Thursday, May 26, 2011 - 05.06 GMT
History, culture and peace put Sri Lanka back on map - The West Australian

'Galle a town of colour, texture and sensation totally unlike anywhere else in Sri Lanka. It is at once endlessly exotic, bursting with the scent of spices and salty winds, and yet also, with its wonderful collection of slowly decaying Dutch-colonial buildings, vaguely familiar, like a whimsical medieval European town unexpectedly deposited in the tropics,' states The West Australian in a report published yesterday (25 May).The writer Frank Molloy states now that the conflict is over tourists are switching on to what's there, and adds 'Every tourist I spoke to said they had been waiting for the war to finish before making the trip. No surprise then that tourist numbers are rising sharply'.Hikkaduwa beach, which you reach before Galle, is said to be the place for coral and diving or snorkelling, he explains.The West Australian writer advises travelers saying "I discovered one pearl on this trip and here it is: If you like a long sandy beach and an international crowd then Unawatuna is for you. There are plenty of places to stay and eat".By visiting Sigiriya - both the site of an ancient civilization and the geologically interesting plug of an extinct volcano which dominates the surrounding landscape - I had only visited one "angle" of what is known as the cultural triangle, the writer said.
The writer explains altogether there are six cultural and two natural World Heritage sites in Sri Lanka. Yet arguably, these are not the main tourist draw card for most westerners. It is the achingly beautiful coconut palm-fringed beaches with turquoise water and names that you will have fun getting your tongue around that have the biggest pulling power, especially for sun-starved Scandinavians and other northern Europeans.Carmen Jenner also explains the rich flora and fauna in Sri Lanka.There are big areas of forested national park and it's certainly true that on my tour I saw monkeys, elephants, peacocks, butterflies and a variety of interesting birds. Seeing a leopard in a tree through binoculars several hundred metres away almost made the safari worthwhile.The New York Times nominated this northern hemisphere tropical island as its number one destination for 2010, The West Australian added.For full report please visit:http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/travel/a/-/asia/9517631/sri-lanka-tour-diary