Colombo

Arriving in Colombo, Sri Lanka at 2 pm in the afternoon.
Our excursion today was a Central Colombo Walk. We chose this one because it was a walk through the city to get to see what the city and country is like at the street level. The streets were fairly empty since today was a Lunar Holiday and a national holiday. Many of the shops were closed and no alcohol is served.
We started out in Pettah which is a neighboring suburb of Colombo. It contained the 'Market' which is an area of streets and alleys where all the goods that flow through Sri Lanka are imported, sorted and re-sold for export. Each street contains certain categories of goods. For example there is the gold street, textile, party supplies, electronics, fish, and of course touristy things like knock-off luggage, purses, shirts, shoes, etc. It was interesting and full of a real understanding about the trade of goods through Sri Lanka. There are the 3-wheeled tuk-tuks all over. They are the really cheap local taxis. When we crossed the street our guide said to just walk out slowly and don't make eye contact and they will stop. Well, it does work... If I did this at home I would be in the hospital. And Scott got away from the group for a minute to buy some date bread from a shop. It was really good. I wished we had more time to browse through the shops a little.
Then we walked back toward Colombo and took in all the Buddhist temples, Mosques and old historic buildings that have unfortunately been abandoned or come under disrepair. However some of them have been restored. Sir Lanka has been conquered by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British. Many of the restored sites are old mansions and government buildings from these nations that took over and build their own government.
Our last stop was the Galle Face Hotel that was build in the Dutch period and converted to a hotel on the water / beach front in 1894. We had a refreshing mock-tail (since no alcohol can be served today) at the hotel on the veranda overlooking the beach.
Then back to the ship for another day in Sri Lanka tomorrow.Read more