Sri Lanka – Colombo
Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka. Some people say it isn’t particularly impressive, and others say there isn’t much to see. The city sits on the coast, with its harbour and waterfront. But don’t be tempted to go swimming at the beach. Yesterday a tuk-tuk driver persuaded us to visit the city’s seven-kilometre-long beach — which didn’t take much persuasion after a hot walk. Unfortunately, there’s quite a lot of rubbish on the beach, the sand is blackened by pollution, and the railway line runs almost right along the shore. So we settled for a walk along the beach.
We’re staying 12 kilometres from Colombo in a small town called Boralesgamuwa — go on, try pronouncing that! We have endless fun listening to Christian trying to say it to our tuk-tuk driver. It’s a lovely little place, a small oasis away from the noise of the big city, complete with its own Buddhist temple. It has everything we need: several supermarkets, pharmacies, a couple of restaurants, street food, and a mobile baker who plays Für Elise around the clock.
We were exhausted when we arrived. We hadn’t slept properly for days — or rather, weeks. One to-do list had replaced another, and we’d been busy right up until departure. Full of excitement, and still finding it hard to believe that we were about to travel for at least 14 months, we went up the escalator at Copenhagen Airport for the second time in our lives and waved goodbye to our family in Denmark.
Our flight took us first to Doha, which has just opened an impressive new airport, and then on to Colombo. Our new home, Villa 63, is about an hour and a half’s drive from the airport and can be a little tricky to find. But with some helpful directions from the house’s mama, our driver eventually found it.
Villa 63 is a two-storey villa right beside the rice fields, surrounded by beautiful nature. We’re staying upstairs in a spacious apartment with a balcony overlooking an abundance of birds and wildlife. This is where our mornings begin. We’re slowly settling into the local rhythm: the Buddhists begin their morning prayers at six and continue until seven; the birds wake up around seven, and flocks of green lorikeets arrive and settle in the surrounding trees. A little later the monkeys appear, playing in the branches and stealing food put out for the little squirrels. The wildlife here is fantastic, and Christian is like a little boy in a giant toy shop. One of our first nights, he woke both Sarah and me because he’d caught a firefly. (As long as it isn’t snakes or spiders, that’s fine by me.)
It’s the perfect place to acclimatise, get used to the 30-degree heat and slow down a little. It took us a couple of days to unwind. It felt as though we had the worst jet lag imaginable. As Sarah put it, ‘I’m just going to have a half-hour nap’ — which turned into several hours, even though the time difference is only four and a half hours. Perhaps we simply needed to get used to a new time zone without a timetable.
Mama cooks wonderful local dinners for us, and the family constantly makes sure we have everything we need. All we have to do is enjoy the view of our new life.
Like any tourists, we’ve already made our first mistakes. One of our first days, we walked down to a nearby lake. There’s incredible birdlife there and a lovely cycling and walking path all the way around it. There’s also a large temple. We knew better — we’ve been through this a thousand times in Bali, Thailand and Malaysia — but perhaps the jet lag had got the better of us. We walked into the temple grounds wearing short shorts, short-sleeved tops, hats and shoes. On our way out, the police stopped us and asked a local person to explain that we needed to cover up; anything else was disrespectful. (A little embarrassing.)
Christian likes to put his taste buds to the test; food has always been a great interest of his. So when we order Indian food at a local restaurant, he’s convinced he can handle the extra-spicy version. He soon learns otherwise and has to make his way back to Villa 63 with a burning backside and heartburn.
And yes, like every other tourist, we’ve packed FAR too much. I probably got a little carried away in the stress and rush before leaving. I had to repack the evening before departure and leave a few things at my mother-in-law’s. And what did I choose to leave behind? Something spectacularly silly. The good Australian mosquito repellent and the sunscreen took up far too much space, and surely we’d be able to buy some here. Well, no — read Lonely Planet! Apparently, those are among the few things that are difficult to find here in really good quality. (Oh dear!)
We celebrated New Year’s Eve on our balcony, looking towards the fireworks over Colombo — although there were more loud bangs than spectacular displays in the sky. We thought of chilly Denmark and all the experiences still waiting for us.
But New Year’s Eve on Acacievej seems to have been a little too much fun for someone. Our lovely neighbours contacted us the following day to tell us that our letterbox had been blown to pieces. Such a shame, but fortunately we have a tenant who can sort out the problem himself.
We’ve made a few day trips into Colombo, focusing especially on finding art and horses for Sarah. We visited some excellent galleries: Saskia Fernando Galleries, the National Art Museum and Maria Fernando Galleries. Sarah got in touch with a local artist who will try to arrange a visit to the University of Colombo’s visual arts department. Our visit to Premadasa Riding School, however, is hardly worth writing home about. Sarah wanted to explore how people around the world care for and ride horses. Well, we quickly got our answer: all the horses were thin and bony. It’s not somewhere we want to support, so the horse experiences will have to wait until Australia.
Otherwise, we’ve been hunting for a book about Sri Lankan snakes and reptiles, which has proved impossible to find. Thanks a lot for that brilliant advice to buy one here, “Mr” Ulla Allentoft!!! (We’ve now visited five bookshops in Colombo.) We’ve also explored the local cafés and yes, Kristine, we’ve found good coffee too ☺.
Papa here at Villa 63 is also a tour guide and organises trips all over Sri Lanka. We’ve had many conversations with him, especially about planning our journey. Together we’ve now put together a 14-day trip around Sri Lanka, departing tomorrow, Wednesday 6 January 2016.
We’ll return to Villa 63 on 19 January 2016, when I have a couple of client meetings relating to my consultancy business.
“And we’re off!”