Our second day in Colombo started well – we woke to find both of us had slept well, which makes all the difference.
After breakfast at our friendly local restaurant we set off to visit the street market, only to find…the street market. Except that it wasn’t quite as markety as we’d expected – basically an area of the city given over to trading, but mostly shops rather than stalls, which gives a place quite a different feel. Still enjoyable, wandering through the hustle-bustle, but after an hour or so it was hard to escape the fact that, well, that was it.
Ok, so…now what? With the day heating up fast, we decided the national museum had a certain appeal, if only to get out of the sun for a while. In the event, it turned out to be an enoyable hour or two, exploring rooms covering everything from prehistory to the colonial/post-colonial eras. A rather odd mix of exhibits, with everything from early agricultural tools to Dutch burgermeisters’ costumes, taking in many pots, many swords, many ceramics, clothes and furniture, and many other manys.
In truth, there’s not a massive amount to do and see in Colombo, but there was one little trip the guidebook recommended – a sort of mini art tour – which sounded right up our street. So we grabbed a bus and headed for the start of the trail: a section of the main drag that had according to the book been adopted by local artists as a sort of open gallery. Sounded good. But could we find any trace of artists or art? We could not. So we moved on to the national library, with its ‘gardens full of sculptures’ (not a sculpture in sight), then across the park (very pleasant) and, after a bit of a trek, to a supposed art gallery in a new shopping centre, which turned out to have moved elsewhere.
By the end of our art tour we’d encountered a total of zero works of art. But we did enjoy the walk, especially in the park, with the pond full of storks and pelicans, and the bus rides were a blast: wonderful old buses, mostly Leyland, which presumably makes them 50-odd years old, exuberantly decorated with Buddhas, flashing lights, tinsel, even leafy vines strung around, hurtling through the traffic, cramful of punters paying about 12p a pop.
Finally got back in the early evening, popped out to our favourite local for a plate of Chicken Masala (one between two – we learn our lessons) and a beer before bedtime. Excellent day, really looking forward to our train ride on the morrer