a link to test one?s vocabulary.
My word!
“Most native English speakers who take the test have vocabularies ranging from 20,000-35,000 words. ESL speakers tend to have about 4,500. According to the site’s interpretation of results, acquisition of new vocabulary falls off in middle age. Adult vocabulary size appears to be principally determined by reading habits between ages 4 and 15.
“As might be expected, the more you read, the more your vocabulary increases.
“To take the test, go here: http://testyourvocab.com/. By the way, it’s considered bad form to reveal your score or to ask others how they scored.”
So I won’t tell you my result, but it was hypnopompic (and, yes, I too had to look that up).
Royal Birthday
“I’ve been watching you,” said an attractive lady as I gazed lustfully at the plump savoury gateaux and organic pastries being offered to guests at the birthday party for HRH Prince Charles hosted by the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, H E John Rankin, but I kept my hands to myself.
“Yes?” I answered cautiously.
“I’m celiac and have to stick to gluten-free. You write about gluten-free foods in your newsletter so I was wondering what you’d do with all these snacks.”
So was I, because the canapés, all organic, looked delicious, but I declined every one, even the wholesome fruit and vegetable juices also available.
We were among the 150 guests (no spouses) marshalled in 15 clusters (entrepreneurs, entertainers, charity helpers, etc., and, in my case, Consular Wardens) awaiting the arrival of “HRH” and the Duchess of Cornwall visiting Colombo for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM).
Although I’ve had the pleasure of being invited to Queen’s Birthday Parties since going to my first, at the British Consulate in Las Palmas, 50 years ago, and then at Government House in Dominica, this was the first time I had attended a real (as opposed to official) royal birthday party.
It was superbly organised (yes, there was a gluten-free cucumber canapé as well as Pimms, wine and champagne; catering and excellent service by the Mount Lavinia Hotel). After waiting some 60 minutes getting accustomed to the unique occasion of being about to meet the heir to the throne on his actual 65[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday, a frisson in the crowd indicated he was there.
6. Cutting the cake (Getty Images)
Pink cheeked and dapper in a tropical cream-coloured suit, Prince Charles appeared at ease and delighted to be meeting so many people as he proceeded from cluster to cluster. He was almost with us waiting Wardens when suddenly we realised the Duchess of Cornwall was among us too.
Pink cheeked and dapper in a tropical cream-coloured suit, Prince Charles appeared at ease and delighted to be meeting so many people as he proceeded from cluster to cluster. He was almost with us waiting Wardens when suddenly we realised the Duchess of Cornwall was among us too.
“I’m an author,” I murmured as I shook her hand. “Started with Beatles,” I answered in staccato fashion when she asked what I write about.
“The Beatles! That’s our generation.” She did a little hippy hip shake…and moved on.
We drank the Prince’s health, sang happy birthday and gave three hearty cheers.
St Andrew?s Ball
Ayne-Marie Leitch, who was also at the party, has sent me this flyer for a boisterous (well, it is usually) annual event next Friday, 29 November at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo.
7. Upcoming event Tops for Tourists
There’s still time to let me have recommendations about Top Places for Tourists in Sri Lanka, based on your own knowledge/experience. I’m beginning to realise that I have no idea what appeals to other people. For me, a place becomes worthwhile if it’s fun. Unfortunately, so many hotels here are run on factory lines, with guests given wrist bands to identify the rate they’ve paid, and having to queue for food, it’s probably better to crash in a cheap guest house or that rare find, a boutique hotel with heart and soul (where, oh where?).
8. A boutique B&B by the beach (B Kumarasiri)
Read All About It
During the next few weeks, I hope to announce news of new editions of my books, including an updated Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka. In the meantime, as great gifts for aspiring (or erstwhile) beats and hippies, there are my books Gone Man Squared (a collection of beat generation poetry) from here
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles available from: http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
9. Retro presents for beats
Beat Regards
Royston Ellis.
wünsche allen Usern eine schöne letzte Novemberwoche
Premasiri
Greetings from Sri Lanka where we've had a royal visit.
Fishing Season
Fishing in front of my cottage (B Kumarasiri) This is not only the tourist season (but where are they?) on the west coast of Sri Lanka, but also the season for plenty of fish. Every morning, as I sit in my garret and gaze out to sea as the sun rises, I see fishing boats bobbing about off shore where village fishermen are casting their nets.
The boats, and the catch, are beached near my cottage at Induruwa and early risers can go there to buy fresh fish for the day. The eyesore in the background is a newly built but as yet unannounced and unopened hotel.
The real Caesar
3. Creating a real Caesar Salad (Neel Jayantha) If you thought guéridon service had disappeared decades ago, fear not. It is alive and flourishing at the London Grill deep in the heart of Colombo’s Cinnamon Grand Hotel. The restaurant has somehow resisted changes in décor and ambience over its four decades and even the restaurant’s Sri Lankan manager, Denver, when we dined there last week, had the panache and discretion associated with the finest dining.
4. London Grill?s authentic Caesar Salad (Gemunu Amarasinghe) The Caesar Salad took 10 minutes to prepare on the trolley by our table, and tasted authentic in every way. To conclude, we had Irish Coffee also created tableside with the same dedicated attention to detail. It was inspiring to experience the London Grill standard of traditional top quality food and service.
Fun with words
I get regular emails from www.dailywritingtips.com to keep myself alert; and a recent email contained a link to test one?s vocabulary.
My word! “Most native English speakers who take the test have vocabularies ranging from 20,000-35,000 words. ESL speakers tend to have about 4,500. According to the site’s interpretation of results, acquisition of new vocabulary falls off in middle age. Adult vocabulary size appears to be principally determined by reading habits between ages 4 and 15.
“As might be expected, the more you read, the more your vocabulary increases.
“To take the test, go here: http://testyourvocab.com/. By the way, it’s considered bad form to reveal your score or to ask others how they scored.”
So I won’t tell you my result, but it was hypnopompic (and, yes, I too had to look that up).
Royal Birthday
“I’ve been watching you,” said an attractive lady as I gazed lustfully at the plump savoury gateaux and organic pastries being offered to guests at the birthday party for HRH Prince Charles hosted by the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, H E John Rankin, but I kept my hands to myself.
“Yes?” I answered cautiously.
“I’m celiac and have to stick to gluten-free. You write about gluten-free foods in your newsletter so I was wondering what you’d do with all these snacks.”
So was I, because the canapés, all organic, looked delicious, but I declined every one, even the wholesome fruit and vegetable juices also available.
We were among the 150 guests (no spouses) marshalled in 15 clusters (entrepreneurs, entertainers, charity helpers, etc., and, in my case, Consular Wardens) awaiting the arrival of “HRH” and the Duchess of Cornwall visiting Colombo for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM).
Although I’ve had the pleasure of being invited to Queen’s Birthday Parties since going to my first, at the British Consulate in Las Palmas, 50 years ago, and then at Government House in Dominica, this was the first time I had attended a real (as opposed to official) royal birthday party.
It was superbly organised (yes, there was a gluten-free cucumber canapé as well as Pimms, wine and champagne; catering and excellent service by the Mount Lavinia Hotel). After waiting some 60 minutes getting accustomed to the unique occasion of being about to meet the heir to the throne on his actual 65[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday, a frisson in the crowd indicated he was there.
6. Cutting the cake (Getty Images) Pink cheeked and dapper in a tropical cream-coloured suit, Prince Charles appeared at ease and delighted to be meeting so many people as he proceeded from cluster to cluster. He was almost with us waiting Wardens when suddenly we realised the Duchess of Cornwall was among us too.
Pink cheeked and dapper in a tropical cream-coloured suit, Prince Charles appeared at ease and delighted to be meeting so many people as he proceeded from cluster to cluster. He was almost with us waiting Wardens when suddenly we realised the Duchess of Cornwall was among us too.
“I’m an author,” I murmured as I shook her hand. “Started with Beatles,” I answered in staccato fashion when she asked what I write about.
“The Beatles! That’s our generation.” She did a little hippy hip shake…and moved on.
We drank the Prince’s health, sang happy birthday and gave three hearty cheers.
St Andrew?s Ball
Ayne-Marie Leitch, who was also at the party, has sent me this flyer for a boisterous (well, it is usually) annual event next Friday, 29 November at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo.
7. Upcoming event
There’s still time to let me have recommendations about Top Places for Tourists in Sri Lanka, based on your own knowledge/experience. I’m beginning to realise that I have no idea what appeals to other people. For me, a place becomes worthwhile if it’s fun. Unfortunately, so many hotels here are run on factory lines, with guests given wrist bands to identify the rate they’ve paid, and having to queue for food, it’s probably better to crash in a cheap guest house or that rare find, a boutique hotel with heart and soul (where, oh where?).
8. A boutique B&B by the beach (B Kumarasiri) Read All About It
During the next few weeks, I hope to announce news of new editions of my books, including an updated Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka. In the meantime, as great gifts for aspiring (or erstwhile) beats and hippies, there are my books Gone Man Squared (a collection of beat generation poetry) from here
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles available from: http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
9. Retro presents for beats
Beat Regards
Royston Ellis.
wünsche allen Usern eine schöne letzte Novemberwoche
Premasiri
Zuletzt bearbeitet:
Der morgendliche Blick aus dem Fenster hier zeigt eher ein grau in grau....
Premasiri
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Hallo Biggi,
es ist wunderschön bei Royston zu Hause im Horizon...habe/haben es jedesmal genossen.
