Colombo is the main city of Sri Lanka, the financial and business capital, even if the legislative capital is technically in a suburb. With something like 5 million people, it is a big city by Canadian Standards, but only a decent sized town for for Asia.
On our second day, we headed into the heart of the City, an area called Pettah where all the parts that make a City are located: the train station, the old City Hall, and the main markets. We asked out Tuktuk driver to drop us at the Main Market (knowing there was more than one) and he obviously dropped us at the brand new, floating, tourist t-shirt shop markets, which were devoid of shoppers on this warm mid-day in late December.
Fortunately, the Manning Market was right across the street. This is essentially the wholesale fruit and vegetable market for the City. It is papaya and banana season (perhaps bananas are always in season?)
But this was clearly a wholesale place, no-one tried to hawk us those enormous bundles we saw spread around. There are more than 20 varieties of bananas grown in Sri Lanka, although we only distinguished between the fat yellow ones (sweeter) and the long skinny green ones (more flavor). But I'm not expert.
They also had meat.
On the other side of Manning Market is the real heart of Pettah, where dozens of small cross-crossing streets are as stuffed full of commerce and humanity as one can imagine. The streets are, in places, only 10 of 12 feet wide, with goods in the shops pouring out onto the street such that barely two Tuktuks can pass. It is loud, chaotic, and bustling.
The street are somewhat organized - it is clear when you are in the textile street, or the electronics street, or even the bicycle district. There are so many people working and selling, it is hard to tell how much is retail and how much I'd wholesale. The goods are plentiful, and being moved around by handcart and well-decorated transport trucks that kind of feel their way through the bustling crowd.
How many times have I said "bustle" now? I need a thesaurus. Around every corner, there was a treat, like this remarkable mosque:
Or the old Municipal Hall, which is not longer used, but where amongst tattered town plans and scattered historic photos, there is a boardroom featuring wax versions of previous mayors, being preserved for some sort of posterity:
I suddenly felt ashamed that in a City with such strong traditions as New Westminster, not one former mayor has been sculpted in wax and bagged for display at City Hall. A project for my return.
We found a hole-in-the-wall "Hotel" for lunch. In Sri Lanka, the word is used to denote a small family-run restaurant, or a place to rent rooms, or both. This was the former. It was every bit as sketchy looking as you would expect, but after being ushered upstairs, we had our first truly memorable meal of the trip. Rice, a spice mix of caramelized onions and shaved coconuts, a couple of curries that were only a bit hot but stuffed full of complex flavours, and a Ginger Beer to take the heat off.
Culture shock now properly overcome, we started to see the beauty of the place.
On our way back to the guest house, we wandered through a few park areas, and enjoyed the cooling evening.
And as the sun set, we noticed something familiar from home. Large flocks of crows sweeping through the sky, no unlike what you see in Burnaby on a summer sunset. Except these bird were bigger than crows, and had a funny wing shape and... holy shit those are bats!
Apparently, "flying foxes" in this part of the world have wingspans as big as 5 feet, and bodies the size of a house cat. Fortunately, they are fruit bats, not blood suckers or crime fighters. But holy shit...
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