Our city tour was on a Sunday which was probably a good thing as it meant the traffic could move quite freely. Several of the sites we saw from the coach are really not accessible from a big vehicle: the roads are narrow and there is nowhere to stop. So the Dutch churches (few of them), the city mosque and the Catholic churches (considerably more - the Portuguese got here too) didn't get a visit. But the big Buddhist temple did!
One thing I've learnt is that in Buddhism, big is beautiful. In Bombay we saw the two largest remaining carved statues of the Buddha in the world - or so they said - but I reckon that Colombo has several challengers! The interior of the temple also carries frescoes on an equal scale showing various gods and scenes from the Buddha's life, in glorious technicolour. This is not a tourist site, and the guide was quite determined we should not turn our backs on the statues (which is an insult), nor disturb the offerings of flowers placed in front of them.
The afternoon gave us a more relaxed visit to an even larger temple at Kelaniya Raja Maha, which, because it was Sunday and so people were not working, was absolutely thronged with worshippers. Here in the exterior courtyard they lit enough votive oil lamps to start a barbecue, paid their respects to a whole series of statues, and generally sat in family groups in quiet meditation on an extremely uncomfortable gravel ground. We all had to remove our shoes to walk on this, as the whole site is considered holy and not to be defiled by shoes, so I do know it is uncomfortable.
Inside the temple the walls are covered with very high quality fresco work illustrating various legends associated with Buddhism. The main one is of a Buddhist monk who managed to offend some local chief and was burned alive for his pains (actually shown in a cauldron). The gods were so incensed that they sent a tsunami in punishment, and the king decided his only course of action was to give his daughter to the sea as an offering. This, of course, calmed the tsunami instantly. Why was it always the daughter who was sacrificed?
But the place was difficult to appreciate in the crowds, you couldn't get far enough away from most of the frescos to see them properly, it was pretty dark inside and very, very hot. Luckily, we finished off with a visit to the Mount Lavinia hotel (one of those colonial buildings) where an cool orange juice did the trick.
On our last day in Colombo we had a lot of time to kill in a well-positioned hotel before a night flight home - and of course it was delayed leaving London. The joys of modern travel are more a case of trade-offs: you can visit all these wonderful places but the air journeys require you to be in good health! I had decided that, having been totally thwarted in my quest to buy some cotton fabric in India, I'd wander down to the shops in Main Street and find some in Colombo instead. It wasn't very far on the map.
But I have now concluded that a walking lone woman is a magnet for conmen across the subcontinent. I was approached by a cheerful young man who told me how lucky I was, visiting the city on the very day of the Festival of the King Elephant which was due to start in the Cinnamon Gardens in half an hour. "Wonderful! I said, "I must go back to the hotel and see if my husband would like to come too."
"You don't need a husband, you will be quite safe" said the young man "and let's just see how much a tuk-tuk will cost" - which turned out to be a mere 200 rupees (about £1.50). But I insisted on turning back and on arriving at the hotel, told the official taxi rank man how lucky we were. "Oh, madam" he said, "that rascal has lied to you. There is not such a ceremony today, and he would only take you on a ride and then demand more money from you. You must not use tuk-tuk, only taxi." How disappointing!
Later in the day, when it was a little cooler, I tried again. This time it was another man who said he worked at the hotel, and the ceremony this time was for the Festival of the Forty Elephants. I was wise by now and told him I wasn't even interested. Then he produced five one-pound coins and asked if I could change them for a five-pound note as he couldn't use the coins: this sounded much more reasonable, but I didn't have any English money at all with me.
"What money do you have?"
"Only Indian rupees which I know are of no use to you".
"OK, give me 2000 rupees, I give you these coins".
"Actually I don't have so many rupees".
"How many do you have? Do you have 1000?"
"Yes, I do" - and actually began to reach for my bag. And then I thought, trying to do some rapid mental arithmetic: 1000 Indian rupees is about £15. So I told him certainly not!
"But why? Rupees no use to you, coins no use to me!"
We did not agree. Mr Devani in the village newsagents will doubtless be able to find a use for my rupees!!
It was while we were in the hotel that the security paranoia became evident. Now, you can't exactly blame them. They had 30 years ot the Tamil Tigers and only recently put down the leaders. At least now the whole island is open again and safe for tourists. But the sight of the military surrounding the Parliament building because the President was due to give a speech that day, in enormous numbers and with great discipline was a little awe-inspiring. I tried to take a picture of them, but needless to say, about 6 soldiers immediately shouted at me to stop, it wasn't allowed. So I photographed a pelican and some old cannons on the beach instead. There were snipers on the roof of every high building around (mostly hotels). The traffic was barred for about half a mile around. Do they do this every time the president comes to Parliament? I don't know. But they took it very seriously and I always take men with guns seriously too.
So on that note, we left Sri Lanka. Home in the morning.
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