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Ah, Colombo. Ya know, there was a point in our travel planning where we thought we wouldn't be spending ANY time in Colombo. Then we decided to spend our last three nights there. Except we had a little problem reading our flight itinerary, and when we arrived in Colombo, we didn't actually have THREE nights left; we only had TWO, because ya know, if your flight home departs at 1:45 am on Thursday February 9th, that means you get to the airport the night of Wednesday February 8th, not sometime Thursday evening. At least I figured this out before we headed off to the airport a day late. We hadn't even packed our bags when the coin dropped in my tired little brain.

There I was, lying in bed on Thursday morning at the Holiday Inn Colombo, thinking to myself, "Gee, if we leave Colombo a bit after midnight on Thursday, well, how do we get back to Vancouver by noon Thursday, even with the 14-hour time difference? Hmm... must be some kind of new math! " And then I broke out in a cold sweat. And woke up the blissful Gordon, who was soon sitting beside me on the bed moaning, his head in his hands, as he rocked gently back and forth, chanting over and over, "How could we have been so stupid?" Us, the seasoned travellers!

Well, maybe it wasn't so stupid. After all, I spent the last week of our trip saying repeatedly, like the anti-Dorothy, "I don't want to go home! I don't want to go home!" And when we threw ourselves at the mercy of the nice counter clerk at Singapore Airlines, she merely smiled and said that the same thing had happened to a family earlier that week, and by the way, her sister had moved toToronto from Colombo and she'd been to Canada before, you know. And she promptly rebooked us on a flight four days later for FREE. We had many restrictions on our ticket, but she did not charge us a single rupee for our stupidity. Air Canada would have charged us thousands, and demanded our house and car! I looooove you, Singapore Airlines. Thank you for not making us pay through the nose for our itinerary illiteracy!

So we made the best of things and heartily enjoyed our extra time in Colombo, shopping our pants off, so to speak, at the dirt-cheap clothing stores, and enjoying the city's fine food. In fact, we bought so much tea and clothing that we purchased two large duffel bags to bring home the spoils.

 

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We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which was very nice (breakfast buffet to die for, in my opinion), and this was the view from our window. That's the Indian Ocean, in case you are geographically-impaired.

We enjoyed walking along the beach. Those two towers are called the World Trade Centre, and they are in the financial district that was rocked by LTTE (Tamil Tigers) truck bombings in 1996.

Looking down the beach in the other direction. Snack concessions and people relaxing after a hard day at work!

Some of the architecture, and a police post and barricades. Sorry, I don't remember what this building was about.

Another view from our hotel window. They still have British-style post boxes in Colombo.

At the Hilton Hotel, where we went for a couple of fine meals. My shirt has a big crease in the middle because I bought it for a couple of bucks at the Odel department store that day, and didn't feel like ironing.

Hungry koi at the Hilton. Don't they look emaciated? Not.

A dagoba next to the Hilton gardens.

Okay, okay, I know, too much Hilton! But the pond was really pretty. Crossing the street in Colombo is always an interesting experience. We soon got the hang of being a pedestrian in Sri Lanka. Never let down your guard, and always cross with the locals (as a human barrier!) when possible. And look ALL WAYS. I heard other travellers whining about the driving in Sri Lanka, but frankly, I have seen worse in central America, not to mention southeast Asia.

Gordon in the Hilton gardens. His entire ensemble came from Odel's and cost him something like $10.00!

 Male orangutan at the Colombo Zoo. There are signs everywhere telling visitors NOT to feed the animals, but as you can see from the lettuce and bread, these signs are ignored!

"One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong..."

"Feed me! FEEEEEEEEED ME!" Colombo Zoo hippo cutie. The Zoo was worth visiting. The big cat enclosures need some work, as do some of the monkey and birds of prey enclosures, but for a developing world zoo, it's one of the best I've seen.
An ostrich checks me out and looks thoroughly unimpressed. A local cutie-pie who came up to me and said, "Hello, how are you?" with her father's encouragement. I then started to speak to him, praising Sri Lanka (and its cricket team) to the hilt, and suddenly a huge crowd of smiling Sri Lankans had gathered around to listen. Gordon came back from the restroom to find me holding court! We have travelled many places, and I have to say that the Sri Lankans are the friendliest, most helpful people we've met. And they smile more than any people on earth.

A lovely Siberian bear, who along with his mate, must have been very hot in the 35 deg Celsius heat. I bet they spend most of their time in the pool!

Cattle pop up EVERYWHERE in this country, even in the middle of the city.

The bus is master of the road, and must be obeyed. Woe betide the pedestrian or vehicle who gets in the way of its driver. Death on two axels.

A lady watches out for buses as she crosses the street. If I had been smart, I would have brought an umbrella on our trip, not for rain, but to shield us from the burning sun.

"Rathass" sounds disconcertingly like "Rat's Ass" to my Canadian ears. As in, "I don't give a rat's ass what it costs, just make me three big signs!"

 A clothing store on top of a jewellery shop.
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All photos and text copyright Natalie Rowe 2008 - Stealing brings bad karma. Don't make me set my lawyer-husband upon you!