One Day In Sri Lanka

On the weekend, Anand, took us to a delightful Sri Lankan Restaurant in the Ceylinco Head Office on Galle St. – He said we would normally eat in the main floor restaurant (where there was a life-size (all be it small) real-looking mechanized elephant with wonderful moving ears and eyes!) however there was a buddhist wedding there that night. So up to the rooftop eatery we went. We had a great view of the city and a meal worth dying for!

You can’t come to the island without trying hoppers… There are many kinds served – the morning buffet at our hotel often has string hoppers available which look like mounds of spaghettini to me… Here the roof-top chef is preparing an egg hopper – It’s somewhat akin to a bowl-like crepe with an egg in the middle… Great for eating straight or dipping in the many curries of the meal!

Last week I went to a presentation by Lawrence Lessig, “Mr. Creative Commons”. I honestly thought my chance of seeing Dr. Lessig present in person was slim to nil but then, there he was in Colombo…speaking at the ‘grand opening’ of the Sri Lankan Creative Commons site. Although Lessig’s talk was superb and his use of powerpoint inspiring, I enjoyed the after-show of Sri Lankan artists very much as well.

Here is a pic of a Drum Fusion band – I’m hoping to see them play again as I had never seen or heard anything like this before!

You can visit my youtube site to hear/view a short clip of them.

I mentioned another time that our hotel is right on the coast – Here is a view looking North into the main business section of Colombo:

While below is a view looking south – If you look closely, you can see the Mount Lavinia Hotel on the coast, at the top of the photo. We stayed at Mount Lavinia when we visited Sri Lanka previously.

You will also see a few people walking along ’seaside’ road -I took the photo at 8am which is a little late for walking – had I taken the photo just as the sun was rising, there would be a steady flow of walkers. Seaside Road is a 2 kilometre long stretch where I’m told up to 500 walkers trek each morning – 2×2kilometresx500 people – wow, that’s a lot mileage in the name of fitness!!

Sunday is definitely a family day in Colombo, we always see many families congregating on the beach. Everything does not ’stop’ but only a ‘light version’ of commerce seems to continue on a Sunday. From what I can see, many families attempt to share the time together. Here are a few Sunday beach shots from just across from our hotel. Unfortunately, the beach is not pristine as some travel brochures will have you believe (see the pile of garbage) and after the recent storms, the beach is cluttered with debris from further out:

Keeping on the theme of Convenience Stores… this delivery bicycle caught my eye one day. You do not see many bicycles in Colombo – even though the city is very flat. The condition and width of the roads, as well as the very nature of the car, truck and three-wheeler drivers means you would be taking your life in your hands by riding a bicycle around town!

This bike seemed to be playing hide’n’seek with the wall behind it. Upon further investigation, I realized how ingeniously it had been altered as a beast of burden.

We are living in a seaside hotel just two blocks down from the main road in Colombo, Galle Rd. It’s a very long street running parallel to the beach -  basically equivalent to Yonge St. in Toronto. There are a variety of stores, banks, car dealerships and internet/phone cafes (which don’t serve coffee) on Galle.

I found this ‘convenience’ store tucked around the corner on a side street just off Galle. The guy standing outside is a three-wheeler driver – I’m sure he thought I was after his picture but it was really the store front that caught my eye!

I wonder how secure the place is after closing?

A few weekends ago when we were still at the Sapphire Hotel, Mark and I discovered a wonderful Thai Restaurant down one of the side streets.  I wanted to check it out because I liked the sign!  We may have to use that technique again for choosing restaurants since “The Siam” turned out to be a wonderful place! Of course, the waiter said the food was just ‘a little hot’ but we knew better!  I couldn’t pour the water fast enough!

The sun had set while we were in the restaurant so when we were leaving the staff were just turning on several lanterns in celebration of the “Wesak Full Moon Poya Day”.  For this holiday, lanterns were hanging everywhere in the city and many organizations held competitions for “The Best Lantern”.  Apparently, it is important that the lanterns are hand made rather than commercially produced so on the days leading up to the holiday, we saw many lantern frames available for sale on the streets.

On another day, I caught this group of lanterns in action:

Guest Photographer: Mark

You can picture yourself playing hockey. You commit an offence, and you’re sent to the penalty box. Or, for those folks who are not into sports, maybe they’ve have the pleasure of being picked up by a Police Paddy-Wagon, and forced to ‘rest’ for a while. Sri Lanka has a very interesting way of penalizing you if you’ve committed an offence. You’re rounded up in their own version of something that appears to morph a penalty box with a Police Paddy-Wagon! 

I’m experiencing some connectivity problems so I apologize for the less than daily postings. Today, we have a treat – A guest photographer – Mark, my husband…. Here’s what Mark has to say about his photos:

OK, so we leave for a city about 100 kms away from where we are stationed in Colombo called Kandy (the former capital of Sri Lanka). We’re taking the Colombo-Kandy highway, the largest highway in Sri Lanka. Ya figure – Better leave a lot of time, just in case traffic is bad. What do you figure – 2 hours, maybe? As it turns out, we leave at 5:45 am from Colombo, and return after a two-hour meeting and a few ‘tea stops’ – AT 8:30 PM. Was the traffic bad? Well, see for yourself. This is a photo of the two-way traffic along the Colombo-Kandy highway!

Mark and I have been going for walks at the end of the day lately. We seem to always be able to make up some excuse for getting out of the hotel and on to the streets. With our hotel being right down at the “sea-side” (as one three-wheeler driver described it), we get a wonderful breeze off the water as dusk approaches. I also love this time of day for the wonderful hues in the late afternoon sun.

A few days ago, we were walking along and noticed these two men staring at a coconut tree.

It was only for a split second that we wondered – what are they doing?… for our query was answered with a loud THUD!! and then another….. from this guy…

Can you see him? I think he hit the motherload!! I would have loved to see how he got up there!

Directly across the street it was somewhat surreal to see the scene repeating itself…

Our hotel has an array of flags from around the world posted out front. I was surprised to see the Canadian flag blowing and then I did a double-take on the maple leaf!!

My sources tell me this flag will be changed for a new one from the Canadian Consulate very soon.

I think the stylized maple leaf is kind of exotic…blending in with it’s surroundings like we Canadians try to do!

It looks like some companies are ready to face the “knock off” fashion craze head on!

I’ve decided to expand my blogging into the ‘photoblog’ realm by capturing a daily visual from my surroundings here in Sri Lanka.

My husband and I will be based here for a year or so and although I will be regularly updating my flikr account – Sri Lanka Set, I thought it might be fun to try and post a photo with a little explanation each day.

So let’s start off with a photo entitled, “Just off Main” captured down a side street in the WellaWatta area of Columbo: