katpegimana.com

Sri Lanka is a diverse island nation, and this diversity is evident not only in their heritage and culture, but in its cuisine as well. During my travels to Sri Lanka a couple of years ago, I enjoyed every moment savouring their food because it was fusion rich of flavours, spices and textures

It all began with a Forbes article ‘Fast Food’ by Subrata Chakravarty who gave insights into the men who supply office workers of Mumbai with home-cooked food, a lunch delivery service that has existed for more than a century. During my visit to Mumbai in 2017, I wanted to see the dabbawalas in action especially when they arrive at Churchgate Railway Station to sort out the tiffins before delivering to office workers who work in Fort Mumbai area. The dabbawalas collect the tiffins or lunchboxes from residential clients around 9am, after which the tiffins are mainly transported via Mumbai trains while the short hop from the railway stations to offices and homes is usually via bicycles or pushcarts. The lunch delivery man enjoys job security, but more importantly, he commands respect in metropolis Mumbai, the toughest of Indian cities.

Every year during Thaipusam festival, large numbers of devotees converge on the temple to participate in a religious procession whereby the temple’s large silver chariot dedicated to Lord Murugan is transported through the city streets en route to Batu Caves in the northern part of KL. Ah Loy who was the third Chinese Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur, Sin Sze Si Ya Temple is the oldest Taoist temple in KL. Batu Caves is dedicated to Lord Murugan – the caves attract over a million people each year during Thaipusam, a Hindu festival celebrated on a grand scale in Malaysia, mostly by the Tamil community. There is Suria KLCC, an upmarket retail shopping mall in Petronas Twin Towers; the KLCC Park where there are jogging and walking paths, wading pools and a children’s playground, and a musical light and sound fountain show at night; the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre; the aquariaKLCC, a state-of-the-art aquarium underneath the convention centre; and the Skybridge.

Reasons why I was attracted to the North Kerry tour were the cliff walks in Ballybunion where I would be able to see (and hear) the mighty Atlantic Ocean pounding against the coast, and drinks at the John B. Keane pub in Listowel that belongs to the family of John B. Keane, a famous Irish playwright and poet. Mickey sang a few songs for us while we enjoyed our drinks 😊 From Ballybunion, we continued our journey to Listowel, a market and heritage town known as the “Literary Capital of Ireland” as it has been home to a number of renowned Irish playwrights, poets and authors such as Bryan MacMahon and John B. Keane. After our lunch at The Horseshoe restaurant, we walked over to the John B. Keane pub, a former home of Listowel’s famous playwright and author, John B. Keane. The John B. Keane pub is a “talking pub” which means the television is rarely turned on, so don’t go there, assuming that you can watch the telly while enjoying a pint.