Holiday in Sri Lanka (2): arrival
As we boarded the Sri Lankan Airlines aircraft at London Heathrow, an air hostess welcomed us with palms pressed together and announced “Ayubowan” (“May you have long life”). Our Airbus A300-300 took off at 10.05 pm on a nighttime flight which lasted exactly 10 hours. Since the time in Sri Lanka is currently four and a half hours ahead of London time, our arrival in Colombo was at the local time of 12.35 pm. The temperature was an amazing (compared to London) 31C.
At Colombo airport, I was met by the tour guide from the local company Walkers Tours – an amiable guy called Anthony. He introduced me to the other members of the group and I was astonished to find that there were only two, both single women of a similar age to me. Indeed, for my extension into the Tamil part of the country, I will be on my own.
Every year in the month of May, the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka celebrates Vesak, a religious festival that commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha. So, on the drive to our hotel, the city was festooned with colourful flags and huge lanterns and in selected locations there were stage sets called pandals. Our hotel for the one night in Colombo was the Best Western and we had the rest of the day free before the tour begins in the morning.
I had thought that I might visit the National Museum but it was closed because of the holy day. So I braved the humidity to walk around the local area but there was nothing to see. The tour included an evening meal at the hotel and I had this with my two tour companions, Thelma and Andrea. I thought that I might have a drink but no alcohol is served on this holy day.
What you might call a slow start to the holiday ….