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Sri Lanka’s Goyambokka Beach still standing tall after 2004 tsunami

Goyambokka Beach on Sri Lanka's south coast lost only three people in the 2004 tsunami.

A narrow path leads from the dirt road outside my guesthouse down through the jungle for about 100 meters. At the end it opens up to a spectacular perfect half-moon bay, lined with palm trees facing a turquoise sea. Gentle waves ripple against sugary white sand without a pebble in sight. A few comfy, cushioned lanais chairs sit under umbrellas next two little beach bars on stilts. I grabbed one lounge chair and a friendly, pot-bellied man said hi.
“KEY-a-duh?” (“How much?” in Sinhala.) I said, pointing at the chair.
“You eat here lunch, it’s free,” he said.
Deal.
I spent the next six hours going from gorgeous sunshine to under the umbrella to a sea as warm as bath water.
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Road to paradise pockmarked with potholes of dying cell phones, Indian visas and chaotic Sri Lankan bus stations

My Goyambokka Guesthouse atop a hill above one of the prettiest beaches in Asia.

It took us one hour to get out of Colombo. I saw nothing appealing. Not one nice park, a pretty building, a nice restaurant. It’s like a city designed to sell electronics and cheap clothes. I haven’t seen a postcard. However, once we cleared city limits the country opened up like a flower. Giant green palm trees were everywhere. Entire forests enveloped small houses where people gathered and chatted on bicycles. Houses stood on stilts where people on their balconies could touch the palm trees that were nearly as big as their decks. Red clay roads snaked up into the jungle. I saw a sign reading, “DANGER: PEACOCKS AHEAD.”

On the coast road I saw the moon, full as a big wheel of cheese, shining above a relatively clean river as it flowed toward the sea. It screamed for a photograph. Instead, I screamed for a beer.
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Sri Lanka: The war is over but my war with technology has just begun as my iPhone is dying

This tea picker won my heart and about 12 cents.

As I embark on a dream month-long journey to Sri Lanka and India, Sri Lanka is six years removed from the longest war in Asian history. People are smiling again. The roads are safe again. India’s economy is booming and I am headed to Kerala, the sliver of a state that hugs India’s southwest corner and is the most educated, safest and least densely populated state in the country.

Yet I am faced with no Internet, no Facebook photos, no Whatsapp. The prospects are numbing. I have become so modernized, so chained to my iPhone, it’s like losing my backpack or passport. How will I survive?
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Bali: Security to the max in the land of inner peace and harmony

The Courtyard Nusa Dua in Bali takes security seriously after the 2002 bombings in Kuta

NUSA DUA, Bali — A word about security in Bali. In a land of happy faces, in a religion where the centerpiece is peace and tranquility, Bali has some trappings of an island at war. Security is everywhere. The hotel shuttle takes me through two huge gates where armed security guards open the door and […]

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Bali: The Kuta Krawl, the year-round Australian frat party

KUTA, Bali — The Balinese dancer wore hotpants. She and her co-worker stood above me on a dance platform with skin-tight black short shorts and matching jog bra, both adorned with strategically placed Christmas lights. They were both gyrating to rap music with moves that would cause Shiva, Vishnu and every other Hindu god to […]

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Bali: Seek Shop Buy in Ubud

A woman prepares coffee beans in a coffee plantation near Ubud.

UBUD, Bali — I truly believe I’m the only straight male on the planet who liked “Eat Pray Love.” Loved the book and I liked the movie. I’d love the movie but Julia Roberts is truly annoying. Still, the movie captured the magic of Ubud, Bali’s cultural capital where author Melissa Gilbert overcame her fractured marriage […]

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Bali bike ride good way to work off Bintang and cruise beaches

NUSA DUA, Bali — A sloth’s existence gave way to massive guilt yesterday and I actually got what passed for exercise around here. Not counting the 45 minutes I did on the illiptical machine to wash away the cobwebs from a 37-hour flight, the most strenuous thing I’ve done is swim to the pool bar […]

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Bali beaches: White sand, no rocks and no worries

One of the many beautiful beaches in Bali.

NUSA DUA, Bali — Being a closet beach bum, who likes a life where stress is defined by deciding on No. 8 or No. 30 sunscreen, I’m big on beaches. They all have their appeal. The black, sandy beaches of Santorini, the deep, thick golden sand of Tunisia, the blinding, sugary sand of the Seychelles […]

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Greetings from your favorite Marriott whore in Bali

NUSA DUA, Bali — Writing takes discipline but I need the discipline of a Navy SEAL to type in this Courtyard Bali business office with a sprawling turquoise pool below me. The pool meanders like a giant, languid snake around little sandy islands. Ferns shade thatched lanais chairs with green-and-white striped beach towels on each […]

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Mongolia …

White Lake

I traveled through Mongolia for 16 days in the back of a Soviet-built four-wheel-drive van, covering about 800 kilometers, maybe 60 of them paved.

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L.A. Times: Wild Journey into the Kelabit Highlands

A Panan, one of the nomadic tribes of the Borneo jungle, takes a smoke.

BARIO, MALAYSIA — “At one time or another, I imagine that we have all dreamed about how wonderful it would be to live in a Shangri-La where the climate is ideal, food is plentiful and the girls are beautiful.” — W.M. Toynbee, Canadian schoolteacher and author, on Borneo’s Kelabit Highlands.

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