Sri Lanka : Day 7 - Colombo

Our last day in Sri Lanka today. After we got ready, we went out for a walk near our hotel ... 

The twin towers of Colombo according to our guide ... heh .... this is the Colombo World Trade Centre

Light House Clock Tower

Either the Sri Lankans were very friendly or us foreigners attracted a lot of attention. Many called out good mornings when we were strolling along the road. 

And so we met an employee of The Kingsbury Hotel here, as the hotel was just around the corner. He just got off work and was walking to the train station to catch his train home. He greeted us and asked where we were from ... and then he said we were lucky to be visiting at this time as we would be able see a religious ceremony at the temple. He volunteered to show us how to get there. Thinking that it was within walking distance, we thought we'd go and have a look. We got a bit worried as we were walking further away from our hotel .... and got scared when he found out that we needed to take a tuktuk to visit the temple. In the end we told him that we'd change our minds and quickly walked back to our hotel .... 

Regal Temple

Breakfast at Fairway Hotel paled by comparison, especially if compared to Suisse Hotel, Kandy and also The Surf, Bentota. I merely had a fried egg, a sausage and salad.

After breakfast, we checked out. We then moved our luggage to our friends' room. The plan was for us to come back and shower at our friends' room, before leaving for the airport. Our friends, J & J would be staying another night as they were flying to Maldives the next day.

We went for the city tour next. The mini bus drove us around .... and we saw these from the windows of our bus ...

(photo by JyG)

(photo by JyG)

(photo by JyG)

(photo by JyG) 

(photo by JyG)

The 350m Colombo Lotus Tower 

I thought the design was lovely and I also loved the colour of the "petals" in shades of pink

Firstly, since we were from Malaysia, the tour guide thought we might want to visit the local Malay community in Colombo. He brought us to the area ... and we did meet one Malay old man. But according to him, the community was quite dispersed and did not concentrate in an area .... 

There was a shopping stop where we could buy gems or souvenirs at this particular shop. 

Souvenir shopping ... 

And then, there was more sightseeing ... 

 Town Hall, Colombo

The building resembled the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. 

Next, we dropped by the museum. We did not go inside, though. We saw 2 China nationals there, and they enquired whether were from China. We did strike a conversation and they told us that they were setting up an exhibition here at the museum .... with my limited Mandarin, I'm not sure if I understood what the exhibition was going to be about but it had something to do with Admiral Zheng He's travels ... hmn ... 

National Museum Colombo 

National Museum Colombo

We also visited the Independence Memorial Hall ... 

The hall was built in commemoration of the independence of Sri Lanka from the British rule. The statue was of the first prime minister of the country Rt. Hon. Don Stephen Senanayake

Lovely statues of lions carved out of stone

Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre

This was the site of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2013

(photo by JyG)

 Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall

Replica of the Avukana or Aukana Buddha, just opposite the Conference Hall

The real statue is at a place calledKekirawa in North Central Sri Lanka. The real statue is carved out of a large granite rock face during the 5th century, and till today is considered as one of the best examples of a standing statue constructed in ancient Sri Lanka.

Our next stop was the House of Fashion. 

Kind of reminded me of our buses in Kuching .... 

House of Fashion is a deparmental store. Clothing is cheap. My friends bought capri pants, while I bought 3 cotton nighties for Mom and I. We were done shopping in an hour, and off went to lunch at Raja Bojun. We had Sri Lankan food, and this was to me, the best lunch in the entire trip. 

The elephant's eyes could blink and its ears could flap .... 

My first serving of fried rice, chicken and crab curry and pickled cucumber 

My second serving of hoppers and seeni sambal 

Of course there were plenty more to eat but I was very full by then.

Photo stop at Galle Face Beach

   
We also visited ... 

  Wolvendaal Church, built in 1757

Today it is a Dutch Reformed Church

The area where this church was located was a bustling shopping area, where many gold shops were located. We did not want to shop for gold, but thought we could walk at the bazaar. We alighted at Khan Tower 

Khan Tower  

 Bags for sale at Malwatta Road ... 

(photo by JtG)

 (photo by JtG)

At the end of Malwatta Road, we crossed an overhead bridge and got to the Fort Railway Station 

 Fort Railway Station, the Lotus Tower in the background

Just next to the railway station were more shops selling T-shirts and souvenirs. We shopped there a bit and went back to the bus ...

Our guide bought these to eat ... acharu, the called it
It's something like our rojak; it was spicy but I enjoyed it too :))

After the bazaar, we requested to stop at Spa Ceylon. I bought 3 bottles of essential oil - they were much cheaper than here in Malaysia. We also requested to stop at the hypermarket - where I bought a few packets of roasted curry powder to bring home. 

Back at the hotel, I quickly dumped my purchases into my luggage and had a quick shower at my friends' room.

Fairway Colombo Hotel

We were ferried off to dinner after that. It was at a Malaysian Chinese restaurant called Xilaton Restaurant, and food was nice. 

Hot and sour soup

 

Fried rice

Kangkung

 Okra

 Tofu


Pork

 Chicken


Steamed fish

 Cuttlefish

 Omelette

After dinner, we dropped the others back at the hotel, said our goodbyes, and went to the airport. Our flight took off past midnight .... and after some time, refreshment was served. I was too sleepy to eat ...

Nasi Goreng Kampung with Chicken Satay
Exactly what I had when I flew in to Colombo the other night ....

I did sleep on and off on the plane .... but I was glad when we landed at KLIA at 6.30 a.m.