My first time in Sri Lanka was in October 2010.  I was part of a group of invited travel media professionals from the US on a tour of the country that was slowly emerging from its long hiatus after a bitter 30 year civil war and becoming the next must-see destination.  Everyone in the industry was writing about Sri Lanka’s Eden-like paradise.  The New York Times even named it #1 in its list of “The 31 Places To Go In 2010″.

Although I was aware of …