Colombo

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Welcome to Sri Lanka. We like this place already. It seems a little more organised and slightly less chaotic than India and the Sri Lankan people are so friendly. They have all heard of NZ thanks to Anchor butter and Shane Bond! Best of all it is quiet - the horn is only used when necessary! On arriving in Colombo it was not hard to notice the heavy security and check points. Sri Lanka held elections a couple of days before we arrived and the election results had been challenged by the opposition. A protest was planned for Wednesday but luckily we were leaving before that. There is still some uncertainty whether there will be a resurgence from the Tamil Tigers and the government in Colombo was still showing some caution - if that is the right way to put it. It is hard to say whether army personnel walking around with guns makes you feel safer or not.

Anyway, for the start of my birthday celebrations, Matt was in charge of the accommodation. We stayed at the Galle Face Hotel which was a little bit of luxury on our trip. It was beautiful, right on the sea front with a gorgeous swimming pool overlooking the ocean. It is amazing how rejuvenated we feel after a couple of nights somewhere nice!

We started talking to a guy as we walked down the street who said he had an hour to spare before he needed to catch his train so he took us to Gangaramaya Temple. Apparently it was the last day of the Buddhist festival and a must see. We got the feeling that we were allowed into sections that are usually closed off to tourists which was really nice. It was a huge temple with some exquisite museum pieces - Buddha’s encrusted with diamonds and sapphires and what is believed to be a part of Buddha’s bone. We were given a “friendship bracelet” for good luck.

We also headed to the National Museum. It was a massive museum documenting everything from Sri Lanka’s ancient past as well as paraphernalia from the colonial period.

The rest of our time in Colombo was spent flitting between the seaside pool and drinking wine on the veranda - very strenuous!

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