Vesak Colombo Sri Lanka

 

A great aspect of living near Gangaramaya Temple is that the Buddhist events are a short walk away. This weekend was the celebration of Vesak. The streets near us were filled with festive lights and displays.

Colombo Hindu Temples

 

Here's some pictures of two nearby Hindu temples in Colombo. We've seen all kinds of cathedrals, churches, mosques, and temples around the world, so it's interesting to finally see some Hindu temples. I hadn't experienced this before now. Sri Lanka is an amazing country with all of the major religions living together.

Navam Maha Perahera in Colombo Sri Lanka

 

We see one of the most important Buddhist temples in Colombo from our apartment. We're fortunate to be close enough to walk just a little bit to see a major festival procession. I took about 700 photos, but I've picked out about 200 to share some images of the entire procession.

Mal Perahera (Flower Procession) in Colombo Sri Lanka

 

I thought this procession was practice for the big Navam Maha Perahera since they did it all through the week. It was actually Mal Perahera. This was a unique sight to unexpectably stumble upon while walking home from work.

Colombo Buddhist Temples

 

If you pay to enter the Seema Malaka Buddhist Temple on Biera Lake then you can use your ticket to visit the nearby Gangaramaya Temple which is also interesting. We also visited the Aśōkārāma Temple in another part of the city. I'm told it's a more typical temple. I've collected pictures of both here to compare the two.

Colombo Misc

 

Here's some miscellaneous pictures of another weekend walk around Colombo. We got our 10,000 steps and saw some new things near us.

Colombo National Museum - First Floor

 

Living overseas allows us to be slow tourists. We explored the first floor of the nearby Colombo National Museum and started getting hungry. It was easy to break for lunch and come back another day instead of powering through to see the entire museum in one visit like a typical tourist experience. We may not come back very soon because we're busy for the holidays, but we have plenty of time to return. Here's a look at just the first floor of this museum filled with historical artifacts of Sri Lanka.

Pettah in Colombo Sri Lanka

 

We took a guided tour of the more hidden parts of Colombo with a focus on Pettah. We went there on our own once because that's where you find a lot of the affordable little shops. There's a big produce market which is pictured above. It's a busy area where we saw some interesting sights including an old government building, a popular mosque with the tourists, and an old hidden neighborhood Hindu temple which doesn't show up on Google Maps with a name.

Uswetakeiyawa Beach

 

We took an Uber about 30 minutes north to Uswetakeiyawa Beach. It has a few swimmable areas, but we're more interested in walking barefoot on the beach instead of swimming. This beach was perfect for us. There were lots of big crashing waves on rocks, which caused us to take thousands of pictures. Well ok, I only took about 150 pictures and here's about 50 of those. We do have to show some constraint, don't we?

Lotus Tower and Galle Face Green Colombo

 

We prefer exploring on foot when we can because you never know what you might miss between destinations. There are many interesting Buddhist temples around the city that would be missed if you didn't walk a bit. Our area of Colombo actually has lots of usable sidewalks, so we're taking advantage of it.

Lanka Comic Con

 

Sri Lanka has a Comic Con. The crowd skewed younger but not as young as the one in Riga where we felt out of place. The interesting thing about this was that it was all outside in the heat and humidity of Colombo.

Biera Lake SW & Seema Malaka Buddhist Temple Colombo

 

Beira Lake is a series of connected man-made lakes. It was originally a big moat built by the Portuguese in the 1500s to protect a seaside fort. It was scaled back to these little lake basins as the city developed. It's a nice feature to have around us in Colombo. These are pictures of the southwest basin with the Seema Malaka Buddhist temple built on the water. The area around the lake could use some maintenance, but it's still a nice place to visit.

Independence Square Colombo

We take tuk tuks everywhere as the most convenient mode of transportation. Uber is fast and easy so we had them drop us off at an art gallery for a quick peek and then a stroll through the Independence Square area.

Viharamahadevi Park (Victoria Park) Colombo

 

We live in walking distance to the only large-scale public park in Colombo. This a very green city with lots of trees and vegetation, so that's a nice bonus for living in a constantly humid tropical climate. We just need to get used to the humidty and continue to get out and enjoy it all.

Misc Colombo Sri Lanka

 

I'm busy transitioning to my new job so life feels extra hectic with the move and changes. We do get around in my off time and take some pictures along the way. Here's some random pics to start.

Colombo Apartment

Here's a little look at our furnished apartment in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's a little smaller than our last place, but it compares well to our previous apartments with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The unique thing about our new home is that it's in a hotel. The hotel has similarly sized apartments setup as daily rate hotel suites alongside their long-term residences like us.

5th tour is... Colombo!

 Next stop is Colombo, Sri Lanka!

Colombo is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. It's on the west coast of the island nation.

Sri Lanka is in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest.