Colombo Diary
I am glad that I had a 8 hour transit in colombo.The Srilankan
government gave me a 30 day on arrival visa (hassle free & free of cost! ). I hooked up with a few fellow students on the flight and we rented a car and visited the tourist spots in colombo.
On first glimpse Colombo looks like a typical town in Kerala. Cocunut trees everywhere,the same red and cream colored buses,kirana shops,Bajaj autos,Tata buses and Ashok Leyland Lorries/buses,TVS,Hero Honda two-wheelers,IOC petrol pumps.The Indian brands are ever pervasive in colombo.
We headed directly to the Fort area and visited the Galle Face green Beach. It is a Beautiful beach and the waters are just 50m from the Main road.The Old parliament house is a typical british colonial building and is just opposite to the beach. The World trade center twin towers give the Fort area a business look and feel.The WTC twin towers are the tallest building in Colombo and the adjacent Hilton,Taj hotels lend an aura to the place.
We then headed to the International convention hall which resembles a neo-chinese nanking type decor with sprawling lawns. The famous gangaram buddhist temple was closeby. The temple has a huge buddha statue (at least 20 feet) and hundreds of smaller buddha statues dedicated to the different preachings of Buddha. Interestingly, the temple also had a ganesha statue. I was intrigued and asked our cab driver about it. What he told me was unforgettable , " I am a buddhist""But If you see the pictures inside my cab , there are images of Goddess Lakshmi & Lord Ganesha apart from an image of Buddha". " All gods are same to us" .Wise words from a common man.
The Cocunut water (Ilaneer) I had was awesome. delicious taste and the amount of water inside the cocunut seemed inexhaustible ! I also bought tea bags of the famous "ceylon" Tea and returned back to the airport.
Sirlanka is a lush,beautiful country. It certainly deserves a longer trip, which I definitely intend to make sometime in the near future.
I am glad that I had a 8 hour transit in colombo.The Srilankan
government gave me a 30 day on arrival visa (hassle free & free of cost! ). I hooked up with a few fellow students on the flight and we rented a car and visited the tourist spots in colombo.
On first glimpse Colombo looks like a typical town in Kerala. Cocunut trees everywhere,the same red and cream colored buses,kirana shops,Bajaj autos,Tata buses and Ashok Leyland Lorries/buses,TVS,Hero Honda two-wheelers,IOC petrol pumps.The Indian brands are ever pervasive in colombo.
We headed directly to the Fort area and visited the Galle Face green Beach. It is a Beautiful beach and the waters are just 50m from the Main road.The Old parliament house is a typical british colonial building and is just opposite to the beach. The World trade center twin towers give the Fort area a business look and feel.The WTC twin towers are the tallest building in Colombo and the adjacent Hilton,Taj hotels lend an aura to the place.
We then headed to the International convention hall which resembles a neo-chinese nanking type decor with sprawling lawns. The famous gangaram buddhist temple was closeby. The temple has a huge buddha statue (at least 20 feet) and hundreds of smaller buddha statues dedicated to the different preachings of Buddha. Interestingly, the temple also had a ganesha statue. I was intrigued and asked our cab driver about it. What he told me was unforgettable , " I am a buddhist""But If you see the pictures inside my cab , there are images of Goddess Lakshmi & Lord Ganesha apart from an image of Buddha". " All gods are same to us" .Wise words from a common man.
The Cocunut water (Ilaneer) I had was awesome. delicious taste and the amount of water inside the cocunut seemed inexhaustible ! I also bought tea bags of the famous "ceylon" Tea and returned back to the airport.
Sirlanka is a lush,beautiful country. It certainly deserves a longer trip, which I definitely intend to make sometime in the near future.
posted by Cogito at
Sunday, June 26, 2005
3 Comments:
Nice descript of a city I've always been curious about but hesitated to even transit thru... where are the photos? :)
By
mitokondrion, at 9:30 AM
that's a good on-the-spot report, cogito..
hope you are back in chennai now.
By
Ram C, at 5:06 PM
Mito -- Thanks. I am good old film camera guy. So have to "wash" the photos.
Ram.c -- yeah in chennai now.
By
Cogito, at 2:23 PM
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