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218 

The Destination Travel 

Clockwise from 

left: The old-world 

interiors of the 

Amangalla hotel in 

Galle; a Buddhist 

statuette in the 

Baths at Amangalla; 

a ruined fishing boat 

lies stranded on a 

beach near Tangalle; 

a Buddhist stupa on 

the outskirts of Galle 

prestige december 2005

Travel The Destination 

219 

My 

Private 

Sri Lanka 

From the old-world wonder 

of Galle and Amangalla 

to the seaside splendour 

of Amanwella, Sean Davies 

discovers the many 

seductions of Sri Lanka in 

words and pictures 

december 2005 prestige

220 


Overtaking 

yet another 

tuk tuk 

and swerving inches away from an oncoming bus, my driver 

grinned, then informed me that this was normal in Sri 

Lanka. I was not entirely reassured. I tried concentrating on 

the palm trees along the roadside and the expansive beaches 

beyond rather than the forbidding road ahead. What I saw 

there, however, was no less unnerving. The effects of last 

year’s Boxing Day tsunami were still evident, with swathes 

of coastline on Sri Lanka’s west coast stripped bare and few 

signs of reconstruction. 

Before the tsunami, Sri Lanka seemed well on its way 

to becoming one of the world’s hot new travel destinations. 

Indeed, Amanresorts, the boutique resort group known for 

opening stylish holiday enclaves well ahead of the madding 

crowd, had opened two resorts in Sri Lanka only a couple 

of months after the devastation wrought by the tsunami. I 

was in Sri Lanka to see how Amangalla and Amanwella had 

weathered their first trying year. 

We reached Galle, Sri Lanka’s most historic town 

and home to 17th-century Galle Fort, some five hours 

out of Colombo. Historians believe that Galle may be 

the “Tarshish” of Biblical times – where King Solomon 

obtained gems and spices – but it only became prominent 

Below: The old 

when a Portuguese fleet, bound for the Maldives, was blown 

crockery from the 

New Oriental Hotel off course and took shelter in Galle’s harbour in 1505. The 

is still used today Dutch took Galle in 1640, destroying most traces of the 

at Amangalla. Right: Portuguese presence and adding their own fort as a garrison. 

Staff at Amangalla’s The great ramparts and massive bastions were not completed 

reception area. 

until 1715. The ensuing 400 years have seen swashbucklers, 

Opposite top: A 

traders and colonialists, both Dutch and British, leave their 

chamber suite at 

mark, but the buildings and ramparts have remained largely 

Amangalla. Middle: 

Antique silverware. untouched. The fort stands today as a living monument, a 

Bottom: The key UNESCO heritage site. It was, in fact, the walls that were 

to happiness responsible for saving Galle from the tsunami. 

Inside the fort, the pace of life was noticeably more 

relaxed. Time seemed to slow as we passed centuries-old 

buildings, all clearly in need of renovation. We pulled up 

a tree-lined road and stopped outside Amangalla, a whitewashed, 

18th-century colonial-style building with curved 

arches and balustrades. The building had once been the 

New Oriental Hotel. A group of passing school children 

giggled as I clumsily emerged from the 4x4 with my camera 

equipment. If I was feeling a little self-conscious, the 10- 

person waiting party, equipped with bright-white smiles 

and icy cocktails, quickly calmed my insecurities. I was 

introduced to my personal butler, Janaka, who would look 

after me during my stay. 

Amangalla’s creators have done their job, combining 

the old-world elegance of the New Oriental with modern 

facilities and amenities. All rooms enjoy a turn-of-thecentury 

colonial feel, with high ceilings, fans, dark wood 

furniture and floors. Staff are dressed in elegant white linen 

and, as expected from Amanresorts, they are very friendly 

and impeccably well-mannered. 

Amangalla has four categories of accommodation: 

bedrooms, chambers, suites and two garden suites. The 

latter are two-storey, 140 sq m houses with original antique 

furniture and pool gardens. I was lucky enough to be staying 

in a chamber room, with its wood-beamed ceiling, fourposter 

king-size bed, shuttered windows, planter’s chair, 

writing desk, dining table and pettagama chest perched atop 

gleaming teak floors. Only the Bose CD player – playing 

golden-era jazz music – and air-conditioning panel betrayed 

the illusion of the past. Thankfully, there was no massive 

plasma TV to ruin the mood. The bathroom was airy and 

luxurious, with twin vanities, a free-standing tub, toilet 

and cavernous mosaic shower. Janaka brought me a coconut 

offering, which he burnt as a well-wishing, before leaving. 

