Sri Lanka: Paradise lost, paradise regained

Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Colombo

The friendly SriLankan Airlines purser made the usual small talk as we coasted over the Indian Ocean from Jakarta en route to Colombo.

After the "have yous" and "where tos", there was the parting line we came to hear time and again from Sri Lankans over the next five days: "I hope you will enjoy our country -- it really is a paradise".

Our group of Indonesian print and electronic media saw for ourselves Sri Lanka's abundance of beauty -- the tattered colonial charm of Colombo, cool mountain resorts and stunning monuments set in awing picture-postcard panoramas -- during our trip, at the invitation of the national flag carrier and travel agent Jetwing Tours.

This land of 19 million people lives up to the name English novelist Horace Walpole gave to it in the 18th century: Serendib, or serendipity, a place for discovering pleasing things by accident.

Paradise it certainly is, but for most of the last 20 years it has been a uncharted one to all but the most intrepid traveler. The civil war raging in the Jaffna peninsula caused not only a huge toll in lives lost (Sri Lankans point out that most of the bloodshed was restricted to the battle zone in the north) but also for the country's economy, tourism in particular.

"It was a challenge," acknowledged Hilton Colombo's director of marketing and communications Yasmin Cader. "We tried to get around it by increasing events and promotions directed to locals when visitor numbers dropped off."

The cease-fire between the government and the Tamil separatists, signed in February, has fanned a new sense of optimism for the tourist industry.

Among those looking to better times ahead is SriLankan. Under CEO Peter M. Hill, the airline, formerly Air Lanka, has spruced up its image in the past four years to become one of the region's foremost carriers. It was voted Best Airline of the Year 2001 -- Central Asia in the largest ever global survey of airline passengers.

Yet it was also one of the victims of the civil conflict. It suffered what Hill calls "our body blow, it was worse for us than Sept. 11" on July 24 last year, when a terrorist attack on the Colombo military installation and the adjoining Bandaranaike International Airport destroyed four of its Airbus fleet.

The airline was forced to streamline its operations and its employee roster. It now has eight Airbus serving 27 destinations in 20 countries.

"We revised salaries and tried to get better internal communications," Hill said. "The staff is better informed now and it has pulled everybody together. We've come through all of this leaner, meaner and better suited to face the future -- and the future looks great."

Indonesia is one of the markets that SriLankan is looking to. It wants to introduce Indonesians and expatriate residents of the country to its delights, and will be introducing a "buy-one-get- one-free" tour package in April.

For US$808, a couple will be able to select from a choice of three six-day, five-night packages, inclusive of airfare, breakfast and transportation between sites.

It's great value for money, but it still may be a hard sell for Indonesians with security jitters or who find the loss of creature comforts too hard to bear in a country where power cuts are frequent (although they do not affect .

For the adventurous, Sri Lanka is likely to be something special.

Even with the predominantly Buddhist culture of the Sinhalese people and the voluptuous calligraphy of Sinhala, Indonesian travelers will feel at home. The food, with the influence of a period of Dutch colonial rule, is not too different (lovers of Indian food will be in seventh heaven), the agrariarn vistas are reminiscent of Central Java and Bali, and the climes of tea country in Nuwara Eliya is a dead ringer for Puncak, only without villas hugging the hillsides and frustrating traffic jams.

There is much more to be discovered. Sri Lanka, like a becoming maiden emerging from a purdah imposed by others, gives up her diverse charms willingly.

The starting point is Colombo, which retains a sedate, small- town charm (it only has one million people). Among its sights are the colonial era buildings on Main Street, the elite suburb of Cinnamon Gardens where the well-heeled work out by walking around Viharamadevi Park and an old but impressive Hindu temple on Slave Island, its statues a nesting place for ubiquitous crows.

Colombo's fading elegance grows on you, but the real attractions are outside the capital.

A drive through the countryside is a kaleidoscope of images: Buddhist stupas giving way to statues of the Virgin mother, Hindu temples spiraling into the sky and the minarets of a mosque. The people are hospitable and courteous, supremely elegant in their saris or long shirts and sarongs.

The highlight for me was when we visited Sigiriya. It is a huge, imposing rock that was home to a palace fortress built in the 4th century A.D. Its fascinating tale smacks of a Greek tragedy, with elements of fratricide and sibling rivalry in the extreme as a prince, Kassapa, vied for the right to become king.

Visitors enter through the pleasure gardens, dotted with bathing pools, before starting the climb of 1,500 steps to the peak. It's difficult but worth every step, as you pass frescoes of comely courtesans, the mirror wall (you are supposed to be able to see your reflection but we couldn't) and past the lion's claws, the last remnant of the palace's original lion design, to the top 180 meters above the land.

There, with a bathing pool and the remnants of the palace, you look out over a canopy of green and hear the real sound of silence. It's humbling and at the same time inspiring, not least in being able to make the climb!

A few kilometers down the road is Dambulla, another favorite site for me from the trip. Another walk up the hillside brought us to a rock temple housing five caves. The first three are older and more magnificent, with their towering statues of Buddha in various poses (our guide pointed out that the two more recent caves show more signs of wear than the older two).

It was here that I realized the irony of being a traveler in Sri Lanka today: You have all its riches pretty much to yourself. Apart from our group, there were only the guards, the resident troupe of monkeys and two other visitors. It was the same story at most of the places we visited.

With the cease-fire, Sri Lankans are hoping that more tourists will experience their warm hospitality and their country's beauty.

I, for one, have started saving.