Relaxing in Colombo

Thursday was spent seeing sights around Colombo. These included the National Museum, Independence Square, and a Buddhist Temple that had a large elephant. The museum had a nice collection of artifacts and divided Sri Lankan history into easy to understand time periods with a progression through the rooms. Usually, I am not a big fan of pre-1500s history but actually enjoyed this set-up and the items displayed quite a bit. Sadly, the part I was most interested to see (post-1600 history) was not included in the museum as I guess they have decided to not highlight the 300+ years the country was dominated by foreign European powers. A second story was closed for cleaning and that might have been where the recent history was located but who knows.
After the museum we visited Independence Square commemorating Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948. The next stop was an interesting Buddhist temple. After a couple dozen temples on the trip they have all started to blend together, but this one stood out a bit. For starters, they had a big elephant outside with massive tusks. For a small fee (not told ahead of time) they let you feed the elephant, which is amazing by itself. They had me stand next to the mouth and feed in things like whole apples and loaves of bread. The tongue on the elephant was the biggest I have ever seen (and felt) on an animal. It was huge!!! Thankfully, there were no teeth on the creature or my hand might have ended up in the football-sized piles he was dropping (see picture). Other features that made the temple stand out included beautiful paintings, sculptures, and woodwork, multiple levels, and a nice mix of modernity with some old cars and even a computer mixed in.
The whole day I was driven around by David’s driver and had the national karate champion as my tour guide. It feels really bizarre sitting in the back of an SUV with people doing/going wherever you want and treating you like you’re a VIP. The only way I think I could ever employ a driver is if I was so busy I needed to save the time, but usually I enjoy driving myself and felt a little uncomfortable with people chauffeuring me around. David finally got off work around 8pm and we hit PizzaHut with a coworker before he dropped me off at my hotel. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Live US Open golf coverage and enjoyed that for a couple hours before heading to bed.
Friday was spent seeing sights again. The two main stops of the day were the Colombo Zoo and a beach a little bit south of town to swim and have some fun. Highlights at the zoo included an amazing collection of parrots and colorful birds, tons of tropical fish, and animals that I hadn’t ever seen before from Asia. You could get a little bit closer to the animals here than in the typical American zoo so that was fun (except for the snakes section, not my favorite). The beach was really nice. We went to an area my guide had frequented in his youth. I was surprised by how big the waves were, but the temperature was perfect. For about an hour I body-surfed, swam, and just relaxed in the water. The undercurrents were the strongest I had ever experienced and later I would learn two people had drowned on the beach a couple weeks before. When I got started my guide asked, “You’re good swimmer, right?” and I later learned David had told him on the cell phone to be very careful with me and the ocean. In the Layton family we were forced to take swim team for 6+ years so I was comfortable and just enjoyed the new experience. On the trip I’ve swam in the Gulf of Thailand and now the Indian Ocean. When I’m back in HK I’ll have to add the Pacific Ocean if I can. To finish the night off David and I went out to a local food court and got some beef nachos (he’d heard I liked Mexican food and had heard of this place).
Our plan for Saturday was to drive to Kandy (cultural capitol of Sri Lanka) and see the sights there. However, David got in a car wreck on his way to pick me up and we ended up spending most of the day sorting out car issues. When we finally got a replacement car around 3pm I said we should go play some cricket. David called Nashan (best friend and a member of the Church) and we met up at the Church hoping to find a game going on. Instead we caught a bit of a baptism for an 81-year old grandmother. She is a wonderful lady and a great story. From the Church we went to Sri Lanka’s version of the National Mall in DC. Next to the Parliament Building they have a big grass field where lots of people go to picnic and play sports, largely cricket. We joined with a group of people and played two innings. The first time I went up to bat I completely whiffed the first pitch and got out as it hit the wicket. Thankfully, they took mercy on me and let me try again. This time I had more success and started making nice contact. I even hit a 6-run bomb (basically a homer in baseball) to deep center field. On defense, they put me in the equivalent of right field where I basically did nothing and tried to avoid making errors the few times balls rolled my way (see my defensive posture). We played until sunset and then drove back to the Church to pick the Elders up for dinner.
Our evening was spent at the Athukoralas eating, playing with the kids, and relaxing. I got some great pictures and had a blast. It is amazing how much Deshan and Chamal like keep-away and I am quite thankful for my limited, but useful soccer skills. Deshenie is fun as we can speak some English to one another and she showed me her school books and coloring creations. We left around 9pm to take Nashan and the Elders home. We were delayed twice by car inspections. The military is a very present on the streets of Sri Lanka and I see automatic weapons hourly. Colombo is quite safe and I haven’t been worried once about what was going on. For a country being in a civil war, I am surprised by how relaxed I and society in general is here. The only reminder I have encountered is the soldiers, their guns, and inspections. Right now I am sitting in the library at the Church writing this blog entry. We had Sacrament meeting at 10am and I much appreciated that. I hadn’t been able to take the Sacrament since Bangkok three weeks ago. The meetings were all in Singhalese so I didn’t get much but took the opportunity to read and just enjoy the Spirit. It makes me so happy that there is a real Church here with families, a building, and the usual opportunities afforded members of Church. The last picture is in front of the Church today (Shewantie’s mother and a random boy (center) from the Branch are additions. Things are great and I love my stay in Sri Lanka.