Sinhala better known as Colombo

Getting to our next destination was not as easy as we expected. At the airport in Doha they did not really know the correct way of the visa rules for Sri Lanka. So we had several discussions at the airport and at the end they believed in my informations and let us fly.
At the plane we met a guy running a hotel in the south of Sri Lanka, who invited us to stay there for some days and offered us a discount. Also he gave us a lot of informations about his country. Also we shared a taxi bringing us to our hostel in Colombo, what was much better then taking the bus after a night without sleep.
The way the guy was driving the taxi was kind of crazy, Bernd was yelling out a lot and closed his eyes, too scared to see what's coming next.
We only stayed a few minutes at the hostel, starting exploring Colombo. First we went to the coast to see the sea and have a break from the driving, especially Bernd needed one.

Next to the beach goes the train, several trains passed by and it always looked like the people would fall out of the train, so for sure not take the train for our travels in Sri Lanka.

From the beach we headed back into town, the water was not inviting us to go swimming, also we planned to go to the south the next day, so there was no need jumping into it right now. In town we saw the first religious building, St Paul's church. We were more expecting to see a temple, must be from the times Sri Lanka had been a colony.

Along the road then we found a more expected temple. The temple Papaya Kadiresan, before getting to the temple we got told that we should take of our shoes, what wasn't a big problem. To make sure that we do not offend anyone or disturb the people during their prayers we asked the guy about the rules we got to follow and if it would be OK to take pictures.

After seeing this beautiful Buddhist temple we followed the road to the north to get to some lakes in the centre of the town.  On our way to get there we met a friendly guy giving us some delicious fruits for free and also some information's about the surrounding, also he told us that we are on the right way for the temple place we headed to. At the temple we got to see a very different holy place, the main building was looking like a huge concrete bell on the floor, it's called a pagoda. And also a small building with Buddha for the prayers.

To get to the lake was not as easy as expected, we left the temple through the correct door and wanted to walk along a small alley, but there were some soldiers telling us that we are not allowed to pass through. They were securing a building at the side of the alley, don't know why we were not allowed to go there, it's not along all the way and behind it was again the public street. Anyway we got to a lake, got to see there some of this strange, but nice looking trees.

On a platform at the lake they build a small temple, when we got closer we saw a small relic, where the believers leaf some coins. Felt kind of strange, because it would be very easy to take the coins away. We were not thinking of doing it, it only shows how the people belief in Buddha and that they won't steel from him.

We left the lake and walked along the road heading to the harbour area, on the way to get there we got to tell thousands of Tuktuk drivers that we are not interested in taking a ride and prefer walking. Especially we were not sure were we want to go to. Fortune lead us along a small street where we got to see a temple of the third big religion here. A big Hindu temple, called Temple of Sri Kailawasanathan Swami Devasthanam Koviwe. We knew that in Colombo also is a mosque but we did not find it. The doors of the temple were closed so we could not get in, but at least the entrance looked very interesting.

A few metres away from the temple I saw a guy with a small basket and a flute sitting at the street, I knew what he was doing here and showed Bernd the charmer. Bernd was not happy to be that close to a snake charmer and his cobra, within a second he disappeared and left me alone with the charmer. I stayed there for a while before searching for Bernd and keep on walking after finding him.

The next thing we got to see was the world trade centre. We already knew that in several towns are buildings called world trade centre. At the first one in Dubai some people were making horrible jokes telling that the one in New York was smashed down to rebuild it there.

From the world trade centre we again had to take some detours, soldiers told us that we are not allowed to go there. So we made a bigger round and ended up at Isipathanaramaya a Buddhist temple. Bernd did not want to go in there because he saw some elephant tooth in the temple and was not willing to disturb the spirits of the elephants. Felt kind of stupid, but I did not manage to make him join me.
It was a very interesting place and a mix of a temple, museum and a shop. Only felt like there is also a shop, there were no prices and salesmen.

Seems that I stayed too long at the temple or maybe exact the right time. After leaving the temple it was already sunset when we arrived at the bay, so we did not miss it and had not to wait for it.

After enjoying the sunset we went back to the hostel to get some sleep, the trip with the bus to the south to Galle and further to the coast would take long and we really needed some sleep. Before going to bed we spent some time with the guys we shared our room with and had some good conversations.