Pol Sambol and Bread: Hello

A quick introduction - this blog has come about as a result of a conversation I had yesterday with my friend Jugs J. (not her real name), to whom I was describing the amazing boutique hotel I visited over the past weekend. JJ suggested that I should start a blog on boutique hotels in Sri Lanka and I thought this was a fantastic idea, given that I (a) currently have plenty of time on my hands; (b) am on a mission to explore as many hotels in this beautiful country as possible while I can; and (c) harbour secret ambitions to become world-famous and eclipse everyone I know with the shining light of my critical (and commercial) success. Ok, so that last bit wasn't entirely true - I don't really care about critical success....

Anyway, here I am trying my hand at my first blog. I thought while I'm at it, I may as well expand my ramblings beyond just boutique hotels in Sri Lanka and also cover other little tidbits from time to time, so please bear with me if I veer off-topic, I'm still cutting my teeth at this blogging stuff and I have ADD. Oh, and I travel abroad on work every month, so I may regale you with tales from my trips as well...

So to kick off, let me not tell you about hotels but about golf in Colombo.

Golf

I quit my job at one of the World's Largest Banks (the "WLB" - they're very fond of TLAs [Three-Letter-Acronyms] there) last September, ostensibly to find a new direction, get a life, lose weight, become healthy and re-discover my soul, but the truth is I did it so I can concentrate on bringing my handicap down from 28, at which mortifying mark it has remained since 2000...

I am now playing golf almost every and have made absolutely no progress whatsoever except in so far as to have brought a little joy into the lives of the chaps who make their living recovering balls from the numerous ponds at the Royal Colombo Golf Club ("RCGC" - after 15 years at the WLB, TLAs or, in this case, FLAs tend to drop themselves into one's conversation with impunity: you have my apologies in advance...) - I must say it's touching when the pond-boys call home to check if I'm ok if I miss a day and I do appreciate the cards on my birthday...

Anyway, persevere I shall (big fan of Star Wars - if you don't get it you're obviously not...) and keep dreaming of that glorious day when I hit the magical 27-handicap mark or even (dare I say it out loud?) get all the way down to the depths of the 25s....

The course at the RCGC is not especially challenging, which was something of a concern for the committee who decided to do address the issue by cutting up the greens so they now feature ridges, furrows, tuffets, sand-traps and a lovely assortment of pebbles strategically strewn hither and thither. While the membership has collectively swelled with pride in belonging to the only golf club in the world that features greens on which you can legally use a sand-wedge, the state of the greens doesn't help when you're trying to break 100 during the monthly medal. Things are looking up, though - the club has hired an expert from Augusta National to restore our greens and we are confident in having a decent putting surface in five years or so...

Notwithstanding the state of the greens and the relatively easy course, I would urge anyone visiting Colombo to bring their clubs and play a round at the RCGC. The course is lush and green at the moment following the incessant rains of the past several months, and the environs are very pleasant, with flowers blooming everywhere and an abundance of bird-life to be seen, from Painted Storks, to Herons of every description. Spring has sprung and with it a new crop of Red-wattled Lapwing (the "did-you-do-it") chicks scurry about the 3rd and 7th fairways under the watchful eye of their parents while a trio of absolutely cute mongrel pups gambol about by the 4th green (sounds more like a petting zoo than a golf course, doesn't it? Bring the kids...). Brahminy Kites soar above the 15th fairway and a cheeky White-throated Kingfisher screeches at drivers on the 14th tee to hold off until it darts down to pluck up a grasshopper inches away from the tee-box.

The going's soft-to-medium at the moment, which gives you a bit of bite for your fairway irons but not a lot of roll off your drives. Playing conditions are quite testing, with the 30+ degree temperature and recent rains combining to result in high humidity, but there's still no place I'd rather be on a weekend morning or weekday afternoon...