Turner's tales from Sri Lanka: Colombo

Britta has to go to Colombo about once a week to meet with various people, so me and Noah have been going with her... It's about an hour and a half away by bus, or about 2 or 3 hrs (depending on I don't know what) on the train. Either way it's a slow, and usually cramped journey. The notion of personal space is not as popular here as it is at home...never mind if there's no more room on the bus, or train carriage...just get on and sit/stand where you can.

Personally I prefer the train. For one thing there is more air coming in the window, and aslo you can stand in the open doorway and lean out for better view/fresh air whilst the train is running. (I imagine you'd be prosecuted for that at home!) Our local train station is about 15/20 mins walk;

Also, the onboard entertainment is much better than the bus;

When this guy got on with his keyboard and speaker I assumed he was on his way to perform at a party or something, but then he sat down on his speaker, plugged in and began playing. Kind of like Sri Lankan lounge, or elevator music. Just brilliant.

There's also lots of other people selling stuff/collecting money, ranging from people selling snacks/cold drinks/magazines to people with various disabilities and disfigurements. One guy with Elephantiasis of both legs and feet is something I will probably never forget.

Colombo's pretty hot and noisy, like any city I guess. When you get off the train there's the usual army of tuk tuks wanting your business, and a market to walk past selling pretty much everything (by the looks of it). Once past the market you reach the sculpture on the Telecom roundabout, which I think is a masterpiece;

It just says everything that needs to be said about modern telecommunications, all neatly packed into such an imaginative sculpture. I love it.

I guess Colombo is like any city in that you really need to live there before you can fully appreciate it. But there are one or two things that so far stand out for me. Curiously they are mostly old colonial remnants. I'm sure I must have been a colonial in a former life...

Cargills;

Cargills is an old Colonial era (early 1900's I suspect) department store. In it's day I imagine it would have been the place to go for all your needs (if you were a colonial at least). Sort of like the Harrods of Ceylon. It's enormous, and some of the old signage is still there;

From outside it still looks impressive. Inside is a different story. It' really odd...only the ground floor is occupied, and true to the ethos of a department store it sells lots of different kinds of things, just not really in departments. It's all jumbled up. And most of the stuff they sell is on view inside old wood and glass cases (which I suspect are left over from the shops' heyday). The company now trading as Cargills is also a national supermarket chain (Cargills food city) so there is one part of the shop which is kind of like the supermarket corner...which is rather incongruous to the rest of the shop. It feels a bit like going into Harrods after it's been closed for 50 yrs and then taken over by Poundstretcher.

2. Galle Face Hotel

Another Colonial era building, and one of those places that you just have to visit really...we went for 'high tea'. You can just imagine it in it's day...gin and tonic on the veranda, and croquet on the lawn. Today it's one of the most famous/expensive hotels in Colombo.

This is 'High Tea'

And, if High Tea isn't quite enough, you get a fashion show to look at in whilst you're eating, just as the sun begins to set...

This is the doorman...

And this is Yuri Gagarin...one of the hotels more famous patrons (other than Roger Moor). I love this sculpture of him. He reminds of of 'Jonny Cab' from Total Recall (terrible film, I know!)

3. Victoria Park. Renamed Viharamahadevi Park in the 50's, but most people still seem to call it Victoria park. It's a classic Victorian park like in any big English city, but with huge ban yan trees, and swarms of fruit bats flying around the sky. Also, on some days you can see Elephants there...having a bath;

This is a view of the town hall;

But the best bit for me is the small guage railway which used to run and which is now derelict. And the engine (Diesel) was built in Hunslet, Leeds, by a company called 'Hunslet'...(where the Hunslet light Railway now runs, in Leeds of course). I'm not a train enthusiast...just enthusiastic about finding this old train from the city which I call home.

And this is the station...with someone waiting for the train that's never going to come!

And finally, there's the cafe, where they serve really horrible tea. Shame really...for a country where they grow the stuff. Here's Noah, in the cafe, showing Britta how you should smile when having your photo taken;

4. National museum. Built sometime in the late 1800's (by the British, of course). I really enjoyed it and could have stayed all day, browsing through the dusty old exhibits, in a this dusty old museum, but unsurprisingly Noah was bored within about 10 minutes and wanted to go back to Victoria Park to play Thomas the Tank engine on the old railway line.

Colombo is an interesting mix of old and new...and there's plenty of both everywhere you look. I like the old colonial era stuff, but there is plenty more of interest. The more I go there, the more I like it.

This lake is right in the middle of the city, and has a buddhist temple on a little island. Nice to look at but swarming with mosquitoes at the time of evening we were there. Not good timing I guess.