We did have wonderful food in Sri Lanka. I'd be interested in seeing the Anthony Bourdain episode. I'll have to see if I can find it. Having no TV is occasionally an inconvenience.

The Sri Lankan food looked great and I would love to learn how to cook food from that area.

Yes, Sri-Lankan food is amazing.
I was born in Sri-Lanka, of Dutch Burgher heritage, and 41 years of living in Australia has not shaken the love of a good Sri-Lankan curry out of me.
The most unique thing about the cuisine are the Carbohydrate elements, obviously plenty of rice, but different variations like the yellow (saffron), Buriyani (cooked in a stock), but also my favorites, Stringhoppers (a rice noodle that is prepared in a layered disc) and all different types of Roti's.
There is also the other type of Hopper, a pancake type mixture cooked in a deep concave pan, Soft in the centre and crispy on the edges, cooked with or without an egg in the middle. Served with either a curry and sambol or with jam.....magnificent.
Another great and unique offering are Lumpries. It is a rice cooked in stock with various curries, meatballs, eggplant and sambol, traditionally warmed in a bannana leaf but more commonly these days in foil. It is a feast or celebration food and can usually be bought frozen at asian grocery stores in most major cities.

Shanek reading your response makes my mouth start watering all over again. Every dish you mention was included in the show. I cannot believe I have never had Sri Lankan food before. Boy have I missed out!

One Sri Lankan who hosted a meal was of Burgher heritage, and in discussing this it seemed to be a very sensitive subject. Most of her family had left Sri Lanka for Australia etc. I still don't understand why so many Burghers felt the need to leave Sri Lanka...

Shanek-

The show covered all the dishes you mentioned, and Anthony spent time at a Dutch Burgher club.

I can go on about Sri-Lankan food for ages. I dont get to have it all that regularly since we moved from Melbourne to Mildura 3 years ago, away from Mum's cooking and all the great little Sri-Lankan Cafe's in the outer suburbs.
Another thing you must try are the multitude of "fingerfoods" in Sri-Lankan cuisine, what my mother refers to as "short-eats". Pan Rolls are my favorite, a dry curry of various types,wrapped in a pancake,rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried...delicious.
I must try and watch that Anthony Bourdain special, we only get him on pay TV here, I might do a search on Mini-Nova and try and download it.

What was the Dutch Burgher club that Anthony went to? Mum and Dad belonged to one in Nuwara Eliya in tea plantation country. I think it was called the Hill Club.

The Burgher's, as far as I know, felt threatened by the conflict between the Singhalese and the Tamil's and started fleeing Sri-Lanka in great numbers in the 60's and 70's. I was very young when we left in the late 60's and most of our extended family had already moved away.

shanek-

Here is Anthony's itinerary in Sri Lanka:
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/ci.No_Reservations_in_Sri_Lanka.show?vgnextfmt=show

Thanks for the rundown cruisinred. The thought of watching Anthony and the local have a night on the Arak and then head out for Kottu Roti makes me want to watch it even more.

Another dish that comes to mind is a breakfast cuisine called Pittu (pr...PIT-TWO). It is a coco-nut based concoction that is steamed in a metal cylinder and served with mild "breakfast" curry....MMMMMM.

Thanks for the link Cruisinred.

Many thanks for recommending this show. I managed to download a copy and just finished watching it.
It really showcased what is the ultimate "foodies" paradise, as long as you can handle the spice.
It was just a pity that Anthony was a little off color in the opening few scenes as he wasn't as enthused about my absolute favorite dish, Hopper's, as he might have been after his bout of Colombo belly.
I really enjoyed the way he highlighted all the street food and home cooking as that is what Sri-Lankan food is all about.

I took Anthony's being off-color as a warning, it looked like heat exhaustion.

The travel warnings haven't changed since I started keeping track last year (sigh).

You ae probably right, the heat in Colombo is pretty powerful. Nothing a good curry and a cold beer wont fix.

Dont let the political trouble put you off Femi. There is a lot of Sri-Lanka that can be seen in safety.

Hmmmm. This episode really peaked my interest in Sri Lanka again. I even went as far as sorting through my frequent flyer miles (itinerary was done last year). When was the last time you went back for a visit Shanek?

I haven't been back for over 10 years Femi. We wanted to wait until the kids were old enough to fully appreciate it and the youngest is only 7 so we may still wait a few years. Travel is a bit more arduous than Thailand and we dont want the kids to find it a chore.

