My Sri Lanka: Colombo

Colombo was the capital of Ceylon from 1815 till 1982, but still remains the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's colonial legacies are still very much intact in the many buildings found in Colombo, although spanking new skyscrapers are also on the rise as the city spreads north and south along the coast. Among the grand old structures include the two hotels we stayed in while there - the Grand Oriental Hotel and the Galle Face Hotel.

The Grand Oriental Hotel (CNB 2012)

Ms Puenima, Mr Mohamad, Mr Kasun & Mr Kaldera of the
front office, Grand Oriental Hotel (CNB 2012)

The Grand Oriental Hotel ('A Legend yet Living') in York Street in Fort (Col 1) overlooks the harbour. This was the finest hotel in Colombo 100 years ago, but sadly no longer. York Street has some grand Victorian shop-houses which offer a glimpse of British-era Colombo. Unfortunately, they looked neglected and abandoned. Fort was created by flooding surrounding wetlands when the breakwaters were built in the 1870s. Bomb attacks by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in the Fort area caused many major businesses to disperse across the city. The Fort Railway Station (actually in Pettah, not Fort) is of course another old colonial structure. Pity we were not taking any train from here to Kandy or Nuwara Eliya.

A colonial building that houses the Harbour
Stop Restaurant (CNB 2012)

Victorian Cargills on York Street (CNB 2012)

Fort Railway Station in Pettah (CNB 2012)

The Galle Face Hotel overlooks the Indian Ocean on one side and the Galle Face Green on its front. It is the oldest hotel east of the Suez, and clearly in a very good location. As the sun sets, many Sri Lankan families, couples, and youngsters stroll along the oceanfront Galle Face Walk. Little kiosks along the Green offer drinks and 'short eats' in the form of kottu rotti, prawn fritters, etc.

Galle Face Hotel plaque (CNB 2012)

93 year old Mr Kuttan - iconic doorman of the Galle Face Hotel.
Picture taken from postcard/cover of a book (CNB 2012)

63 year old Mr MB - guest at the Galle Face Hotel (CNB 2012)

At the end of Galle Face Walk is the Old Parliament/new Presidential Secretariat, a handsome building with statues of important statesmen on the lawn. The historic Fort Lighthouse Clock Tower (1910) is little distance further down in the city.

Schoolgirls at Galle Face Walk (CNB 2012)

The old Parliament/new Presidential Secretariat (CNB 2012)

Dusk falls on Fort, Colombo. The Fort Lighthouse clock tower
is at the far left, a mosque on the right (CNB 2012) 

The National Museum of Colombo was established in 1877 when Sri Lanka was a British colony. It is located in the Viharamahadevi Park, Cinnamon Gardens (Col 7). We walked through Sri Lankan history (unfortunately very quickly, I must say) in this museum. A couple of days after we visited the museum, I read in the local newspapers, the Daily Mirror and The Island, that it was closed indefinitely, because thieves had broken into the museum and stolen millions of rupees worth of artifacts!

School children at the National Museum (CNB 2012)

Pettah (Col 11) and Fort (Col 1) are the oldest parts of Colombo and the market activity here is sometimes at a riotous level. Everything can be found and haggled for here in crowded Pettah, but the morning we were there, surprisingly, we seemed to be the only foreigners around!

M & Mr Nur Mohamed, a Pettah salesman (CNB 2012)

Pettah side street (CNB 2012)

The only temple we visited in Colombo was the 19th century Gangaramaya Temple. Apart from the significant Buddha statues, I was surprised to see many huge statues of the goddess Kuan Yin. The temple was a hive of activity because, other than orange-robed monks, it has a museum as well as a resident elephant. And a throng of tourists with cameras and local school teachers with their pupils in tow!

At the Seema Malakaya on an island in Beira Lake (MB 2012)

Resident elephant of Gangaramaya Temple (CNB 2012)

An obliging monk (CNB 2012)

Building detail at Gangaramaya (CNB 2012)

We stopped by the Independance Pavillion and noted that the locals also visited it in droves, the school children in their white uniforms and the women in colourful saris.

Colourful saris at the Independance Pavillion (CNB 2012)

Another colonial era hotel is the Mt Lavinia Hotel, in the old beach resort of Mt Lavinia, actually a suburb of Colombo. For tea we had ice cream and cold drinks instead, because it was a really hot afternoon when we were there.

The Mt Lavinia Hotel facade and doorman (CNB 2012)

Chillin' at the Mt Lavinia Hotel terrace (2012)

We had our first taste of  Sri Lankan food in Colombo. It is akin to some of our local dishes (of Indian origin) - among others, there are 'hoppers' or appa (apom/apam in Malaysia), 'string hoppers' (equals our putu mayam, except they eat it with curries and sambols). These local food appear on the breakfast menus of the hotels, so I tried all they had to offer, forgoing my usual continental fare. Once, for lunch at the Harbour Stop Restaurant, I tried the banana leaf wrapped rice meal called lamprais. It was devillishly pedas! Then I recognised on menus that any dish that is 'devilled' is really chilli hot!

We walked a lot in Colombo, the best thing to do to discover a city. But sometimes we opted for the three-wheeler taxis that ply the streets. The most 'memorable' ride in one of these was a 30 km trip to Negombo!

15-21 March 2012