Nature’s energy drink.

I am a gym junkie. If you look at me this is not an evident fact. But that does not stop me from visiting the gym 6 days a week. More importantly it also does not stop me from experimenting with all sorts of nutrition supplements hoping that it will give me a little edge. In the hope that it would help me to shave off a couple of inches off my ample waist. I have tried them all. Pre workout, post workout, while working out. If there was a powder or concoction which promised a better performance I would swallow it in a jiffy without any hesitation. However most of these supplements were not that helpful as it said in all their communication. Being in the communications field myself I should have known better.

After 8 years of looking aimlessly I have found something which really helps my work out. It was something which was in front of my eyes but which was invisible to me. Because I was blindly searching for something foreign thinking it was better.

I am talking about the humble king coconut.

I take a bottle full of king coconut water and sip on it during my work out. Amazingly you don’t get tired halfway through your workout when you do so. Which means you can perform at full capacity right to the end of your workout.

What a shame I had to wait 8 years to find this out.

The most amazing all you can eat sea food deal in town.

Yes I could not believe my eyes and ears when I heard about it myself. But it is true. All you can eat sea food at the Kingsbury Ocean for just 1800 Net. I actually thought that they would have a minute spread of sea food to select from. But I was absolutely wrong. There were prawns, crabs, calamari, a variety of whole fish including tilapiya, garoupa and Modha plus fish roe in their selection. Of course it did not include Lobsters, Oysters and giant prawns that would have been too much to expect. But for the price they charge this was an amazing spread. What surprises me most is you can have a variety of preparations of just one item if needed.  In addition to the sea food they provide rice and stir fried vegetables as well. Just read what we ate for you to get an idea of what heavenly treats awaits you at the Ocean. We had Tempura Prawns and Handellas for starters. Then ginger garlic prawns, Prawns in red curry, Hot butter cuttle fish as well as cuttle fish in tamarind sauce, devilled fish roe, Grilled Tilapiya and  steamed Modha as part of our main meal. Normally a meal of this nature would have set us back by 30,000/- Sadly the price does not include dessert but I believe it is still worth it. This offer is on during lunch on week days I would not miss out if I were you. 

Marvelous Marble Beach!!!

I woke up to the sounding of crashing waves. The room was dark with a few rays of light streaming through the blinds. For a few minutes I could not figure out where I was. I remember leaving Colombo at 4 in the evening after picking up my fellow travelers. We could not have chosen a worse time to set out on a long journey. The CHOGM traffic cock ups added to the misery. It took us nearly two hours to get to the Kandy Road and a further three hours to get to Dambulla. Making a traditional six hour journey stretch out for nearly nine excruciatingly long hours. It was past midnight when we arrived at our location. We were bone tired and just crashed without really taking note of our surroundings.

I got out of bed and tip toed to the door and opened it.

And stepped into one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever come across. The kind of beach that would have inspired Alex Garland to write his novel the Beach.

I had arrived at the Paradise Beach Hotel Trinco which is maintained by the Sri Lankan Airforce.

During the war this area was strategically important as the terrorists used to launch attacks on planes landing in China Bay from this location. So this area was captured and taken over by the air force and they built a camp in this extremely large property.

One must say that one good outcome of the war was that beautiful beaches of the North and East of our island did not fall into the greedy clutches of the business community who would have just gone and started massive hotel projects without any care or concern for the community or the environs.

But now that the war is over our giant mighty military machine has realized that they have large areas of prime real estate under their control. So instead of waging war on  terrorists now they are battling other hoteliers for a portion of the tourist dollars in this country.

The great thing about Marble Beach is that it is inside an air force base  which means it gives the people who stay exclusive access to a fenced off private beach. Which is absolutely nice even though it is breaking the laws of our country as the beach is considered public property. Of course as any red blooded Sri Lankan I did not give a toss about the ethics of this – since it did not affect me -  and went about smugly enjoying my holiday.

Marble Beach has about ten independent villas built on its sprawling property. Each has a different theme and style. The distance between the villas are such it is virtually private. The rooms are comfortable but it aint  no 5 star hotel. Fortunately it has air-conditioning and decent beds. But the bath rooms needed a lot of work specially the fittings and overall the little details of the rooms were not looked into. For instance the light switch was by the door and not by the door.

It was the same with the food too. There was a buffet for breakfast and dinner. The food was tasty specially when it came to the Sinhalese cuisine. But I would not advice anyone to go their because the food was awesome. It was adequate.

Then why on earth should I go there? I hear you ask muttering under your breath.

I have three words for you. The beach! The Beach! The Beach!

Oops that was six words but you get the drift don’t you?