Greetings once again from amazing Sri Lanka.

Made in Sri Lanka

One of the (American) gourmet e-Newsletters I receive had a recipe for a cocktail made with Lapsong Souchong tea and rye whiskey. This gave me the idea for a less esoteric cocktail made with tea, whisky, and ginger cordial all from Sri Lanka. I used single estate, unblended, BOP (that’s broken orange pekoe) tea from the Glenanore Estate  (500g cost Rs450; £ 2.19; US$ 3.60). However, any supermarket loose leaf tea would do as long as the packet claims it is Pure Ceylon Tea.

The ginger cordial comes from the Adisham Monastery shop. I used one of the several whiskies produced in Sri Lanka although it seemed to be more neutral spirit with caramel colouring and whisky flavouring than actual Scotch. However, any cheap whisky is great as the mix mellows the taste.

Here goes.  To a generous spoonful of BOP tea in a cup (or tea pot) add boiling mineral water (has to be pure). Cover and let the tea leaves steep for at least five minutes. Strain the liquid into a glass, cool, and then put it in the fridge to chill.

Put lots of ice into a cocktail shaker, pour in a measure of whisky, and then add an equal measure of neat ginger cordial and an equal measure of the chilled tea. Squeeze in the juice from a lime wedge. Shake vigorously. Serve in a martini glass… and slowly sip a tea-lightful taste of Sri Lanka.

Vesak

From Emil Van Der Poorten, the proprietor of the ancestral bungalow Halgolla which he has turned into a plantation guest house (www.halgollaplantationhome.com) I received a copy of his May eNewsletter with its reference to Vesak, celebrated in Sri Lanka on 5 & 6 May.

“May is the month of greatest religious significance to a country which contains the reputedly most pristine form of Theravada Buddhism. The Vesak Full Moon Poya festival commemorates the birth, enlightenment and demise of Gautama Buddha. It is a veritable festival of light with huge “pandals” constructed in most of the population centres and temples. Homes are festooned with multi-hued lanterns and oil lamps. Needless to say, this is a time of religious observances in every little town and hamlet, as well as the larger population centres. If you want to see Sri Lanka in its finest after-sunset garb, this is the time to visit!”

Paying guests are welcome at Halgolla for an introduction to genuine Sri Lanka hospitality (and cooking!) in natural surroundings, and with a sense of history. This intriguing portrait, which hangs in the parlour, is of A J Van Der Poorten, the original owner of the bungalow.

Symbols of Sri Lanka

On my trip to Haputale last week, I was lucky enough to encounter two symbols typical of Sri Lanka: elephants and a tea factory. We had just stopped the van at the no longer used (“silent” in planter’s parlance) tea factory of Glenanore. I was getting ready to photograph the GOLDEN HILL tea kiosk that has recently opened on the ground floor of the factory when, to my amazement, two elephants and their mahouts passed happily on a truck on their way further up the hills.

Cottage Extravaganza

When so many of Sri Lanka’s guest houses are raising prices while doing nothing to train staff and raise their salaries to ensure service commiserate with their ambitious room rates, Mount Field Cottages on the road to Haputale is concentrating on providing a pleasant holiday experience without problems.

Mews-like cottages have huge bathrooms, granite walls and splendid panoramic views of the hills stretching into the southern distance. There are more guest rooms on lower levels, including a suite of smaller rooms beside the swimming pool. This is shaded with blue and has a faux trompe l’oeil painting of a beach scene at one end. It’s hard to believe one is in the hills of Halpe and not in a beach resort.

The open-sided restaurant is at the opposite end of the swimming pool, with an open kitchen and a help yourself lunch counter where a superb spread of chicken and fish curries, two kinds of rice, and five vegetable curries, plus dessert, costs SLRs600 (£ 2.85; US$ 4.80). Vegetables are organic and home grown.

The stewards, in black and white polo shirts, seem to be everywhere, serving with a smile and happy to chat about the menu, the sights in the area, and proud to discuss the resort’s attractions.

The A la carte menu includes the Mount Field Cottage speciality of seafood dishes and a platter of batter-fried mushrooms, onions and garlic, as well as succulent devilled dishes including mutton, served here by hotel school trainee, Dulanjaya.  Mixed fried rice starts at Rs300 and a Club Sandwich is Rs460. A service charge of 10 percent is added to all prices and, for once, the obliging service seems worth it.

Mount Field Cottages, www.mountfieldcottage.com 166km post, Haputale Road, Halpe; tel: 057 3575336. Rooms from Rs4,500 (£ 21.42; US$ 36) plus 10% service charge.

Attic Archives

“I guess you’d call the boy in the picture a weirdie. And you’d be right. He’s strictly, as they say in Beatnik language, from Weirdsville.”

So begins the article by Sally Vincent in the Daily Mirror of 26 November 1959 that I found in my attic archives.

It goes on to say: “His name is Royston Ellis. He’s eighteen and he’s a great guy… Royston chummed up with Cliff Richard (the-most-popular-boy-in Britain) and the result was ‘ROCKETRY’ – Royston’s POETRY read aloud against a background of ROCK music.”

Ah, happy, innocent days! Read all about it in my book The Big Beat Scene, which has a new foreword and afterword added to the text originally published in 1961. It’s available through:  http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

Greetings to readers around the world. I’m spending this weekend in one of my favourite haunts, Haputale, at 1,429m (4,689ft) above sea level in the hill country of Sri Lanka, instead of being at home by the sea.

Made In Sri Lanka

No, this is not doll’s house furniture but attractive tissue box covers made in Sri Lanka – at the Manacare Village of Hopes and Dreams, about which I wrote in last week’s newsletter. This is a charity designed to create income and livelihood for Sri Lankans who have suffered loss, whether through the 2004 tsunami or other tragedies. It is located inland from the 93km post on the A2 (Galle Road).