LG Premasiri
Premasiri
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ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 189
TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 1 December, 2013.
Welcome to this week’s report with news of my latest discovery, a bedroom with a pool inside it.
Made in Sri Lanka
Local bar snack
I am not really sure what this is, but it is certainly made in Sri Lanka, in Bandarawela, according to the label. We were served this as a bite (nibble, tapa) at the High Cliffe Bar in Haputale last weekend. It seems to be a paste of chilli and lime with chunks of Maldives (dried) fish in it. The taste was an effective combination of hot, sour and salty; making it ideal to bite on while drinking arrack or other tongue-numbing spirit. It cost Rs20 (9 UK pence; 15 US cents).
Room with Pool
I’m lucky enough to have stayed in resorts that have individual plunge pools such as Saman Villas in Sri Lanka and Baros Maldives (that’s just been acclaimed The Most Romantic Resort in the World by the World Travel Awards. However, I have never before encountered a hotel room with the swimming pool actually inside the bedroom, instead of in an adjoining garden or beachside.
Mount Heaven bedroom & pool (B Kumarasiri)
This heavenly concept – a bedroom with a pool and a view – is to be found at a new hotel, Mount Heaven in Ella. This is defiantly (I chose that word deliberately) not a “boutique” hotel but one man’s original creation of what he believes a hotel should be. In one word, based on my stay at Ella Mount Heaven last weekend, it sums up as “fun!”
Mount Heaven entrance
Although it is still under construction with as yet only six rooms in operation out of a proposed 25, it is easy to sense the enjoyment that guests will have when all is completed. The design owes much to the owner’s previous hotel, Mount Field Cottages at Haldemulla, but this time all the rooms are contained in one rambling building hugging an undeveloped hillside 3.5km off Ella on the road (A23) southwards to Wellawaya. It is thus in an ideal location for visitors on a stopover while touring or for Sri Lankans wanting a change of pace.
Mount Heaven exterior (B Kumarasiri)
There is a crew of eager youngsters on hand to serve guests and cooks specialising in local, Chinese and seafood dishes. A seafood restaurant is under construction at the summit of the hotel and should be open in a couple of months. Also to come are a smokers’ chamber and a billiard room. The cement walls and concrete pillar construction is gaudily camouflaged by rock-like scalloping or bold Mediterranean-style paintings, including one trompe l’oeil that incorporates a real lamp with a painted stand.
Every room seems to be different, but all have timber features and furniture, many with an extra single bed for a third person, plus en suite bathroom with hot water. Two of the rooms have inside swimming pools; all have views of streams of mist flowing through the landscape of mini-mountains down to the south coast.
Mount Heaven streams of mist
My room, number 4, was fascinating because it contained one double and two single beds in a spacious area with tiled floor, and then a wooden deck and a swimming pool with cool chlorinated water flush to the windowed view. A door opened to steps up to an open-sided balcony, perfect for in-room breakfast of local dishes (no beef or pork) or evening snacking on three types of mushroom or battered strips of tender cuttle fish.
Mount Heaven strings & curries for breakfast
As an owner-designed hotel this won’t appeal to the fussy (my room had no clothes cupboard only wooden hooks) but the mattresses are comfortable, the pillows (although only one on each single bed) soft and there is a flat screen television (and Wi-Fi to come). B&B room rates start at Rs9,500 double (45 UK pounds, 73 US dollars) with the premium pool rooms at Rs12,500 (60 UK pounds; 96 US dollars). Reservations, tel: 0777 695387; email:ellamountheaven@gmail.com
Tops for Tourists
Recommendations for top places to stay at or eat in are popping up in my mail box (royston@roystonellis.com) in droves every day now. I was expecting to receive uncoordinated tips about places that have impressed individual guests but I am also receiving orchestrated recommendations about some properties that have whetted my appetite to try them.
Best bar?
You have another two weeks (deadline is 14 December) to send in recommendations so that I can analyse them to feature in the bumper year-end version of this newsletter (hackers permitting). The categories are as follows, but I’d be delighted to hear of anywhere that, from your personal experience, can be considered tops for tourists.
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.
Technicalities
I was asked at a party recently how often I wake up in the middle of the night wondering what to feature in this weekly e-newsletter. I answered “Every night.” I worry, too, throughout Saturday night that the newsletter will be circulated on schedule at 00.16hrs (GMT) on Sunday morning. Sometimes it doesn’t happen until later. (However, the newsletter can usually be viewed by going direct to www.roystonellis.com/blog.)
This weekly report on tropical topics is not sponsored by anyone and we enjoy a readership around the world for each issue averaging 240,000. I write the text myself and Kumara, Neel or I usually take the photos. Andrew, my brilliant webmonster, handles the technical side when things go wrong.
Last week, they did go wrong! The newsletter site was hacked (a sign of its popularity, I guess) by a gang of cyber terrorists claiming to be Albanian. It has taken Andrew days and nights to scatter the hackers, so if issues still have odd hieroglyphics (?$#@^), the hackers are to blame.
Beat This
Retro presents for Repro-Beats
Here’s the weekly plug for my books, both of which would make great gifts for young and old repro-beats in your life. Gone Man Squared (a collection of beat generation poetry) is available from
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles is available from:http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
wünsche allen einen wunderschönen ersten Advents Sonntag
Premasiri
TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 1 December, 2013.
Welcome to this week’s report with news of my latest discovery, a bedroom with a pool inside it.
Made in Sri Lanka
Local bar snack
I am not really sure what this is, but it is certainly made in Sri Lanka, in Bandarawela, according to the label. We were served this as a bite (nibble, tapa) at the High Cliffe Bar in Haputale last weekend. It seems to be a paste of chilli and lime with chunks of Maldives (dried) fish in it. The taste was an effective combination of hot, sour and salty; making it ideal to bite on while drinking arrack or other tongue-numbing spirit. It cost Rs20 (9 UK pence; 15 US cents).
Room with Pool
I’m lucky enough to have stayed in resorts that have individual plunge pools such as Saman Villas in Sri Lanka and Baros Maldives (that’s just been acclaimed The Most Romantic Resort in the World by the World Travel Awards. However, I have never before encountered a hotel room with the swimming pool actually inside the bedroom, instead of in an adjoining garden or beachside.
Mount Heaven bedroom & pool (B Kumarasiri)
This heavenly concept – a bedroom with a pool and a view – is to be found at a new hotel, Mount Heaven in Ella. This is defiantly (I chose that word deliberately) not a “boutique” hotel but one man’s original creation of what he believes a hotel should be. In one word, based on my stay at Ella Mount Heaven last weekend, it sums up as “fun!”
Mount Heaven entrance
Although it is still under construction with as yet only six rooms in operation out of a proposed 25, it is easy to sense the enjoyment that guests will have when all is completed. The design owes much to the owner’s previous hotel, Mount Field Cottages at Haldemulla, but this time all the rooms are contained in one rambling building hugging an undeveloped hillside 3.5km off Ella on the road (A23) southwards to Wellawaya. It is thus in an ideal location for visitors on a stopover while touring or for Sri Lankans wanting a change of pace.
Mount Heaven exterior (B Kumarasiri)
There is a crew of eager youngsters on hand to serve guests and cooks specialising in local, Chinese and seafood dishes. A seafood restaurant is under construction at the summit of the hotel and should be open in a couple of months. Also to come are a smokers’ chamber and a billiard room. The cement walls and concrete pillar construction is gaudily camouflaged by rock-like scalloping or bold Mediterranean-style paintings, including one trompe l’oeil that incorporates a real lamp with a painted stand.
Every room seems to be different, but all have timber features and furniture, many with an extra single bed for a third person, plus en suite bathroom with hot water. Two of the rooms have inside swimming pools; all have views of streams of mist flowing through the landscape of mini-mountains down to the south coast.
Mount Heaven streams of mist
Mount Heaven strings & curries for breakfast
As an owner-designed hotel this won’t appeal to the fussy (my room had no clothes cupboard only wooden hooks) but the mattresses are comfortable, the pillows (although only one on each single bed) soft and there is a flat screen television (and Wi-Fi to come). B&B room rates start at Rs9,500 double (45 UK pounds, 73 US dollars) with the premium pool rooms at Rs12,500 (60 UK pounds; 96 US dollars). Reservations, tel: 0777 695387; email:ellamountheaven@gmail.com
Tops for Tourists
Recommendations for top places to stay at or eat in are popping up in my mail box (royston@roystonellis.com) in droves every day now. I was expecting to receive uncoordinated tips about places that have impressed individual guests but I am also receiving orchestrated recommendations about some properties that have whetted my appetite to try them.
Best bar?
You have another two weeks (deadline is 14 December) to send in recommendations so that I can analyse them to feature in the bumper year-end version of this newsletter (hackers permitting). The categories are as follows, but I’d be delighted to hear of anywhere that, from your personal experience, can be considered tops for tourists.
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.
Technicalities
I was asked at a party recently how often I wake up in the middle of the night wondering what to feature in this weekly e-newsletter. I answered “Every night.” I worry, too, throughout Saturday night that the newsletter will be circulated on schedule at 00.16hrs (GMT) on Sunday morning. Sometimes it doesn’t happen until later. (However, the newsletter can usually be viewed by going direct to www.roystonellis.com/blog.)
This weekly report on tropical topics is not sponsored by anyone and we enjoy a readership around the world for each issue averaging 240,000. I write the text myself and Kumara, Neel or I usually take the photos. Andrew, my brilliant webmonster, handles the technical side when things go wrong.
