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Roaming and Reading: Sri Lanka

Taprobane Island
Taprobane Island off the coast of Sri Lanka
Michael Coghlan / Creative Commons via Flickr

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For this week's Roaming and Reading, travel writer Michelle Green takes us to Sri Lanka.

Green made a pilgrimage there herself while researching the writer Paul Bowles. She stayed at the Taprobane estate, a historic villa on the sea where Bowles lived in the 1950s.

From The New York Times:

Climbing through the island's luxuriant jungle, I caught a whiff of Mr. Bowles's bliss. Flame trees and frangipani-lined paths strewn with fallen blossoms. Screaming house crows, hundreds of them, were a counterpoint to the booming waves. The mineral smell of the sea receded, and the perfume of overripe fruit took over.

The showstopper is the villa, where verandas take the place of outer walls. Pure white, the pavilion is a study in light and shadow. In the octagonal center room, the ceiling rises 30 feet; bedrooms and sitting areas extend beyond. Visible in all directions, the seascape seemed infinite.

To explore Sri Lanka from another perspective, Kerri recommends the works of Michael Ondaatje. Known for books such as "The English Patient," Ondaajte was born in Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon. His 1982 book "Running in the Family" is a semi-fictionalized memoir about his Sri Lankan upbringing.