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Published: September 17th 2017
Galle Face Beach
Colombo, Sri LankaOur final breakfast was Sri Lankan of course with the added bonus of listening to Elvis on vinyl. We chatted with our host for sometime before he pointed out that we didn't have much time to see Colombo. He did warn us about scammers who claim there's a Buddhist festival happening and will guide you there in their tuk-tuks to take photos. I'm not sure where they take you in the event that there are no festivals happening but you get charged a whole lot of money to get back..
We weren't let down either because not long after we had wandered around Independence Square and Cinnamon Gardens, our first scammer found us on Galle Main Road, telling all about the amazing festival we could go to. It sounded amazing but unfortunately we said we had no time to go.
Colombo has a slightly more European feel due to the colonial buildings from the British occupation. There's also relics of the former Dutch invasion too. We'd been told that some of the good things the British had done for Sri Lanka was build roads and railways, but bad things included stealing Sri Lankan culture and artifacts.
The walk
Storks
Colombo, Sri Lanka up Galle Main Street was scorching, with small gratifyingly cool gusts of sea breeze every time we passed a break in the buildings as the parallel street ran alongside the coast of warm but very choppy sea. Another 'friend' of Glyn's started chatting to him about a great Buddhist festival he wanted to take us to. These guys don't have much imagination, what if we don't like Buddhist festivals? He'd be better off promising us leopards or even some kittens, that could get me in their tuk-tuk!
The street ended up at Galle Face that was once a racecourse I believe but now a hang out for locals, hawkers and kite-fliers. The beach-side benches generally contained courting couples under umbrellas. It was fairly empty of people as it was early, though some were paddling in the sea despite the signs warning of poisonous things in the sea and strong waves. Two guys sitting on the floor called to me and I was depressed to see they had a couple of monkeys on leashes - these animals should be in the wild playing with their friends. A cobra was rising from a basket in front of one of the guys
and upon seeing me look, he opened another basket where another cobra immediately popped up, it's hood flared. I stepped away very quickly.
We headed inland, ignoring the almost constant pipping of tuk-tuks, asking us, 'You want taxi?' Now when I'm in a sea of tuk-tuks it baffles me why each driver thinks that I may not realise I want one until they in particular suggest it. Another sight of interest was the many storks perched high up on the street lights, I noted they leave bigger messes than pigeons as you would expect, so I was careful not to walk underneath them.
The sun didn't let up and a sweat river ran down my spine as we walked into The Pettah, a large area of shops and stalls, very much for locals. Each part of the Pettah is specialised so that a few streets would be selling bags only, then the next shoes, then fruit and hardware etc. Apparently there's a whole street dedicated to selling plastic flowers but to Glyn's dismay, we did not find it. The jewellery section around Sea Street was the kind of boutiques that have no prices and seating at the counter,
it looked extremely expensive and browsing was not an option as the salesmen pounced just for glancing. Here we found an impressive Mosque and two very ornate Sikh Temples ripe for photographing as this area is occupied by a lot of Tamils and Muslims.
The Pettah is disorientating with lots of shouting, beeping, bustling and more shouting. There's no distinction between pavements and roads as pedestrians intertwine with mopeds, tuk-tuks, carts and cars in a variety of directions, all getting in each other's way and shouting about it. There's signage everywhere and most of the buildings look like they never saw better days; but it's vibrant, energetic and I doubt ever dull. After a while, we'd had enough and stopped for a cold drink in a cafe where the waiter was impressed at Glyn downing three bottles of ginger beer in quick succession.
Tourists generally only stay in Colombo for a night when they just arrive or are leaving, so Colombo doesn't bother catering to them. Because of this, there were not the cafes we were used to, but mostly grubby looking stands and sparse eateries that didn't serve anything other than curry and rice until after 3pm.
Trade Towers
Colombo, Sri Lanka We couldn't find a roti or kottu anywhere, not even in the posher Colombo Fort where the Trade Towers were. Other Asian cuisines were available, plus American fast food chains, but none of the cheap Sri Lankan cafes we have become accustomed to. Eventually we found a self service place for locals where Glyn had veggie curry for around 70 pence and I had some egg potato roll things.
The plan was to have a further wander around Slave Island, once a terrible place where the Dutch held slaves but now supposedly a low end but interesting neighbourhood. However it was a huge building site in the process of erecting some skyscrapers and super luxury Indian hotels. The nearby harbour was currently being filled in, adorned with brightly coloured billboards depicting artists' impressions of the forthcoming sparkly Central Park that isn't a park but more high rises.
After ignoring multiple more offers of tuk-tuk rides we crossed the road back to Galle Face where there were now a lot more people and kites. We stopped for ice cream whilst Glyn gained yet another new friend wanting to take us to another ruddy Buddhist festival that did not exist.
Sigh. We walked along the promenade, enjoying the sea breeze and finally wanting a tuk-tuk back to the Mini Residence (our accommodation).
Our host had said to pay no more than 500 lkr for the journey back but when discussing the price, the first driver predictably started saying our destination was a long distance away (actually around 4 kms). He quoted 1000 lkr and we walked off, not being arsed to argue, but then it went down to 750 lkr, then 600 lkr. But after being ripped off the price of a Lion beer last night (500 lkr) we weren't having it anymore. Thankfully an older guy in a very basic tuk-tuk agreed the 500 lkr and off we went. We liked this guy, he was good natured and gave us no crap, I gave him a little extra just because I was relieved not to have to deal with it.
After a quick shower, cup of tea and chat, our taxi for the airport arrived that our host had organised making sure again that we didn't get ripped off. We promised to return and I really would like to. I still need to see leopards in the
wild and our host promised to take us to dodgy bars and listen to live street music! Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, with so much to see and swathes of jungle and countryside plus lots of monkeys and elephants. Apart from the tuk-tuk drivers in Colombo, we had no grief and always felt safe. I would totally recommend it to all, please go, they need more tourists.
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samuel david
non-member comment
TEmple
Hello Claire- I do not think that is a Sikh temple. It looks like a lot of gods from the Hindu religion- it is probably in the style of Hindu temples from south India. Samuel