Temples, Tuk Tuks and Sri Lankan Curry

Our Sri Lankan adventure started with a long but fairly smooth drive from Albury to Melbourne Airport. Travelling on Easter Friday, we were expecting heavy traffic heading into Melbourne, however and quite surprising, we had a very smooth ride with barely any traffic.

Once at the long-term parking at Melbourne Airport, finding a parking spot in took longer than expected, but once inside the terminal, as we had already checked in online, we skipped the check-in desks as always and walked straight through and settled in to wait for boarding.

The aircraft arriving from Sri Lanka was a tad late and our departure was delayed by about an hour. Once onboard though the seats were comfortable and the entertainment system had a good selection of movies. Unfortunately my entertainment system didn’t quite cooperate with me as headphone jack refused to work properly and eventually the tip of my AUX plug snapped off inside it, leaving me with no sound for the entire flight. Luckily I had downloaded plenty of shows onto my laptop beforehand, so the flight was still easy enough to pass the time.

Landing in Colombo was surprisingly quick and efficient. Immigration was fast and within minutes we were walking into the arrivals hall. The first task was getting a local SIM card for Xander (his phone unfortunately doesn’t support eSIM). For about $10 AUD, he got roughly 50GB of data for two weeks, which felt like a great deal. Next we got some money, Sri Lankan Rupees, from an ATM with our Wise card and booked our first ride using the PickMe app, which worked perfectly and took us straight into Colombo city.

By the time we arrived at our Airbnb in Trizen Towers, it was close to midnight. Check-in was simple, but we quickly realised we didn’t have any bottled water in the apartment for brushing teeth, drinking etc. I walked downstairs and was told there was a 24-hour supermarket nearby and the guard at the gate flagged down a tuk-tuk driver, telling him where to take me. He quoted 1000 rupees return, which sounded expensive but considering it was about $5 AUD and I was exhausted, I just agreed to it.

Then things got interesting, on the way back from the store, the driver asked if I wanted some beers, and being hot and tired, I figured why not, I mean, it sounded like a good idea at the time. The driver first took me about 500 metres from my accomodation where he said he was going to grab the beers. He told me because it was midnight and stores were closed, there was only black market beers available, so it would be 2000 for two beers, again very expensive but now I was in the middle of it and gave him 5000 rupees (didn’t have smaller as there were just large notes from the ATM). He proceeded to drive me halfway across Colombo before finally stopping somewhere to grab the beers. By the time we returned he claimed the beers were 2500 rupees each. As he already had my money, negotiating was a bit difficult so although I complained, I couldn’t really do much about it. I still had to pay the initial 1000 for the ride and he then asked for another 2000 rupees for the ride (due to the extra driving). I basically lost my sh#t, told him I didn’t agree to any of this and basically threw the 1000 in his face before walking away, shouting some lovely Australia words to him.

Anyway, lesson learned, from that moment on, we only used the PickMe app to book rides as it has the prices fixed and you just link your Wise card to it (basically a Sri Lankan Uber).

After the late night arrival, we started our first proper day in Sri Lanka with a short walk to a nearby café called Grind where I had a nice oat cap with a nice smashed avo sourdough (always good to start with something you know on your first morning). It was good however prices were a tad high and surprisingly similar to Australia. Still, it was a great way to start the morning before heading out to explore the city.

One thing that hit us almost immediately though was the heat and humidity. Even early in the morning, the air already felt thick and warm, and by late morning simply walking between sights meant we were constantly looking for shade, air-conditioning or somewhere to grab a cold drink. Coming from Melbourne which had 18 degrees when we left, it definitely took a little time to adjust. Thankfully Colombo has plenty of cafés, malls and taxis which make escaping the heat fairly easy.

Our first stop was Gangaramaya Temple, a Buddhist temple near our accommodation, however as a service was taking place, we didn’t want to interrupt, so we stayed outside and watched quietly while taking in the temple grounds. From there we walked to the nearby Seema Malaka Temple, which sits peacefully on Beira Lake.

Shoes had to come off before entering, and Suz grabbed a sarong to cover her legs. We wandered slowly around the floating platforms surrounded by dozens of Buddha statues looking out across the water. It felt incredibly calm compared to the busy streets around us.

After the temples we walked across to Colombo City Centre Mall which gave us a chance to cool down in the aircon and with some cold drinks. We also picked up a couple of small souvenirs including magnets and pins.

Next we jumped into a PickMe tuk-tuk with one of the friendliest drivers we had all day. He almost acted like a tour guide on the way to the Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, often referred to as the Red Mosque based on its red-and-white striped architecture, one of the most recognisable buildings in Colombo. Again, a service was taking place so although we didn’t go inside, the exterior alone made it worth the visit.

Our next stop was the towering Colombo Lotus Tower. To get there, we had originally booked two tuk-tuks, but when the first one arrived the driver simply told all four of us to squeeze into the back. Apparently fitting four people into a tuk-tuk is perfectly normal in Colombo.

At the tower we paid the foreigner entry fee and took the lift to the observation deck which offered fantastic views across the entire city. On the way back down we also caught the Pixel Light Show, which turned out to be a really fun surprise.

For our first lunch of the day, we stopped at Vibe Restaurant where Xander and Eloise had grilled chicken and chips while Suz and I enjoyed a couple of local Lion beers. Afterwards we took another PickMe ride to Fort Railway Station to organise train tickets for the following day’s journey toward Galle however were just told to buy in the morning.

We then proceed to our second lunch of the day, at the Curry Pot Restaurant along Marine Drive. We both had curry and rice where Suz asked for her curry to be not spicy, while I asked for mine to be spicy. When it came time to pay, despite a massive sign saying VISA accepted, we were told it was cash only and quoted 6000 rupees for the meal. So, another “guilty white tourist price”, converting it to Australian dollars it was about $30 for two large curries, rice and drinks for all four of us. Anyway, we started eating with utensils but quickly switched to using our hands just like the locals. The food was great, the ripping off was not.

We returned to our accomodation and after a cooling and refreshing swim at our pool, we headed out again for a sunset at the Galle Face Green. Upon arriving we saw that the entire area was full of locals enjoying the evening, families walking along the waterfront, kites flying  in the air, street food stalls cooking seafood, and even a few snake charmers entertaining crowds. At one point we even spotted a monkey on a leash wandering through the crowd. From there we walked into One Galle Face Mall where I had a nice masala chai before grabbing some food from the food court.

Back at Trizen Towers we finished the evening by heading all the way to the rooftop which offers incredible views over Colombo at night. From up there we could see the Lotus Tower glowing and changing colours across the skyline.

A pretty perfect way to finish our first full day in Sri Lanka.

Tomorrow we’re catching a local train down to Hikkaduwa on our way to Galle!