Understandable. I usually find that travel warnings are slightly hysterical, but I've never been to a place that had such strong warnings from the British, American and NZ sites, hence my hesitation. But then Anthony Bourdain went, which makes it seem more reasonable to go. However, he ended up trapped in Lebanon during the last rash of fighting. I think I will wait a little longer. Hopefully things will improve by late 2010/early 2011.

Hey! Anthony Bourdain isn't who I'd follow on his travels. But consider your fellow Fodorites who have been to Sri Lanka in the last two years: Robbietravels most recently, Craig before that and Cheryl and I were there in Nov 2007. We all lived to tell the wonderful tales!

Yes, Kathie I've been following the trip reports closely which is what makes my decision even more difficult. Thanks for sticking with me through the seemingly never ending should-I-or-shouldn't-I saga.

I know that ultimately it's my decision, but I do value hearing the views of like minded travelers as I weigh the options. I may also be paying too much mind to my non-traveling friends. I received their dire warnings prior to my more recent trips to the Middle East (including Turkey!), Costa Rica (go figure), Burma and Eritrea. My travel agent made me sign a release before she would accept my booking to Kenya. I'm still sticking to my plans for Mexico this summer. None of these places however has the State Office travel warnings that Sri Lanka does, which makes my decision so difficult. Every time I am about to leave on a trip, I get butterflies, and then I proceed to have a great time in spite of my anxiety. One would think I'd be used to this by now.

What makes you reluctant to follow Bourdain? His style of travel isn't that far removed from mine. I'm sure that as soon as I post this I'll remember all the reasons I wouldn't want to follow in his footsteps, but for now nothing comes to mind. Destinations of his that I've already visited include Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Saudi, and Mexico among others, and he makes me want to go back, if only to sample the food that I missed.

His tolerance for risk seems similar to mine, and if he found Sri Lanka safe enough to visit, it means I most likely would too. I'm just finding it difficult to ignore the travel warnings. Probably more than anything else because of the "I told you so" factor, should anything go wrong.

lol, Femi, I'm really joking about Bourdain (except for some of the foods he eats).

I absolutely understand that you need to decide for you whether you are comfortable traveling to a place. No one else can decide for you. If I can offer more info that will help with your decision, do let me know.

PS Are you going to be at the LA gtg?

Yes, I'll be there

Great! I look forward to seeing you again.

We came back from 14 nights in Sri Lanka on Monday, including overnight in Colombo and 2 nights at Yala. No problems at all. The terrorism is only in the far north. You end up not going anywhere if you only choose places "safe"

freccle, I hope you'll add a report to the forum. There are just three other Sri Lanka reports in the last year and a half, so your report can really add to the info available here.

Overmoderation has become the norm here!

Ooops. I take that back...wrong post

Yes, freccle please right a report. As I explained above, I suppose everyone has a different idea of what counts as 'safe'.

Duh...I meant 'write'...long day!

Hey great post, seem I'm late to the party, yep we have wonderful food here and Colombo folk generally know some not so secret special places. Curries, devvilled, battered crumbed, crabs, kiribath (milk rice) with the traditional spicy accompaniments, rottis, hoppers - yes there is quite a lot to try for spice lovers.

Also Femi, I feel pretty confident in saying that Colombo and southern/western sri lanka is is quite safe for a tourist so please don't get taken up by the media hype and fret about coming here. Yala is now open and lot of people visiting these days.

Yala is open?? That's great news. I've already started with my (3rd) substitute trip for early 2010. I've moved my vacation times around and it now looks like Sri Lanka will have to wait till Feb 2011. One consolation is that the weather will hopefully be better in Feb 2011 than the late March/early April time slot that I had orginally planned for next year.

Anyone else as nutty as I am planning trips that far in advance?

I watched a repeat of the show last night. Even better than the first time, as the GTG served to make me long for Asia more than ever.

Who is Anthony Bourdain? Is he some fooddie doing TV shows? Sorry for my ignorance but I have never heard of this guy akthough I do follow quite a few food programs on TV. Recentky there has been two Indian guys and a girl travelling around India especially the South and doing some real good cooking.

Anthony Bourdain used to be a chef, then became a writer and now has a show in which he travels the world sampling cuisine and culture. I like the show because they generally travel off the beaten path, and visit some of the not so glamourous places.

Ok folks gotcha!

