Sri Lanka is the vacation hotspot equidistant from the straits of Malacca in the Far East and Hormuz straits in the Near East. Marco Polothe 13th century Italianexplorer, adventurer and travel chronicler described Sri Lanka with exquisite Venetian precession. "Seilan" he called it was "for its size, better circumstanced than any island in the world".
It is one air hop of less than four hours from the Airline hubs of Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok. Colombo the international airport is less than an hour from the Maldivian archipelago and is at the southerly tip of India making Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai easy skips.
Marco polo described the treasures he found in the island.
"You must know that Rubies are found in this Island and in no other country in the world but this. They find there also Sapphires and Topazes and Amethysts, and many other stones of price."
You will find them today cut and polished and in the form of imaginative design jewelry in Colombo’s elegant shopping malls.
Sri Lanka is a repository of natural and man-made marvels. It has eight world heritage sites, including an ancient palace and fortress built in the sky by a pleasure-loving king, the best preserved Dutch fortress town attesting to its colonial encounters with Portugal, Holland and Britain, magnificent rain forests with rare flora and fauna that entice nature lovers, environmental activists, wild life enthusiasts, bird watchers, butterfly collectors and those who seek beautiful beaches with soft golden sand where whispering breeze will make you convinced that you have come to an island that will stay etched in your mind forever.