Last week, they did go wrong! The newsletter site was hacked (a sign of its popularity, I guess) by a gang of cyber terrorists claiming to be Albanian. It has taken Andrew days and nights to scatter the hackers, so if issues still have odd hieroglyphics (?$#@^), the hackers are to blame.
Beat This
Retro presents for Repro-Beats
Here’s the weekly plug for my books, both of which would make great gifts for young and old repro-beats in your life. Gone Man Squared (a collection of beat generation poetry) is available from
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles is available from:http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
wünsche allen einen wunderschönen ersten Advents Sonntag
Premasiri
adamspeak
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- 14. Dez. 2005
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Wow, den Thread kannte ich noch nicht. Ist schon Jahre her, dass ich mal ein Buch von Royston in die Hand bekam. Seither höre ich seinen Namen immer mal wieder von Einheimischen. Endlich mal ein Autor, dessen Übernachtungsvorschläge qualitativ hochwertig sind. Gute Backpacker-Bücher gibt es ja zur genüge.
Danke für die vielen Fotos. Sehr interessant.
Danke für die vielen Fotos. Sehr interessant.
Premasiri
Well-known member
- Registriert
- 8. Aug. 2009
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- 10.690
RESTORING ROZELLA
December 8th, 2013
ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 190, Sunday 8 December 2013.
Greetings to readers around the world with a proposal to restore Sri Lanka’s upcountry railway station of Rozella.
Made in Sri Lanka
Saucy this week, with a local product called Chilli, Garlic & Ginger Sauce. What makes it different from standard local brands is the packing and the distinctive flavour. It comes in a plastic bottle instead of a glass one, which we never know what to do with when it’s finished. And it has a sharp, crisp taste to zest up any dish, in place of sweet tomato sauce.
For a spicy dip (B Kumarasiri)
With ingredients listed as Garlic, Chillie [sic], Ginger, Sugar, Acitic [sic] Acid (E260), Salt, Tomato and Permitted Preservatives (Sodium Benzoate [E211]), the 425g bottle cost Rs145 (69 UK pence; 1.11 US dollars). It is made by a Rajagiriya company called Fruits & Vegetables (Pte) Ltd. I found it ideal for adding controllable spiciness to a dish or even to use as a dip for sticks of cucumber, carrots and spring onions to go with the daily sundowner.
Adopt a station.
There will be an opportunity to contribute to the preservation of Sri Lanka’s railway heritage if a proposal put forward by Dr Gyan C A Fernando on behalf of the Ceylon Railway Enthusiasts Circle (CREC) gathers steam. Dr Fernando has fallen in love with Rozella, a pretty rural railway station in the tea hills, 165km and six hours by train from Colombo. He wants to see Rozella restored to her youthful beauty.
The creation of Sri Lankan railways was begun by the British in1864, which makes the railways 150 years old next year. Trains eventually reached Rozella, between Nawalapitiya and Hatton, in 1876. Rozella Station is on the most scenic part of the railway; single tracked, with sharp curves and steep gradients and spectacular examples of Victorian engineering in the form of viaducts, tunnels and even a complete spiral. Semaphore signals and Tyer’s Patent Train Tablet Apparatus control systems complete the picture of a bygone age.
Tyer’s Patent Train Tablet Apparatus (still in use at Haputale Railway Station)
Rozella Station building was constructed out of granite and is still an operational station albeit with only a few stopping trains and very low passenger usage. It is in a picturesque location with a steep valley below and a spectacular double curve approach on a 1:44 gradient. The surroundings are rural and unspoilt with very little evidence of human inhabitation; it was built initially to serve the tea plantations of the area.
Rozella station
(Photo above courtesy of
http://gyantrains.blogspot.com/2012/03/rozelle-quaint-little-railway-station.html)
Situated between Watawala and Hatton at an elevation of 1,130m, the station is in an exposed and wind-swept situation facing a deep valley. Close to the station a picturesque waterfall cascades into the valley below, and this powers the recently-installed hydroelectric generator for the station. This area has the highest rainfall figure of Sri Lanka.
The main access to Rozella station is by train although the Station Road does connect with the main Colombo-Hatton road. There is no town or even a proper settlement apart from the tea plantations.
A curious feature, not seen anywhere else on the Sri Lankan railways, is the “Train Indicator Bars”. These are bars running parallel to the rails in a short section of the track in the station. When a train occupies this section of the track the bars cannot be moved and, as a result of an interlocking system, the signal levers cannot be operated, thereby preventing another train getting on to the same track.
Dr Fernando and the CREC are keen to “restore” this station and not to “renovate” it. It is, and always has been, an operational station. After a structural survey, the first restorative step should be to strip the frontage of the station building of its accumulated layers of centuries-old, multiple layers of paint and thus expose the original granite blocks themselves. The work needs to be undertaken by artisans and volunteers guided by professionals and knowledgeable railway enthusiasts.
Mindful that any commercial sponsorship would probably require advertising space on the station, which would not be appropriate, the CREC is hoping for contributions from private individuals and rail fans. (www.ceylonrail.net)
Tops For Tourists
This is the last week to send in recommendations (to: royston@roystonellis.com) of hotels and restaurants that you think are worth recommending for visitors to Sri Lanka. One lucky tourist couple discovered a novel garden concept at a hotel they recommend as tops for tourists. It shall remain nameless.
Seen in a hotel garden (Photo courtesy T & K Spencer)
It is obvious that some hotel owners have asked their satisfied guests to recommend their properties (and some owners have actually suggested their own establishments) which seems to defeat my hope of featuring independent recommendations from readers of this newsletter, rather than from guests responding to concerted campaigns to get particular places selected.
But I’m grateful for all nominations. Let’s see what happens when I analyse all suggestions received by 15 December 2013.
The World’s Most Romantic
Not me, nor a railway station, but a resort. Baros Maldives has been acclaimed the Worlds’ Most Romantic by travel professionals voting in the World Travel Awards with the presentation ceremony held in Doha, Qatar last week. This weekend I am staying in Baros to join in celebrations of this former desert island’s 40[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary – for which I’ve written the commemorative coffee table book, Baros, A Legend.
Baros Maldives beachside pool for two
You need to visit Baros Maldives to buy that book, but you can purchase my books for retro-beats and reprobates:Gone Man Squared (a collection of beat generation poetry) is available from
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles is available from:http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Retro presents for reprobates
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
wünsche allen einen schönen 2ten Advents Sonntag
December 8th, 2013
ROYSTON’S REPORT, Number 190, Sunday 8 December 2013.
Greetings to readers around the world with a proposal to restore Sri Lanka’s upcountry railway station of Rozella.
Made in Sri Lanka
Saucy this week, with a local product called Chilli, Garlic & Ginger Sauce. What makes it different from standard local brands is the packing and the distinctive flavour. It comes in a plastic bottle instead of a glass one, which we never know what to do with when it’s finished. And it has a sharp, crisp taste to zest up any dish, in place of sweet tomato sauce.
For a spicy dip (B Kumarasiri)
Adopt a station.
There will be an opportunity to contribute to the preservation of Sri Lanka’s railway heritage if a proposal put forward by Dr Gyan C A Fernando on behalf of the Ceylon Railway Enthusiasts Circle (CREC) gathers steam. Dr Fernando has fallen in love with Rozella, a pretty rural railway station in the tea hills, 165km and six hours by train from Colombo. He wants to see Rozella restored to her youthful beauty.
The creation of Sri Lankan railways was begun by the British in1864, which makes the railways 150 years old next year. Trains eventually reached Rozella, between Nawalapitiya and Hatton, in 1876. Rozella Station is on the most scenic part of the railway; single tracked, with sharp curves and steep gradients and spectacular examples of Victorian engineering in the form of viaducts, tunnels and even a complete spiral. Semaphore signals and Tyer’s Patent Train Tablet Apparatus control systems complete the picture of a bygone age.
Tyer’s Patent Train Tablet Apparatus (still in use at Haputale Railway Station)
Rozella station
http://gyantrains.blogspot.com/2012/03/rozelle-quaint-little-railway-station.html)
Situated between Watawala and Hatton at an elevation of 1,130m, the station is in an exposed and wind-swept situation facing a deep valley. Close to the station a picturesque waterfall cascades into the valley below, and this powers the recently-installed hydroelectric generator for the station. This area has the highest rainfall figure of Sri Lanka.
The main access to Rozella station is by train although the Station Road does connect with the main Colombo-Hatton road. There is no town or even a proper settlement apart from the tea plantations.
A curious feature, not seen anywhere else on the Sri Lankan railways, is the “Train Indicator Bars”. These are bars running parallel to the rails in a short section of the track in the station. When a train occupies this section of the track the bars cannot be moved and, as a result of an interlocking system, the signal levers cannot be operated, thereby preventing another train getting on to the same track.
Dr Fernando and the CREC are keen to “restore” this station and not to “renovate” it. It is, and always has been, an operational station. After a structural survey, the first restorative step should be to strip the frontage of the station building of its accumulated layers of centuries-old, multiple layers of paint and thus expose the original granite blocks themselves. The work needs to be undertaken by artisans and volunteers guided by professionals and knowledgeable railway enthusiasts.
Mindful that any commercial sponsorship would probably require advertising space on the station, which would not be appropriate, the CREC is hoping for contributions from private individuals and rail fans. (www.ceylonrail.net)
Tops For Tourists
This is the last week to send in recommendations (to: royston@roystonellis.com) of hotels and restaurants that you think are worth recommending for visitors to Sri Lanka. One lucky tourist couple discovered a novel garden concept at a hotel they recommend as tops for tourists. It shall remain nameless.
