A “fuster-cluck” of a
day…….
This was our first time
here (so are many of the upcoming ports) So, we are very excited to explore new
places.
Sri Lanka (formerly
Ceylon) officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island
country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of
Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is historically and
culturally intertwined with the Indian subcontinent but is geographically
separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk
Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the
commercial capital and largest city, Colombo.
I booked a Marsh Boat
tour and a City tour to fill our day with Sri Lanka by Car.
Today we were joined by
Bob & Phyllis, Cathy & Tom, Stacey & Wally, Kris & Andrea,
Horst & Mark and Lori. Super great group of tour mates today! Today
required a lot of patience and understanding and I’m thankful they were so
supportive with our chaotic tour.
The guy I had set the
tour up with was very responsive and helpful, so I had high hopes for our day
here.
I don’t know where to
begin with how disappointed we were in our tour today. First, we lost about 45
minutes when there was no one there holding a sign with my name on it. We were
late getting off of the ship waiting for it to clear and then one lady had an
issue with her key card and needed to take care of that. We then waited about 5
or 10 more minutes as we walked through all the people holding signs. The tourist
center said that perhaps we would find the vehicle out of the port if they
weren’t allowed to come in. So, we walked all the way out of the port. We tried
calling and that took a long time to get ahold of someone. Finally, we got
through and they came and picked us up.
If that was the only
issue all day it would have been no problem.
We did the Muthurajawela
Marsh Wetland Boat Tour which was wonderful. I had asked Mohamed when we should
pay, and he said we could take care of that at lunch. Then, Godfrey told him we
needed to pay now since they had to pay the boat people. So, we collected the
money which then took up more time. (could have collected it on the van on the
drive there)
waiting for the tour guide
a wedding
arrival at the marsh
various fishing traps
It was a peaceful and
beautiful boat ride with fishermen in boats and along the banks. We saw 3
different water monitors. One was fairly small and was sunning on the bank. The
medium and the larger water monitors were swimming in the water. We also saw
quite a few birds (only a few were new) and some adorable monkeys. We also saw
a small crocodile nestled amongst the mangroves.
Mohamed, Tom, Cathy, Lori
Tom, Cathy, Mohamed, Lori, Annette, Greg
the rest of our group in the other boat - Phyllis, Horst, Mark, Kris facing out
Kris, Andrea, Wally, Stacey, Bob
small water monitor
Phyllis, Horst, Mark, Kris & Andrea
small croc
open air church
Stork-billed Kingfisher
medium sized water monitor
larger water monitor
when ya gotta go, ya gotta go.....
I was told earlier that
after the boat ride we would do some of the city tour, have lunch and then
finish the city tour. I said that sounded great. Then, after the boat ride
Mohamed said that since we were running late, we would go straight to lunch and
then do the city tour.
Our
lunch was
at The Ministry of Crab http://www.ministryofcrab.com/
The restaurant was located in the Old Duth Hospital. This
1600 Dutch built hospital is considered to be the oldest building in Colombo
fort area. It's been used for several different purposes like fort's police
station until 1990. Today this restored old building houses some of the
Colombo's best caffè's and restaurants.
drive to lunch
shanty town
Lunch was a fiasco.
After everyone had ordered we were told that we all couldn’t pay by credit card
since enough people had to pay in cash for the tour company to be paid back for
the deposit for reserving our table. (about $200) Mohamed didn’t seem to know
how to handle that. If we had known this up front, we could have been prepared
to pay cash. Many solutions were offered such as just pay your bill and then
they will divide the amount of the reserved table cost amongst us all and bill
us for it. We said we aren’t paying more than what we ordered. I think most all
of us chose not to use credit card since it was such a hassle and didn’t want
the risk of any additional charges added on later. Yes, you can dispute the
charge, but when on the ship internet is SLOW and not easy to take care of
those kinds of things.
This took a long time to
settle. Again, we lost valuable time sorting that mess out. Then, we got back
on the bus and Mohamed isn’t with us. Godfrey drove us past some things in the
city (not stopping for photos or anything) at least twice. Then, we stopped
back where we had lunch and picked up Mohamed.