I just saw "Anthiny Bourdain" on TV tomorrow on the Travel and Living Channel at 10pm Srilanka/India time...

Dunno what the episode is but will sure follow it.

Let us know what you think.

Dear Femi,

I have heard about this show on TV but I missed the screening. I note that you taped it. Is it possible to get a copy from you? I am prepared to pay you for it. I am in Melbourne. I am also a Burgher.

Thanks for you reply.
Regards,
Jenni

Hi Jenni,

I am happy to burn a copy to disc for you if you are comfortable with giving me an address. I am more than happy to help out a fellow Burgher.

The other option is to download "Vuze" onto your computer (just google it) and then the video and Tv world is your oyster, as long as you have ADSL.

Shane,

Is that legal in Oz? I use Utorrent and find it much better and use less resource on my comp too.

Legality is an obscure concept Hanuman, just ask anyone who shops at King Power Duty Free.

I only started to download torrents when Australian TV stopped showing US Survivor and Amazing Race. How can they expect me to live without travel associated reality TV?

I cannot switch torrent-stream providers now. I have invested much time procuring a bank of friends so my download speeds are very quick and so far, touch wood, I am trojan free.

Please seed Sea Patrol season 3 in HD!!!

The whole season in HD in one torrent? I'll have to upgrade my internet plan.

Aah!That brings back memories.My 2004 golf trip to Srilanka.
Food took prime time than golf !! String hoppers (rice dough,fermented with 'toddy 'or palm liqour,pushed thru a vermicelli press)& Oppoms or rice pancakes served with mutton stew.Phew.Lived on it a whole week...& ofcourse the Circket Club Cafe.Old colonial bunglow..cold beer & steak.

Hi Jenni - are you Mark's sister?

I ain't no lansi but lots of lansi pals.

Shanek thanks for offering to make the copy for Jenni.

I had to do a search to find out what 'Sea Patrol' is all about as I'd never heard of it.

I looked up utorrent, but I did not find what I think I'm loking for. Is it a program that allows you to download TV shows?

Femi, have you noticed that there seems to have been a little bit of progress in the conflict? There have been all these people celebrating the streets. I can't think why.

I think it's time to put Sri Lanka back on the burner.

Hi Femi,

I use VUSE. It is a torrent host that lets you search a number of sites, inc mini-nova, for movies, tv programs, games etc. I am yet to think of a recent movie that I havn't been able to find on it and most of the sites have a rating and comments section so you can gauge the quality, authenticy and safety of the torrent before you download it.

On it's own, it will only allow you to watch this back on your computer but a good quality decoding and burning program like Nero Vision will let you transfer the file to disc.

Here is the link...

http://www.vuze.com/app

Dogster,
Most of the celebrations were when their cricket side made the 20/20 world cup final.

As for the conflict, I dont think that we have seen the last of it yet.

I'm doing it!!!! Just sent in my deposit for Sri Lanka! From the posts above it is obvious that this trip has been a long time coming! I'm booked for February 2011 and will be flying in via Paris and Bangalore.

First night is very short, at the Wallawa (sp?), then on to Yala via Galle (long day I'm sure) where I'll spend 4 nights camping with Leopard Safaris. After that it's 4 nights at Tea Trails-incl Kithulgala forest, and another 4 at the Cinnamon Habarana where I get to visit Wilpathu, Minneriya, Sigiriya and the monkey troop (hopefully not too much temple time) at Polonnaruwa. The trip ends with a stop in Kalpitiya to hopefully see whales and dolphins.

As usual, I can't wait!

Sounds wonderful, Femi! I'll look forward to a report when you return.

Intinerary sounds good, seems very much weighted towards a serious nature wildlife lovers one. Tea trails will be nice and cozy after 4 nights camping.

Further to the post above, may I suggest you spend the first night in Colombo - lots of good hotels to choose from - and it is directly en the route to Yala and will reduce the next days journey time by at least an hour. Suggest the "Cinnamon Grand" or the "Cinnamon Lakeside" for the Colombo accomodation.

If you just want to get to Yala quickly tell your driver to take the Ratnapura/Uda Walawe route - 5 hours.

The coastal route via Galle is scenic with tropical beaches etc, you pass many interesting towns, but it will take 8 gruelling hours to Yala. Just past Galle you can stop of at Mirissa for a whale watching trip with a very good likelyhood of seeing Blue Whales in Feb. Kalpitiya also has some whales occasionally, but mostly it will be just lots of dolphins.