Today is our last day in Sri Lanka after an amazing couple of weeks, so today was about mopping up any of the things we thought we hadn’t done. After breakfast we set out on foot to take some photos around the Presidential palace in the older part of town. There are some amazing British era buildings in this part of town and my fear it that many will be knocked down for more modern developments.
The next place on our list was the Lotus Tower. This is now an iconic landmark of Sri Lanka. The tower is the tallest self-supported structure in South Asia; the second tallest structure in South Asia and the 19th tallest tower in the world. The lotus-shaped tower is used for telecommunications and an observation deck. At night it is lit with different colours to make it a night time feature as well. The views of the city provide great perspective, noting you can always find a cricket game in this city.
We came back to the hotel for a swim and som lunch in the Chinese restaurant at the hotel. Following lunch our plan was to head to the ‘One Galle Face Mall’. Today we had many local people recommend we attend a festival on the beach that featured all Sri Lankan goods for sale, including Moonstone for only one dollar. Some would argue that is a fair price. Our usual cynicism kicked in and we decided to stick with the mainstream brands. The mall was very typical no matter were you are in the world, with it’s six floors of familiar brands. A couple of things stood out to me – Monks on a lift, a shop called ‘Foot Rub’ (I can’t think of many things worse) and then of course the ‘Real men wear real clothes’ byline at one of the menswear shops.
After shopping we came back to the hotel for a bit of chill time before heading to dinner. Tonight’s dinner was at Ministry of Crab. Apart from me being a cricket ‘fan boy’, I’d heard many good things. Unfortunately, neither of the ex-cricket playing owners were on-site tonight, but it’s the thought that counts.
We started with some Crab Liver Pate, even though I didn’t even know that crabs had livers. Deb had a couple of giant prawns, while I opted for a large crab. The food was amazing, although with all being cooked in butter, I wasn’t so sure about the effect on my bad cholesterol number in my next blood test. Whatever the long-term impacts it was an amazing meal.
The last order of business on the way back to the hotel was to take some photos of the Lotus Tower at night.
We leave Sri Lanka tomorrow, my thoughts are that this is a country that I didn’t know much about and had probably just stuck in the ‘India bucket’, but the reality is that it is really quite different, slower paced and less people. Sri Lankan people are friendly and always looking to help visitors. Colombo is a really interesting city that we have both enjoyed, with plenty of green space and lots of modern amenities.
We have stayed at the Kingsbury Hotel here in Colombo and while there are many good things about the hotel including a great service ethic, their decision to have a band play last night to very few people in the pool area last night was regrettable. In most of the pool-side rooms the noise was loud and no prior advice hade been given around start and finish times for the band.
We will be mostly traveling tomorrow, but stay tuned for our next destination.
Until tomorrow
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 
Crab livers…who knew!!
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