Colombo, Sri Lanka (Day 1 of 2)

Sri Lanka is a new country for us. We didn’t arrive here until 2 p.m. but it’s an overnight so we’ve got the full day tomorrow here too. We opted to take a two-and-a-half hour panoramic tour of the city this afternoon to give us a good overview of the city which it did. What we saw so far was lovely.

We’re here during an important Buddhist holiday called Vesak and the city is buzzing. The festival commemorates Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death. One of the features of the holiday are colourful lanterns called "Vesak kuudu" hung along streets and in front of homes. Food stalls set up by Buddhist devotees called "dansälas" provide free food, ice-cream and drinks to passersby. We saw crowds starting to assemble and hundreds of lanterns decorating the streets.

Following the tour we went out to dinner with our friends Tom and Diane and were able to see the celebrations in full swing.

Looking forward to exploring further tomorrow.Read more