The food was very
expensive (which we knew since we saw the menu), but they took credit cards and
it was supposed to be very good. Greg & I split a small garlic chili crab
and a garlic prawn. Both were very good and we ordered the suggested taka bread
to soak up the sauce. Since, there wasn’t much meat in the crab I ate a ton of
the bread soaked in the sauce. Yum! For the price, the crab should have been meatier,
but it was tasty. Everyone ordered different things and it seemed everyone
liked the food. No one liked the chaos of trying to pay the bill.
Tom & I have the
same camera, which came in handy when I overheard him say his battery was dead.
I always carry several so I was able to lend him one. I’d feel terrible to miss
photos if I ran out of batteries. Rick, remember when we had the same camera? I
forget where my extra batteries came in handy. Glad I could help.
The temple they took us
to was not the one we were supposed to visit. It also was back near where we
took the boat tour so be doubled back to see it after lunch. We went to Kalaniya
Buddhist Temple. (maybe, not exactly sure what the name of the temple was) We
were supposed to visit Gangaramaya & Seemamalak meditation centre. It was a
nice visit, but it was quite a drive to get back and forth when the other one
was right in town. Again, costing us touring time.
We then asked if we had
enough time to visit the market (Chaotic Pettah Markets/Street Bazaars). We
were taken to a shop. Not the markets. We now had less than an hour to get back
to the ship for all aboard. We shopped here just in case we didn’t get another
opportunity. There were stalls at the pier, but they could have been closed by
the time we got back.
Kalaniya Buddhist Temple
Greg, Horst, Annette, Mark, Andrea, Stacey, Lori, guide, guide, Kris, Tom, Bob, Phyllis
Mohamed came and talked
to me many times on the ride and it was hard to make sense of what he was
trying to tell me. I should have been enjoying the tour and not being bothered
by questions and excuses for why things weren’t going well. He finally looked
at my tour description (taken from their website) and said he didn’t know that
was what we were supposed to see. He took a photo of it.
on the way to the market
Mohamed had us get out
for photos of the Red Muslim Mosque. Then he said we could take 10 minutes to
see the markets. We did do that and that left us about 15 minutes at the port
to shop at the stalls there. Most people stayed in the van when a few of us did
the market.
Red Muslim Mosque
Pettah Markets
Greg, Annette, Cathy, Tom, Phyllis, Bob
Tom & Greg
I assume on our
drive-bys of the sites we saw:
Wolvandaal
church -Dutch reformed church (1749AD)
Colonial
buildings
Fort
& Pettah Hindu Kovils - The Colombo Fort was once
indeed a fort during the European era, today the central commercial district
and administrative hub for government departments and cooperate offices. The
fort area is a mixture of buildings from many eras of the cities past. The most
notable of residences of the fort is the President's House, official residence
of the President of Sri Lanka.
St.
Lucia's Cathedral / Museum - This 1887 built enormous cathedral
is the Sri Lanka's biggest church (Open 5:30am - 12:00pm and 2:00pm to 7:00pm).
The cathedral's outer looks are inspired by St. Peter's in Rome.
Gangaramaya
& Seemamalak meditation centre - Gangaramaya Temple is the
center for the most extravagant Vesak festivals in Colombo and Navam Perahara
in February each year. Seema Malakaya Meditaion Center - Designed by the
renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa and run by Gangaramaya Temple this small but
eye catching meditation center is famous for its bronze Thai Buddha statues.
(this is the one we were supposed to visit, but we drove by it at least twice)
Modern
buildings
Galle
face green it’s an urban park
Back at the pier a couple of us took our last few minutes
and I got a small tuk tuk since I had already gotten my token magnet. I would
have liked more time to shop, but after the day we had I was ready to get back
on board. Should have bought some cinnamon or some Ceylon Tea, but since we
won’t have a home until the end of the year, it seemed silly.
We freshened up and ate upstairs and then caught the late
show which was the Piano Brothers. Very entertaining guys on the piano and the
keyboard. They switched back and forth which they were playing and even played
sitting right next to each other. Great show.
Colombo, Sri Lanka - https://photos.app.goo.gl/qqYdKbFP2QVLCagu9
Only 1 sea day to recoup before the Maldives.
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