G. was great, super-hospitable. I guess I have luck when it comes to people I meet on my travels, couchsurfers in particular :) Anyways, we were sitting on a terrace with an awesome view over Colombo and talking about all possible things - from the situation of the development countries to music. I was very tired, let’s keep in mind that that particular day I woke up at 3 a.m., so I was not that eager to go out that night. G. had a perfect medicine though – a drink I wasn’t expecting to find in SL, I won’t say the name, as it’s not good for your heart ;) I got my ‘second wind’, was ready to go out. And so, we checked out some clubs and then, when we were standing in front of one club, I heard “Kat!”, turned around and... it was my CS friend A.! Colombo is a big city, I knew one person in SL, and – voila! – there he was :) The world is really small. So, the rest of the evening/ night we spent exploring clubs together with A. and his friends.
Btw, although SL is very conservative and women generally dress according to the tradition, don’t go out alone or with men they’re not married to etc., in the clubs in Colombo I could see some girls really dressed up, short skirts, skin-tight tops, glitter everywhere – they looked like taken from bad disco video clips from the 90. But well, maybe it’s just jealously speaking ;) Basically, during my stay in Colombo I felt underdressed all the time – jeans and a black T-shirt was the only fancy ;))) outfit I had.
Anyways, we had fun and got back home late. Next day we went to the seaside and it was exactly what I needed after all the hikes. The beach, the ocean, the sun – we were doing nothing, just chilling out. G. agreed to go with me to the local rock bands concert A. told me about. We entered the club, very loud music, lots of people, two ‘white faces’ (and I’m not referring to us) stood out. We went over to say hi. “Hi guys, where you from?” and one of the guys answered “Hi, I’m P. I’m form Warsaw, Poland”. :) The world is really small. I know you can meet fellow citizens all over the world, but in a small local bar at a heavy metal concert in Sri Lanka? P. is a huge fan of metal music, recommended me some rock clubs in Warsaw (thanks man!) :) His friend (also P.) came from the Netherlands and was working in SL. Both super-nice, it was fun to hang out with them. I was explaining how I met G. and what I’m doing in SL, and it turned out that P.&P. are both members of the couchsurfing community.
The concert itself was awesome. The lineup: The Fall, Fallen Grace, Karmic Sulphur (the name's cool, isn't it?), Paranoid Earthling. (not that I’ve ever heard of the bands before ;)
All in all it was a perfect day. And this doesn’t happen very often, does it?
P.&P. told me about a Hindu festival that was taking place in Colombo (where you can see men with all kinds of strange piercings, tattoos, walking through fire etc.).
Next morning – my last day in SL – G. went to work and I decided to take a walk through the city to the national history and natural history museums. It was hot. The climate in Colombo varies from the one in the Hill Country where it might be hot, but at the same time it’s also dry, and in the capital you can firmly feel the humidity in the air you breath.
My day at museums was funny. I was the only visitor at the museum of natural history. I’ve been to lots of natural history museums – that’s something that interests me, but the museum in Colombo was one of its kind... The posters, boards reminded me of a junior high exhibitions prepared by children ;) And the exhibits included e.g. a small deer (Bambi-lookalike ;) with 6 legs – in a jar, in formalin. Isn’t it cute...
The funniest thing was a board explaining genetic diversity. Please take a close look (hint: Scandinavian countries)...
As I was in the museum alone, I took that opportunity to talk to the guards. I must say cigarettes do help break the ice. It was not allowed to smoke over there, but they took me to kind of a backyard and over there we smoked and talked.
On my way back I wanted to grab something to eat, from all the bars mentioned in the Lonely Planet I’ve chosen the one which moved to a different location... Why these kind of things happen to me all the time? It took me a while to find it in another part of the city ;)
In the afternoon I decided to check out that Hindu Festival P&P were talking about the day before. All I knew was the name of the city district where the festival was supposed to take place. I thought though that such an event will be well known among the drivers of the three-wheelers. The problem is that they actually don’t speak English, pretend to do though. And so I explained where I wanted to go and I had the impression that one of the drivers understood what I meant. I made sure, showing him a city map, that we’re heading the right district.
We drove through the city and finally my driver turned in one of the small streets, it looked like the ‘hood’, you know what I mean, the street was dirty, shabby, skid row kind of thing, there were about 12 people (men) standing in the street. My driver stopped in front of a small building – it was a tattoo ‘studio’. Men who were in the street started to gather around my three wheeler; my driver was very proud of himself – he understood that I wanted to get pierced and tattooed :/ I wasn’t sure what to do. Decided to go out, not paying attention to the people who in the meantime kind of surrounded me, and I went into the ‘studio’.
And what did I see? A gentleman, about 2 meters tall, bald, big muscles, even bigger tattoos with lots of piercings. “Hi, do you speak English?” I started. “Yes. I do. I’m Mr. Piercing” (No joke. He introduced himself as “Mr. Piercing”) I had the feeling I’m in a bad, bad B-class movie. Then I tried to explain to Mr. Piercing that I don’t want to get a tattoo, nor a piercing. Wasn’t that easy though. The guys in the street followed me to the shop, Mr Piercing and his colleagues tried to convince me that I should take their service into consideration…
Your humble narrator is an independent woman, doesn’t get scared easily, at that certain moment I did have my doubts though if the story was gonna end well. I had no chance if it would come to physical aggression, I thought they will basically force me to get a tattoo and piercings just to get some money. And so, trying to act cool and not let them know how scared I was, I just said “Nooo... Thank you though. See you”, I turned around and walked out slowly. No one followed. I got into my three wheeler and drove away. And then I thought that I do have more luck than brains... Needless to say, I didn’t find that festival. (btw, the photo you see on the right wasn't taken in front of that particular tattoo studio, looks similiar though).
My last evening in Colombo I spent with G. (thank you again!). I did meet some interesting people in SL, G. was definitely one of them. We grabbed some drinks, walked around at night in Colombo, talked for hours. Like I was there with an old-time friend. Cool. An evening to remember.
Next morning I had my flight back to Warsaw. I wish I could have stayed in SL a bit longer, but well, it’s a feeling I always get when I have to go back home.
All good things...
P.S. Thank you J., A., G., P&P :) Thanks Dad for the Lonely Planet, the map and the compass!
P.S.2. On the plane to Warsaw I’ve already started to plan my next trip.
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