Soul-salving Sri Lanka

We're back, though we don't want to be. Back to reality, chores and responsibilities after a fabulous week in stunning Sri Lanka. A week when we unwound, switched off and recharged. When cell phones weren't a distraction, when newspapers didn't numb us with frightening facts. It was an idyllic state of disconnect. And the spectacular natural beauty of the place was like a salve for the soul.

A week is far too little time to really experience the Emerald Isle in its entirety. But we were fortunate to have even that much. We landed in Colombo airport in the wee hours of October 10 and drove four hours to the town of Kandalama in the central province. It's a quaint little place by the man-made Kandalama tank, close to the Buddhist pilgrim town of Dambulla that is famous for its ancient cave temples.

The Heritance hotel where we stayed is an architectural marvel that lies ensconced in thick woods. The 900-metre structure is hard to spot even from close range because of the clever way in which it has been made to blend with its surroundings. Floor to ceiling picture windows run the length of the structure. Most of the corridors have been left open, so you have rooms along one side while the hill and the woods lie at arm's length on the other. Monkeys, squirrels and monitor lizards have a run of the place, just as much as the guests. Deer and elk roam the property. And bats whizz above your head as you make your way to dinner.

I'm now a confirmed admirer of the architect, the late Geoffrey Bawa. He has created a building of delightful simplicity, yet with remarkable features. Terrace gardens camouflage the Heritance Kandalama completely, so much so that you probably won't spot the hotel in the day till you drive into the porch. And he has integrated large chunks of the rock around which the hotel has been built into the design. So you have portions where the rock serves as the wall. All the rooms have balconies that are surrounded by cascading foliage. Of the three swimming pools, the most beautiful is the infinity pool that overlooks Kandalama Tank.

The other thing that sets the Heritance, Kandalama, apart from other hotels is the quality of the food. It served up some of the best food we've ever eaten, be it Sri Lankan, Oriental or Continental cuisine. There were buffets for every meal and such was the standard that we saw not one guest at the hotel opt for the a la carte menu through our three-day stay. No surprise then that its kitchens have won the Heritance, Kandalama, a whole host of awards.

While in Kandalama, we visited the ancient city of Anuradhapura. A world heritage site, Anuradhapura was the first Buddhist capital of Sri Lanka and is dotted with stunning ruins, the oldest of which date back 2,500 years. To me, the most spectacular were the Abhayagiri and Jetavana stupas. They are impressive in the sheer scale as well as simplicity of design. The Jetavana dagoba is made of more than 90 million bricks! It is considered the largest structure in the world made entirely of bricks. It is said that there are enough bricks in the stupa to build a great wall from London to Edinburgh, a distance of over 500 kilometres.

I noticed though that the Sri Lankan authorities seem to be cementing most of the stupas and painting them white, which to my mind takes away from the beauty of the original structures. Though the effort to protect these gems of history are laudable, I feel one should find a way of doing so without changing their basic character.

Kandalama is a great place to stay if you want to visit Sri Lanka's Cultural Triangle that includes the rock fortress of Sigiriya, the ruins of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, the island's second Buddhist capital. Not surprisingly, the Heritance Kandalama plays host to large groups of Buddhist pilgrims and holidaymakers from East Asia.

After three days in Kandalama, we drove south-west to the beach town of Ahungulla. The drive was picturesque right through, but we had the misfortune of riding in a van that seemed to have no shock absorbers whatsoever. Except for the main motorways, roads in Sri Lanka aren't the best around. So if you're planning to travel there (and especially if you have a bad back), do try to avoid hiring the very popular Toyota HiAce vans. Because those will rearrange your skeletal frame.

Anyway, the six-hour drive did eventually end. And it was fortunate that the place is so very beautiful that you don't dwell too much on the discomfort. Ahungulla lies by the Indian Ocean south of capital Colombo. It is just south of the more popular beach resort town of Bentota, and therefore less crowded. Exactly like everyone's idea of a beach holiday destination, Ahungulla was practically razed to the ground by the 2004 Tsunami. It has built itself back up remarkably well.

Our home in Ahungulla was another Heritance hotel, also designed by Bawa. An equally beautiful property, it bears all of Bawa's hallmarks. Nature occupies centrestage. No element of the design ever takes attention away from the landscape. The Heritance Ahungulla has a massive colonnaded reception lobby that opens out into a placid swimming pool. As you enter, at a single glance you take in the lobby, the pool, a patch of sand and the Indian Ocean beyond. It just takes your breath away.

We'd decided to use the Ahungulla leg to just relax, not exert ourselves by dashing about visiting the local sights. And we did just that. The Ahungulla Heritance offers its guests more onsite recreation options. It has two tennis courts, a badminton court, two swimming pools, billiards, ping-pong, a library and Internet connectivity. So the evening we arrived we hit the beach and then the pool. The next day was library, badminton and then the pool. Followed by tennis for my husband and the kids. And the beach at sunset. The third day all four of us hit the tennis court before cooling off in the pool. (My kids will never forget the sight of a monitor lizard taking a drink from the pool we were in and a squirrel stealing my older son's lemonade!). The evening was reserved for the beach after a well-earned afternoon siesta.

The only excursion while in Ahungulla was to nearby Kosgoda to visit a marine turtle hatchery. It is a remarkable, not-for-profit facility. Run purely on donations and entry fee, the hatchery was completely destroyed by the Tsunami. It's up and running again, thanks to the generosity of patrons around the world.

The hatchery pays local fisherman a little more than market rate for the turtle eggs they excavate from the beaches. This ensures that these endangered creatures don't end up on breakfast tables. The hatchery then incubates the eggs under mounds of sand. Soon after the hatchlings emerge, they are released into the ocean. The local species include the Green Turtle, the Leatherback, the Olive Ridley, the Loggerhead and the Hawksbill.

The hatchery caretaker said only one percent of a clutch of eggs bears female hatchlings. So the females are doubly endangered and their survival is critical to the future of the species. That's why the hatchery keeps the females for seven years, making sure they are strong and their chances of survival once back in the ocean are the best they can be.

After a memorable three days in Ahungulla, we drove north two hours to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. It was the 16th of October. A bustling metropolis, Colombo is full of the sights and sounds of any South Asian city. It is full of beautiful buildings constructed during British colonial rule, which ended in 1948. My husband had been to the city on work in June and was keen to take us for lunch to a place he had visited then. Paradise Road Galleries, situated in an upscale area of Colombo, was everything he'd promised and more. The food was excellent, the ambience unparalleled. Curiously, the house was once home to the architect Bawa. So it seems we were on a virtual Bawa pilgrimage!

Of course we did the truly touristy thing and hit a few export surplus clothes stores in Colombo. The much talked of House of Fashion was a little chaotic and disappointing. What surprised me was the fact that it had no trial rooms! Odel was much more impressive in the way it was organised and the variety of stock. The prices were unbelievable. So I quickly emptied hubby's wallet.

We'd booked an apartment for the day at the Hilton Residences. The apartment was well-appointed and comfortable. We relaxed there for a few hours and flew out at midnight back to Mumbai, just in time to be home for Diwali.

Sri Lanka was incredible. We came back happy, rejuvenated, sated, a little bit heavier and very, very tanned. And we can't wait to get back.