All sorts of fascinating products are handmade there, with the special delight being guest-room size bars of natural oils soap shown in last week’s newsletter. Of course, I couldn’t resist buying a cat bed for Ollie, whose unexpected birth will be remembered by original readers of this newsletter (see Nos 6 & 10).

Another Dip Tip

This doesn’t come from a tin like last week’s tipped dip. I made it myself. I have always liked chickpeas since I had them as garbanzos when I lived in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, 50 years ago.

I don’t know where the chickpeas (kadala) we buy in Sri Lanka come from, probably Pakistan. The local method of preparation is to serve them boiled so they are soft with a sprinkling of dried chilli pieces as a snack during a drinking session.

My recipe for Chickpea Dip (or spread if you want a healthy substitute for peanut butter) begins the night before you make it. Remember this is not Hummus from the Middle East, a smooth blending of chickpeas, olive oil, lemon and garlic, but my own crunchier version. It’s great with bell pepper fingers and a glass of Laphroaig.

Begin by putting a cupful of chickpeas to soak over night in a bowl of mineral water. (You need to have water that is free of chemicals and potable.) The amount of water should be at least an inch above the upper layer of the peas. In the morning, the peas would have swelled and possibly absorbed all the water. What’s not absorbed, discard.

Put the chickpeas in a saucepan full of mineral water and set to boil. To this add lots of peeled and squashed cloves of garlic and a large onion cut thinly. Sprinkle in a generous measure of freshly ground pepper (but no salt) and some turmeric powder for colour. Put in some mustard seed too.

Now cover the saucepan and let it boil fiercely. After 30 minutes, take off the cover. If the liquid is drying up, add more. Let it boil and boil and boil without the cover until the chickpeas are tender. If they are not tender add more mineral water and keep boiling until they are, and the liquid has evaporated.

When it’s done, leave it to cool. There is no need to remove the skins from the chickpeas as this adds valuable roughage to the paste. Put the chickpeas and all the mush of garlic and onion into a blender. Now here’s the secret: add a dessert spoonful of sesame oil and a cup of freshly-made vegetable stock for flavour, plus a hearty dash of white wine. Blend. If the paste is too thick, dribble in more wine.

Serve cold with crackers or veggies.

Attic Archives

This week’s rummage through my attic archives yielded not an article, but a photograph.

It shows a village street in southern France. I found it in an envelope that also contained a certificate saying that this photograph was successful in winning the BBC Children’s Hour Competition on 17 August 1954. If I had won four such certificates I would have been entitled to claim a “Presentation Pencil.” I suppose I could also have claimed to be “an award-winning child photographer”!

Books On Line

My review last week of Identity: The Sri Lanka Architect attracted this enquiry from Pete Brand in the USA: “Any suggestions as to how I might get a copy of this coffee table book for my son, the architect with the same name? Just a thought. I tried Amazon and Barnes & Noble but didn’t do too well on those attempts.”

I thought about this for a while, especially as the book contains neither website nor address informing where it can be bought, and it is a Sri Lankan production that international on-line booksellers probably don’t stock.

Then I remembered that we have an on-line bookshop in Sri Lanka at www.vijithayapa.com. I tried the website myself and, while it took me a fair amount of time to conquer the technicalities of registering, eventually I managed to order and pay for a book called A Survey of Social Change in an Imperial Regime to be posted to me. (I shall review it in a subsequent newsletter.)

I checked about the book Pete Brand requires and it is available and can be posted to addresses worldwide, payment by Paypal or credit card. Readers in Sri Lanka could also order my book, Sri Lanka – The Bradt Guide, on line and have it posted to them in Sri Lanka; for readers elsewhere it would be better to order direct from http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/552/Sri-Lanka.html

Beat regards.

Royston Ellis

Greetings from my favourite country rain or shine: Sri Lanka.

Made in Sri Lanka

Regular readers will know of my penchant for cocktails and canapés and unusual products made in Sri Lanka. So you’ll understand how delighted I was to discover in my local supermarket, cans of Chicken Spread in chilli or curry flavour. Although it doesn’t look particularly attractive, it has a smooth consistency that makes it ideal for a dip, and a full taste when served with raw, juicy bright orange carrots (from Sri Lanka’s hill country) as a nibble with a vodka martini.

The ingredients of the chilli spread shown here are listed as Crysbro chicken, mayonnaise, corn flour, vinegar, bell pepper, carrot, salt, permitted flavour enhancer (E621), onions, dry chilli, pepper, garlic. It seems to have mixed parentage, being manufactured by Apollo Foods (Pvt) Ltd for Farm’s Pride (Pvt) Ltd and distributed by C W Mackie plc, all Sri Lankan companies.

It’s Halal Certified and carries an ISO Food Safety Management System. A tin of net weight 155g costs SLRs180 (80p; US$1.38).  Same again?

Hopeful Village

The Village of Hopes and Dreams was officially opened last week by HE John Rankin, British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka. This is run by the Manacare Foundation, a charity started in Britain in 1994 by Mrs Joy Butler Markham.  The Village is Joy’s response to the damage to lives and livelihood caused by the 2004 tsunami. She realised that while NGOs were helping with re-housing projects, there was a need to help people re-build their lives.

The Village, built on jungle land cleared and developed by volunteers, consists of several buildings and sections. There is some accommodation for the disabled as well as a physiotherapy clinic and vocational training rooms for teaching life skills (such as a course for girls who want to work abroad as housemaids), and dance/drama classes.

In an email to me last week, Joy said: “The whole idea really is that the sustainability ideas at the back, i.e. the soaps, candles, jewellery, coir, carpentry, sewing … can start to make a small profit and thus pay for the teachers, doctors, physiotherapists, carers, cleaners, etc … thus making it totally sustainable … problem thus far is that I have built the houses which interfere with any profits … my fault entirely.”

Jewellery, work clothes and over 100 types of soft toys and useful household items (seen here) are produced at the village.

