Colombo

And more Books…and Trees

Cities change and usually is not for the better, it is inevitable.

Walking around the Galle Face Green with the backdrop of towers being built, the noise of traffic, the relentless advance of time, it is impossible not to think about the impermanence of things.

This city once coveted by the Portuguese, taken by storm and blood by the Dutch Commander Gerald Hulft and later shaped by the British is changing for better or worse. Yet from the Galle Face Green you can enjoy the same view that countless generations had on the different incarnations of Sri Lanka, and that is a fine thing.

Cities change and usually is not for the better, it is inevitable.

Walking around the Galle Face Green with the backdrop of towers being built, the noise of traffic, the relentless advance of time, it is impossible not to think about the impermanence of things.

Tuk Tuks & Arrack

The sound of tuk tuks racing past, an overwhelming sense of dizziness in the midst of so much movement, from near by the scent of the sea makes an appearance. Rashan is taking us for a drink, they call it Arrack, is strong but it has a subtle coconut flavor. We are a little hungry, on the dusty promenade we hear metal clanking, our new Sri Lankan friend tells us is ‘kotthu’ a filler but it’s delicious. Funny we never thought of coming to Colombo and now the city is revealing itself in unexpected ways. It’s both familiar and strangely different at the same time…

A Place to Stay

The Galle Face Hotel is not perfect and that is exactly why we love it. The carpets smell a bit, the service is quirky at best, plumbing has seen better days but who cares, you buy into the whole package and that is the history of the place. I much prefer it as it is than what it can become of it as a Sofitel or any other international chain.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed there in 1920 and he tells about his experience ““staying with my wife for the night at the Galle Face Hotel, a place where the preposterous charges are partly compensated for by the glorious rollers that break upon the beach outside” and he is right having a drink at the checkerboard with the Indian Ocean for background is worth a trip to Colombo. Here is another line from his chronicles at the hotel “Never, save on the west coast of Africa, have I seen the ‘league-long roller thundering on the shore’ as here, where the Indian Ocean with its thousand leagues of momentum hits the western coast of Ceylon.”

Gin tonic in hand and with the sunsetting on the Indian Ocean is easy to forget you are in 2021 and travel in mind to another era and that is precisely why the Galle Face Hotel works.

Colombo Disappearing

Once you cross the rails at Kompannya Veediya train station you enter the world of Slave Island. The Dutch East India Company used it as a place to keep slaves at a time when Beira lake was still infested with crocodiles. Or so the story goes…

Then came the time of the Malay settlement and the abundant number of mosques is a testimony of past migrations. Java street is said to be named after a contingent of soldiers brought from distant Batavia. This mix of ethnicities continues with a Tamil Kovil, Christians and Sinhala Buddhists.

There is a sad feeling of better times gone by in the crumbling shophouses, and in its greasy alleyways; yet Slave Island feels alive with the chitchat of people, the smell of frying street food and the noise of tuk-tuks zooming by. Soon this area will be all but gone prey to Chinese (developments) are building of apartments and with it a part of soul of the city will be gone forever.

On the Importance of getting Lost

Tickling the underbelly of Colombo.

If you hear there is a place called – Mission to Seafarers – how on earth can you resist not to check it up.

Here is the story. I got to the old Colombo Fort looking for it, got lost and wondered into a naval base where I was politely asked to leave by some guys in fatigues and semi automatics.

Then walked and walked around the fort as I would rather bite my tongue than ask for directions. Eventually found a grey church called Saint Peters and then magically a sign. Mission to Seafarers Flying Angel Center; I went up a very old staircase and into a this odd room. Hard to describe this place but oh so happy that is still here and they had cold beer.

Getting lost is half the fun of getting where you want to be.