On March 7, 2020 I, Merel Kolenberg (Business Travel Consultant in Arnhem), together with my partner embarked on an adventurous journey with destination Sri Lanka. A country that had long been on our wish list. On the date mentioned, despite the Corona virus already swirling around, we unsuspectingly boarded the plane.
Less than two hours after arriving at our hotel in Negombo, we felt we had already shaken hands with the entire community and listened to beautiful life stories over a cup of tea. Negombo, a town that lives on income from fishing and tourism. Also a city that, since the mini-Tsunami in 2018 and the terrible attacks last year on 2e Easter Day, like the rest of the country, had already lost considerable income from tourism.
Back to our first week. What a lovely country and what hospitable people! We have never experienced a Hindu temple, stupa, church and mosque all visible from one point and different religions living side by side.
Of course, when I am on vacation, I always look at the business side with a skewed eye as well. I try to take in as much information as possible that I can inform business travelers about when I am back at work. For example, I can share the following about doing business in Sri Lanka:
Greeting
Sri Lankans have neat business etiquette. Give a firm handshake. A man, when greeting a woman, waits until she reaches out her hand first.
Meeting culture and decisions
Good and reliable business relationships are very important to Sri Lankans. Building a business relationship takes time. Therefore, the first meeting is often just an introduction.
Sri Lankans do not always say things directly. Therefore, listen carefully between the lines.
The top policymakers often don't attend meetings themselves. Mid-level staff do. Is there a good, solid business proposal? Then it is forwarded to the top. Your patience may be tested by this. There is no point in applying extra pressure.
Business cards
Exchanging business cards goes as you normally would. Whenever possible, put your title(s) on it. Always give your card with two hands.
So much for my tips on doing business with Sri Lankans.
Back to my trip again. After Negombo, we visited Anuradhapura, Triecomalee and Sigiriya. The adventurous part of our trip was yet to begin, when we noticed that the situation in Sri Lanka was also beginning to change and we had to make quick choices. Instead of traveling on to Kandy and "The Tooth of Buddha," we returned to Negombo, where we were closer to the Colombo airport.
Now I myself am employed by UNIGLOBE Alliance Travel, but have now experienced firsthand what it is like when you are literally stranded abroad. I am so glad I was able to use a full service travel company with dedicated staff, my own colleagues that is. Our own attempts locally, to get home, came to nothing. With the help of my dear colleagues, we still got home quickly and safely.
Duty of care is now a high priority for most companies. Immediately one of the reasons why we are called in. Because with one push of a button we can trace, contact and possibly return all travelers from one company to the Netherlands or (sometimes) to other countries as well.
Yet there are still many SME companies that book everything themselves and, as a result, travelers could not easily return. After all, where do you start? Who do you call? Lines are overstaffed or unreachable. Therefore, during this crisis, we also made ourselves available to give free advice to stranded travelers. In doing so, we helped many business travelers after all.
Whenever possible, we will definitely visit Sri Lanka again and continue our trip. Fortunately, we did get to enjoy plenty of delicious food, such as Kothu Rotti. A Sri Lankan dish made of godhamba roti, vegetables, eggs and/or meat and spices. Below I share this delicious recipe to let you enjoy all the smells and colors of Sri Lankan cuisine as well!
Kothu Rotti
Ingredients
What do you need for 3 people?
- 6 small tortilla wraps or roti (240 grams)
- (You can also make your own roti: 400 grams of self-rising flour and lukewarm water, let the dough rise for 45 minutes and make 6 roti pancakes from this, fry them briefly on each side)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 400 grams of sliced vegetables (I used a bag of mushroom stir-fry mix, but you can choose whatever you like)
- 300 grams of chicken breast
- 2 eggs
- Olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- Cinnamon
- Curry
- Pepper
- Salt
- Possibly sambal or chili spices
Preparation
- Cut the chicken breast into small pieces.
- Heat the oil in a large pan.
- Briefly fry the chicken breast pieces in this, they do not need to be cooked through.
- Sprinkle with quite a bit of cinnamon and curry.
- Meanwhile, finely chop the garlic.
- Add these and the rest of the vegetables to the chicken breast pieces in the pan.
- Let this cook for a while and meanwhile cut the roti/wraps into small pieces or strips.
- Break 2 eggs over the pan and let them solidify while stirring.
- Crumble the stock cube over the pan, add the roti/wrap pieces and stir well. Let it soften slightly.
- Add pepper, salt and sambal or chili spices to taste.
Vinoden kanna! (Bon appetit in Sinhalese)
Greetings, Merel
Business Travel Consultant
Uniglobe Alliance Travel
