Day 1 - Adelaide - Singapore - Colombo
Thursday 30th July 2026- Adelaide to Colombo via Singapore
Today we were expected to wake to our alarm at 5.00am, leave for the airport at 6.00 to be there by 6:15am.
We received very early morning advice from Singapore Airlines that our flight has been delayed, originally a 9.10 departure now 11.35am. We cancelled our ride with Cate and caught a bus to the airport at 7.31am instead.The later departure enabled us to walk to the bus stop at the Pat and enjoy the early morning vista with not a ripple in the water.
We arrived at the airport and had to manually check in as they needed to ensure we could still make the connecting flight and confirm we had a Visa to enter Sri Lanka before they would give us a boarding pass.
Due the plane's delay (it was late leaving Singapore) we received a $20 voucher each to spend on food at Adelaide Airport, so we both chose a toasted ham and cheese roll and coffee - YUM.
Landed Changi Airport hours 6 hours and 40mins later. Originally we had a 7.5 hour layover here and we planned to exit the airport and visit the adjacent JEWEL Shopping Centre, with its 40 metre indoor waterfall. After the hold ups, we now had less than 5 hours between flights but we still decided to check the waterfall out. Exiting immigration and customs was so easy and took no time at all, it was the same when we returned about 2 hours later. Impressions - very underwhelming ! Both the waterfall and the shopping centre in general. Back at the airport we had a McDonald's coffee in preparation for the next flight.
Our next leg of the trip was the flight to Sri Lanka, which left on time and landed 3 hours later at 11.30pm local time. Thankfully we had booked a transfer from the airport to our hotel, and after a long wait for our luggage to come out, we left the airport at 12.15 am, arriving at the hotel 12.50am. The bustling Colombo International Airport is quite a long way out of the city centre. After a very long day we had a quick shower and then bed.
We used all our Sri Lankan rupees up for the hotel bill plus some of our USA dollars which we had prepaid onto our Wise travel card. We were too tired to think about that at the time, but made a note to self to be better at organising payments in the future.
First day in Colombo.
After getting to bed late we had a bit of a sleep in and ended up heading down for breakfast at the hotel at 9:30 and eventually left the hotel at 10:45am to explore. It was very hot and humid, but we decided to walk to visit the surrounding suburbs. The footpaths are a mess and unlevel, the traffic was a steady stream with horns constantly beeping and weaving all over the road. With multiple roads to cross, we are gradually mastering the confidence to step off the footpath and confidently walk across the road. The many tuk tuk drivers approached us along the way hoping we would want a ride but we were happy just walking to our first destination, the Pettah Markets. You don't really get hassled by the traders, and most are friendly and like to ask where we are from.
We took our umbrellas, but quickly found them to be inadequate to keep heat off, so we bought 2 reflective lined brollies which worked well.
Tania looked for fabric to make more bishop shirts and Graeme bought some kite line. Things are quite cheap here. We did see the red mosque, along with a few other temples but more to explore tomorrow.
This a tracked map of our walk today.
Well, you got there, despite an initial disruption. It is so unlike you not to be better organised for money matters. Surely no real concern though and, from my perspective, it was refreshing to see even worldly travellers can be less than 98.5% fully organised.
Hot and humid – yuck!
Phew a clumsy start, from your photo the fountain looks lovely. Hope you’ve got good walking shoes.