Arrived in Colombo Sri Lanka (SL) from S’pore on the 16th of July. Our final destination before heading to Europe. And without the bike. This would have been the final destination on the bike according to our initial plans (that kept on changing on constantly) and we really missed not having the bike here and come to realise how much difference having the bike had made during the last 10 months of travel. But bringing the bike to SL would have meant quite a bit of hassle and expense but not impossible as the Canet the Passage (the bike’s little Passport is recognised in SL). As well a quite a bit of time spent on (un)packing and (re)shipping. So instead we borrowed a car from my sister, an automatic!
We were to spent few days Colombo before heading to the North and Central regions. Colombo has served as a port town as far back as the 5th century in the islands trade with the Arab traders from the Middle East and then with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505 and the Dutch in the mid 17th century for the spice trade.

But it was under the British rule that the town became a city and was proclaimed the capital of Ceylon. Colombo is the political, economic and cultural centre of SL and home to its three main ethnic groups; Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims in more or less equal proportion.
Atmosphere in Colombo is quite chaotic similar to cities in Java Indonesia, quite a bit of horning and manic driving but nothing like brain dead’s of India! Colombo is one of the places that we have visited with least tourist, and there is little or no hassle from the local and little or no stares, certainly no screaming voices of Mister! Mister! Tuk Tuk!