Asia > Sri Lanka > South Coast > Galle > Articles > Sri Lanka Rediscovered

Samuel Perera remembers the day that Alec Guinness and David Lean dropped into his village in a helicopter and made him a movie star. "I was eight years old - it was 1956 - and our country was still called Ceylon," recalls Samuel, as we follow him down a jungle track by the banks of the Kelani River.

The movie men chose his inland village, Kitulgala, for the filming of the World War II POW drama, Bridge on the River Kwai. Young Samuel was given a small part, while the Kelani River grabbed a major one, as "stand-in" for Thailand’s River Kwai. The bridge is long gone - destroyed in the film's climax - but Samuel, now 52, shows us its anchor points on the river bank as well as pictures of himself with stars William Holden and Jack Hawkins.

Tripping over Kitulgala and the story of its brush with celluloid is the sort of serendipitous event that can happen to the traveller in Sri Lanka - once known as Serendib. The capital Colombo may not inspire you greatly, but before you head for the hills or the coast, pass a some time at that grand old seafront pile, the Galle Face Hotel, a yellowing, colonial watering hole that’s seen better days - and intends to see them again.

Fortified by the judicious application of a little paint (the hotel) and a gin fizz (the traveller), the Galle Face patio still offers one of Asia’s great sundowner experiences. While you’re in Colombo, also duck into the brand-name clothing emporium, Odel Unlimited; the bargains at this factory outlet are extraordinary.

The easiest way to explore Sri Lanka is by hire car with driver. For a song we found a new air-conditioned vehicle and our driver-guide, Donovan, turned out to be a boon companion. We made our first stop 90 km inland from Colombo at the Pinewalla Elephant Orphanage where the twice-daily spectacle of 70 elephants taking a huge, sloshing, wallowing bath in the river is like attending a free-range circus.

Around the old British hill station of Nuwara Eliya (pronounced "Nureliya"), the hills are quilted to forever with tea plantations, while the town - about four hours drive from Colombo - is dotted with rambling, pseudo-Tudor hotels, like the Grand, that have been upgraded to contemporary standards. (Sri Lanka’s dessert buffets, heavy with colonial throwbacks like flummery, jelly and puddings, suggest that some menus, too, may be in need of updating.)

No "sweet tooth" jokes, please. Kandy, three hours drive north of Nuwara Eliya, is home to one of the most sacred sites in Buddhism, the Temple of the Tooth - said to contain a tooth of Gautama Buddha. Security at the temple complex has been tight since a Tamil Tiger bomb attack some years ago; this is one of the few indications that tourists will have of Sri Lanka's civil war. Regardless, there's no holy molar to be seen. The venerable fang remains well hidden except for a spectacular annual outing, the Esala Perahera parade, during the full moon of July/August.

The Lion Rock fortress of Sigiriya (three hours north of Kandy) is probably Sri Lanka's main tourist attraction. A 5th Century AD dynastic drama was played out here, centred on a usurper of the throne named Kasyapa - the tale of regicide and revenge is equal to anything in Shakespeare. I climb a cat's-cradle of iron ladders and walkways that clings to the face of the 200-metre high granite massif in order to take in two views. One is the jungle vista that stretches to the horizon. The other is this World Heritage site's famous "pin-up" gallery - frescoes of shapely contenders for the Miss Sigiriya 500 AD crown.

Sri Lanka's coastline, one of the least spoiled in Asia, is rich with harbours, forts and villages. On the 115 km journey from Colombo south to Galle there's still room for the occasional lumbering elephant, not to mention well-restored Morris Minors. The Indian Ocean massages this coast of granite headlands and empty beaches. Travelling surfers long ago discovered its breaks and around west coast towns like Hikkaduwa you'll find ample budget accommodation and backpacker cafes.

One morning I looked out to see a traditional wooden fishing boat landing on a beach here. What started as a quick excursion to photograph the event resulted instead in me spending half an hour with a team of 20 local fishermen, helping to pull in their wide, horseshoe-shaped net. It was a long, hard haul and the resultant catch, just a few kilos, seemed dishearteningly small.

"Wash the dirt off a ploughman and you have a king," it used to be said of a certain region in Sri Lanka, such was the quality of its people. It’s a comment that could still ring true, despite the country’s apparently intractable civil war. Unperturbed by events on the far northern Jaffna Peninsula, European tourists (unlike Australians) have never abandoned Sri Lanka; as a result, its south west coast has numerous sophisticated resorts, especially around Bentota (66 km from Colombo). Grand arcs of beach sweep north and south here; at one end of the beach is the Taj Exotica, a spacious and relaxed resort hotel where, cocooned by palm trees, gin slings and a good novel, you can in fair conscience be irredeemably slack.

Just south of Bentota is the up-market hideaway of Saman Villas, with sea-view suites, a menu whose spiced wonders can inspire excessive feasting and an "infinity pool" that seems afloat above the Indian Ocean. Saman Villa’s Balinese-inspired architecture invokes images of Ubud minus the temples and moneychangers.

If you’re heading on to Galle, break your journey at the Kosgoda turtle sanctuary, a courageous little operation that has released some two million hatchlings back to sea over the past 22 years. Here we peered into tubs of wriggling baby turtles - hawkesbill, green, loggerhead - each about the size of a 50-cent piece and awaiting release at night.

World Heritage-listed Galle, Sri Lanka's fourth largest city, was a Portuguese fortress in the 16th century before being enlarged by both the Dutch and the British. Now a town of 80,000 people, history is everywhere as you wander Galle's battlements and alleys, evade or engage its strolling vendors and serendipitously bump into its famous cricket ground. Also on your accidental itinerary might be fortune tellers, mosques, archways to nowhere and elegant, somnolent hotels - plus much time spent pouring over rubies, garnets, amethysts and sapphires in gem shops that glitter like Aladdin's Cave.

"Le Corbusier gone castaway" is the idea that comes to mind when you first explore the Lighthouse Hotel, designed by Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. Dominating a headland just north of Galle, the Lighthouse has excellent seafood and almost guaranteed sunset lightshows. Guest room decor is minimalist - the scene at your window is embellishment enough - as is its regrettably dim lighting.

Sitting on your balcony, watching the ocean unload its freight of waves below the sun’s own tumbling garnet, you might recall Mark Twain’s comment when his ship reached Ceylon in the 1890s: "Dear me, it is beautiful." It still is.

Hotels: The Lighthouse room rates start from US$200 per night; Saman Villas' suites from US$150. Call Small Luxury Hotels; (02) 9411 5512 or 1800 251 958; website: www.slh.com.

Articles

• More from John Borthwick