RSS

Contact us

Saturday 6 September 2008

Luxury in a war zone

Henry Sands ventures into post-tsunami Sri Lanka

The problem with having siblings significantly younger than you is that there comes a horrible moment when you realise you’ve become too old to be on a family holiday. My siblings are seven and nine years younger than me. Despite my evil stepfather’s best efforts to convince me I was a ‘weird saddo with an unhealthy closeness to my mother’, I continued to join the family on holiday each year. My mother always chose destinations as isolated as she could through fear of actually having to meet anyone. Antisocial perhaps, but the Sands family has never enjoyed having to meet or talk to anyone while on holiday, including themselves.

This year I was finally evicted from their holiday and left to plan my own. Five minutes on the internet made it clear there was no way I was going to be able to afford to go anywhere like the places I had been taken with the family for at least 15 years. Then I saw a Sky News flash on the TV: ‘Sri Lankan government lifts ceasefire and declares civil war upon the Tamil Tigers.’ Perfect. Where could be more affordable than a country at war? The fear of being bombed would surely keep most people away. Six weeks later my girlfriend and I were on a Qatar airways flight to Colombo.

Our first hotel was located ten miles east of Galle, where four years ago the tsunami wiped out most of the coastline. Though much of it has now been rebuilt, with an extensive collection of hotels, guest houses and private villas, our driver pointed out haunting reminders of the catastrophe that — proportionately — took more lives here than in any other affected area. Reassuringly, our hotel was called the ‘Fortress’.

Built in 2006, the Fortress, with its immaculate courtyard and 40ft wooden entrance doors, is exactly what you would have expected from a large colonial fort — only with a 21st-century touch-up. The bedrooms had more gadgets than I would have expected to find in Q’s laboratory and even after the ten-minute explanation from the porter, I was unable to turn my side light on without the built-in iPod blasting Hindi music around the room. The strong currents prevented us from swimming in the sea, so Anna ignored the enraged stares of the other guests and adopted the gargantuan pool’s communal floating lily-pad for most of the day. The best thing about this hotel, which is a member of the exclusive Leading Hotels of the World club, is that it costs the same as the Milton Keynes Holiday Inn.

More articles from: Henry Sands | this section

Print this article  |  Email to a friend  |  Permalink  |   Comment

Post this entry to:   del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Advertisement

Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine

Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms

Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP

All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved