Tusks, Teeth and Toe Nails in Colombo

"At the Galle Face Hotel, the rainwater was being collected in buckets, and, at teatime, the terrace was overrun with crows. This must be the only hotel in the world that employs a professional scarecrow, dressed in a bow tie and armed with a catapult." - John Gimlette, 'Elephant Complex', 2015

Well, he didn’t have a bow tie and he certainly didn’t use a catapult, but the Galle Face Hotel, the 19th Century colonial hotel we are staying at in Colombo, definitely has a professional scarecrow. He runs around just outside the open air restaurant, chasing annoying crows who dare to try to invade your breakfast. He points a small laser beam at them and they fly away. But the efficacy of his entire job is highly in doubt, as the crows, within seconds, fly right back. 

The breakfast itself was amazing, a huge buffet of Sri Lankan specialities, including tasty curries and something called an “egg hopper”. This is a poached egg, sitting in a bowl made of some kind of very light and crispy crepe. The restaurant was outside and you had not only the busy human scarecrow to amuse you, but the crashing waves of the ocean. 

“I can get you a toe, Dude, by 3 o’clock. With nail polish.” - Walter Sobchek

But before we witnessed this during our first morning, I had a bit of a ‘health’ incident during our first night. As I walked back to the bed at around 1am, in the pitch black, my right big toe hit the frame of the bed in such away that my entire toe nail was torn off. With the help of Amy and her doctoring skills, she was able to stop the bleeding and bandaged me up. After breakfast, we went to a nearby hospital for the minor surgery to repair the toe. The nurses and doctors were great and very professional and the surgery cost around $170.  It was performed not in the out patient clinic, but right in the major surgery center of the hospital!  And along with my surgeon, I had five nurses helping me.  But I can’t get the bandage wet, so swimming in the Indian Ocean tomorrow, when we head south, is not advisable. 

Unlike American hospitals, in the surgery area there is a “shoes off” rule where, if you are not part of the surgical staff, you have to take off your shoes. The nurses and surgeon were very nice and professional and I think we were a bit of a change of pace and amusing for them, as we were the only tourists in the place. 

Afterwards, we walked around Colombo, mostly in the Pettah district, the market area. This is set up in a way that each street has its specialities. There’s the shoe street, the plastic flower street, the suitcase street, etc. It’s very crowded and you have to be careful that someone doesn’t run over you with their handcart, as they carry their merchandise to their store. 

"Colombo, the capital.  An Oriental town, most manifestly; and fascinating." - Mark Twain, 'Following the Equator', 

This afternoon we did something we rarely do, took a private tour. We went with a company called Tuk Tuk Safari Sri Lanka and our driver and guide was Donald Duck. Well, his real name is Donald and he added “Duck” for the tourists. We had a nice little tour of Colombo, including a Buddhist temple, a tea tasting, a couple of restaurants and just a lot of driving around Colombo.

Donald is 22 years old and is getting married in May. He and his wife were matched by an astrologer. Unfortunately, his mother in law died of a snake bite recently. He's from Kandy and loves driving around in his tuk tuk. 

The temple, Gangaramaya, is about 400years old. Most of the temple is a museum; rooms filled with many cases of things devotees have given them over the years. Not only Buddhist art, but just normal stuff, like old cameras, watches, furniture, jewelry and even some old and new cars. None of the monks drive, so the brand new BMW and the classic Rolls Royces just sit in the temple, never to be driven again. There were several elephant tusks, teeth, feet and bones, all from the old temple elephants, the last one just having died at the ripe old age of 91. There was also a huge room, filled to the rafters with 200 year old Buddha statues. In another room, where we got blessed by a monk, there was an incredible carving of Buddha, made out of solid ruby, which weighed over 40 pounds. 

From here, Donald took us to his favorite restaurants, Curry Pot. Several different curries were served on a large banana leaf. Donald taught Amy how to eat with her hand, just like the locals. 

From here we had a tea tasting and then drove down to the market area, checking out a spice merchant’s shop. There was black pepper, white pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, and just about every other spice you can imagine. We didn’t buy anything, as we don’t want to lug it around for the rest of the trip.