In Sri Lanka, the expert is there right next to you - on the train, in the street, everywhere in fact. But what happens when you seek one in a doctor’s waiting room?

If too many cooks spoil the broth, what ingredients best make it all up?

Sri Lanka’s gems are as perfect a thing for first nights, Dubai dinners and London cocktail parties as they are for crowns, thrones, diadems - and even my missing tiara. But should it be enough to merely murmur their magical names, or must you wear them too? It was Mr Wijeratne from the Water Board who brought the missing tiara to mind when he called on us this morning, his beaming presence foretelling progress on our fixed-line water connection. He is a generous, positive f

Sri Lanka may have lost its last king in 1815, but since Independence, its leading families have more than made up for the difference. Who are they – and what are they up to today? “Spaghetti,” barked a planter friend, describing Sri Lankan politics. “Noodles. A ball of coir, all entangled. A roll of barbed wire. “ He was on a roll himself here. “Pepper vine, “ he finally ventured, “all entangled but makes you sneeze too.” Politics was at the forefront of my mind today. The

Despite its understated fame, Galagedera’s high street, like those of most Sri Lankan towns and villages, is booming. As high streets die all around the world, how is it that this one is so alive and well, and bursting with shops, shoppers, services, and action? Retail Therapy in a Tuk Tuk, the subject of this episode, will take you down one of the world’s busiest high streets. And if you wonder about the example chosen – which you may, at first glance, consider ec

With over 75 gemstones - from Hot Pink Sapphires to Sherry Topaz - found in its ancient rock strata, where can you see them and when should you wear them? It was Shakespeare’s Enobarbus who remarked of Queen Cleopatra that “age cannot wither her nor custom stale her infinite variety.” But in this observation, Anthony’s wise and cynical confidence was only half right, for age is as much a skilful creator of variety as it is of value, if Sri Lanka’s famous gems are anything