Day two Shri Lanka

February 2, 2019

Day two of our Sri Lanka adventure started out much better than day one. We wandered around Colombo stopping to enjoy a bit of a cricket match AND at lunch time we were at high end “mall”. As I mentioned yesterday, a few years ago in India,we managed to go seven weeks without going to a clean, predictable, spice free MCDonalds with okay bathrooms. Day two in Sri Lanka,  we again went to a McDonalds and sat in the windy shade high above a small lake surrounded by a few wonderfully interesting skyscrapers. While we were admiring the Sri Lankan flag and holding onto our food and napkins for dear life, we saw a practice for the Independence day Fly Pass. Depending on which sign you read, Sri Lanka is celebrating seven years or seventy years of Independence on Monday. While we were enjoying our lunch, I read the guide book. Finally I have time to read the guide book. I suggested we take a tuk tuk to the old Forte area and wander around and see the ocean. For three hundred rupees we got a tuk tuk there and on the way, we enjoyed the military vehicles parading to the rendevue for Monday’s parade.

After a very short wander around the Dutch Hospital from the 1600, we were approached by a man saying  he was from Kuawla Lampur and worked in their embassy.  We bought his story hook line and sinker, and were soon in the back of another tuk tuk ( supposedly metered) on our way to see a Buddhist temple that had a free ceremony only on one afternoon a year and this was it. Of course after paying to tour a Buddhist temple and then being marketed gems which were on sale only that one day of the year, we wised up. After paying the tuk tuk driver 2000 rupees ( we thanked him and even shook his hand,) we departed without jewels or more commission stops or tuk tuk.

Eventually we figured out the map with the help of a trustworthy Sri Lankan and hiked home. After cold beer and a game of quirkle on our porch, we felt slightly less jaded. One of the photos is of a jade buddha , one of the many Buddhas  we saw this afternoon.