Feeling revived, I stepped out onto the balcony, which 

overlooked a garden and the pool, palm trees billowing in 

the evening breeze and the ancient fort in the background. 

Amangalla’s spa is tastefully integrated into the hotel. 

The Baths recapture that bygone era of “taking the waters,” 

restoring the body and soothing the mind. The softly lit 



221 

treatment chambers, which lead off five stunning cloisters 

from a descending arched hallway, embrace the enduring 

charm that permeates the whole hotel. Gentlemen’s and 

ladies’ dressing rooms lead to state-of-the-art hydrotherapy 

pools with jets that massage and stimulate the entire body, 

from the soles of the feet to the top of the head. With 

candle-lit recesses, tall ceilings and traditional archways, the 

hydrotherapy area is a soothing experience amid ancient 

indulgences. 

Further complementing past traditions, the Barbershop 

and Salon provide gentlemen’s shaving, manicures and 

pedicures sedately done from original planter’s chairs 

overlooking 200-year-old gardens. The gardens also become 

an area of contemplation and peace should you wish to join 

daily yoga meditation sessions in the pavilion or simply relax 

on the surrounding lawns. Equally seductive is a stroll down 

to the pool, to laze about in a designer cabana for the day. 

At the sunset lounge, I tried the local tipple, Arrack 

sour with coconut and lime, and watched the sun set over 

the fort. A candle-lit dinner on the veranda followed. 

Amangalla’s two restaurants, the Zaal – or great hall as it was 

known in the Dutch times – and the adjacent Dining Room 

exude colonial charm, with lofty ceilings, overhead fans and 

chandeliers, period furniture, white and royal-blue linen 

and table cloths and antique silverware. The staff, dressed in 

traditional garb, were friendly and efficient. The menu at 

Amangalla complements the setting and is deliberately more 

traditional, with a mixture of British, Dutch and Sri Lankan 

dishes, ranging from fish and chips, to local Sri Lankan 

curries with bitter gourd sambal poppadom and chutney. 

Not surprisingly, the local food was excellent but a lot spicier 

and drier than the curries of India. 

Amangalla provided the perfect base for exploring the 

fort and the town of Galle. In an easy hour, I walked past 

the Old Gate, with the British coat of arms still engraved 

on the entrance, the numerous fort bastions, mosques and a 

Buddhist stupa, the old lighthouse and down to Flag Rock, 

where you can best catch the sunset over the Indian Ocean. 

Inside the fort, the old buildings remain as they have for 

hundreds of years. Children played and flew kites in the 

grassy knolls behind the sea walls, and, of course, there was a 

game of cricket in progress on every expanse of grass. 

Through Amangalla, you can organize trips to the scenic 

countryside, tea gardens, villages and the area’s wildlife 

reserve. Each trip comes with a trusty guide (mine was 

Mendis), a picnic and transport in an Ambassador car – a 

stalwart of Indian car manufacturing. At the nearby nature 

reserve, run and supported entirely by local conservationists, 

I spotted a rare serpent eagle and was introduced to all 

kinds of tropical flora and fauna. I would have explored 

more except for the abundance of leeches. I was told they 

would get to me no matter how hard I tried to stop them. 

So I spent more time rowing around the reserve’s lake and 

talking to Wassantha, the head conservationist, about the 

wildlife, the slow and ineffective Sri Lankan government, 

which apparently doesn’t care about preserving wildlife, 

his British made BSI 1955 motorbike, the tsunami and the 

army of party-going charity workers who, he said, didn’t 

help much. By the time I’d returned, Mendis had prepared a 

picnic on the bank of the lake. 

After lunch, Mendis took me to a 2,000-year-old 

Buddhist temple site, the Mulgirigala Rock Temple, located 

on an isolated, 210m-high rock, which rises almost vertically 

out of the surrounding forest. At the base of the rock is the 

monk’s living quarters. A fairly steep, stepped path leads up 

in stages, passing three platforms along the way, featuring 

painted cave temples and Buddha images in varying degrees 

of preservation. Admiring my camera, the curator told me 

how he lost his own camera, and everything else, in the 

tsunami – a poignant reminder of the devastation these 


222 


A Sri Lankan boy 

takes a big leap off 

Galle Fort’s walls. 

