Hydraulic Civilization

Colombo is a hot, hot, hot city. That’s not a comment on the talent you see out in the clubs on a Friday night, rather a statement on the sun-blasted sweat stained nature of life on this very tropical island. Still as much as the heat is an ancient and immutable fact of Lankan life its antidotes are also well established.

There  are cold showers, formerly the well-bath, the pankawa-now reincarnated as the fan and AC, the parasol today more an umbrella, thambili and juices, nowadays more likely a diabetes inducing soft drink, and when all else fails the final and best solution to the heat- a dip in the Indian Ocean. Still in these days of pollution and treacherous tides the sea isn’t always an option which means that Colombars often have to resort to the next best thing – the swimming pool. Fundamentally little more than the modern descendents of Anuradhapura’s royal baths, swimming pools have clearly been an integral part of Lankan society since the time of the ancient kings. So to properly assess the state of contemporary Lankan civilization the YAMU crew set off on a review of the  14th capital’s (starting with Vijithapura) swimming holes. We rated pools on their design, crowding, shade of blue, value for money and also the quality and cost of those age old Sri Lankan pool-side staples – a beer, a club sandwich and a lime soda. Here’s our rundown of five choice Colombo pools but see yamu.lk for our top nine wallowing suggestions.

Mt Lavinia Hotel Pool: Terrace with a View

It’s an obvious starting point. Sea bathing at Mt Lavinia was an old colonial tradition and for over a century the Mt Lavinia hotel has been the place for an afternoon swim. The swimming pool itself is a modern creation and well its fine but not stunning in anyway. There’s a handy ledge on which you can perch and pose before plunging into the deeper water in the centre, which is nice but we found the pool a little on the small side and crowded. Its popularity with sun loving Northern-European tourists means that you’re unlikely to ever have it for yourself. The key to its appeal, however, is that the lovely poolside terrace is surrounded, on three sides, by the Indian Ocean. Sitting on the terrace sipping a beer, and munching a club sandwich, while staring at the city’s rising skyline is one of the defining Colombo experiences. It must be noted however that the pool fails abjectly to take advantage of the hotel’s eye-popping views. In fact it’s the one place on the terrace from where you can’t see the sea. This really is a shame – without views it’s just another hotel pool, fine but not really worth Rs1000. Its time they invested in an infiniti pool on the edge of the Indian Ocean. They have the space, an elevated location, so we really don’t know what’s stopping them.

Galle Face Hotel: Salt Water Classic

Well you really can’t do one without the other. The Mt Lavinia Hotel and the Galle Face Hotel are Colombo’s colonial duo. So we headed to the GFH’s famed salt water pool. That’s right, no chlorine here but salt, so you get a bit of added buoyancy and less of that horrid chlorine smell. Design wise its nothing special, just a rectangular pool but its classic look suits the hotel and perched on a ledge above the sea it manages to be pretty photogenic. We really enjoyed our swim at the GFH. It was far less crowded than Mt Lavinia even though here you can actually see the sea while you swim. The service was attentive and excellent and even the views from the poolside aren’t second to Mt Lavinia’s. As it’s in a bit of a nook towards the rear of the hotel you also have more privacy than at other hotel pools.

 

Cinnamon Lakeside: Infinity Beira Views

So once you’ve had the full colonial attack where else is there to swim in the city. Of Colombo’s 5 star hotel pools we are actually partial to the one at Cinnamon Lakeside. It’s probably the most recently refurbished of the big hotel pools and with its Beira-side views, deep blue tinge, and innovative U-shape it makes for better swimming than your average hotel pool. This is really a good place for a swim. It’s probably the largest of the hotel pools so there’s plenty of space to manoeuvre around and get some exercise, on weekday afternoons and evenings it can actually be quite empty. It also comes the closest to being an infinity pool with a sheer ledge that can trick your eyes into thinking you are swimming into the Beira (it’s cleaner but that’s still a frightening thought). The pool also benefits from the relatively high standard of food at the Cinnamon Hotel. The excellent Royal Thai for example is just feet away.

