Day 3 - Colombo - Negombo
Sunday 3rd August, 2026 - Colombo - Negombo
After a tasty breakfast, we met our 2 drivers and received a lotus flower each as we got on the bus. Being a Sunday, the traffic on the roads was amazingly quiet. We drove leisurely around the city taking in the highlights and listening to Narle's commentary along the way. Very few businesses were open making the photo opportunities so much easier. Fortunately our tuk tuk experience yesterday took us further afield, covered more sites and allowed us to enter places we only passed by today.
After the Colombo tour we boarded a boat along the Dutch canal for a closer look at the lives of the locals. We passed many boats that had either been destroyed in the 2004 tsunami or just lack of maintenance over time. The housing ranged from shanty dwellings to well maintained solid built homes. The nearby mangroves were thick and lush and unfortunately a collection point for plastic bags and floating rubbish.
We had prior warning that we would be wading through calf deep water, so with our water shoes on we stepped out onto a sandbar and sat on stools in the water to enjoy a platter of pineapple and watermelon. We were not alone on the sandbar with other small groups of tourists all doing the same.
Continuing on toward the open sea, the driver passed by Monkey Island but unfortunately they did not want to come out to play. We did however see herons, a thin monitor lizard swimming and a fat one sleeping in a tree, a pelican and a few street dogs laying about at the shoreline.
After the canal cruise, we visited the fish market and dried fish market. We were warned about the smell, but it wasn't that bad, in fact it was similar to the smell all along the canal.
We enjoyed a group lunch at a very nice restaurant in Negombo, Tania had grilled calamari and garlic, Graeme grilled seer fish and garlic, both with salad and chips. The group then checked into our new hotel, the Golden Star, with a nice pool and the beach with turbulent surf right at the back of us.
What’s not love – eating smelly fish in a makeshift setting in the middle of a river. You two know how to have a good time.
Interesting fruit time location. Well done for being the only two sun safe 🧢 👏