The Kandalama Hotel in central Sri Lanka is one of the strangest and most magical places I’ve known. Built into a massive wall of rock, it overlooks a lake and, in the distance, the ancient mountain fortress of Sigiriya.
What makes the hotel unique was the determination of its Sri Lankan architect, Geoffrey Bawa, to set it in harmony with nature rather than in defiance of it. It is not built atop the rocky hill but into it. And the lush tropical growth of the hill overflows the hotel itself, cascading over the building, nearly covering it. Additional plantings along the hotel’s façade add to this sense that it lies within a waterfall of greenery. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon must have looked something like this.
I used the hotel as a setting for a scene in “Sri Lanka.” The main character, Philip Reid, lies in his bed, unable to sleep, plagued by his conscience regarding secrets he is keeping from the embassy he works for. Hearing sounds from his balcony, his unquiet mind persuades him that burglars are prowling outside. Grabbing a chair as a weapon, he rushes toward his sliding glass door—to find a row of monkeys sitting on the railing of his balcony, enjoying watching a human being in its natural habitat.
In fact, my wife and I one night came back from dinner into our darkened room and were startled by the sense that someone was watching us. Someone was. A row of monkeys. We pulled the curtain to let them know the show was over.