Originally we had hoped to get to visit Kandy on our final day, however after a big day yesterday and our body clocks still having trouble adjusting to the time difference, we made an executive decision to give it a miss (leave it for next time, perhaps?). Instead we wandered down to the beach and grabbed a lovely breakfast and some more of that beautiful ceylon tea that we've enjoyed so much, before taking Andrew somewhere I knew he would love.
I had read and heard all about this place before we left and had hoped we'd find the time to pay a visit. We grabbed a three-wheeler and headed about 30 minutes back towards the main part of Colombo until we reached the Cricket Club Cafe. This place is an absolutely must for tragics like ourselves. The cafe/bar is a shrine to all things cricket, and features some of the most amazing cricketing memorabilia from all the cricket playing nations. Out the back of the building is the Bradman Bar, which has an amazing array of history from the sporting career of the great Australian. After marvelling at the displays we sat down and enjoyed lunch. The menu wasn't very Sri Lankan, but still good nonetheless. We grabbed a few more drinks afterwards before setting off for a market area.
We arrived at the market and were obviously a bit of an attraction as we got lots of attention and soon realised this obviously wasn't a highly frequented place for tourists! After wandering around and trying to haggle a good price for a Sri Lankan flag, we managed to snare one of the SL Cricket shirts for $10AUD instead.
Our friend Shirani had invited us around for a sightseeing tour and afternoon tea at 3pm, so at this stage we still had an hour to kill so we grabbed a three-wheeler and headed for the Galle Face Hotel. After strolling through the magnificent marble lobby we grabbed a table on the terrace and I enjoyed a Sri Lankan Sunrise cocktail (based on Arrack) and Andrew had a few Lion Lagers. 3pm rolled around and we strolled over the road to where Shirani's apartment was.
She gave us a refreshing EGB (Elephant Ginger Beer - I kept thinking of AGB, that old chestnut after a big night on the turps.. hehe) before we all squeezed into a three-wheeler (I definitely need to lose weight, again!). Shirani had the driver take us to our first stop which was the incredible and luxurious Hilton Colombo where her daughter Gigi works. We weren't able to meet Gigi on Friday night for dinner, so it was lovely to finally meet her! We jumped back in the three-wheeler and weaved our way through the busy and wild streets towards Pettah. This is the wholesale retail district. Neither of us have ever seen anything like it. It was long streets filled with everything and anything you could imagine including one particular street that Shirani said was known as 'Gold Street'. This was due to the fact that every single shop (both sides of the road) for what looked like about 1.5km were all gold retailers! Sri Lanka produces 22ct gold, and I was salivating to get out and have a look but knew Andrew would have a mild coronary if I did. We weaved through a few more streets and saw a few other very historical sights before we ended up at a Buddhist temple.
After leaving our shoes in the three-wheeler (no shoes in buddhist temples, ever) we met the head monk at the door and ventured inside. The sight was breathtaking - gold everywhere. We saw where a tooth relic of Buddha was supposedly kept, and amazing array of scenes explaining the teachings of Buddha and then we wandered on to a traditional Buddhist wedding where there was an elephant! Wow. The final area we went into was another large room that contained many LARGE Buddha's and I was pleased to see that in Sri Lanka, photographing a Buddha is okay, unlike the temples we visited in Thailand. After making a large donation and being blessed by the monk (I was holding back tears!), we jumped back in the three-wheeler and caught a few more sights of Colombo before heading back to Shirani's for afternoon tea consisting of patties (curry puffs) and a big plate of cupcakes! Delicious.
Shirani presented me with a beautiful cotton sleeping gown that she had handmade and we said our final goodbyes. It was quite sad to say goodbye, as Shirani had been so welcoming to us, and wanting to show us her beautiful city and sharing meals with us in her home.
The offices of the Sri Lankan President - I later discovered you are not supposed to take photographs of this building.. oops!
The busy retail area of Pettah
The elephant at the buddhist temple
Buddha, at the temple
Classic Asia!
Tomorrow we have an early flight from Colombo to Delhi, before changing planes and flying on to Kathmandu. Whilst I am sad to be leaving Sri Lanka, I am grateful for the opportunity to have been somewhere so amazing, humbling and welcoming. I must also thank the Australian Cricket Team, because of our cricketing prowess, the Sri Lankan people are generous and truly in awe of Australians and wish more of us to come visit their shores. Everywhere we went people wanted to know about our country, our cricket team and exchange details in order to keep in contact with us. We are truly humbled by our experience with Sri Lankan people. Ayubowan (goodbye) from Sri Lanka, and the next post shall be from Kathmandu in Nepal. Wow.
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