Tiny bars of soap using natural oils, perfect for guest rooms, are also produced there. Soap sales are currently 12,000 bars a month, helping to create industry and income for villagers as well as generating some income towards costs. Donations, of course, are always needed (see the Wish List on http://www.manacare.org/srilanka)

To see and understand this amazing enterprise (Manacare Foundation, Godagama, Telewatta, Hikkaduwa) just drive along the Galle Road and turn inland up the lane opposite the 93km marker. Drive over the railway line and into the interior for about five minutes to reach the entrance to the village.

Visitors are welcomed on weekdays between 8am-5pm, but best to check first with Raja on 0772 063552.

Architecture

The architecture of Sri Lanka since the 1950s is beautifully represented in a massive tome, a publication of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects, called Identity: The Sri Lankan Architect (ISBN 978 955 0508 003). The book impresses from its sheer size, let alone content. It weighs 3.6kg, is 6cm thick, contains 536 pages and features notes on, and photographs of, the creations of 124 architects and 19 Architectural Practices. The concept, design and production of this book was by BT Options; it costs Rs4,000 (£ 17.77; US$  30.76).

I suspect it might have been inspired by the desire to show the world that there are other notable architects in Sri Lanka besides the vaunted Geoffrey Bawa. However, judging by the photographs of their work, many Sri Lankan architects seem unable to shake off Bawa’s influence.

While touring Sri Lanka, I have enjoyed the fun of modern buildings such as The Tangalle Bay Hotel and The Tea Factory Hotel – both featured in the book — and the Chaaya Blu and Chaaya Tranz hotels, too new to appear. But I have also been disturbed by the ugliness of covered space created by exposed concrete pillars that conjure up the grim ambience of an underground car park, instead of the charm, grace and essence of Sri Lanka.

Attic Archives

After last week’s video clip of me in Brighton in 1960, another blast from the past has emerged, this time a magazine called Today The New John Bull, published in London on 15 July 1961. It’s an unintentionally hilarious account of a visit I made to Moscow and met a Russian girl who had been my pen pal when I was 16 and we went for a walk to a park where people were dancing.

…“This is a very popular new Russian waltz,” Svetlana told me as we danced to the strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ “I hope you like it!”

The next dance was a faster one. I took Svetlana into the arena and tried a few rock ‘n’ roll steps with her. She was horrified.

“No,” she said, “you must not do that. Rock ‘n’ roll is very bad.”

I put my arm round her, whispering a phrase I had memorised for the occasion: “Ya lubloo tibaya (I love you).”

She smiled and fumbled in her handbag for the phrase book. In the faint light she pointed to a sentence. I peered at the book excitedly.

“Do you always have fogs in England,” it said.

I leaned forward to kiss her. My lips brushed on to her cheek.

“For Peace and Friendship,” she murmured passionately as she slipped away into the night…

To read about the dawn of the Swinging Sixties, try the re-issue of my book The Big Beat Scene, which has a new foreword and afterword added to the text originally published in 1961. It’s available through:  http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

Welcome to this week’s newsletter with its mixed bag of contents, mostly related to Sri Lanka.

Cupcake!

The 21^st century American craze for cupcakes has reached Sri Lanka and, thanks to a gift from expat resident Jane Fletcher, arrived at Horizon Cottage on Monday.

I didn’t know what a cupcake was since these small, individual cakes would be called muffins here or fairy cakes in Britain. Apparently they have been around since first baked in 1796. These delicious-looking mini-cakes securely packed in a box are made in Beruwala, a coastal town about 12km north of where I live. They even have their own website, www.beruwalacupcakes.com from which I learn that they cost from SLRs40 (2 pence; 32 US cents) each for a minimum order of 12.

Diary Date

Thursday, 3 May 2012 is a date for your diary if you live in or near London. That evening, Shevanthie Goonesekera is to present a paper to the Friends of Sri Lanka at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London on “A Revolutionary Route. The artistic journey of the Russian Émigré painter Alexander Dimitrievich Sofronoff.”

Why should that be of interest to friends (and fans) of Sri Lanka? Because Sofronoff lived in the then Ceylon from 1936 painting, and consequently influencing many local artists. Shevanthie, who has traced over 100 of Sofronoff’s distinctive paintings, will also talk about his life in Ceylon, his employment as décor artiste at the Galle Face Hotel, the successful exhibitions held at the hotel, and his close connection to the British community in Ceylon.

It was because of this connection that I heard about Sofronoff from a visiting British couple, as the lady was born in Ceylon when her parents lived here and they bought some Sofronoff paintings, which she inherited and has at her home in England. This example I found described in an auction catalogue as “Ceylon Coastal Scene” (c1960) which is rather mysterious since Sofronoff died — and is buried — in Sri Lanka in 1948. It sold for £620 (SLRs124,000; US$1,033), twice its estimate.

New Year

The Sinhalese & Tamil (Buddhist & Hindu) National New Year was officially commemorated on 12 & 13 April although celebrations continued into the following week. It’s the time when Sri Lankans return to their home villages to join in religious observances as well as fun and games with their families. Thus it’s the time when everything slows down.

It’s also the time when the Asian Koel (kovula; Eudynamys scolopacea) starts going “whoop-whoop” as it potters about the trees. It’s a difficult bird to see but impossible to ignore because of its monotonous chanting, like a cuckoo. And it’s a kind of a cuckoo too since it cuckolds crows by laying its eggs in their nests.

The games played at the New Year include pillow fights on a pole, tugs of war and, shown here, the throwing of a single dice at a board to get a high number, while villagers bet on the outcome. It’s also the time for bicycle races although in this photo from my garden it seems there are more motorbikes as escorts than racing cyclists.

For lunch on New Year’s Day we had a scrumptious Mutton (actually young goat) Biriyani cooked by Chaminda (in the red T-shirt above) accompanied by a spicy pineapple curry and boiled eggs. Wonderful!

