Our first impression was: If India and Nepal had a baby, it would be called Sri Lanka. Colombo was busy but not too crazy. In this capital we encountered traditional temples in between modern skyscrapers. The highest ones were under construction. We had a busy day with lots of sightseeing, street markets and a nap after lunch.
The street food was amazing, spicy and very affordable. For brunch we had spicy fried rice with samosas. It ended up costing 2.50€ for the both of us together (We were paying tourist prices but we couldn’t complain). After breakfast we bought two train tickets to Kandy for the following day (2.70€ per person for second class). We strolled around the busy streets for the rest of the day. Alex took a liking to the fruit bats, because “they are awesome.” They took a while to find but we finally found the tree where they were hanging/ sleeping in.
Britt’s highlight of the day: After grabbing some dinner, a very cute street dog followed us the last five street blocks home. He bolted between our legs and inside the hostel. He was so happy to be there and we couldn’t get him to leave. We had to get a staff member to help us get him out (even though we wanted to keep him). After he left, he sat in front of the hostel gate and rested his paws and head against it.
Lessons Learned / Useful Tips:
1. Everything is cheaper in the supermarkets. Six bananas ended up costing only 0.15€. I guess we will be eating lots of fruit.
2. It’s really difficult to capture fruit bats in action on camera, but we tried:
3. Sri Lankan Airport staff were very friendly and accommodating. Alex’s bag went MIA due to a short flight connection time at the London airport. The staff helped us get our bag back within about 24 hours and even gave us compensation without us having to write out a lengthy report.
Next stop Kandy!
more pics:
PS: Why megabats are awesome:
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