Opposite: Buddhist 

monks at a 

temple in Galle 



223 


224 The Destination Travel 

Clockwise from top: Galle’s 

sleepy streets; an old photo 

of Nesa Brohier, owner of the 

former New Oriental Hotel, with 

her dogs and staff; afternoon tea 

on the veranda at Amangalla 

The Ghost in Room 25 

The site of Amangalla is an 

amalgamation of buildings that date 

back more than 400 years. In 1684, 

the headquarters for the commandeur 

was built on the corner of the present 

Church and Middle Streets, the site of 

what now comprises Amangalla. Later, 

it was used as a billet 

for British soldiers. In 

1865, the buildings were 

combined to create the 

New Oriental Hotel, which 

traded under this name 

for 140 years. 

Amangalla is home 

to a wealth of stories. 

The New Oriental Hotel 

guestbook, which goes 

back to 1905, and 

remains in the library 

today, is just one source. 

A guest, writing about his stay at the 

New Oriental, remarked, “This is the 

Fawlty Towers of the East … positively 

the worst rotting mean dirty hotel I 

have ever stayed in.” Another wrote, 

“The staff are friendly but a bit clueless 

… oh, and stay away from the crab 

cocktail; it’s lethal.” 

Nesa Brohier had been owner of 

the New Oriental from 1960 until her 

death a few years before Amangalla 

opened. A lady born into high society, 

she was holder of the Dutch Order 

of the Orange Nassau and, it was 

written, a “woman of great physical 

attraction.” Moreover, she was, for 

half a lifetime, the “grand 

old lady of Galle Fort,” 

watching over “the 

flotsam that ceaselessly 

flowed into the hotel and 

out.” Brohier was born in 

Room 25, and though she 

didn’t die in the room, 

her ghost haunted it. Or 

so it was rumoured. Since 

Amanresorts’ renovation, 

there have been no 

complaints. Or so we 

were told. 



225 

people faced. Later, he recalled how the British ransacked 

the temple and melted down all the ancient gold statues 

when they invaded Sri Lanka. By now, my strong British 

accent had softened, and I found myself speaking decidedly 

more like a Yank. 

Having said my farewells to the staff at Amangalla, I 

jumped into the Ambassador and headed off to Sri Lanka’s 

other Amanresort, a few hours to the east in Tangalle. On 

the way I stopped at the Handunugoda Tea Estate, where 

you can sample some of the finest tea in Sri Lanka, then 

wander about the plantation watching how tea gets from 

tree to tea bag. 

Back on the road, I was surprised when we turned 

down a single-lane dirt track absent of any signs. We 

crept around a few sleeping dogs and passed a line of 

trees before entering Amanwella. I noticed first the rich 

terracotta hue of the landscape, then the stunning vista 

of palm trees and the Indian Ocean welling behind. In 

contrast to Amangalla’s old-world appeal, Amanwella is 

clearly modernist, with clean lines, geometric shapes and 

a classic tiled roof. Designed by Singapore’s Kerry Hill, 

Amanwella pays homage to Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey 

Bawa, whose simple use of lines and space, combined with 

traditional materials such as stone and clay tiles, became 

synonymous with Balinese architecture so common in 

Asian resorts today. 

I arrived at the main guesthouse to meet tall, theatrical 

Francois Richli, general manager of Amanwella (and, 

at the Handunugoda Tea Estate 

you can sample some of the 

finest tea in Sri Lanka, 

then wander about the plantation watching 

how tea gets from tree to tea bag 

formerly, Amanjiwo in Central Java). When I asked for 

some recommendations about what to do in the area, he 

replied, “People come here to do nothing; we’re on the edge 

of the world here. It’s sea all the way to Antarctica.” 

Each of the 30 beachfront suites features its own private 

plunge pool and terrace. The rooms are spacious and soaked 

in natural light. The extensive use of glass panels and sliding 

doors allows for a panoramic view of the beachfront. The 

room’s bathroom is symmetrically laid out, with walk-in 

shower, stand-alone bathtub and twin vanities. Even the 

toilet faces onto a glass wall so you can enjoy the view even 

in the most private of times. 

