Despite not really hearing much positive about Colombo, I still scheduled a little over a day in the city. As someone who likes exploring cities, it seemed like a waste to not at least explore a little bit of Colombo before heading elsewhere in the country.
As mentioned in my prior post, I booked a two night stay at the Cinnamon Lakeside, which looked like the best of a bad lot. The bones of the hotel (elevators, bathrooms, etc.) were certainly quite dated but the room itself was clean enough and there was air conditioning. I believe there is a crop of fancy new hotels opening in Colombo in the coming years but their opening seems to be continually pushed back.
View from the hotel room and looking south towards the Defence Services College, which is a school for children of the members of the armed forces and police. This was the only photograph I took in the hotel for some reason.
I then headed out to explore and only moments after stepping out of the hotel, I was confronted by the first random person to start talking to me, asking me questions about myself, my career and family status along with claiming to be an employee of the hotel who had just gotten off work. We walked together for awhile with me trying to be polite without explicitly telling him to bugger off and as we kept walking, he kept trying to convince me to hop into a tuk tuk to go see a Buddhist festival happening at an unspecified place outside of central Colombo. I made my excuses and when he finally figured out that I wasn't going to fall for the scam, he promptly left me alone.
Central Telegraph Office
Pedestrian bridge over Olcott Mawatha which connected Fort Railway Station and Pettah Market
I popped into Fort Railway to confirm that the timetables online were indeed accurate for tomorrow's train journey on the Coast Line
Pettah, the main trading/market area of Colombo
Khan Clock Tower with the Port of Colombo's container cranes in the background
Fort Temple
Plantation House
One of the city's most famous buildings, the Cargills Building
Whiteaways Building
I had a nice relaxed time walking around while taking photos and generally forgetting the annoying interaction from earlier in the day when someone else comes up and starts trying to talk to me in a friendly manner. Not wanting to be rude, I answer a few generic questions and this gentleman starts pointing out random landmarks, giving some additional inside and such. It all seemed okay for awhile and being a guest in someone's country, I didn't want to be rude. Of course, by the time we had walked down to Galle Face, he started pestering me about the Buddhist festival so I made my excuses that I wanted to be left alone to enjoy Galle Face. This gentleman was more persistent and I ended up giving him the equivalent of a few US Dollars. He left me alone after that point.
I took some time to look around at Galle Face and then made my way back to the hotel, thinking that some quiet time to regroup might be nice but not before stopping for my first Rice and Curry while in the country.
Looking north with the Indian Ocean to my left. This was my first time seeing the Indian Ocean and while that should've been a joyous occasion, I was still seething from the attempted scams earlier in the day.
Galle Face looking south with some fancy new highrise buildings beyond the famous Galle Face Hotel
Galle Face Hotel, the country's most famous hotel. I've heard it's a bit dated, so I did not consider staying here
Christ Church Galle Face, an Anglican church founded in 1853
Northbound commuter train heading for Colombo Fort
Platforms at Kompannavidiya (Slave Island) Railway
Rice and Curry with chicken for my first meal in the country
Lunchtime view
I actually ended up staying in for the rest of the day/night due to tiredness, the heat and the unpleasant interactions earlier. I even took dinner in the hotel's restaurant which did offer a nice buffet with a mix of Western and local dishes. Anyway, I had an early night to prepare for the next morning's departure by train to Weligama, on the south coast of the country.
Overall, my impression of Colombo was quite negative but I also recognise that I didn't truly give it a fair shake and gave the two bad experiences I had more weight than I should've. In hindsight, I really wish I would've gone out at night for a walk around but at the time, I was trying to tell myself to be guarded. As for the scam, it's generally one of the top things that shows up if you search for Colombo scam or Sri Lanka scam, such as with
Rough Guides. It's a shame I didn't look this stuff up beforehand, though.