Easter in Colombo

We cancelled Gallee due to weather and waves..... so on to Colombo we go......

Easter!  We were not forgotten... David 'hid' the chocolate eggs...he says..... I did not buy that.

So, here we are Colombo!   Since we missed Gallee we arrived a day early in the pouring rain and docked at a crummy busy cargo dock smelling of gas fumes.  Smoking was not allowed while we were docked there....  At 6AM the next morning we moved to the cruise dock in Colombo.  There was not a lot to do in this port, shopping for things we did not want or need, a 'resort', visiting a tea plantation, a city tour, or taking a 3 hour one way trip to see an elephant orphanage.  I read about the Pinnawela Elephant orphanage and opted out not wanting to see elephants chained or sick.  We opted for a tour of the city.  Always fun to see how people live. Fun to be a world traveler.  Easter in Colombo, now who can say they did that?

The greeting for people in Colombo is Hello, Have you eaten rice?  I don't think they say that in English but the greeting in English means that.  Rice is important in this part of the world, naturally. 

We toured the city for 2 hours. Colombo is the most populous city (642,000) and former capital of Sri Lanka.  We are now on the West coast of Sri Lanka.  It is a mix of modern and colonial buildings, none of which are kept up well.  Two thousand years ago this was a major port for the spice trade.  Romans, Chinese and Arabs called on this natural harbor. It must have been something great back then.   Since it wasn't so big I found us going in circles and seeing the same block over and over.  We saw a few temples, some city buildings, and an elephant chained to a tree at a temple.  He is a sacred elephant we were told.  I felt for the little guy in the heat in chains... On this Easter Sunday the city was filled with shoppers enjoying the beautiful day.  Hot it was.  A man got sick on our bus and everyone moved to the front.  Our tour ended on the short side of 2 hours which no one complained about.  It was so very hot today.  I miss my bacon buns.... I miss my colored Easter eggs..... :) and SALT on those eggs!