Day 13 Eastern Sunday 5 April Colombo Sri Lanks

Named after Christopher Colombus, we finally made it to land after having been at sea so long but the seas have been so calm all the way.  They had troupes of native dancers and drummers welcome the ship along with an elephant.  I assume it was an Indian elephant as they probably don’t like African imports. We had a half day tour of Colombo seeing the museum, Old Parliament House, the town hall called the White House because it’s an exact replica.  Of course as I didn’t have a permit to film I got into trouble but the problem was a language one cured by USD$3.  It was eventually sorted and diplomatic relations restored. I’m not sure having ancient urinals to the entrance of the museum is a good idea. The streets were clean and only slightly chaotic because it was a Sunday. We had a wonderful lunch of sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, guava juice and coffee at the Taj Hotel.  We only scratched the surface really..ooh what’s that on my arm?  We only saw the more affluent areas.

It was only 33 degrees Celsius but gee it was warm.  Summer must be problematic.