November 23, 2001

Not only would it be a downer to focus solely on the war and the ethnic tensions here, it would be misleading. Sri Lanka, minus the war, is an island paradise and an unbelievably interesting travel destination.

I took a beautiful journey on a rickety open-air train through the heart of the country. Lush jungles and rice paddies stretched as far as the eye could see. One passenger gave me a brilliant interview about the beauty of the country, the tragedy of the war, and the inability of the political parties to bring peace here.

I stayed in an empty five-star hotel designed by the legendary Sri Lankan architect, Geoffrey Bawa. Think Frank Lloyd Wright meets the jungle meets the space age, with pools melting into the landscape. I filmed troops of monkeys and elephants in the wild nearby.

I climbed Sigiriya Rock, considered one of the wonders of the world. It is a half-mile-high, with the remains of a palatial city on top. Originally, it was surrounded by artificial lakes with measurements so minute and complex that engineers would have trouble replicating them today.

The tour guide painted a hilarious picture of the fifth- century B.C. King Kasyapa as a kind of ruthless Hugh Hefner.

In the city of Kandy, I toured the temple of the tooth (Buddha's tooth is allegedly kept here). According to local sources, this is the holiest site for 300 million Buddhists around the world. And, indeed, on the day I went, it was filled with pilgrims. I got marvelous shots of banging drums and intimate shots of worshipers.

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