Receiving an Ayurveda treatment is a life-changing experience for the body, mind and soul – but be prepared to have your Western sensitivities challenged, as I discovered on a recent trip to an Ayurveda spa in Sri Lanka.
Some of Sri Lanka’s best elephant safaris and beaches can be found in the south of this magical tear-shaped island. Foreigners, burquas, and children bob along to the rhythm of boats along the curvaceous bay of Unawatuna. The scents of coconut oil, incense, diesel, sunscreen, salt, and curry flirt with abandon in the gentle breeze. The idyllic scene is complete with swaying palm trees and sauntering bikini-clad bodies glistening in the humidity.
During Sri Lanka’s Galle Literary Festival in 2011, I was thrilled to meet Candace Bushnell, the author of Sex and the City. To arrive at her Sex in a Sarong party on Taprobane Island, I waded through water – it certainly wasn’t the entrance I had planned for a soiree with the best-selling author during the Galle Literary Festival.