Seen in a hotel garden (Photo courtesy T & K Spencer)
But I’m grateful for all nominations. Let’s see what happens when I analyse all suggestions received by 15 December 2013.
The World’s Most Romantic
Not me, nor a railway station, but a resort. Baros Maldives has been acclaimed the Worlds’ Most Romantic by travel professionals voting in the World Travel Awards with the presentation ceremony held in Doha, Qatar last week. This weekend I am staying in Baros to join in celebrations of this former desert island’s 40[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary – for which I’ve written the commemorative coffee table book, Baros, A Legend.
Baros Maldives beachside pool for two
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles is available from:http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Retro presents for reprobates
Royston Ellis
wünsche allen einen schönen 2ten Advents Sonntag
Premasiri
Well-known member
- Registriert
- 8. Aug. 2009
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- 10.690
Classy Business
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 191. Sunday 15 December 2013.
Welcome to this week’s report on Tropical Topics in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Seen In Sri Lanka
I’ve never been a fan of Sri Lankan buses, probably because my main experience of them is when I see them hurtling towards me as I pootle quietly along in Kumara’s tuk-tuk to Alutgama. They always seem to be packed with people apparently oblivious to the bus driver’s dicing with death. Kumara swerves off the road and we survive another near miss.
So this piece of modern architecture intrigued me when it suddenly appeared beside the road near the Bentota post office. Such a change from the utilitarian, cowshed style of shelters for bus travellers in the past. I hope for the additional comfort of passengers, the standard of bus driving improves too.
Spice it up with Koluu
Koluu is one of Colombo’s most colourful characters, being both a super chef and a sometimes-larger-than-life drag queen performer. Now he’s also become a brand name. Having been chef or consultant for many popular restaurants in Colombo, Koluu has turned his culinary genius to creating various Sri Lankan curry mixes.
The makings of a Koluu Beef Curry
What’s different about Koluu’s mix, apart from the pink re-sealable packaging, is that there’s no need to chop onions and garlic; everything is included. I tried it out by following the steps on the back of the package. I cubed some beef and seasoned it with the dry powder mix for 10 minutes. Using a clay pot for authenticity (although any cooking pan would do) I added 60ml of oil, let it heat up and then tossed the seasoned beef cubes in it for five minutes.
To this I added some water and cooked the beef until it was tender and then poured in a cup of coconut milk (OK, I cheated and made that from instant coconut milk powder), and cooked it for a further five minutes while the liquid thickened.
Cooking Koluu Beef Curry in a clay pot
According to the packet, the powder is made from onions, garlic, ginger, cardamom, cloves, pandan leaves, curry leaves, unroasted curry powder, pepper corns, salt; 100% natural; no added preservatives. It is manufactured by Spice Land (Pvt) of Athurugiriya, Sri Lanka, email: info@spiceland.lk. The 100g packet (enough to season a kilo of beef cubes) cost Rs140 [66p; US$1.07].
It was like a magic dust as Koluu’s mix enabled me to produce without any effort at all, a rich, dark and zonky beef curry.
Classy Business
The new Airport Expressway
For a few (hundred) dollars more then Economy, passengers on most airlines can travel Business Class; it’s a fillip that we deserve as we get older and are no longer comfortable as part of the backpacking brigade packed at the back of the aircraft when we travel. Thus one becomes, albeit temporarily, conscious of class distinction. I like the priority check in, the civil – even caring – service on board, the free flowing champagne and the more imaginative meals available in Business Class.
Business Class passengers on SriLankan Airlines departing from Colombo not only have the privilege of an exclusive check-in at the Silk Route Lounge, but also an improved lounge (called Serendib) dedicated to Business Class passengers. This has been newly renovated with bright colours and is somehow more spacious, yet retains the same area of the previous lounge.
Newly renovated SriLanakan Business Class lounge, Colombo
Gone are the pokey loos, replaced by a labyrinth of clean cubicles, one with a tarmac view; gone are the private rooms for snoozing, replaced by an alcove with reclining chairs; gone are the frigid bar and satellite counters, replaced by a glass wall though which cooks can be seen preparing snacks, and restaurant style buffet counters. There is a new bar and a more welcoming reception desk.
It made for a classy beginning to my recent SriLankan Airlines flight to Maldives.
Life Begins at Baros
In her 1937 song, Sophie Tucker sang “life begins at 40” — and for Baros, the private 75-villa resort island in the Maldives, life couldn’t be better. Last weekend the owning family welcomed a few old friends to a celebration dinner commemorating 40 years since the resort opened as a campers’ castaway haven in December 1973.
The palm-thatched shacks that greeted the first visitors have long gone as the island has metamorphosed through several reincarnations into a holiday island of sheer bliss for lovers… of the good things in life. Just days before the event, Baros was acclaimed as the Most Romantic Resort in the World and also as the World’s Leading Island Villa Resort by trade professionals at the World Travel Awards (www.worldtravelawards.com).
I found it delightfully inspiring to stay at the now mature Baros Maldives because, like a fine wine, it has aged to perfection. Of course, after providing hospitality for guests (many of whom became repeat visitors) for 40 years, Baros should be able to do it right. But the resort does more because it hasn’t lost its soul. Baros exudes a warm charm in a graceful and unpretentious manner, to say nothing of its sublime comfort, personalised attention and sensational cuisine.
Historic Lobster Bisque, Baros
This Lobster Bisque has become a Baros classic, as is the good, old-fashioned gueridon service in the resort’s Lighthouse Restaurant. This soup was the amuse bouche before a six course dinner celebrating the 40[SUP]th[/SUP]anniversary. During the dinner, I was privileged to present Dr I U Maniku, the director of Universal Enterprises responsible for Baros, with the first copy of my latest book: Baros A Legend. (www.baros.com)
Baros A Legend – The Book
Beat This
You’ll have to go to Baros to buy that book but I’m happy to hear from some readers of this newsletter that they are buying my beat generation books through the Internet. Gone Man Squared (with a foreword by Jimmy Page) is available from:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles is available from:http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Retro presents for reprobates
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
wünsche allen einen wunderschönen dritten Adventssonntag
Premasiri
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 191. Sunday 15 December 2013.
Welcome to this week’s report on Tropical Topics in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Seen In Sri Lanka
I’ve never been a fan of Sri Lankan buses, probably because my main experience of them is when I see them hurtling towards me as I pootle quietly along in Kumara’s tuk-tuk to Alutgama. They always seem to be packed with people apparently oblivious to the bus driver’s dicing with death. Kumara swerves off the road and we survive another near miss.
So this piece of modern architecture intrigued me when it suddenly appeared beside the road near the Bentota post office. Such a change from the utilitarian, cowshed style of shelters for bus travellers in the past. I hope for the additional comfort of passengers, the standard of bus driving improves too.
Spice it up with Koluu
Koluu is one of Colombo’s most colourful characters, being both a super chef and a sometimes-larger-than-life drag queen performer. Now he’s also become a brand name. Having been chef or consultant for many popular restaurants in Colombo, Koluu has turned his culinary genius to creating various Sri Lankan curry mixes.
The makings of a Koluu Beef Curry
To this I added some water and cooked the beef until it was tender and then poured in a cup of coconut milk (OK, I cheated and made that from instant coconut milk powder), and cooked it for a further five minutes while the liquid thickened.
Cooking Koluu Beef Curry in a clay pot
It was like a magic dust as Koluu’s mix enabled me to produce without any effort at all, a rich, dark and zonky beef curry.
Classy Business
The new Airport Expressway
Business Class passengers on SriLankan Airlines departing from Colombo not only have the privilege of an exclusive check-in at the Silk Route Lounge, but also an improved lounge (called Serendib) dedicated to Business Class passengers. This has been newly renovated with bright colours and is somehow more spacious, yet retains the same area of the previous lounge.
Newly renovated SriLanakan Business Class lounge, Colombo
It made for a classy beginning to my recent SriLankan Airlines flight to Maldives.
Life Begins at Baros
In her 1937 song, Sophie Tucker sang “life begins at 40” — and for Baros, the private 75-villa resort island in the Maldives, life couldn’t be better. Last weekend the owning family welcomed a few old friends to a celebration dinner commemorating 40 years since the resort opened as a campers’ castaway haven in December 1973.
The palm-thatched shacks that greeted the first visitors have long gone as the island has metamorphosed through several reincarnations into a holiday island of sheer bliss for lovers… of the good things in life. Just days before the event, Baros was acclaimed as the Most Romantic Resort in the World and also as the World’s Leading Island Villa Resort by trade professionals at the World Travel Awards (www.worldtravelawards.com).
I found it delightfully inspiring to stay at the now mature Baros Maldives because, like a fine wine, it has aged to perfection. Of course, after providing hospitality for guests (many of whom became repeat visitors) for 40 years, Baros should be able to do it right. But the resort does more because it hasn’t lost its soul. Baros exudes a warm charm in a graceful and unpretentious manner, to say nothing of its sublime comfort, personalised attention and sensational cuisine.
