I picked up a ticket in mid-May and spent the overnight at the Beach in Negombo just because I didnt feel like going into Colombo on such a quick turn. But I did feel there had been a lull in violence and I was looking forward to spending a long weekend in the city when I go back in 2 weeks with my wife to pick up new tickets. I had been arranging the dates with my TA and let out that I might just swing by her office and pay with CC instead of wiring the funds and doing my normal stay in Negombo. Her response this morning, and this is the first time she has ever given me any such advice, was that I should not do that as "I don’t think it is very safe to travel within Colombo as per now." So we'll spend a couple days in Negombo.

The buzz I heard from my co-workers is the increasing targeting of public transportation makes it really tough to do anything akin to avoiding "problem areas." I mean it's not like you can tell a cab to just drive on the small side streets where there are no buses! It's also so random that it's tough to say whether it's odds like being struck by lightening or in fact something much greater. The international media also doesnt do the best job reporting all the incidents, so I kind of feel it's a bigger problem than we think. On the return UL flights to SIN I always find myself reading about a (usually very small) bomb blast in the paper that I cannot even find reports of online.

By the way, the Beach was not as nice as I had it packed away in my mind to be. The bed was really hard and pillows not really comfortable. Nice enough though for $130 per night which i can always find it on their website. I might call up and negotiate a 3 night discount this time, I once go it for slightly under $100 per night by doing this. There is also a new kite surfing center next to the hotel, for anyone who is into that.

The Taj garden inn (or whatever it is called) is slightly cheaper and about 10 minutes closer to the airport, but I have been taking the UL flight at 1:30AM and there is no traffic from Negombo then.

icarius- to your question, I have not seen any stores in the airport vacinity open at those times. It's pretty far out from the city and so there are not the kind of urban commercial areas you are probably thinking of. Negombo itself has some shops, but they have always seemed empty or closed, I think it's been a while since there has been booming tourist travel there.

Safe travels everyone!