Colombo

Colombo was 2 hours away. We stopped off at a roadside stop where the kids had pizza hut and Dad got the wet shoes and togs out and draped them over the baking car in an attempt to dry them out. Still pretty stinky but getting closer to dry!

We had time for a couple of stops in Colombo. We visited Independence square which was a lovely monument to the gaining of independence in 1948.

We then had our first ‘India’ moment where our driver dropped us off at a jewellery store that was clearly going to be fully priced with a commission for the driver. Mum bought some expensive white tea and (eventually!) 3 stones. Will need to still find a jeweller to turn them into something but we had a little piece of Sri Lanka to come home with us.

We next visited the very famous Budhist temple. Very impressive building and many artifacts and historical pieces in there including the smallest budha carving made of gold that was less than 1cm high. It was about to strike 6pm so our driver took us to a prayer room and the drummer and piper came in and played as part of the calling to prayer, was quite a lovely moment (though loud!).

Final stop was to see the lotus building. Quite spectacular with its changing colour. We got a selfie at the base but not sure Mum contemplated what this picture was going to remind folk of!Read more