Ayubowan I : Coming to Colombo

The last time I was in Colombo was during the third quarter of 2017. A quickie. That initiative ended as quickly as it started. And in 2019, I find myself back there for a government RFP and a to build a relationship with a Sri Lankan reseller. Followed a bunch of new colleagues who joined us in 2019. They were no strangers to Sri Lanka as they had a project there a few years back. Flew there with Sri Lankan Airlines where the air crew greet everyone with "ayubowan", which is a greeting of long life. I got a seat near the emergency exit with super leg room.



Bandaranaike International Airport was a little different from what I remembered as the renovations had been completed. First order of business was to get a local SIM card at the arrival hall. Then we wasted some time trying to secure an airport transfer because they couldn't get us a big enough van.



Our lodging was at Fairway Colombo, a small business hotel located at a narrow street behind the Dutch Hospital. Everything in the hotel looked brand new. Our lunch was at Chinese Dragon Restaurant just across the street. The restaurant wasn't halal, but local Muslims ate there all the same. Our Malay colleagues followed suit. I don't think the waiters understood English very well, and they weren't really well-trained. In the end, we ended up with five plates of fried rice and noodles. The waiter never thought to tell us that our order could feed 10 pax! Overall the taste wasn't authentic, but the crab omelette was pretty good. Each bite was a crabby mouthful!



Before dinner, I had short walk around Fort (historically a Portugese and Dutch fort, but the ramparts have since been demolished), which is Colombo's central business district. Its the home of the Colombo Stock Exchange, World Trade Centre, and some posh hotels like Kingsbury.





Every week, Fairway Colombo organizes a cultural night that features hours of traditional dance and music on the streets. Completely free! The main performance was Kandyan dance where the male dancers are dressed in a elaborate costume known as ves. The dancers are bare-chested except for a complex net of metallic beads, and they also wear a metallic headdress, with matching bells and rattles on their feet. The dance is accompanied by percussion and is pretty fast-moving at times.







Halfway through the show, we went for dinner at Pizza Hut out of all places. The restaurant was kinda sad-looking, but we were too hungry to care. Ordered the deviled chicken pizza, a local specialty. Even after dinner, the cultural show was still on-going. The mixture of dancing, tumbling, and fire-eating kept the crowd mesmerized.