Hanuman 2018

Back to the Indian subcontinent for two months in Spring 2018.

With Sri Lanka, Mumbai, the Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Amritsar and Delhi on the menu, we had many sweet experiences sprinkled with some sour ones.

Read on to learn how we fared.

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Thinking of our next destination: Italy and Portugal come to mind, or maybe the time has finally come for a US road trip…

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Day Trip to Colombo

(vero;2018-Oct-11)

We visited Colombo as a day trip from Negombo. The best parts were the colonial buildings in Fort and the neighbouring district of Pettah with its markets, shops, temples and mosques. If you are interested in the past and colonial architecture, the Lankapura photo archive features an extensive collection of historical photographs of Sri Lanka dating from the early 1850s to the late 1970s with many old postcards and photos of colonial Ceylon. Recommended.

Moving on we tried to explore more of the town, walking down south along Galle Road and turning east to Viharamahadevi Park and the Cinnamon Gardens Area. We cannot say that we enjoyed what we saw: heavy traffic, massive construction sites, we decided to quickly retreat to Pettah after we had checked the area around Lipton Circus. The town is undergoing a massive makeover and as we could read on the many posters advertising the names of constructors and contractors of the huge building sites we came across, the Chinese seem to do big business in Sri Lanka. They even bring their own workers as we could tell from the many Chinese New Year decorations adorning the portable worker's lodgings erected in the many wastelands of the city.

Central Point Building on Chatham St. Built in 1914 it used to be the Central Bank Building and now houses the Economic History Museum.

The building of the Chartered Bank of India, China and Australia on Chatham St.

Lloyd's Building on Jayathilaka Mawatha.

The Whiteaway and Laidlaw Building built in 1907 used to house a department store on Jayathilaka Mawatha.

The Cargills & Miller building. Established in 1844 David Sime Cargill, a Scottish businessman, and William Miller started a joint ventured company in Fort. They founded a warehouse, as well as departments for the wholesale and import of products. Their company was established in York Street. The building is a characteristic landmark for Fort. The red and white bricks-building has served as a high-end department store during the British period in Sri Lanka, but is now almost empty.

Lankem Plantation House. It is the headquarter of Lankem Tea and Rubber Plantations, one of the largest plantation companies in Sri Lanka and is believed to have been built around 1860.

Remains of the Empire: a postbox dating from the reign of George VI (1936-1952)

Street view of Pettah with the Lotus Tower in the background.

Shops selling puja articles near the Hindu temples of Pettah.

Inside a market hall near the Federation of Self Employees Market.

Vegetable sellers at the Federation of Self Employees Market.

Colombo is changing fast and there are building sites everywhere.

Colombo's former Eye Hospital on Lipton Circus. The Victoria Memorial Eye and Ear Hospital was established in 1906, it was named in honor of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. This red-brick colonial building is in the Indo-Saracenic style and it was designed by Colombo based architect Edward Skinner (source: Lankapura photo archive).

Go back to Tamil Jaffna or go on to Indian People 2018 or go up to Photos