Historic Lobster Bisque, Baros
Baros A Legend – The Book
Beat This
You’ll have to go to Baros to buy that book but I’m happy to hear from some readers of this newsletter that they are buying my beat generation books through the Internet. Gone Man Squared (with a foreword by Jimmy Page) is available from:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles is available from:http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Retro presents for reprobates
Royston Ellis
wünsche allen einen wunderschönen dritten Adventssonntag
Premasiri
Premasiri
Well-known member
- Registriert
- 8. Aug. 2009
- Beiträge
- 10.690
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 192, Sunday 22 December 2013.
Season’s Greetings to all readers of this newsletter, with my end of 2013 list of places that I recommend as Tops For Tourists.
Blessings
This miniature clay oil lamp is often lit in homes as part of Buddhist rituals. I’ve incorporated it as part of our Festive Season decorations at home.
Aglow for Christmas (Photo B Kumarasiri)
Cheers
At a party at Pier 88, the riverside restaurant behind Nebula, my favourite supermarket in Alutgama, I was introduced to a revived brand of Arrack. To the uninitiated I hasten to explain that Arrack (if it’s genuine and not coloured neutral spirit) is a kind of coconut brandy, distilled from the sap of the coconut tree.
When I settled in Sri Lanka 34 years ago, I swore never to touch Arrack. That’s not just because its bouquet was reminiscent of the odour of soggy socks but because it was then so cheap I realised if I became addicted to it, my writing (and liver) would suffer.
The party was hosted by Rockland Ltd, a company that has been producing Arrack since 1924. While there was plenty of wine available (which the company imports) and cocktails made with local spirits, I ventured to try Halmilla Old Arrack. On the box it is described as 100% Pure Aged Arrack produced in the company’s eco distillery. So it’s environmentally OK then.
Hamilla Old Arrack (Photo by Neel Jayantha)
The tasting notes claim “its subtle honey and distinct but gentle notes are from the Halmilla vats.” These vats, I was told by Ravi Morris, the company’s Regional Manager, are old, creating a taste of the natural flavour of the dry-zone halmilla (Berrya cordifolia) wood with which the vats are made, and the hint of earlier Arrack stored in them over the decades.
I breathed in the bouquet cautiously at first and was relieved to find it had a whiff of brandy rather than old socks. The taste was an eye-opener as well as a tongue tingler: full bodied, aromatic with suggestions of cinnamon and jaggery (coconut fudge); a worthy warm tipple after a good meal. The 750ml litre bottle costs Rs940 (£ 4.47; $ 7.23).
Neel advised me not to ruin this arrack with either ice or soda or, even worse, cola, but to have it neat to savour its full richness. Great for welcoming the New Year.
Memorable Event
I’ve written previously (Newsletter 188) of how I was privileged to be invited to the birthday party of HRH The Prince of Wales held at the British High Commissioner’s residence in Colombo. Thanks to the High Commissioner, HE John Rankin, I have received this photograph of the memorable moment when HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, said delightedly: “The Beatles? That’s our generation!”
The Beatles? That’s our generation
Tops for Tourists
From my experience of staying in hotels here during the past year I have found that while the tourist infrastructure (like bedrooms, bathrooms, catering, and furnishings [with good mattresses, linen sheets and plump pillows]) has improved, this is not always matched by confident and efficient service.
However amiable the staff, their friendliness does not make up for their poor training or sheer incompetence, given that one is paying high prices plus 10% service charge and about 17% tax for the privilege of being a guest.
Sri Lanka has a wonderful variety of properties to stay in, from informal home stay units to plantation bungalows, from cute boutique villas to opulent city hotels. My quest is for places that are agreeable and comfortable in terms of value for money, since that is more important than whether a place is cheap and cheerful or expensive and luxurious.
I ask myself: Is it good? Is it somewhere to recommend for tourists?
I requested readers for their suggestions and, while I received tips from many individuals, I noticed that some property owners had asked their satisfied guests to send me comments, in the way that they request their guests to review them on Trip Advisor.
While Why House (http://www.whyhousesrilanka.com) and Jungle Tide (http://www.jungletide.com) received rave reviews from impressed guests, since I have yet to stay in either of them myself, I’ll keep them in mind to review in subsequent newsletters. Also, I would like to hear of any respectable budget hotels in Colombo (around Rs5,000 [£ 23.80; US $38.46] a night?).
Here, then, based on readers’ tips is my personal list of places I have tried and can happily recommend.
RR (Royston Reports) Tops for Tourists 2013.
Maalu Maalu, Passikudah
Top Beach Hotel: Maalu Maalu, Passikudah
http://www.maalumaalu.com
(For a pure beach holiday: good rooms & food; friendly & fun)
Top Boutique Hotel: Brook Boutique Hotel, Dambulla http://www.brook.lk
(City smart in a wilderness; informal, not smug.)
Brook Boutique Hovel
Top Bungalow Resort: Kelbourne Mountain View, Haputale
http://www.kelburnemountainview.com
(For relaxing with family & friends with obliging staff, plantation food and breathtaking vistas.)
Ready for breakfast at Kelburne Mountain View
Top Colombo Pub: Cricket Club Café
(A legend; the pub at the back is consistently good in service & food, with drinks available all day.)
Top Colombo Theme Restaurant: Ministry of Crab (Old Dutch Hospital.)
(A must for every visitor with stylish presentation of sensational fresh crab in a lively atmosphere.)
Top Colombo Fine Dining Restaurant: London Grill (Cinnamon Grand Hotel.)
(A benchmark for classic fine dining; truly the top for food & service in traditional style & ambience.)
Stuffed oysters at London Grill
Top Colombo Hotel: Colombo Courtyard
(Perfect accommodation in a novel manner in a central location; ideal for staying on business or pleasure)
Top Kandy Pub: Royal Bar & Hotel
(A secret conversion from an arrack tavern to a popular pub for discerning locals and visitors with courtyard barrel seating & a fine restaurant.)
Royal Bar & Hotel, Kandy
Top Restaurant out of Colombo: Paradise Road, The Villa, Bentota
(Creative cuisine and caring service in a contemporary setting near the beach.)
Top Theme Hotel: Heritance Tea Factory Hotel, Kandapola
(Unique: a genuine tea factory converted with verve into a smoothly operated comfortable hotel with gourmet dining in a railway carriage restaurant.)
Heritance Tea Factory Hotel sign
Top Upcountry Hotel: Bandarawela Hotel, Bandarawela
(Colonial nostalgia in spades and at low prices; apt for its setting.)
Top Home Stay: Hagolla Plantation Bungalow
(A charming clued-in couple host appreciative guests in their ancestral home; good for wilderness trekking, creative reflection & fine local cuisine.)
Holiday Time
There will be no Newsletter next Sunday, 29 December, for obvious reasons (party! party!). The next newsletter, with some exciting news about new books (by me and others) will be issued on Sunday 5 January 2014. So here’s wishing all readers a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Retro presents for reprobates
Meanwhile, the beat goes on with these books still available through Cyber Shopping. Gone Man Squared (with a foreword by Jimmy Page) from: Amazon
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles, Billy Fury, Cliff and others, from: MusicMenor
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
Stressfreie Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins 2014 wünsche ich Euch allen von Herzen
LG Premasiri
Season’s Greetings to all readers of this newsletter, with my end of 2013 list of places that I recommend as Tops For Tourists.
Blessings
This miniature clay oil lamp is often lit in homes as part of Buddhist rituals. I’ve incorporated it as part of our Festive Season decorations at home.
Aglow for Christmas (Photo B Kumarasiri)
Cheers
At a party at Pier 88, the riverside restaurant behind Nebula, my favourite supermarket in Alutgama, I was introduced to a revived brand of Arrack. To the uninitiated I hasten to explain that Arrack (if it’s genuine and not coloured neutral spirit) is a kind of coconut brandy, distilled from the sap of the coconut tree.
When I settled in Sri Lanka 34 years ago, I swore never to touch Arrack. That’s not just because its bouquet was reminiscent of the odour of soggy socks but because it was then so cheap I realised if I became addicted to it, my writing (and liver) would suffer.
The party was hosted by Rockland Ltd, a company that has been producing Arrack since 1924. While there was plenty of wine available (which the company imports) and cocktails made with local spirits, I ventured to try Halmilla Old Arrack. On the box it is described as 100% Pure Aged Arrack produced in the company’s eco distillery. So it’s environmentally OK then.
Hamilla Old Arrack (Photo by Neel Jayantha)
The tasting notes claim “its subtle honey and distinct but gentle notes are from the Halmilla vats.” These vats, I was told by Ravi Morris, the company’s Regional Manager, are old, creating a taste of the natural flavour of the dry-zone halmilla (Berrya cordifolia) wood with which the vats are made, and the hint of earlier Arrack stored in them over the decades.
I breathed in the bouquet cautiously at first and was relieved to find it had a whiff of brandy rather than old socks. The taste was an eye-opener as well as a tongue tingler: full bodied, aromatic with suggestions of cinnamon and jaggery (coconut fudge); a worthy warm tipple after a good meal. The 750ml litre bottle costs Rs940 (£ 4.47; $ 7.23).
Neel advised me not to ruin this arrack with either ice or soda or, even worse, cola, but to have it neat to savour its full richness. Great for welcoming the New Year.
Memorable Event
I’ve written previously (Newsletter 188) of how I was privileged to be invited to the birthday party of HRH The Prince of Wales held at the British High Commissioner’s residence in Colombo. Thanks to the High Commissioner, HE John Rankin, I have received this photograph of the memorable moment when HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, said delightedly: “The Beatles? That’s our generation!”
