Fives places that made me: Malik J. Fernando, Dilmah tea and tourism executive

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Fives places that made me: Malik J. Fernando, Dilmah tea and tourism executive

By Julietta Jameson
Malik J Fernando.

Malik J Fernando.

LAKE DISTRICT, UNITED KINGDOM

When I was nine I was sent to Stonyhurst; a Jesuit boarding school in Lancashire, packed off on a plane with a large "unaccompanied minor" sign around my neck. The school was on a bleak 16,000-acre estate and the area was in the Guinness Book of Records for the most consecutive days of thunderstorms (29!). I grew to love the landscape of undulating fells and moorland, steam trains and the nearby Lake District with its solitary valleys and mountains, which reminded me of Sri Lanka's central highlands and emerald fields of Ceylon Tea.

BOSTON AND NEW ENGLAND, US

After a rather rigid secondary education in England, I found university in Boston liberating. The area was quaint and historic and not the brash America I sought to avoid. I loved the Atlantic coastline with its lighthouses, small harbours, clam chowder and summer enclaves.

SOUTH AFRICA

Our first multi-generational holiday was with my father, Merrill, my wife and kids, in 2005. I enjoyed curating the two-week trip, driving largely on back roads for about 2000 kilometres. The drive along the garden route from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town was a highlight, stopping in boutique lodges in isolated spots and introducing me to Relais & Chateaux. This journey inspired me to create a resort circuit in Sri Lanka, we have three now and eventually will have six. South Africa was a wonderful inspiration for my vision for Sri Lankan tourism.

TOKYO

When we started selling Dilmah tea there, I made my first visit and was shocked with the complexity of it all. The attention to detail was amazing and the Japanese buyers were so demanding; it helped us up our game and improve packaging processes. I soon appreciated the precision with which the city works, the unfailing courtesy of the people and the amazing food.

ITALIAN DOLOMITES

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My love for mountains led me here. We climbed from Venice along narrow, winding roads with stunning views around each corner. We stayed at a lovely timber-clad lodge, La Perla, in Alta Badia, took the chairlift up the adjacent mountain and walked for miles in the bracing air. Their local white wine was amazing, I forget the type of grape.

Malik J. Fernando is a director of MJF Holdings & Dilmah Tea. Dilmah tea was established by his father, Merrill J Fernando. Malik is also managing director of Resplendent Ceylon, a collection of small, luxury resorts in Sri Lanka.

He is one of four experts on September's Traveller Tour to Sri Lanka with Collette, led by Traveller editor, Anthony Dennis. See traveller.com.au/traveller-tours-sri-lanka-september-2018 and resplendentceylon.com

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