Now that the civil war between the Sinhalese government and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka has come to an end, I was encouraged to revisit my travel diaries from my visit to Sri Lanka in October 2003.I found that Colombo has all the allure of Hull but without such a wide range of cultural attractions. Both are big port cities. Swapping the Indian Ocean for the North Sea does not provide Colombo with the romantic advantage you might suppose. Even the sorts of buildings any self respecting first time tourist might normally go and stare at in a capital city (Parliament, the Presidential Office etc) were all kept well hidden behind strict strict security. Half of the roads in the Fort District in the centre of the capitel are sealed for example.
As for the rest of the city: well there just wasn’t very much there to look at. I haven’t been in a place with fewer tourist attractions since I was in Warrington, and at least that has a branch of IKEA, in which you can amuse yourself for a few hours.
The air in Colombo was filthy with black belching bus exhaust fumes. The motorised tricycle drivers tried to rip me off at any opportunity (I was often quoted amounts up to 10 times the value of a trip). Now I can see why a driver is going to chance his arm, but haggling is such a waste of time I just wish they wouldn’t bother. As I mentioned though, Colombo is so devoid of sights that I only needed to make 2 trike journeys.
For a society where four major religions are observed, the city doesn’t even have any major shrines, temples, mosques or churches.
In terms of planning my time here I had to think carefully about where I wanted to go afterwards. There had been a ceasefire in the civil war between the Sinhalese majority and the Northern based Tamil minority at the time. The cities of Jaffna and Trincomalee were open, and the rumours of the stunning beaches between the two were enticing. I was quite keen to go, heading off into the most unusual nook and cranny of the country as is my way until I looked at the FCO advice for Sri Lanka at the time. A preponderence of landmines and a lack of emergency services were enough to put me off. It seemed a lethal combination.
Another great difficulty is that I could not hire a car in Sri Lanka. The authorities here require that you hold an international driving license and it is a bit of paperwork I have yet to acquire. See my version of the highway code for other reasons why you may be put off driving in SL. In the end, hiring a driver was the best option which I went for. As I was driven around the island, I came to realise that had I hired a car I would have been totally lost as I never once saw a single road sign!
In terms of planning my time here I had to think carefully about where I wanted to go afterwards. There had been a ceasefire in the civil war between the Sinhalese majority and the Northern based Tamil minority at the time. The cities of Jaffna and Trincomalee were open, and the rumours of the stunning beaches between the two were enticing. I was quite keen to go, heading off into the most unusual nook and cranny of the country as is my way until I looked at the FCO advice for Sri Lanka at the time. A preponderence of landmines and a lack of emergency services were enough to put me off. It seemed a lethal combination.
Another great difficulty is that I could not hire a car in Sri Lanka. The authorities here require that you hold an international driving license and it is a bit of paperwork I have yet to acquire. See my version of the highway code for other reasons why you may be put off driving in SL. In the end, hiring a driver was the best option which I went for. As I was driven around the island, I came to realise that had I hired a car I would have been totally lost as I never once saw a single road sign!
Due to the security restrictions, there were not a lot of things you could take photos of, so this is
Comments
Post a Comment