The Beatles? That’s our generation
Tops for Tourists
From my experience of staying in hotels here during the past year I have found that while the tourist infrastructure (like bedrooms, bathrooms, catering, and furnishings [with good mattresses, linen sheets and plump pillows]) has improved, this is not always matched by confident and efficient service.
However amiable the staff, their friendliness does not make up for their poor training or sheer incompetence, given that one is paying high prices plus 10% service charge and about 17% tax for the privilege of being a guest.
Sri Lanka has a wonderful variety of properties to stay in, from informal home stay units to plantation bungalows, from cute boutique villas to opulent city hotels. My quest is for places that are agreeable and comfortable in terms of value for money, since that is more important than whether a place is cheap and cheerful or expensive and luxurious.
I ask myself: Is it good? Is it somewhere to recommend for tourists?
I requested readers for their suggestions and, while I received tips from many individuals, I noticed that some property owners had asked their satisfied guests to send me comments, in the way that they request their guests to review them on Trip Advisor.
While Why House (http://www.whyhousesrilanka.com) and Jungle Tide (http://www.jungletide.com) received rave reviews from impressed guests, since I have yet to stay in either of them myself, I’ll keep them in mind to review in subsequent newsletters. Also, I would like to hear of any respectable budget hotels in Colombo (around Rs5,000 [£ 23.80; US $38.46] a night?).
Here, then, based on readers’ tips is my personal list of places I have tried and can happily recommend.
RR (Royston Reports) Tops for Tourists 2013.
Maalu Maalu, Passikudah
Top Beach Hotel: Maalu Maalu, Passikudah
http://www.maalumaalu.com
(For a pure beach holiday: good rooms & food; friendly & fun)
Top Boutique Hotel: Brook Boutique Hotel, Dambulla http://www.brook.lk
(City smart in a wilderness; informal, not smug.)
Brook Boutique Hovel
Top Bungalow Resort: Kelbourne Mountain View, Haputale
http://www.kelburnemountainview.com
(For relaxing with family & friends with obliging staff, plantation food and breathtaking vistas.)
Ready for breakfast at Kelburne Mountain View
Top Colombo Pub: Cricket Club Café
(A legend; the pub at the back is consistently good in service & food, with drinks available all day.)
Top Colombo Theme Restaurant: Ministry of Crab (Old Dutch Hospital.)
(A must for every visitor with stylish presentation of sensational fresh crab in a lively atmosphere.)
Top Colombo Fine Dining Restaurant: London Grill (Cinnamon Grand Hotel.)
(A benchmark for classic fine dining; truly the top for food & service in traditional style & ambience.)
Stuffed oysters at London Grill
Top Colombo Hotel: Colombo Courtyard
(Perfect accommodation in a novel manner in a central location; ideal for staying on business or pleasure)
Top Kandy Pub: Royal Bar & Hotel
(A secret conversion from an arrack tavern to a popular pub for discerning locals and visitors with courtyard barrel seating & a fine restaurant.)
Royal Bar & Hotel, Kandy
Top Restaurant out of Colombo: Paradise Road, The Villa, Bentota
(Creative cuisine and caring service in a contemporary setting near the beach.)
Top Theme Hotel: Heritance Tea Factory Hotel, Kandapola
(Unique: a genuine tea factory converted with verve into a smoothly operated comfortable hotel with gourmet dining in a railway carriage restaurant.)
Heritance Tea Factory Hotel sign
Top Upcountry Hotel: Bandarawela Hotel, Bandarawela
(Colonial nostalgia in spades and at low prices; apt for its setting.)
Top Home Stay: Hagolla Plantation Bungalow
(A charming clued-in couple host appreciative guests in their ancestral home; good for wilderness trekking, creative reflection & fine local cuisine.)
Holiday Time
There will be no Newsletter next Sunday, 29 December, for obvious reasons (party! party!). The next newsletter, with some exciting news about new books (by me and others) will be issued on Sunday 5 January 2014. So here’s wishing all readers a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Retro presents for reprobates
Meanwhile, the beat goes on with these books still available through Cyber Shopping. Gone Man Squared (with a foreword by Jimmy Page) from: Amazon
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles, Billy Fury, Cliff and others, from: MusicMenor
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
Stressfreie Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins 2014 wünsche ich Euch allen von Herzen
LG Premasiri
Zuletzt bearbeitet:
Premasiri
Well-known member
- Registriert
- 8. Aug. 2009
- Beiträge
- 10.690
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 193, Sunday 5 January 2014.
Back again with New Year Greetings to readers worldwide.
Thanks to all those who enquired about the whereabouts of last week’s newsletter. But I had previously announced my intention of taking a weekend off! So it seems absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, thus here we go with another year of Tropical Topics every Sunday.
Love It
Any recipe that begins, “Take 12 eggs” has to result in something special. In this case, at Christmas, we enjoyed a local delicacy, Love Cake. This is traditional celebration fare in the households of Burghers, those Sri Lankans with Portuguese or Dutch ancestry who still live – and love – with robust ribaldry throughout Sri Lanka. Inveterate party givers and hearty good friends, they revel in food for trenchermen, such as black pepper pork, and this sinful confection.
Love that Love Cake
Love Cake is very simple to make, according to this recipe from the Ceylon Daily News Cookery Book. Take 12 eggs. Beat their yolks in a basin with 2lbs of soft sugar. Add 1lb rulang (semolina) and mix well together, then add 200 finely chopped cashew nuts and half a wineglass each of rose water and bee’s honey and half-a-teaspoon of chopped lime rind. Now add the whites of 10 of those eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Pour the mixture into a flat, papered cake tin and bake in a moderate oven until cooked through.
Love Cake can keep for weeks but ours was devoured in an afternoon. I am sure Burgher readers will have something to add (like arrack, rum or brandy) to this recipe. Either way, like love itself, it’s a piece of cake.
Revived best beach
Unawatuna was once considered one of the best beaches in the world as much as for its hectic after-beach life as for the quality of its sand and sea. While modern development (a breakwater) has caused much of the beach to erode, and the after-beach life has become rather tacky, one enterprising entrepreneur has resolved to change that.
Through his Singapore investment company, Roman Scott has taken over the fabled but tired Unawatuna Beach Resort and transformed it into a glittering hotel of superior standard now known as Calamander Unawatuna Beach. It opened in mid December and is already garnering a bright reputation as the place to stay on the beach away from the dross of downmarket rooms.
Paloma & Roman Scott
Its Melt Bistro by the beach is open to non-residents, and the place has a buzz with young, keen staff on hand under the watchful eye of Paloma Scott, Roman’s sister, who both have Sri Lankan roots as their mother was born here. At the opening party, the chief guest. The Hon Chandima Weerakody, MP, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, assured guests of the government’s aim to help genuine, private investors.
Drumming & juggling at the opening party (Photo by Neel Jayantha)
Calamander Unawatuna Beach looks set to revive the fortunes of the south coast as it caters for the demands of discerning tourists who want something different from the usual package holiday, with Sun, Sand, Sea and Style. And fun, too.
Pithy slogans
Have you, like me, ever been puzzled by the inscrutable slogans that young people sport on their T-shirts? I assume these are produced in non-English speaking countries, hence the garbled gobbledegook dedicated followers of fashion proudly display on their clothing. But I suppose it’s better than having to wear the manufacturer’s brand name across your torso.
Now I am becoming even more puzzled by pithy slogans appearing painted on the ubiquitous three wheeler taxis (tuk-tuks) that throng Sri Lanka’s roads. I found this strange phrase – NEVER DYING MORAL – on the tuk-tuk of one of our guests at Christmas, and am still troubled by what it’s meant to mean. The driver didn’t know either.
What does it mean?
Award Winning Wright
I was thrilled when I was asked to be the chief judge for the award of a month’s stay at Templeberg Villa in Galle to an Australian short story writer. I was even more thrilled when the other judges in Australia endorsed my choice of winner. By pure chance we chose Michelle Wright who, although born in Australia, has Sri Lankan roots through her parents who were born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and emigrated to Australia.
Judge & winner, Templeberg Villa (Photo by Neel Jayantha)
Michelle’s story appealed to me because it wasn’t formulaic and exuded genuine passion whereas many entries seemed stifled by taught technique. Last month I met Michelle in residence at Templeberg Villa (http://www.templeberg.com) and we discussed writing. I discovered that, like me, she prefers to write a creative piece in longhand first and then key the text into a computer.
Michelle said that ideas for stories come to her when she observes and absorbs something that triggers the question, “What if?” which she then answers in fiction. She hopes to work on a few ideas while staying in the rustic tranquillity of Templeberg and exploring Sri Lanka. Michelle brought with her the ashes of her uncle who recently died in Australia and she plans to scatter them where he was born in Jaffna, but she doesn’t know where that was. Sounds like material for a compelling short story…
Tune In
Since I received a copy of All These Years: The Beatles, Volume One: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn in October last year, I have been planning to review it here. (Regular readers of this newsletter will understand why). However, the sheer size of it has defeated me since so far I have only reached page 138 out of the book’s 946 pages.
Beatles tome By Mark Lewisohn
Of course, I have checked my name in the index and find there are over a dozen references to me and the influence I had on John, Paul, George & Stuart in 1960. This volume finishes in 1962 so presumably the next one will mention what we did together in the Channel Islands of Jersey & Guernsey in 1963 and when I reminisced with Paul in Paris in 2006.
The book has been rightly praised for its magisterial quality and the amazing amount of detail Mark Lewisohn has uncovered with his tireless research. If he can’t find at least three sources to corroborate his revelations, he signals his doubt about their authenticity.