The decor is minimalist and spacious, and the use of 

rich-coloured wood gives it the feeling of a safari cabin 

rather than a beach house. The plunge pool was perfect for a 

dip before breakfast or after a beach swim. If you want a real 

swim, the 40m infinity pool by the main restaurant is one of 

the most impressive I’ve seen. 

From the beach, you can really appreciate the discreet 

and harmonious architecture of Amanwella, which blends 

inconspicuously into the landscape. The ocean pans out 

from an unbroken horizon. The beach was untouched, quiet 

and, as far as I could see, for me alone to enjoy. The only 

Above: A leafy 

hillside at the 

Handunugoda tea 

plantation. Left: A 

tea tasting at the 

plantation house 


226 


The view from the pool-side 

restaurant at Amanwella 



227 

Above: The terracotta hues and 

geometric architecture at Amanwella. 

The spacious and sun-lit 

interiors of an Amanwella villa 


228 


Clockwise from above: 

Fusion food and a 

cocktail at Amanwella; 

massages can be 

enjoyed overlooking 

the beach; a bather 

rinses off after a swim 

in the sea 

person I saw was the butler, who had brought towels and 

papaya juice for me. Masks, snorkels, fins, boogie boards 

and life jackets were readily available. I was there during 

the summer monsoon months, however, and the waves 

and undercurrent were quite strong – excellent for boogie 

boarding but not for relaxed swimming. Walking further 

up the cove, I met a group of local teenagers climbing for 

coconuts. They invited me to share some of their catch. 

That evening, I was sitting on a moon-swept beach 

waiting with three turtle conservationists for greenback 

turtles to arrive. Sure enough, a small black dot emerged 

from the dimly lit sea, inching toward the tree line. We had 

to wait for nearly an hour for the greenback turtle to reach 

its chosen nesting spot and start digging. A fully mature 

adult, she was nearly 1.5m in length. After half an hour of 

digging, the turtle began laying eggs. The conservationists, 

meanwhile, carefully picked the eggs from the nest, then 

measured and recorded them before relocating the nearly 

100 eggs closer to the trees, where they would be safer and 

more likely to survive. 

The next morning, over breakfast on my patio 

overlooking the beach, I was told by one of the staff that I 

was very lucky to see the turtles. Later, I was treated to a 

massage on the patio with the sound of crashing waves as 

the soundtrack. It took considerable willpower to leave my 

villa and for Uda Walawalle National Park, nearly 30,000ha 

of open parkland traversed by streams. Here, it was easy to 

spot elephants: they walked right up to the jeep I was sitting 

in. If you’re lucky, you can also see langur monkeys and 

wild boar. I spotted such rare birds as pied hornbills, painted 

storks, bee-eaters, wooly-necked storks and the odd peacock. 

The menu at Amanwella noticeably differs from that at 

Amangalla. Here, it’s a modern fusion focus. In the evening, 

I hired out the beach house, which comes with its own chef, 

and enjoyed a grilled seafood dinner on the beach under the 

stars. Dinner was accompanied by a celebrated local flutist. 

Amangalla and Amanwella float peaceably at either 

ends of the high holiday continuum: the former, a rich 

cultural experience with old-world appeal; the latter, a 

relaxing beachfront paradise at the end of the world. Both 

are delightful harbours from the pressing problems facing 

Sri Lanka today. In my mind, Amangalla would be an ideal 

place for a wedding, with Amanwella the perfect spot for a 

honeymoon. Then again, I’ve experienced neither, and still 

I found myself leaving Amanresorts, and Sri Lanka, with 

considerable reluctance. n 

Sean Davies stayed at Amangalla and Amanwella as a guest of 

Amanresorts. The Aman Sri Lanka Experience, a chamber/suite 

accommodation for six nights, is US$3,000++ (based on double 

occupancy). Valid until Sept 30, 2006. For more information, visit 

www.amanresorts.com 



229 

A deserted beach 

in Tangalle 

The ocean pans out from an 

unbroken horizon. 

The beach was untouched, 

quiet and, as far as I could see, 

for me alone to enjoy

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