That night, though, there was heavy rain, lightning and thunder and another tree fell across the driveway to the cottage. Even though it was raining, the tree had to be cut down and removed so my dinner guests could leave.

Monsoon Months

This is the period of pre-monsoon storms for us on the west coast. It’s when the days are swelteringly hot with scorching sunshine and then, as night rolls in, there are vivid lightning flashes followed by booming crashes of thunder, and welcome rain. Terrifying, but good for the garden.

The nightly storms herald the approaching change in the monsoon winds. From May the west coast sea churns and the days are humid, while the east coast sea becomes calm and days balmy, making it the best place to be. It’s another of the joys of Sri Lanka that visitors at any time of the year can find the weather they want.

The tracks and months of the monsoon, are plotted on this 232 year-old map that I bought while in London last month. It is by Rigobert Bonne (1727-1795) cartographer to the French royal court who brought a touch of modern clarity to his maps, eschewing the frills of 17^th century mapmakers. This map was printed in 1780 and uses arrows to indicate the direction of the monsoon.

Living For Kicks

Thanks to Harriet Griffey, a London-based journalist whom I don’t know and have never met, I have received a link that shows the whole of Living For Kicks, the TV documentary about young people in which I appeared in 1960.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76jBpQJYcFg

It was marvellous to see it after 52 years, especially since it’s in black and white and looks so dated. I am amazed, though, how articulate the kids sound although at times it seems like a series of comedy sketches, with a posh interviewer, a sinister nightclub owner with a pencil moustache, a shocked mum, dapper Teddy Boys, and yours truly as the token beatnik poet with scraggly beard and fake Brighton accent.

To read about those days, try the re-issue of my book The Big Beat Scene, which has a new foreword and afterword added to the text originally published in 1961. It’s available through:  http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

A change in the weather and in the year as Sri Lanka celebrated the National New Year on 13 April, so it’s New Year Greetings from this wonderful island of serendipity.

Tsunami Alert

We had a tsunami alert on Wednesday, 11 April. Within 20 minutes of a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, I had a call from my driver about the possibility of a tsunami alert, and then came sms confirmation from a dynamic friend in Colombo. Next was a call from the British High Commission so I could pass on the tsunami warning to British residents in the south of Sri Lanka, since I am the BHC’s warden for that area.

I quickly stuffed a backpack with passport, credit cards, cash and laptop, and went to join villagers gathering at the highest viewpoint in my garden to watch the sea. The authorities predicted that – if there were to be a tsunami – it would hit our beach at about 4.15pm.

Traffic on the coast road was diverted inland by police, and soldiers patrolled to prevent possible looting as people abandoned their homes to move to higher ground. Even this iguana in the garden decided to seek safety high in a palm tree.

Mercifully, by 4.30pm nothing had happened and soon afterwards the alert was cancelled. I was most impressed by the efficiency of the system of informal and official networking that resulted in everyone being warned promptly of the possibility of a tsunami. It was a good exercise for us all.

Cannon Ball Run

In keeping with its reputation as the best (if slightly barmy) place to stay in Colombo to capture a sense of the past, The Galle Face Hotel (GFH) on 5 April celebrated its annual Cannon Ball Run. This commemorates the occasion in 1845 when a cannon ball was misfired during a practice session by the British army on Galle Face Green. The ball crashed through the roof of the boarding house that was the predecessor of the GFH, and rolled under a chair in the drawing room.

The mishap is used as a fine excuse for a charming event in which two invited notables race each other along the promenade to the hotel, with the first to touch the cannon ball being declared the winner. Noel Coward’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen played, the hotel’s standard was lowered as the sun set, and a local bagpipe band marched up and down.

This year the competitors were Their Excellencies John Rankin and Bruce Levy, High Commissioners to Sri Lanka for the UK and Canada respectively. So eager were they to compete they set off at a cracking pace before the race was formerly flagged off by Lord Naseby, former Deputy Speaker of the British House of Commons, who was on a visit to Colombo.

I was fortunate in being able to join my old friends Lord & Lady Naseby and Sanjeev Gardiner, the Chairman of the GFH, in the starter’s box.

The event was organised and skilfully commanded by Eshan Gunasekara on a visit from his home in England, who ordered Their Excellencies to stop running and do it again because of the false start. In jolly good spirit they did!

The first to tap the cannonball was HE John Rankin although HE Bruce Levy was the favourite of the noisy Canadian contingent. I noticed he sported one white sock and one red sock as Canada’s colours for the run.

The combined talents of all the hotel’s staff under Vice President Chandra Mohotti, created a wonderful evening, enlivened by the hotel’s signature cocktail of a delicious version of Pimms with cinnamon. As always at the hotel’s special functions, the food was a delectable variety of international and local cuisine, prepared under the direction of Executive Chef Rasika De Soyza, whose cooking I have previously enjoyed at Colombo’s Galadari Hotel and at Velessaru Island in the Maldives.

This appropriate piece of ice sculpture especially fascinated guests. The great appeal of the GFH is that every evening is serendipitous, even if one is just sitting on the chequerboard terrace watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean, as guests have done for 148 years.

Guided

In 2009 I received a letter from Michael Jenn commenting on my book on Sri Lanka published by Bradt in the UK and Globe Pequot in the USA. It said, in part, “(your book) is by far the best available. I know because I auditioned all the others and none has your depth of personal knowledge and experience between its covers…It is much more than a guide. It is a companion for the imaginative traveller who wants to discover not just the cheapest guest house but also the soul of this beautiful country…”

Well, praise like that was inspiring. So when Michael Jenn (whom I had never met) telephoned me last week during his latest visit to Sri Lanka, I invited him to the cottage for sundowners so I could thank him for his comments. Only then did I think of Googling his name to see whom I had invited.

