Today has been spent tuk tuk zigzag style trying to find the heart and soul of Colombo. I think its fair to say that we have failed to find a heart and have relied very much on food and alcohol to enjoy the city. We set off walking through Park Viharamahadevi with large bags of rubbish to be disposed of – consisting of negative evidence of our stay in the Airbnb i.e. broken glass, empty bottles etc. I sat down in front of Buddha on the other side of the park and was promptly told to stand as sitting in front of Buddha is disrespectful. Fortunately Rose was here to interpret this to me as I just had my mouth open not knowing why I was being told to stand up.
We wanted to go to a particular shopping area in an old building (Opel) only to find it didnt open til 10am and it was only 9am. So our next option was a recommended museum. About to hop in a Tuk Tuk to get there and realised it was closed on a Monday…doh!!
Next option….a Tuk Tuk to Galle Face Green which is where the Sri Lankans from Colombo enjoy the beach. We got there and walked along the beach front, once again very underwhelmed. I was hanging out for a coffee so we then made another attempt to go to Opel…back into a Tuk Tuk (these rides are only $2 – $3 so we feel we can use them quite liberally). Finally we got there and had a coffee and a juice (Rose was worried as she saw them put water in my juice, even though I’d stipulated no ice!!…so far so good!!).
We then decided to come back home and walked back through park to get back. I was slipping and sliding in my awful sandles so stopped to don the thongs, threw the sandels in the bin and continued on. We got home just in time to avoid a monsoonal downpour. Had a minor break and then (you guessed it) another Tuk Tuk and we went back to the Dutch Hospital (with its array of restaurants) for lunch. We had a most yummy lunch at a restaurant next to the Ministry of Crab but the name escapes us. The funny thing about that lunch is that Rose ordered a pitcher of beer thinking it was a pint. 1.5 litres arrived!!! I’d ordered a white wine(its hot!!) but felt some obligation to help her out in a minor way. That really was hilarious and what did we do after that…a Tuk Tuk back home!!
Soon we’re off again. I think we’ll go to the roof top cocktail bar again for a Singapore Sling and then we think to the Cricket Club Cafe/Pub that we went to on the first day. It sounds like a Pub but really it is so Sri Lankan. Full of cricket memorabilia, the flags of all the cricket nations, all the dishes named after a cricketer etc…its fun and its only over the road.