What the marvellous reviews fail to mention is how to read this heavy book conveniently. I employ a bookmark to remind me which page I am on, and a paperclip to mark the corresponding page (there are 62) of notes, comments and sources. It’s a book worthy of the Beatles and their legacy.
New Guide Book
The Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka now in the 5th edition
This month sees the publication by Bradt (http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/622/Sri-Lanka.html)
of the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] edition of Sri Lanka, my bestselling guide to the island. Completely updated it includes new chapters on the east coast attractions of Passikudah and Batticaloa as well as details of the Jaffna Peninsula and staying in jail there (now a hotel). I am grateful to the team at Bradt for taking so much care in the book’s editing, and in supplying detailed maps as well as the comprehensive index. I hope readers find the Guide not only useful but entertaining too.
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
Back again with New Year Greetings to readers worldwide.
Thanks to all those who enquired about the whereabouts of last week’s newsletter. But I had previously announced my intention of taking a weekend off! So it seems absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, thus here we go with another year of Tropical Topics every Sunday.
Love It
Any recipe that begins, “Take 12 eggs” has to result in something special. In this case, at Christmas, we enjoyed a local delicacy, Love Cake. This is traditional celebration fare in the households of Burghers, those Sri Lankans with Portuguese or Dutch ancestry who still live – and love – with robust ribaldry throughout Sri Lanka. Inveterate party givers and hearty good friends, they revel in food for trenchermen, such as black pepper pork, and this sinful confection.
Love that Love Cake
Love Cake can keep for weeks but ours was devoured in an afternoon. I am sure Burgher readers will have something to add (like arrack, rum or brandy) to this recipe. Either way, like love itself, it’s a piece of cake.
Revived best beach
Unawatuna was once considered one of the best beaches in the world as much as for its hectic after-beach life as for the quality of its sand and sea. While modern development (a breakwater) has caused much of the beach to erode, and the after-beach life has become rather tacky, one enterprising entrepreneur has resolved to change that.
Through his Singapore investment company, Roman Scott has taken over the fabled but tired Unawatuna Beach Resort and transformed it into a glittering hotel of superior standard now known as Calamander Unawatuna Beach. It opened in mid December and is already garnering a bright reputation as the place to stay on the beach away from the dross of downmarket rooms.
Paloma & Roman Scott
Drumming & juggling at the opening party (Photo by Neel Jayantha)
Pithy slogans
Have you, like me, ever been puzzled by the inscrutable slogans that young people sport on their T-shirts? I assume these are produced in non-English speaking countries, hence the garbled gobbledegook dedicated followers of fashion proudly display on their clothing. But I suppose it’s better than having to wear the manufacturer’s brand name across your torso.
Now I am becoming even more puzzled by pithy slogans appearing painted on the ubiquitous three wheeler taxis (tuk-tuks) that throng Sri Lanka’s roads. I found this strange phrase – NEVER DYING MORAL – on the tuk-tuk of one of our guests at Christmas, and am still troubled by what it’s meant to mean. The driver didn’t know either.
What does it mean?
Award Winning Wright
I was thrilled when I was asked to be the chief judge for the award of a month’s stay at Templeberg Villa in Galle to an Australian short story writer. I was even more thrilled when the other judges in Australia endorsed my choice of winner. By pure chance we chose Michelle Wright who, although born in Australia, has Sri Lankan roots through her parents who were born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and emigrated to Australia.
Judge & winner, Templeberg Villa (Photo by Neel Jayantha)
Michelle said that ideas for stories come to her when she observes and absorbs something that triggers the question, “What if?” which she then answers in fiction. She hopes to work on a few ideas while staying in the rustic tranquillity of Templeberg and exploring Sri Lanka. Michelle brought with her the ashes of her uncle who recently died in Australia and she plans to scatter them where he was born in Jaffna, but she doesn’t know where that was. Sounds like material for a compelling short story…
Tune In
Since I received a copy of All These Years: The Beatles, Volume One: Tune In by Mark Lewisohn in October last year, I have been planning to review it here. (Regular readers of this newsletter will understand why). However, the sheer size of it has defeated me since so far I have only reached page 138 out of the book’s 946 pages.
Beatles tome By Mark Lewisohn
The book has been rightly praised for its magisterial quality and the amazing amount of detail Mark Lewisohn has uncovered with his tireless research. If he can’t find at least three sources to corroborate his revelations, he signals his doubt about their authenticity.
What the marvellous reviews fail to mention is how to read this heavy book conveniently. I employ a bookmark to remind me which page I am on, and a paperclip to mark the corresponding page (there are 62) of notes, comments and sources. It’s a book worthy of the Beatles and their legacy.
New Guide Book
The Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka now in the 5th edition
of the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] edition of Sri Lanka, my bestselling guide to the island. Completely updated it includes new chapters on the east coast attractions of Passikudah and Batticaloa as well as details of the Jaffna Peninsula and staying in jail there (now a hotel). I am grateful to the team at Bradt for taking so much care in the book’s editing, and in supplying detailed maps as well as the comprehensive index. I hope readers find the Guide not only useful but entertaining too.
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
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Hallo Premasiri,
wieder ein toller NL von Royston!
Im UBR, jetzt Calamander Unawatuna Beach waren wir 2005. Damals hat unser Zimmer weit unter 100€ (ich meine so um die 50 - 60 Euro) gekostet. Wenn ich das richtig gesehen habe, dann geht es jetzt ab 180 USD für EZ los. Schon heftig.
Danke und liebe Grüsse, Biggi
wieder ein toller NL von Royston!
Im UBR, jetzt Calamander Unawatuna Beach waren wir 2005. Damals hat unser Zimmer weit unter 100€ (ich meine so um die 50 - 60 Euro) gekostet. Wenn ich das richtig gesehen habe, dann geht es jetzt ab 180 USD für EZ los. Schon heftig.
Danke und liebe Grüsse, Biggi
Premasiri
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- 10.690
Peter Piper’s pepper pickings
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 194, Sunday 12 January 2014.
Welcome to readers old and new for this week’s round up from Sri Lanka of assorted tropical topics.
Pepper is green
When Harsha, Neel’s handyman/mechanic, presented me with a sprig of green pepper corns the other day, I decided to preserve it in virgin olive oil to produce a hot salad dressing. I remember having a steak with green pepper sauce in Zanzibar, so I decided to learn more about green pepper corns to try it at home. They even have their own website: www.green-peppercorns.com
Pepper berries
Green pepper corns are the unripe berries of a tropical vine and are used to make the dried black pepper corns that are more familiar to cooks. Apparently they are “good for the digestive tract, reducing gas while increasing hydrochloric acid in the stomach which aids with digestion and helps reduce several types of stomach stress… It may even have anti-cancer properties as well.”
Mrs Beeton's Stuffed Larks, with green peppercorns?
Searching for a recipe, I turned to my copy of Mrs Beeton’s Household Management, with the original owner’s inscription on the flyleaf, dated 1948. Ma Beeton states that “Piper nigrum berries hang on the branches of the plant in bunches…each berry grows distinct on a little stalk.” She gives a recipe for stuffed larks.
From The Spice of Happiness, a privately printed Sri Lankan cookbook published in 1992, I discover that “In colonial days Sri Lanka was not renowned for its pepper although pepper is indigenous there and highly appreciated. It was the Malabar Coast (now Kerala) which provided pepper for the European market…It is an activating agent, stimulating the body and its organs to function with vigour.” Just the job then?
I intend to use my green peppercorns to make a sauce for steak, following this recipe: To 2 tablespoons olive oil (I shall use the oil in which the peppercorns are marinating) in a pan add 2 sliced shallots, 2 cloves of smashed garlic, 3 sprigs of fresh thyme leaf and sauté it for 2 minutes. Take it off the heat, pour in a cup of brandy (ah ha!) and flambé it. Then return the pan to the heat, add some beef stock and reduce gradually, adding 2 cups of cream and 2 tablespoons of grainy mustard. Reduce the liquid by half, then remove the pan from heat and toss in half a cup of green pepper corns.
Wow!
Inner/inside?
When we entered the Southern Expressway recently, we were handed (along with the entrance ticket) a leaflet with rules for driving on the Expressway. I was very puzzled by this rule: Drive on the outer lane; the inner lane is only for overtaking. This seems to imply that one should overtake on the inside of a vehicle.
In or out?
I suspect confusion in English here as the OED does define inner as close to the centre and that’s what the writer meant. However, a motorist knows that overtaking on the inner (ie: inside) lane is not good driving practice. The confusion could be avoided if the leaflet said simply: Drive on the left except when overtaking.
Super Supper
The Bandarawela Hotel was tipped as the upcountry hotel that’s tops for tourists in my year-end review. Of course, that takes into account the whole experience of staying there as, even Senani Perera, the genial general manager of the hotel, would admit, the bathrooms are defiantly old fashioned rather than boutique modern.
Richard in the public bar, Bandarawela hotel
I celebrated my 50[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday at the hotel nearly a quarter of a century ago and when I was there last weekend, nothing seemed to have changed, which made me feel 50 again. The cocktail bar was temporarily closed so the old public bar was back in operation with its giant-sized bar stools designed for bulky planters. Richard, who’s been taking care of guests for two decades, was on duty and a jigsaw puzzle of a steam train that I gave the hotel many years ago was displayed behind the bar.