Michael Jenn, I discovered, is an actor who has appeared in the film Unleashed with Bob Hoskins and Jet Li and, more recently, Sherlock Holmes starring Jude Law and Robert Downey. When he returns to London next week he will be performing at the National Theatre; later this year he goes to Australia to direct a play. It was a thrill to meet this modest and very talented actor and stage director who now visits Sri Lanka twice a year as a volunteer, teaching English to children in an orphanage near Kurunegala.

As he learns more about Sri Lanka, Michael still enthuses about my guide, the latest edition of which is available direct from: http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/552/Sri-Lanka.html

Beat regards

Royston Ellis.

From Sri Lanka, greetings to readers around the world, and thanks for giving  this site 953,988 hits during March.

Scrape

I discovered this odd object forgotten in a corner when the shelves in the kitchen of my 108 year-old cottage collapsed through old age and woodworm last week.

It would have been used to scrape the flesh out of dried coconuts for making curries creamy, as can be guessed from the ratchet fitted to the sharp end. It is a “one-off” as it is actually bone, and appears to come from the front part of an elephant’s skull.

Beach Carnival

There have been several attempts to drum up excitement on the beaches of Sri Lanka with various festivals organised in places like Hikkaduwa and Negombo. But many tourists move out of their beach hotels then since they come for Sri Lanka’s tranquil serenity, not carnival mayhem.

On Friday & Saturday 30 & 31 March, it was Bentota’s turn. It was obviously going to be a success from the amount of effort put in before the event. Huge posters, banners and flags were on display beside the Galle road and for days it was the topic of excited conversation amongst the local youth.

There were sports and beach games, including volley ball and a tug of war, and cultural performances followed by a beach party with local and international DJs until the early hours on both nights. Entrance fee was Rs1000 (£ 5; US$ 8).

A welcome innovation was the number of food stalls, including one selling cheese kottu roti, an intriguing snack of chopped up roti (flour pancake), vegetables, chicken curry gravy and beaten egg, topped with cheese. (See No. 22, 12 September 2010).The organisation, by Bentota Sports Club, The Sunshine Water Sports Club and the Hawkeyes Club of the Military Intelligence Corps was magnificent. Those tourists who checked out of their hotels should have stayed; it was fun and completely safe.

Bar Fly

Flying can be so tiresome, it is worth patronising airlines that do their best to make it a pleasant experience on the ground as well as in the air. So I heartily endorse the introduction by Qatar Airways of their lounge for Business and First class passengers at London’s Heathrow Airport. It actually has caring, intelligent people to serve (and guide if necessary) passengers caught in that no man’s land of waiting for departure. (Unlike other airline premium lounges where passengers are obliged to serve themselves.)

The barman in the Qatar lounge at Heathrow when I flew recently from London to Colombo was called Vinnie and he came from Mauritius, a country he was so enthusiastic about, he made me want to visit there again. The biggest joy, however, was the selection of Islay Single Malt Whiskies, so the waiting period passed painlessly with the help of a few drams of Laphroaig.

Tea Break

It was 8am Qatar time when I found myself in the premium lounge at Doha’s airport awaiting my onward connecting flight. I was surprised to discover that alcohol (except champagne) was not available until 10am. Strange, as for passengers in transit, it was the perfect time to have a snifter.

Instead I propped myself up at the tea bar where I was delighted to savour Dilmah loose leaf teas from Sri Lanka brewed on demand by a smartly dressed tea barman, Aravinda, who comes from Kandy. He was praising Sri Lanka so much, it was a pleasure to meet and hear him doing such a lot to promote the country…and Pure Ceylon Tea.

Although I loathe tea made with teabags, instead of loose leaf tea, I resort to using them when travelling, as I never check into a hotel without a miniature kettle and a bundle of tea bags in my suitcase. That’s not because I resent paying the high price hotels demand for tea, but because I like tea when I wake at 4am and can’t cope with room service (or anyone) at that hour. So I make my own tea in my room, frequently with Dilmah teabags which come in a variety of flavours, including unblended single estate Ceylon tea (from a single source in the manner of a single malt whisky).

Dilmah’s Earl Grey Tea (shown here in a mug decorated with the Tamil alphabet) is 100% pure Ceylon tea of medium strength but deep tone with a refreshing fragrance of Bergamot. “Ceylon tea,” the packet says, “is renowned for its richness, full flavour, delightful bouquet and real tea character. Only strength and tone vary, depending on the elevation of tea gardens above sea level in low, mid and high grown regions.”

WWD

Did you miss it? WWD – World Whisky Day, commemorated this year on Tuesday 27 March. Luckily a fellow lover of single malt whiskies tipped me off in time so I was able to celebrate the day with a tasting of whiskies, watched by a curious Ollie, the cat, as the sun set.

Honoured Again?

Last year (see No. 86) The American Biographical Institute very kindly offered to make me a “Man of the Year” for a mere US$295. Since I declined the “honour” the Institute is trying again to gouge US$295 from me, this time to sell me a plaque bestowing upon me the title “American Order of Merit.” I would be entitled to add the letters AOM after my name. That probably really stands for “Another Obvious Mug.”

Beat This

Where else, I wonder, can one buy and download the collected poems of a published 1960s beat poet in an eBook for just £2.99? Only at www.roystonellis.com/shop, with a credit card via the secure site of Paypal. “This incredible collection of poems, a testimony of the times and lifestyle of 50 years ago, resonates even today.” Rollicking reading!

Beat regards,

Royston Ellis

Sunny greetings from Sri Lanka with a star-studded newsletter this week.

Alms Giving

We had an alms giving at home on Monday to commemorate three months since the passing of a dear friend, and long term resident of Sri Lanka, Beryl Harding Marsh (see Newsletter 90). Neel invited 10 monks to the cottage and, after they had chanted and delivered some short sermons, they were given alms in the form of a breakfast of rice, string hoppers, fish, chicken and prawn curries, served by villagers.

Discover Sri Lanka

It was standing room only when I joined HE Dr Chris Nonis, the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Great Britain, in a presentation at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Wednesday 21 March.