Casa Colombo: Psychedelic Wallowing Hole

So we finished our four with something special.  The pink pool at Casa Colombo is less of a pool and more an indulgent pink wallowing hole though you can manage a few ‘lengths’ at the far end. It works though as Casa is more of a fantasy than a real hotel. With its pink lava lighting, impossibly fecund mango tree centrepiece and floating silver orbs, the pool, like everything else at Casa, appears to have fallen out of a bond movie. Sunk into the decadent mansion’s secluded rear courtyard despite actually being located off the Galle Road in Bambalapitiya it manages to feel a thousand miles away from anything. There’s a shallow Jacuzzi in one corner, a fountain for cooling off under, half a dozen double sized  beds for  opulent lounging and CASA’s subtle but excellent choice of music humming in the background. For cooling off and generally stylish frolicking in the evening this pink-tiled pool is unbeatable. With CASA’s great service and well priced food and drink it’s almost too good to be true. And well maybe it is – the pool is officially for guests only. However, the management is sometimes willing to be flexible.  Try getting a treatment at the spa, generally befriending the competent staff, or see if you can get pool use thrown in with lunch and dinner. With Calamari for Rs. 300 and their other tasty snacks between Rs 180- 600 it’s probably worth splashing out.

The swimming club pool: Worth sneaking into

It’s called the swimming club so it ought to be a good place for a swim and it is. The pool isn’t going to win any awards for design but it’s large and just feet from the sea. Once again though the pool might be the only place on the club’s terrace from which you don’t get a sea view, you do get an eyeful of the old club house and the Colpetty skyline while you’re splashing about.
More than just splashing however, as it’s 30 meters long and rectangular, you can get some proper swimming here and even work on entering the pool with a nice smooth dive in the adequately deep, deep end.
A day at the swimming club pool also means you benefit from the club’s other amenities – the library, its various bars and restaurants and most importantly club-priced food and drink (lime soda Rs. 90, Beer Rs 200). For a family day out there’s also a large shallow kiddie’s pool far removed from the dangerous depths of the main pool.
A good-sized pool in the heart of the city, more homely than a hotel pool and with an old world feel, the swimming club has to rank high on any list of Colombo’s aquatic venues. However it’s rather far from being open to the public. To enter you need to be a member (Rs 200,000), know a member, be able to impersonate a member or run past the reception desk and then use an arbitrary number 1217w, for example, to place your orders.

Whither the hydraulic civilization?

While we only skimmed the surface of Colombo’s watery offerings, in this roundup we have to report that we were generally underwhelmed. I mean the pools at Galle Face and Lakeside are nice but the land of the Kuttam Pokuna and the Parakrama Samudraya seems to be falling behind when it comes to pools.
While Colombo offers some beautiful views and natural settings few if any of the city’s existing pools take advantage of the cityscape. It’s true that many of these pools date from the 70s and 80s when it was enough to have a blue cement pond with some water in it, but the time has come for some serious refurbishment. There’s a real lack of infinity edges (faddish but cool) or rooftop swimming pools in the city and that’s unfortunate because again Colombo has the requisite scenery. Aesthetic defects aside there just aren’t enough pools- particularly public pools in the city. One thousand rupees for a swim is fine for some but for many, even white collar workers, in this city that’s a day’s wage.
Extraordinarily though hotel pools are the closest things to public pools in the city. The remainder are club pools – which require membership, joining fees and annual subs, or school pools at select schools which generally aren’t open to the public. It’s rather sad that the vast majority of people have absolutely no means of accessing a swimming pool. This means they really don’t have a safe, affordable and convenient way to learn to swim and if you can’t swim you’re not getting the most out of Sri Lanka. Some proper thought needs to be given to public pools in the city – our ancient kings seemed to understand the importance of water but latterly our rulers seem to have forgotten that a dip in a pool on a hot day shouldn’t be reserved for the elite.