We went sight-seeing in Colombo the rather lazy way. No adventurous walking, no nervous rides in the ubiquitous three-wheelers, no crowded public buses either. So most of the city and its various landmarks were viewed through rather dusty car windows.
But I made a special request to get out in the ever busy and chaotic Pettah to get close-up pictures of the Jami Ul Alfar Mosque with its interesting candy-striped red and white brickwork. There was renovation going on and parking nearby was practically impossible! But our kind driver/guide stopped and waited for me right in front of the mosque, to enable me to quickly go in and take a few pictures. For a while, we literally and practically stopped the crazy traffic in Pettah!
Colombo is a mix of old and new. Old colonial buildings, new modern skyscrapers. Also historic and contemporary religious buildings of temples, dagoba (Buddhist stupa), mosques and churches.
Another stop was the Gangaramaya Temple. (We missed their Navam Perahera {procession of some 50 or more elaborately decorated elephants, cultural & folk dancers, jugglers, stilt-walkers, fire twirlers, and drummers, etc.} on the February poya {full moon} day, which fell on the 14th & 15th or was it on the 2nd & 3rd? Never mind, we missed it alright.)
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| A... waiting for a bus at the Gangaramaya bus stop. As if! |
In our continuing rendezvous around the city of Colombo, we spot more of its important landmarks - the City Hall, the Lotus Pond Theatre, etc., etc.
We also stopped a while at the Independence Memorial for our obligatory photo shot.
On this trip we spent more time on the beach at the southern Colombo suburb of Mount Lavinia. Because Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean, so we thought we'd get our feet really wet with the waters of this vast mysterious ocean. And... the beautiful sunsets completed the experience.
10-15 February 2015
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