I had flown over by Qatar Airways from Colombo the day before and, although everybody was saying how warm it was for March, I found the wind bitterly cold.

I was well wrapped up (as can be seen here in this photograph by my guide book publisher, Hilary Bradt, of myself and Madeleine Bell, the Programmes Manager of the RGS outside the building), but nevertheless succumbed to a filthy cold the next morning and returned to Sri Lanka in a tempest of sneezes.

The presentation began with a thought-provoking address by Dr Nonis on the real situation in Sri Lanka, as opposed to the one that anti-Sri Lankan activists are trying to portray. I followed in lighter vein urging tourists and travellers to visit Sri Lanka soon, not just to see for themselves but also “before the rest of the world moves in – and changes Sri Lanka so it becomes like the rest of the world.”

The event was chaired by Dr Rita Gardner, Director of the Royal Geographical Society, who controlled the questioning with aplomb. I was fortunate that Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, the Sri Lanka wildlife expert, was in the audience, as he was able to answer some probing questions about whale watching and boating.

The next morning, Gehan sent me this link, which everyone interested in Sri Lankan wildlife will find fascinating. http://www.jetwingeco.com/index.cfm?mid=6&id=1552&sid=1552&iid=6&section=sectionsub&list=0

Bar Dynamics

I stayed at the elegantly colonial Gore Hotel, Kensington, where I was intrigued to discover a term I hadn’t heard before, called “Dynamic Pricing.”  I was given a list of the rack rate prices for each of its 50 bedrooms, and told that the rates were the maximum; the actual price of a room would depend on the day’s dynamics and other conditions such as a corporate discount, and would drop according to demand.

My attic “Queen Room” was listed at £240 (that’s SLRs49,200 at today’s high rate of SLRs205 to 1GBP) with continental breakfast. I lunched in the hotel’s restaurant on sea bream with prawn and chilli omelette and cucumber pickle (£ 16.95; Rs 3,474, plus 12.5% service charge). I’ve had better fish in Sri Lanka although presenting it on a mattress of prawn and chilli omelette instead of on a bed of mashed potato, was a new idea for me. However, I am always puzzled when confronted by fish served upside down, ie: with the skin side uppermost, as shown here.

An unexpected pleasure of The Gore is its genuine Edwardian bar where skilled barmen specialise in enticing cocktails ingeniously infused with spices and flavour, not just 50ml of shaken spirits. My Pisco Sour was a revelation, mellowing the harshness of the pisco with a creamy, alluring winsomeness.

Dutch Auction

Actually, this was an auction held at the Dutch House above Galle in aid of cricketer Kumar Sangakkara’s charity: Bikes For Life. It wasn’t a Dutch auction in the sense of the price being reduced until a buyer is found, but a vigorous session of bidding after a jolly dinner in the beautiful setting of the candle-lit garden of this chic unique antique boutique hotel.

The set three-course dinner (not a dreaded buffet) cost just Rs2,500 (£ 12.20; US$ 20) which, as one English guest who was visiting for the Sri Lanka v England 1^st Test match said, was the cheapest meal he has had on his holiday here. Charity dinners in England, he said, are usually priced higher then normal to raise more money.

Guests were treated to complimentary vodka cocktails lavishly poured from glass jugs as they strolled around the lawn trying to find their tables. That’s how Neel met Sri Lanka’s former captain Kumar Sangakarra.

The cricketer’s aim is to raise funds to buy bikes (at about US$100 each) for deprived children living in the rural areas of the north. He was helped in this at the dinner by the ebullient entrepreneur and hotelier, Geoffrey Dobbs and his staff, led by the tireless Henri (alas soon to leave after 10 years at the Sun and Dutch Houses). The service (aided by some glamorous volunteers) and the organisation were superb, while the dinner of prawns with cucumber shooter followed by chunky golden chicken curry was delicious.

The mariner’s chart of Galle Harbour based on a survey by Sea Lark in 1907 that I donated, was the third lot. It sold for Rs55,000 (£ 268; $ 440). The evening garnered SLRs3.8 million which, with a further donation from Geoffrey Dobbs of Rs200,000, is enough for 400 bikes.

Congrats to all concerned. It was a wonderful evening in great company although, oddly enough, only at the end did we realise we were sitting at the same table as the former captain of England, Michael Vaughan.

Beat

While in London I was able to meet my oldest friend, Jimmy Page, whom I have known since we appeared on stage together (he on guitar, me spouting poetry) in 1959. Jimmy has written the introduction to my eBook collection of poems: BEAT.

It’s available from www.roystonellis.com/shop with payment of £ 2.99 by credit card via the secure site of Paypal.

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

Discovering Sri Lanka

I was in London to take part in an event at the Royal Geographical Society on “Discovering Sri Lanka.”  A full report on that next week.

I carry photographs with me on my travels to remind me of Sri Lanka, and this is a simple one that cheers me up when I contemplate the grey streets, grey skies and grey people of London. Here is purple bougainvillaea, scarlet hibiscus and (look closely) white frangipani, together with concrete ducks (too tough for the snakes to eliminate, as happened with my real ones) in my garden.

Cocktail Gore

Before going to London I checked out the hotel (The Gore in Kensington) where I was to stay and discovered that there are four brand new delicious cocktails on the hotel’s Bar 190 menu this month. The hotel has announced a competition with an award of a £50 bar tab for a self-portrait photograph of a guest drinking one of the new cocktails and posted to the hotel’s facebook or twitter page.

The hotel’s website proclaims that Bar 190 “is a haven in the heart of Central London offering luxurious yet intimate surroundings where guests can unwind with a wide range of signature cocktails, made with home infused spirits to  keep them entertained for hours.” I’ll let you know if that’s true in next week’s newsletter.

SAVING THE RHINO

What is that makes a mature and successful literary agent suddenly turn to song, not just writing the music for a very catchy ditty, but also singing it with a lilting Flight of the Conchords’ verve?

