TRAVEL
A dream of
Sri Lanka
Adam Jacot de Boinod travels to the South Asian island for a taste of its culture, cuisine and cricket
I
arrive at Colombo Airport in the midday heat, through a scrum of duty-free shops bizarrely comprising electrical goods. The dishwashing machines particularly amuse me. The next morning, I’m off to Ratnapura, the home of Sri
Lankan jewellery, in the search for gems. The island has one of the widest varieties of precious stones, with blue sapphires, star sapphires, rubies, garnets, moonstones, aquamarines and topazes being just a dazzling handful. I feel a real delight in witnessing the source of my food, as manual workers, up to their knees in mud in the paddy fields, leave immaculate rows of rice behind them. And to taste their rice that evening makes me appreciate my food all the more. Sri Lankan cuisine is typically wholesome and healthy, featuring a wealth of spices and flavours. Like India, typical meals consist of colourful curries (eggplant, potato, green banana, chicken and fish). These come with rice and roti, string hoppers (steamed rice noodles), kottu (a carb-heavy, diced roti dish, often served with vegetable, eggs or chicken), and pittu (a mixture of flour and coconut). I visit some old English friends of mine, who have realised their dream by buying a plot of land, building a house, planting some fruit trees and selling the proceeds of their cinnamon crop. From their hilltop, I can see the coastline and hear the competing sounds of Buddhists chanting and Muslims called to prayer, and smell the fruits of their orchard – quite a special sensory overload. It really makes me sit up and question whether, away from the Tropics, I can really realise my own dream.
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