Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve had a good layover. After my last stint in Shanghai, my hopes were down a notch. But with an easy as pie flight over to Columbo, Sri Lanka, I was ready for some adventures. Add to that the extensive rest I had before. I was all pumped up to see some sights, get to see the locals and take pictures. And I can tell you we did all of that, and more…!
Got into briefing and for the first time ever, I was the most senior of the Grade Toes. Thus leaving me the extreme pleasure to choose the door I wanted to operate. And not having to take care of the newspaper trolly ! So I choose a forward facing jumpseat, tucked away so I could feel the thrills of take-off and landing. And also have a significant and statistically proven chance of getting away safe & sound if ever we had to pile into a mountain (optimism, optimism !).
It’s fun to be with new crew, they’re all smiley, still fresh and ready to do whatever comes across. As opposed to “I’ve seen it all, it’s my fifth time here” kinda crew who only think of how the bedding is like at the hotel… So this trip was composed of Carlos from Brazil, Facundo from Argentina, Rhea from Brissie (yep that’s another one !), Kadi from Oz too (Melbourne I think), Katherine from Taiwan, Silvia from Spain and myself. Not forgetting Rakan our SFS… he’s a funny one by the way !
We got to Sri Lanka safe and not tired. The weather there was absolutely beautiful, sunshine, hot and quite humid. Just like Dubai mid-august. Our hotel is situated near the airport which is very convenient. We all decided to go in the city in the afternoon after a couple hours sleep. We all met in the lobby to hop on the dedicated tour shuttle for crew. This bus and it’s real nice driver would take us around the city and stop where ever we needed to. So we got him to drop us off in the middle of the city, near the Odel department store… nothing amazing in it but we were brave enough to cross the hectic roads and adventure in the back streets. I say brave because they drive like rabbits on acid. The rickshaws coming out of nowhere, zig-zaging through the cars and lanes. Buses are the scary ones there. They roll at high speed, no signalling what so ever and just beep you whenever you happen to be on their path. Thank god we had an experienced driver or I’d probably wouldn’t be here writting those words.
As half the crew was hungry we decided to find a decent shack to have a nibble. But knowing we had to fly back the next day we had to be very cautious as to what one could eat. We had to choose some outlet clean/decent enough for us to be in good shape the next day. We finally found a simili-restaurant on one of the main roads. By western standard , it certainly wouldn’t pass any of the certifications but we knew we were in Sri Lanka and finding a cheap enough place who’d sell decent food was going to be hard-ish. We didn’t want to go for the usual KFC or McDonalds but instead, try local food. Facundo and Carlos went for an ultra-spicy chicken with rice and were craving for milk and few spoons full later. Silvia went for spicy sea-food. I, knowing me, went for a…..[pause]…… bottled coke. I couldn’t face a twisted stomach or having another dreadful days in bed with pain so I stayed on the boring side of things, and I had had a Club Sandwich just before leaving the hotel. Looks like it was OK because neither Carlos, nor Facundo were ill the next day ! Too bad for me.
We then carried on our little tour to Paradise Road. A posh crafts outlet right bang in the center, opposite the Town Council, which by the way looks like the Washington White House on a smaller scale. They sold everything you needed to have smellies at home. From incense to scented candles, aromatic oils to burners. Anything and everything. They had real nice stuff in there. I came out of there with a cool ashtray and some incense sticks : musk, green tea, and some others. the Musk stick is burning right now and filling the flat with a forest-in-the-morning smell that’s just so nice to be describe in detail.
The town itself ressembles Bangkok in many ways without the ugly concrete buildings. Uber-chaotic streets, bad smells, heaving shops and what have you. The perfect sights when you come out of Dubai and it’s multiple perfume trails as you walk down Sheikh Zayed or their clean SUVs. Colors here play a huge part in the picture. They seem to like colors very much. I mean vibrant colors like yellows, reds and of course greens. The perfect example would be the rickshaws. Kick-ass greens and reds, even pinks. I wouldn’t mind owning one tuk-tuk myself. It would add to the street cred immensely here in Dub-Dub or even over in Paris. I fell in love with them in BKK and seeing them rattle along in CMB plays a huge part in this layover being really good. Drop me whereever there’s a motorised tricycle and I’m a happy kid. That’s soon going to be on my amazon wishlist !!!
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We continued our tour toward the waterfront, or what it seemed to be. We saw the ocean from a functioning railway track. Trains passing by with commuters hanging out of the windows and doors. Interesting. Took pictures of course, see below… By that time we were getting tired and the weather was going to change radically in the next few minutes. Rain started to pour down like I’d never seen before. Monsoon like. We had taken refuge in the Majestic City Mall before our pick up beeped at us. We got in and a 2 hour ride back to the hotel later, I was in bed. Yep, two hours (bear in mind it took us 40 minutes to get to the city center), stuck in traffic. We slept it off though. One thing : avoid Columbo at peak hours like 5 to 8 in the evening. Your nerves will be fuming !
A hop over the Indian ocean and 4 hours later I was back in Dubai !Again it doesn’t seem like a lot of sightseeing but I defo loved the place and wouldn’t mind going back. Actually I’d go back anytime, swap some flightz wiv me foolz ! Khalas. That’s it. Will have more on that club sandwich coming up next I think. I just need to get my head round writting the piece. I also have some little video footage of the trip. So you might have a video very soon too.
Until then, peace out and take care of yourselves !
Nice one! Never been there myself but good piece on the place
Great to see a trip to a down to earth destination! I have been to Colombo, and would suggest the next time to go to Kandy, or visit an Elephant Orphanage. Sri Lanka itself is so beautiful by itself.
Maybe someday you will do a Toronto trip!
Colombo is a great flight, customers are so lovely, definately wish they had more 3 class aircraft flying there.
Next time you go you should convince a group of 3-4 crew to go to Kandi. Simply Stunning!
I love trying new food, but as you say its risky to eat at some places in case you get sick, When I used to work on cruiseships I got sick a few times because I used to eat n’importe quoi n’importe où.
You trip sounded nice and fun. Sri Lanka seems like a special country. I definately wanna go sometime
À plus!
Sorry to sound harsh, but it’s ColOmbo, rather than Columbo.