Guy Rose has been my occasional literary agent for many years and is still trying hard to get a film made of my historical epic, now known as The Maldives Avenger.

To my bemusement he has taken to championing the cause of the Black Rhino in song. Click on this link to hear something unusual; worrying because of its message, but nevertheless a jolly tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMm1YGAF2x4

High Speed Alert

After months of comparative peace as the railway line that runs alongside my garden was being re-laid, I was rudely awoken from my siesta last Sunday by a loud klaxon and the rushing of an engine with a dozen carriages speeding along the track. The horn was necessary to alert traffic at the level crossing (without a gate as yet) near the house.

How high a speed the high speed train will be able to achieve along a track without fencing or level crossing gates remains to be seen; but at least it’s possible to travel the west coast from Alutgama to Galle by train again.

Dinner Auction

It takes place on Wednesday 28 March at The Dutch House, high above Galle. The menu will be by Skye Gyngell, the Michelin starred chef from Petersham Nursery in London, who has just closed her restaurant as she finds the Michelin star has brought her more business than she and her restaurant could happily cope with.

After the dinner there will be an auction of donated items to support the charity founded by Sri Lanka’s ace cricketer (and brilliant after dinner speaker) Kumar Sangakarra. Called ‘Bikes for Life’ this is a campaign to raise money to purchase bicycles for children living in the rural areas surrounding Kilinochchi, Mankulam and Mullativu.

I have offered this fascinating chart for the auction. It is in fact two charts on one huge folded sheet (122cm x 100cm). Showing the approach to Galle Harbour, it is based on an original survey by Sea Lark in 1907, first printed 1908, with updates until 1938. Printed January 1973. Uncoloured, it shows all aspects of Galle both inland and at sea from Gintota to Unawatuna. Unframed and rolled up, it’s a fine piece for framing, so I hope someone buys it to sponsor at least one bike.

Read Me

Andrew, my webmonster (that’s his name for what he does), has started a magazine and website, succinctly called Read Me (www.readme.lk).

Its logo says it’s an ‘Information Technology’ magazine – a pair of words that make the brain of this old poet shrink with trepidation.

Anyway, he has set up a nice office and I wish him and his colleagues the very best with their new venture. If this newsletter, which Andrew designs and circulates every week, is late, ‘read me’ may well become ‘beat me!’

The Big Beat Scene

That’s a cue for me to mention again my book The Big Beat Scene which has a new foreword and afterword added to the text originally published in 1961. It’s available through:  http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.

And, yes, read me.

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

Welcome to readers new and old to this weekly round up from Sri Lanka of some tropical topics

Made in Sri Lanka.

From Tom, my great nephew currently coaching at a Football Academy in Sierre Leone (and who loves visiting Sri Lanka), came this jubilant email message: Bought a packet of biscuits at a market and turns out they are imported from Sri Lanka – Munchee natural ginger biscuits!

So I found an 80g packet of Munchee Ginger Biscuits at my local supermarket at a cost of SLRs35 (£ .18p;  US$ .29c). They are indeed manufactured in Sri Lanka, by Ceylon Biscuits Limited in Pannipitiya, a suburb of Colombo. According to the packet, the ingredients are wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, natural ginger powder, malt, sodium and ammonium bicarbonate, salt, soya lechithi, natural spices, permitted flavour and colour.

The aroma of ginger (and malt?) was tantalising when I opened the packet but, alas, I dared not try one because of the wheat flour (= gluten). However, they didn’t last long at home so they must be a pretty good munch.

Fishy

In last week’s newsletter I mentioned how I enjoyed Chilean Seabass (cod actually) in Singapore, so when I was in Colombo on Friday (to have my haircut for next week’s event at the RGS, see below), I went to one of my favourite restaurants, the Lagoon at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.

It’s been open for a few years now but it remains refreshingly free of slick service, letting guests concentrate on choosing what they want to eat from the fish and crustaceans on display on the chilled counter.

There is a menu but most guests line up at the counter, make their selection, have it weighed, and then retreat to the table while cooks work their magic.

There is a great range of sauces and cooking options and, fortunately, a good drinks list too. I had Kir Royal at Rs800 (£ 4.21;  US$ 6.66) while I waited, and waited…and then a plate of a dozen delicious oysters (Rs 1,300;  £ 6.84;  US$ 10.83) fresh from the west coast town of Negombo, just north of the airport, to keep me busy, before enjoying native steamed freshwater Modha (barramundi) swimming in garlic butter (Rs1,162;  £ 6.12;  $ 9.68).

Dinner Auction

On Wednesday 28 March in the gardens of the Dutch House in Galle there will be a chance to have a terrific dinner and spend money for a worthy cause at the same time. The menu will be by Skye Gyngell, the Michelin starred chef from Petersham Nursery in London, who has just closed her restaurant as she finds the Michelin star has brought her more business than she and her restaurant could happily cope with.

After the dinner there will be an auction of donated items to support the charity founded by Sri Lanka’s ace cricketer (and brilliant after dinner speaker) Kumar Sangakarra. Called ‘Bikes for Life’ this is a campaign to raise money to purchase bicycles for children living in the rural areas surrounding Kilinochchi, Mankulam and Mullativu.

One bicycle at the cost of about US$100 provides countless benefits to a rural community member’s life, allowing him or her access to employment, markets for sale and purchase of goods, and to water and food sources. Crucially, for thousands of rural children, the ownership of a bike is the key to a life-transforming education.

The event at Dutch House will start at 7.00pm with cocktails; dinner will be served at 8.15pm. The auction will start at 9.30pm. There will be dancing afterwards. The cost is Rs 2,500  (£ 13.15; $ 20.83) per person for the dinner.

If you’re living in or visiting Galle, hope to see you there! Reserve through:  info@thesunhouse.com

SMRT?

Not a typo for SMART. It stands for the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit System and I used it last week to get from Changi Airport to Tanjong Pagar station, which was a one-minute walk from the super efficient Amara Hotel where I was staying.

