Colombo, Sri Lanka

It was some time during our journey to Sri Lanka, perhaps on the transfer from one Bangkok airport to another or more likely on our six hour wait at the second airport that we decided that Sri Lanka would be our last destination. Originally this was definitely more driven by Rob but as our day of travel continued and we checked in at another desk at another destination I began to understand his thoughts. We’ve had an amazing time but it really feels like it’s very nearly time to come home.

So, as we travelled towards our hotel in Colombo, ‘Penthouse above sea’, we decided on a loose plan. We would spend our three nights in Colombo as planned. While there we could look at what other attractions in Sri Lanka caught our attention and arrange to visit those. If we particularly loved anywhere we would stay a while but when we’d exhausted all possibilities we’d come back to Colombo for a direct and reasonable flight home. Thus decided we relaxed and enjoyed the taxi ride to our next place of rest.

First impressions were not favourable. As the taxi pulled up beside a railway station and tuk tuk parking lot Rob refused to believe this was what he had booked. Telling the taxi driver that it wasn’t the right place Rob sat tight and I followed suit. After disappearing for a few seconds our driver reappeared and we briefly felt vindicated as he executed a three point turn and pulled off. The feeling was extremely brief as he pulled in within twenty metres and indicated the same building from a different angle. It was the same litter strewn street with tuk tuk drivers standing in groups awaiting their next fare and stray dogs sniffing amongst the abandoned food wrappings but strangely enough, from this angle, it did look slightly better. A night guard lifted a barrier to let the car through and we pulled up to be greeted by our lovely hostess Chitra.

After check in, a brief tour and a short discussion about breakfast, we fell in to bed exhausted. We had left Laos at 9am, it was now approaching midnight and although somewhere along the line we’d gained two and a half hours it had been a long and tiring day. As we adjusted our bodies to another new bed and our heads fell on to more, ‘not quite right’ pillows, my mind was made up. As soon as we’d sampled all that Sri Lanka had to offer we would definitely be homeward bound.The next morning we woke up fairly refreshed and, on looking more closely at where we were staying, not quite so disheartened. As well as Chitra, our hostess being lovely, so was her husband. Both of them spoke excellent English having travelled extensively and they were able to add some structure to our vaguely formed ideas. After a lovely, late breakfast including rice and dahl, a definite first for me, we discussed the suggestions we’d been given and set off to the train station to book a ticket for Monday to Kandy.

After successfully making our booking, receiving plenty of further advice from a very helpful tourist information officer and with only a day and a half left in the capital city, we headed off to explore.

Although Colombo was slightly crazy and extremely busy we did find plenty of places to walk and enjoy some peace. Despite its weird luminescent colour Beira lake was lovely to walk around and seeing pelicans (hope no nightmares Jen) outside of a zoo is still a novelty. A bridge across the lake took us to a peaceful part of the park which we discovered, on a Saturday afternoon, appeared to be solely for courting couples and on closer inspection, their chaperones. Every single bench was occupied by young couples talking, leaning heads together and holding hands. The more creative amongst them had included an umbrella about their person and would intermittently lower this to conceal a chaste, or not so chaste kiss. As soon as this happened or couples appeared to be getting at all too close, seemingly from nowhere, a family member would appear to intervene under the guise of an urgent enquiry or the need for a casual chat. Some were less subtle, particularly the older females, we saw one march over and remove the umbrella and another place herself between the young, ‘would be’ lovers. It was all extremely endearing, I was fascinated by this old fashioned courting ritual and couldn’t help but feel that we may have lost something in our western world where virtue is no longer deemed so important. Mind you, if this comes at the price of free choice and sexual equality then, despite the perceived romance, I’ll definitely take the latter.

After an ample amount of relaxation and people watching, having said we never needed to see another temple, we found ourselves visiting Seema Malaka, which is set on Beira lake, and also Gangaramaya. In our defence we hadn’t yet visited a Sri Lankan temple and they were both included in the same price so to get our money’s worth we had to visit both.

Seema Malaka contained some of the most unusual figures we’d so far experiencedand the highlight of Gangaramaya was the massive Bodhi Tree which many people were meditating near, praying to and offering a procession of gifts of water to. It was a really impressive tree and is obviously hugely important to Buddhists.

We finished the day with Rob having a little go on a tuk tukThe two wheels at the back give him much more stability and ensure that we don’t have a repeat of his moped incident.

On the Sunday we walked to an early mass at the nearby church watching the local area wake up as we did so.The guy above was pulling his cart, when he was a little distance away we honestly thought we’d gone back to the time of the plague, especially as he was shouting something that easily could have been, ‘bring out your dead’. As we got closer we realised he was selling vegetables, many women came running out to buy them and he was soon doing a brisk trade. Maybe that’s another enterprise I could try?🤣

We also spotted this school which seemed like an ideal place for me to workNot sure the playground is quite as good as Kingfisher’s though.

Once we were back from church and had eaten breakfast we intended to visit the National Museum as we had heard very good things about it. After choosing the only tuk tuk driver in Colombo who had no idea of his way around Colombo we eventually arrived to a beautiful building that was evidently closed. Several other people had also arrived to visit and between us and a few helpful locals we were able to work out that it was closed for a public holiday. The Sri Lankan’s have one for every full moon, an extra twelve a year, a great idea I think. 🌕

Luckily, very close to the museum was the beautiful Viharamahadevi park. We spent a couple of very happy hours here trying out the outdoor gym,watching the monitor lizard stealing the Muscovy ducks foodand generally doing plenty more people watching. We also discovered flying foxes which are actually very large bats that hang from the trees making the most horrendous noise. When they took flight they looked enormous and appeared like something from a bad Halloween film.

Once we’d exhausted the park’s possibilities we returned to our hotel for an hour by the roof top pool, a walk along the local beach to watch many, many games of cricket and families at leisure.We also experienced an amazing sunsetbefore dinner at a beachside restaurant with more live music and an early night before our train ride to Kandy the following morning.

Just before I go we have missed so many birthdays so…….

Happy Birthday to James, Guy, Paddy, Georges, Rachel, Grace and last but not least, on her very first birthday, Effie.🎂Oh and Pat’s whose is today, have a good one in Kuala Lumpur Patsy.😊