Like all the docks here in South-East Asia, the Colombo dock has all kinds of huge cranes for handling container shipping. We sit on our veranda and watch the cranes loading and unloading freighters. It is fascinating. It also says something about where in the world all the goods we buy back home come from. Sri Lanka is a big exporter of tea, rubber, gems, and clothing (check those tee shirts etc in your cupboards).
Lunch was typical Sri Lankan food today at a hotel in Colombo. After lunch was a show of native dancers. Two guys with large bongo drums and whirling dirvish style dancers all in elaborate costumes. The still picture does not do it justice. You should see the video. Avaiable at our home after May 20th.
Then it was on to two more temples, a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple. They are quite different. The Hindu temple has all kinds of elaborate carvings and statues of funny-looking people. It reminds me a bit of the carvings of baseball fans hanging out of the Rogers Centre.
The Buddhist temples have all kinds of statues of Buddha. He is always either sitting, standing, or lying down. Those are the only poses allowed. Usually, he us quite fat, but not always. In one statue at the Colombo temple he is quite skinny, even gaunt. Apparently, as part of his quest to fine enlightenment, Buddha went of a hunger strike to see if that would give him the answers he was seeking. It didn't work, so he went back to eating, and became the chubby Buddha with which we are more familiar.
At all the temples, we have to take off our shoes to enter. We are getting quite used to that. However, at the Buddhist temple in Columbo, we had to take off our shoes even to enter the temple grounds. To make matters worse, the Sri Lankan monsoon rains started today, and the grounds were mud and puddles. What a mess. Peggy left her socks on; George went barefooted. Neither system worked very well. In both cases we ended up with dirty feet, dirty socks, and a whole new understanding of different traditions.
Sorry, I haven't yet figured out how to rotate the pictures before they hit the blog.
The Colombo vehicle of choice appears to be the Tuk Tuk, a three wheeler that looks like an overgrown motorcycle. They buzz around the streets in swarms, pretty much driving anywhere they want. Pretty chaotic.
Today is the New Year. So, most stores are closed and there is very little traffic on the streets. See pic. Normally, we are told the streets would be jammed with traffic. As a result, we whipped around our tour today and ended about 2 hours early. No complaints there.
These monsoon winds and rains are quite the thing. Huge amounts of water in a short time!!!
Tomorrow we have our piracy dril as we head into HRA (High Risk Areas).
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