I walked more around Colombo, seeing some places I was really interested in and then just some of the downtown.
First was the Gangarama Sima Malaka Buddhist temple. It's a small temple on a lake in the center of Colombo. Geoffrey Bawa also designed it, so I wanted to see a modern design temple.
It was clean and simple, which I liked, but I didn't find it very interesting, partially because everything inside was behind glass. It's necessary because the temple is so open, but it really diminishes the feeling of a temple.
Then, it was off to the Red Mosque. This is really a unique mosque in several ways. First is the exuberant red and white color scheme.
It was explained that it is based on the pomegranate, one of the few fruits mentioned explicitly in the Koran. The pomegranate theme continues to the domes on top of the minarets, which are shaped like a pomegranate.
The other unique feature is the seven-level design. Most mosques I've been to are one level or sometimes two. But this was built in a tight urban area, and when they wanted to expand the capacity, it was impossible to get enough land, so they got a small portion and went up. All seven floors are basically prayer spaces.
From the roof, which is also designed as a prayer space, one can get a good view of the substantial harbor operations.
Then, it was the last sunset at the Galle Face Hotel.
For the lowering of the flag, they have a bagpipe accompaniment.
The following day, I took a taxi three hours south to Tangalle on the south coast. The drive there reinforced my impression of the country's cleanliness and beauty. Even the shrubs along the tollway were neatly pruned.
We stopped at the Tollway Oasis, which was about the best I have seen. There were lots of food stalls, both local and international.
With nice selections of items.
As usual, I checked out the local selection of chips. There was not as large a selection as in most places, which may be a good sign. But there were these Kochchi-flavored cassava chips.
You might have noticed the unusual characters used in the local languages. It seems that when they were developing their alphabet, their books were written on plant leaves. The writing consisted of characters scribed into the leaves and then an ink wiped across the leaf. The ink stayed behind in the scribed lines. But when straight lines were used, the leaves tended to crack on the lines. So, they used curved lines instead.
The landscape is very green, with lots of palm and other trees, tea bushes, and rice fields.
Everything was still consistently clean and neat.
My hotel in Tangalle is a small modern hotel right on the shore.
Down on the beach, I watched a hermit crab making his way.
I walked about 10 minutes down the beach to a little five-table seafood restaurant, where I was the only customer. I had a great dinner of spicy grilled shrimp, fries, and salad. It was very good, and it deserved its five-star rating. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the dinner; I just dug in.