There is an easy system for buying a ticket. At the Changi SMRT station ticket machine, I clicked a button requesting a ticket, and then tapped the destination on the route map. The machine requested S$3.20 (Rs304; £ 1.60; $ 2.55) so I fed in 2 two-dollar notes and received the change and a plastic card to use as a pass through the turnstiles.

The journey from the airport to my hotel took 30 minutes, about the same time as a taxi but at a tenth of the price. When I reached my destination, I went to another ticket machine, fed in the plastic card and received one dollar back: a clever scheme to make sure tickets are recycled and not scattered as litter.

On the train I experienced one of those life-defining moments that make one face up to reality. I was quite happily strap hanging (I only had a slim briefcase as my luggage) when a beautiful young lady stood up and offered me her seat. She insisted  — so I had to take it. I know she was being kind and polite, but she certainly made me feel my age.

I wonder if anyone will offer me a seat when I use the Underground during my visit to London next week?

Discovering Sri Lanka

I shall be in London to take part in a panel discussion at the Royal Geographical Society on Wednesday 21 March on the topic “Discovering Sri Lanka,”  having been invited to take part because of my Bradt guidebook about Sri Lanka. Tickets are available at £15, which includes a glass of wine. More information on http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/Travel+Events.htm

The book is available direct from: http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/552/Sri-Lanka.html

Greetings, and welcome to this, the centenary edition of my weekly newsletter on Tropical Topics.

Made In Sri Lanka

The thrill of living in Sri Lanka is not solely the beauty of the scenery and the people; it is derived from discovering the ingenuity of people too. There is so much talent here.

Several years ago a young man from Bentota dreamed up the idea of making toothpicks from discarded cinnamon roots, not just from any old wood splintered and soaked in cinnamon oil. Thus Pranjapani Cinnamon Toothpicks were born.

I’ve noticed that many restaurants seem reluctant to put toothpicks on the table. I’ve always used a toothpick after a meal and even had one made especially for me in gold by a local goldsmith.

A neat enhancement of the value of Pranjapani Toothpicks is that they are sold in a wooden container with 100 cinnamon toothpicks, costing Rs300 (£ 1.66  US$ 2.54). This makes them ideal for presents and for presenting on the table at a dinner party. A refill pack of 100 toothpicks costs Rs100.

The label is very persuasive about why toothpicks are good for you. It states: “Cinnamon toothpicks provide medicine for your mouth, boosts brain activity and helps to get healthy gums and breath fresh…Quit smoking by chewing a cinnamon toothpick…Take a break and refresh yourself by chewing a cinnamon toothpick.”

Ingenious indeed!

Oh My Cod!

On the self-service counter in front of the show kitchen at the Amara Hotel in Singapore where I stayed recently, I saw this succulent-looking, large flaked, white fish delicately grilled.

“What’s that?” I asked the chef.

“Chilean sea bass,” he said — and I eagerly helped myself to a large portion.

“Actually, it’s cod,” said the Singaporean kitchen boy with a grin.

Whatever it was, it tasted delicious. I see from a Google entry (which also has a photo of a hideous fish) this comment: “I am a big fan of Chilean sea bass but because of the very high cost, I don’t buy it very often. I am amazed at how such an ugly fish can taste so good.”

While I was enjoying the fish, I was presented with a grilled half-lobster, actually included in the buffet price of the equivalent of Rs3, 610 (£ 20.05; US$ 30.60). With lots of crab and oysters, stuffed cuttlefish, lamb chops and other meats, salads, and a platter of ripe French cheeses, it was amazing good value, as well as good eating.

Blog: 100 Not Out

I was visiting Singapore for the second time in 10 days (life’s like that for a working freelance ghost writer) and, on the flight there, had a chance to reflect on the 100 issues of this newsletter. It started off in April 2010 without any clear format beyond expressing my enthusiasm for Sri Lanka. It continues like that as I write about what intrigues me in the hope that readers are interested too.

One reader said he hopes to see the newsletter in book form with an index so he could easily find topics. Andrew, my webmonster who designs and uploads this newsletter every week and created the basics for it, tells me that readers should go to www.roystonellis.com/blog where there is a search box in which they can enter the topic they want to find, click on the icon and up comes the relevant newsletter. So that acts like an index.

London visit

In a few days, on Monday 19 March, I fly to London to take part in a presentation about Sri Lanka at the Royal Geographical Society. I have been digging out my warm clothes, including woollen underwear I bought in Chile a few years ago, as I know it will be too cold for me. Last year, on my visit to London to attend the unveiling of my portrait at an exhibition of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, I wore my lined Burberry trench coat and a French beret to keep my bald head warm.

I was startled as I walked across Trafalgar Square to be snapped by lurking paparazzi. Afterwards someone explained that it must have been because of the way I was dressed, such a contrast to the drab clothes of everyone else. Well, the Burberry is nearly 40 years old.

At the RGS, I’ll be answering questions about holidaying in Sri Lanka. (See: http://www.rgs.org/travel.) My fellow panellist is Sri Lanka’s energetic High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr Chris Nonis (seen here).

Dr Nonis has lived for many years in the UK, where he worked in the public health sector, and academia, before returning to Sri Lanka to head the family business. He was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society (of which I am myself a Life Fellow) in 2008, and is the first Sri Lankan to hold this office in the Society’s 140-year old history.

At the time of his being chosen as the Sri Lankan envoy to the UK and Ireland, Dr Nonis was functioning as the Chairman of the Mackwoods Group of Companies, which was established in 1841.

I look forward to meeting friends and readers at the RGS on Wednesday 21 March. It should be an interesting evening. Fortunately, the entrance fee of £15 includes a glass of wine!

Oops.

Last week, I gave an out-of-date link for buying my Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka. It should have been:

http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/552/Sri-Lanka.html

Beat regards

Royston Ellis