Stools for heavy drinkers
The restaurant with set or a la carte menu proved a delight. I opted for Herbs and olive oil marinated escalope of beef gratinated with Ambewella cheese, tomato and sautéed onions served with potato chips and boiled vegetables, garnished with a sprig of carrot leaf. It was succulent and tender and, wIth service charge and government tax included, cost just Rs1,180[UK£ 5.61; US$ 9.07].
Movies in the hills
Haputale, my favourite hill country town because it doesn’t especially cater for tourists and concentrates instead on its daily business as a tea growing centre, is moving up in the world. Olympus Plaza, the modern hotel built into a hillside overlooking the winding road and stunning vistas, has expanded and added a new wing with a private movie theatre and a pastry shop (Haputale’s first) with a view.
Olympus Plaza kiddies' floor
The new wing contains 12 rooms, including some small suites but the highlights are on the top floor with a colourful kiddies’ park inside (before it was in the chill of the downstairs garden) a small gym, and two novelties: a gaming room for computer addicts, and a 24-seat cinema, the Delphi Theatre. Guests’ choice of movies (even 3D versions) are shown three times a day at a charge based on a minimum of five people at Rs200 [£ 0.95; $1.53] per person.
It’s a great innovation for tourists who find there’s nothing much to do in Haputale in the evenings. (www.olympusplazahotel.com)
Beat Talk
The English town of Ipswich is not the first place that springs to mind when considering a celebration of the Beat Generation and its legacy. Nevertheless some worthy, if aged, hipsters are preparing for The Festival of The Beats in Ipswich from 31st January to 3rd February, 2014. (http://ipswich-waterfront.co.uk/festival-of-the-beats-2014/)
Beats meet
“The Festival,” says a press release, “aims to bring the style, spirit and philosophy of the generation to a new contemporary audience, through live poetry recitals and performances, jazz music, film screenings, exhibitions of art and artefacts and debate panels. The events will be held in various locations around Ipswich including coffee shops, pubs, art venues and many others, stemming out from the hub of Ipswich Town Hall Galleries.”
Since beats are by definition not team players and even anarchistic and nullifidian, it could well be a rebellious shambles. Although I am billed by the US publishers of my collection of beat generation poems, Gone Man Squared, as “Britain’s Original Beat Poet” I haven’t been invited!
But you can buy the book through http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles, Billy Fury, Cliff and others, from: http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Retro reading for reprobeats
Beat regards
Royston Ellis
Ab Freitag werde ich meinen Urlaub probieren zu geniessen in Sri Lanka....
LG Premasiri
ROYSTON REPORTS, Number 194, Sunday 12 January 2014.
Welcome to readers old and new for this week’s round up from Sri Lanka of assorted tropical topics.
Pepper is green
When Harsha, Neel’s handyman/mechanic, presented me with a sprig of green pepper corns the other day, I decided to preserve it in virgin olive oil to produce a hot salad dressing. I remember having a steak with green pepper sauce in Zanzibar, so I decided to learn more about green pepper corns to try it at home. They even have their own website: www.green-peppercorns.com
Pepper berriesGreen pepper corns are the unripe berries of a tropical vine and are used to make the dried black pepper corns that are more familiar to cooks. Apparently they are “good for the digestive tract, reducing gas while increasing hydrochloric acid in the stomach which aids with digestion and helps reduce several types of stomach stress… It may even have anti-cancer properties as well.”
Mrs Beeton's Stuffed Larks, with green peppercorns?Searching for a recipe, I turned to my copy of Mrs Beeton’s Household Management, with the original owner’s inscription on the flyleaf, dated 1948. Ma Beeton states that “Piper nigrum berries hang on the branches of the plant in bunches…each berry grows distinct on a little stalk.” She gives a recipe for stuffed larks.
From The Spice of Happiness, a privately printed Sri Lankan cookbook published in 1992, I discover that “In colonial days Sri Lanka was not renowned for its pepper although pepper is indigenous there and highly appreciated. It was the Malabar Coast (now Kerala) which provided pepper for the European market…It is an activating agent, stimulating the body and its organs to function with vigour.” Just the job then?
I intend to use my green peppercorns to make a sauce for steak, following this recipe: To 2 tablespoons olive oil (I shall use the oil in which the peppercorns are marinating) in a pan add 2 sliced shallots, 2 cloves of smashed garlic, 3 sprigs of fresh thyme leaf and sauté it for 2 minutes. Take it off the heat, pour in a cup of brandy (ah ha!) and flambé it. Then return the pan to the heat, add some beef stock and reduce gradually, adding 2 cups of cream and 2 tablespoons of grainy mustard. Reduce the liquid by half, then remove the pan from heat and toss in half a cup of green pepper corns.
Wow!
Inner/inside?
When we entered the Southern Expressway recently, we were handed (along with the entrance ticket) a leaflet with rules for driving on the Expressway. I was very puzzled by this rule: Drive on the outer lane; the inner lane is only for overtaking. This seems to imply that one should overtake on the inside of a vehicle.
In or out?I suspect confusion in English here as the OED does define inner as close to the centre and that’s what the writer meant. However, a motorist knows that overtaking on the inner (ie: inside) lane is not good driving practice. The confusion could be avoided if the leaflet said simply: Drive on the left except when overtaking.
Super Supper
The Bandarawela Hotel was tipped as the upcountry hotel that’s tops for tourists in my year-end review. Of course, that takes into account the whole experience of staying there as, even Senani Perera, the genial general manager of the hotel, would admit, the bathrooms are defiantly old fashioned rather than boutique modern.
Richard in the public bar, Bandarawela hotelI celebrated my 50[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday at the hotel nearly a quarter of a century ago and when I was there last weekend, nothing seemed to have changed, which made me feel 50 again. The cocktail bar was temporarily closed so the old public bar was back in operation with its giant-sized bar stools designed for bulky planters. Richard, who’s been taking care of guests for two decades, was on duty and a jigsaw puzzle of a steam train that I gave the hotel many years ago was displayed behind the bar.
Stools for heavy drinkersThe restaurant with set or a la carte menu proved a delight. I opted for Herbs and olive oil marinated escalope of beef gratinated with Ambewella cheese, tomato and sautéed onions served with potato chips and boiled vegetables, garnished with a sprig of carrot leaf. It was succulent and tender and, wIth service charge and government tax included, cost just Rs1,180[UK£ 5.61; US$ 9.07].
Movies in the hills
Haputale, my favourite hill country town because it doesn’t especially cater for tourists and concentrates instead on its daily business as a tea growing centre, is moving up in the world. Olympus Plaza, the modern hotel built into a hillside overlooking the winding road and stunning vistas, has expanded and added a new wing with a private movie theatre and a pastry shop (Haputale’s first) with a view.
Olympus Plaza kiddies' floorThe new wing contains 12 rooms, including some small suites but the highlights are on the top floor with a colourful kiddies’ park inside (before it was in the chill of the downstairs garden) a small gym, and two novelties: a gaming room for computer addicts, and a 24-seat cinema, the Delphi Theatre. Guests’ choice of movies (even 3D versions) are shown three times a day at a charge based on a minimum of five people at Rs200 [£ 0.95; $1.53] per person.
It’s a great innovation for tourists who find there’s nothing much to do in Haputale in the evenings. (www.olympusplazahotel.com)
Beat Talk
The English town of Ipswich is not the first place that springs to mind when considering a celebration of the Beat Generation and its legacy. Nevertheless some worthy, if aged, hipsters are preparing for The Festival of The Beats in Ipswich from 31st January to 3rd February, 2014. (http://ipswich-waterfront.co.uk/festival-of-the-beats-2014/)
Beats meet“The Festival,” says a press release, “aims to bring the style, spirit and philosophy of the generation to a new contemporary audience, through live poetry recitals and performances, jazz music, film screenings, exhibitions of art and artefacts and debate panels. The events will be held in various locations around Ipswich including coffee shops, pubs, art venues and many others, stemming out from the hub of Ipswich Town Hall Galleries.”
Since beats are by definition not team players and even anarchistic and nullifidian, it could well be a rebellious shambles. Although I am billed by the US publishers of my collection of beat generation poems, Gone Man Squared, as “Britain’s Original Beat Poet” I haven’t been invited!
But you can buy the book through http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_16/182-0524309-8332723?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=gone+man+squared&sprefix=gone+man+squared%2Caps%2C167
and The Big Beat Scene with an account of my days with The Beatles, Billy Fury, Cliff and others, from: http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.
Retro reading for reprobeatsBeat regards
Royston Ellis
Ab Freitag werde ich meinen Urlaub probieren zu geniessen in Sri Lanka....
LG Premasiri
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Bettina
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Inner/inside?
When we entered the Southern Expressway recently, we were handed (along with the entrance ticket) a leaflet with rules for driving on the Expressway. I was very puzzled by this rule: Drive on the outer lane; the inner lane is only for overtaking. This seems to imply that one should overtake on the inside of a vehicle.
I suspect confusion in English here as the OED does define inner as close to the centre and that’s what the writer meant. However, a motorist knows that overtaking on the inner (ie: inside) lane is not good driving practice. The confusion could be avoided if the leaflet said simply: Drive on the left except when overtaking.
Ich verstehe sein Problem nicht? Auch ich als Nicht-Muttersprachler (oder vielleicht gerade deshalb?) verstehe ohne Probleme, dass man links fahren und rechts überholen soll. So ist es tendenziell ja auch im "normalen" Verkehr.
Premasiri
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