Colombo

Colombo – this won’t take long

Sri Lanka has its own heat – absolutely searing.  As usual, we docked in the container terminal –heat-holding concrete.  We were told that because of the local taxi union, shuttle busses were not allowed.  We would have to walk to the terminal entrance and get local transport there.   The walk was about 35-40 minutes and after 15, despite my loose, all-cotton clothes, sweat was running down my face and back, really running – rivlets?  Whatever, it was totally icky!  ­­So, back I came and did my “shopping” at one of the stands on the dock, across from the ship. ­

Sangeeta, the World Voyage Concierge, had conducted a class on how to wrap a sari (or saree or sarie).  So, I bought one for the Oriental Ball the following evening.­­­­

 

 

 

Colombo has a natural harbor which was used by traders starting over 2,000 years ago – Greeks, Persians, Romans, Chinese and Arabs.  One of my heroes, Ibn Batuta, ca. 1304 – 1368, (see TRAVELS WITH A TANGERINE), who left home in Tangiers for a visit to Mecca and was gone 35 years, called Colombo “Kalanpu”.  Moslem Moor traders settled in Colombo in the 8^th century and their descendants now comprise the local Moorish community.

 The earliest recorded inhabitants were Singhalese from Northern India, about 2,500 years ago.  Later, Dravidians invaded from Southern India – see where this is leading?  Ethnic tensions flared in the 1980’s when some of the Tamils in the north of Sri Lanka, perhaps urged on by the Tamils in Tamil Nadu, (southern India), agitated for a separate state.   Government forces fought the Tamil Tigers¸ the separatists, until May, 2009.

I am sure there are wonderful sights in and around Colombo but this was another case of an official warning about possible terrorist activity.  So, I saw it from afar, or as Baltimorians would say, “from a fire”.

Also, there are thousands of prisoners – mostly civilians – who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – when the government army moved int.  Most apparently had no connections to the Tamil Tigers, at least no proven connection.

A factoid:  Sri Lanka is the 4^th largest producer of tea, after …..OK, number. 1 is easy, China.  India is number 2 but can you guess which country is number 3???  No, I didn’t guess it either.  It’s Kenya.