A troubled paradise

Two books caught my eye as I was perusing the gift shop at the team hotel this morning, killing time before England's training session began. In among the postcards, guidebooks and polka-dotted bikinis were a pair of weighty publications, "Fractured Paradise" and "A Divided Isle", that told the tale of the traumas that have undermined Sri Lanka's standing on the world stage.

By rights, Sri Lanka should be one of the world's most alluring tourist hotspots. It has it all - ancient civilisations, stunning beaches, friendly people and an appealing night-life, to name but a few of its ticks in the box. None other than Marco Polo rated it as "the finest island of its size" that he ever encountered, and he saw a fair bit in his time.

What he didn't see or foresee, however, was the unending friction between the Government and the Tamil Tigers. On England's last tour in 2003-04, a ceasefire had only recently been signed and a sense of optimism could be detected. Since then, however, the détente has begun to unravel with renewed hostilities to the north of the country, and in August 2006 South Africa's cricketers had to abandon their one-day tour after a fatal bomb blast occurred near the Prime Minister's official residence in Colombo.

Such atrocities couldn't be further from the thoughts of England's cricketers, who are possibly the most chilled-out tour party of the decade, but there's no mistaking the edginess of the present security situation. My hotel, at the northern end of the Galle Face Road which runs along the sea-front, lies on the fringe of the old Fort area of the city, in which numerous government buildings are situated. Barricades line the street on both sides, and armed guards watch you as you move to and fro.

The guards are more of a reassurance than a hindrance, although they take their job understandably seriously. Yesterday I wandered out down to the promenade to take a photo of a rather grand colonial building with big doric pillars and a fluttering Sri Lankan flag. Instantly a whistle was blown and I was asked, very politely, to delete the image. It may be picturesque but the building is also very much in use - it was once the country's parliament building, and now serves as the Presidential Secretariat.

It's not just the Fort area that is under close surveillance, however. Police and Army checkpoints litter the capital, and no tuk-tuk journey is complete without at least two stop-and-searches. By and large it is merely a case of the driver hopping out and flashing his ID - a process that is carried out with utter compliance by both parties - but the frequency of the posts is staggering. In places there are less than 100 yards between one checkpoint and the next.