Trip to Sri Lanka
Travelling is the best gift anyone can have and even more if you do it in love with your partner. Sri Lanka has been one of those vacations that you don’t forget; full of colors, scents, good food and awesome surroundings. I switched off so much from work that it took a big effort to get back into my occidental routine. Our ‘landing’ in Sri Lanka was not very pleasant as our driver took us to the wrong hotel at first, but when we arrived to a paradise called Amanwella (our hotel) the 4 extra hours of road trip were totally worth it.
The mix of “Indian traffic chaos” with amazing nature and dark faces with wide white smiles made us feel far away from home but very cozy at the same time. Aman hotels are exquisite. I had already heard about Asian luxury, but it wasn’t till I stayed at Aman’s resorts that really understood it. Effortless elegance, discretion, and exquisiteness; a real savoir-faire. It’s the beauty of the silent luxury that often I talk about and I love. The architecture of the hotels coexists with the environment; it blends perfectly with nature.
In Tangalle, south of Sri Lanka, I’ve tasted the best tuna fish ever. It melted in my mouth, like butter, super yammy! Even the fish and chips were delicious! Curry was quite different, too: drier with less sauce than Thai. I found it very easy to digest so I ended up having local curry dishes with red rice every night. Apart from drinking nice local beer (one of the best pleasures of life!!), we also had fresh coconut water to start the day with (it felt so great on an empty stomach).
What I’ve enjoyed most of the trip was being so close to the biggest mammals of the planet: whales and elephants. Their moves are powerful and harmonious; it was wonderful being able to watch them on their habitat. Udawalawe Park has plenty of elephant families, buffalos, peacocks, crocodiles, eagles and many other species. We didn’t expect to see all that variety of animals at all! The smell of that nature amazed me. The air had a taste and you could almost eat it. Similar to a fresh countryside scent multiplied by 10. As a viewer, I felt like in the best of theatres. And I say theatre because it was a bit surreal, even intrusive. It was quite sad to feel so unconnected to that nature. Sailing on a speedboat through the Indic Ocean or driving a 4×4 Jeep through a Natural Park had a point of incoherence that didn’t speak at all the language of the environment. We tried to be as respectful as we could, keeping silence and turning off the engine as much as we could but sometimes I was so thrilled that I couldn’t hold a yell! Hehe.
