Travel / Lifestyle

Lanka among top five gem-bearing nations

Sri Lanka has the greatest concentration of gems and is ranked among the top five gem-bearing nations. One can find all types of gems in Ratnapura-from familiar to exotic.

Throughout history Sri Lanka has been known as a land of gems. King Solomon is said to have procured a great ruby for the Queen of Sheeba from then Ceylon. Marco Polo in 1293 AD wrote about the ruby that once graced the Ruwanweliseya Dagaba at Anuradhapura.

"A flawless ruby spans long and is as thick as a man's arm." The 400-carat blue sapphire called "Blue Belle" which adorns the British crown is from Sri Lanka.

The beautiful star sapphire misnamed the "Star of India" on display at the Natural History Museum in New York is another Sri Lankan treasure.

Ratnapura is the most famous gem mining city in Sri Lanka. Any person visiting the National Museum, Gemmological museum Gem Bureau in Ratnapura or any other gem showroom in Ratnapura can get the rare opportunity to see a variety of precious stones such as rubies, sapphires, cat's eyes, alexandrites, aquamarines tourmalines, topaz, garnets, amethyst and zircons. In addition the traditional ways of cutting and polishing of gemstones can also be seen at workshops in Ratnapura.

Ratnapura, 101 kilometres from Colombo is at the foot of the 2,243 metre high Adam's Peak. All four major religions in Sri Lanka claim Adams Peak as a holy mountain. The pilgrimage season is from December to April. Anyone visiting Ratnapura can also pay homage at the Maha Saman Devale and visit the Sinharaja Forest too.

The Maha Saman Devale; a unique devale, in close proximity to Ratnapura, is dedicated to God Saman-the tutelary deity of Adam's Peak. The Annual Fair/Perahera in July-August is among the largest to be held in the country.

The highland forest of Singharaja, near Ratnapura is a nature lover's Paradise. It is the last remaining original tract of rainforest in the island.

Emirates opens $120m flight kitchen

Emirates' onboard meals from Dubai are now supplied from a new, purpose-built flight catering facility that is the most modern and the largest of its kind in the world.

The US$ 120 million unit, with a design capacity to produce 115,000 meals per day, became fully operational at the start of this month.

The new flight kitchen is exclusive to Emirates while the existing one, adjacent to it, continues to serve all other airlines.

Both are operated by Emirates Flight Catering (EKFC), which is 90 per cent owned by Emirates and 10 per cent by Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation. The new unit covers nearly 50,000 square metres, spread over four floors, and services around 95 departures and 90 arrivals per day.

It has been designed by the EKFC management team in consultation with i+o, the German industrial design company specialising in inflight catering facilities and incorporates the latest systems in hygiene, energy saving, food production and automated equipment handling to ensure that Emirates passengers enjoy onboard food that is totally fresh, perfectly cooked and absolutely hygienic.

President Group Services and Dnata Gary Chapman said: "An inflight catering facility is like a Rubic's Cube; there are so many processes that have to come together at the right time and in the right place."