Santa's Workshop

Ministry of Crab

Elise's cousin was supposed to come to Sri Lanka in December for a week-long visit to the island. Unfortunately,  Omicron had other thoughts on the matter, and Nick and his family ended up postponing or canceling the trip for the time being. 

Their visit would have coincided with his birthday, so we made plans to go to one of the best restaurants in all of South Asia, a destination we had not yet had the opportunity to visit for ourselves, Ministry of Crab. Fortunately, we love crabs, and, coincidentally, a college classmate of mine is the owner and head chef (though he wasn't in the house the night we visited). 

We had heard a lot of hype about MoC, and it did not disappoint. Sam and Peter shared a buttered Crab while Elise and I shared a phenomenal Crab curry. It was the perfect way to start the holiday season!

Tuk-Tuk Tour

One recent Friday evening, Elise and I set out with a few friends and colleagues for a tour around Colombo.  Now, we've been living in Colombo for almost two and a half years at this point.  What could there be to see that you haven't seen already? one may ask. 

Well, considering the last 21 months and counting have been spent mostly sequestered to our house, there is actually quite a bit of Colombo we hadn't seen yet.  Also, what made this tour a little different was we were getting a ground's eye-view of the city, live and in-person, from inside a tuk-tuk.

In short, it was one of the most fun things I've done in Colombo.  I'm not shy to say Colombo isn't my favorite city, but the tour showed me a side of it I, heretofore, had not seen and really liked, much more reminiscent of India.  

We started the tour at what by all appearances was a run-down, Wes Andersonesque hotel at the entrance of the old port of Colombo.  The rooftop bar had a sweeping view of Colombo, so it was an interesting historical perspective to imagine the city before there were cars or even tuk-tuks, for that matter. 

We then took a short jaunt to Pettah, which in Tamil means 'outside'.  This was one of the first neighborhood of Colombo and its close proximity to the port made it a prime marketplace.  It is still the heart of commerce, filled with Tamil and Muslim trading families dating back generations.  There, we sampled the wares of a coffee peddler and grinder, before taking a walk through the bustling vegetable market.  

In Pettah, we stopped for fried fish bites and a beer on the roof a speakeasy overlooking the bustling market below. Dark clouds rolled in, and it started to sprinkle. By the time we made it to our last stop, Sri Ponnambala Waneswarar temple, it was pouring. We sought shelter inside the temple just as the temple priests began their nightly drumming.

Rock Climbing in Kodigahakanda

A few weeks ago, we drove a short way outside of town to a nature reserve where we got to go rock climbing. It was our first time climbing outside, so a different kind of challenge.  I was surprised how raw my fingertips got!

Dambulla

After our day climbing Sigiriya rock, we stopped in Dambulla to see the Buddhist cave temples on the way back to Colombo. 

Dambulla is home to the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. There are more than 80 documented caves which contain statues and paintings related to Buddha and his life. There are a total of 153 Buddha statues, including the giant "lying down Buddha", three statues of Sri Lankan kings, and four statues of Hindu gods and goddesses. 

Sigiriya, Part Two