After a slow start or the day we left our hotel to have breakfast nearby, there was something wrong with the wifi that was being fixed but we needed some addresses to Da Vinci, a printing company Mona had conversed with before the trip.

Da Vinci had done their fair share of nice wedding invitations but the style were similar to their fashion in general and not entirely inline with our preferences. We had hoped to come up with an actual design but this was not really how they worked. We didn’t leave empty-handed though, we got lots of inspiration and information regarding pricing but decided we would park the designs for now and instead head to Pettah.

Pettah has a district where the local wholesale as well as retail is concentrated and organized, to the trained eye at least. Different streets focused on food, cloth and hopefully paper and printing. It was so few tourists here that no one even bothered to ask us to check out their store or their services but it was a constant flow of smells, people and goods. After some helpful locals we found a paper shop well worth it’s name – Prince Trade Centre.The proprietor, Mr Lakshman Mendis, was a talkative charming man who had taken over the business from his father while his true passion actually was acting. He performed mainly stage plays and some films but it was tricky to live off that in Sri Lanka. I’d love to see his upcoming play, 12 Angry Men, but by that time we’d be in Sweden already. After looking at various papers we settled for a handmade off-white one to use as base for invitations and name tags. They cut the sizes there and had we only been done with the design there were small shops with printers down the alley.We stopped for tea and wifi at the chiq T-lounge bordering Old Dutch Hospital and had truly great iced tea and crepes, pricey for being Sri Lankan though. We strolled deeper into Old Dutch Hospital which nowadays is an area of high end cuisine and hip boutiques. We found another Odel store and what did we find inside if not linen clothing? Three shirts to chose between ended up being three bought shirts, I really hope Norwegian summer is close. We also made dinner reservations at Semondu to secure a nice table on the outside.

Back at the hotel Mona savored the half chocolate dessert she had saved in the fridge from yesterday while I visited the gym for a session of weights and running. I really can’t blame the result on the equipment but it looks like I have some catching up to do back home. I treated myself another quick steam bath before joining Mona dressing up and then headed back to Old Dutch Hospital with tuk-tuk.

Semondu had really good cocktails, and a menu that was difficult to choose just one dish from. We settled for three mains, a starter, a dessert and Italian Chardonnay to drink. My sea food bouillon starter was excellent, just as Mona’s cannelloni. The sea food risotto and Mona’s fish was really nice and Mona was happy with the dessert although she wasn’t sure it deserved the awards it had won. All in all a really really nice dinner, and the outdoor table was a plus providing live music, which actually was good, in the background. Semondu is the highest ranked restaurant in Colombo according to Trip Advisor, but I’d say the other restaurants neighboring didn’t look bad by any means either.

We left Kandy at 09 in the morning, and a hopped into a tuk-tuk which took us to some bus that left right after we got there. 3 hour AC bus, 3EUR for both is really cheap and quite convenient, but then the distance was only 120km.

The sun was scorching hot when we got to Colombo and we took another tuk-tuk, which now were equipped with meters, to our hotel, Galle Face Hotel. We had managed to get a decent price for a superior room this old colonial beauty last night through Agoda. After checking in and dumping our luggage we headed to Kala Pola Art market to check out some of the local art. It was some nice paintings but nothing extraordinary that we wanted to transport back home.

We strolled to the national museum but, after some honest introspection, instead enjoyed their cafe rather than the museum itself. We thought we would walk to Odel, a chic department store, which were not far from here and strolled on the way through a park full of young couples intertwined, but modestly dressed. Odel was a nice department store with imported brands as well as their local and their own Odel brand. I couldn’t decide between three pair of shoes, so I did what my friend Aram would have done – bought them all. Another pair of linen trousers and some candy later we left.Well, we were about to leave, but then Mona spotted a foot massage service which also offered pedicure – what were we supposed to do? In a similar sneaky way a gelateria forced us to buy some lovely ice cream before heading back to the hotel. At the hotel we sat down looking out over the Indian Ocean and had some drinks as the sun set contemplating the day’s hard work.After drinks we changed into bathrobes and tried out the steam saunas, which turned out to be fully operational although not used by anyone else than us. Nice, even though the jacuzzi was a notch too cold to my taste. The soaking of bodies continued with a quick swim in the cooler outside swimming pool before finishing off with a warm bath in our own hot tub in the room. So what do have for dinner? Well, room-service seemed like a lazy option in line with the pampering so far.

You know you’re doing it right when the reception calls back asking how many people that will be dining, even after Mona explicitly mentioned me and herself. There were so many tasty choices and we had, in a way, had a tough day so three mains, some chocolate dessert, beer, milkshake and something else was ordered. It didn’t turn into Fear and Loathing levels, even with upbeat music from the portable speaker, but it certainly had a nice decadent feel enjoying lovely food in bathrobes.

Breakfast was nice, there was a roof top restaurant with good views and after the fresh fruit, tea, pancakes and omelet we started discussing how to spend the day. Rather than any particular excursions we would start by strolling into the old quarters and smell, feel and get a sense of the city.

Kandy is different than the other cities we’ve visited so far in Sri Lanka. There are more price tags on goods, there are fewer tourists and the tempo is higher. Shoulders bump into each other on the street and the range of poverty is increased. Old and new are mixed, a buffalo drawing a carriage next to a quite nice car or someone making their living by repairing sandals on the sidewalk next to a store selling the latest smartphones. More police officers or guards spread out as well as crazy and/or homeless people and even some street art.After a few hours we took a pause at Aroma Inn, a fancier cafe with wifi and a guard outside. After sipping on my delicious warm chocolate with mint we considered what to do the rest of the day. The elephant orphanage was an option but I had mixed feeling about it and a look at trip advisors latest reviews confirmed my fears of it turned into more of business where the animals welfare is ranked way below profit. We’ve seen enough temples in our days and the we didn’t feel like trekking or visiting the botanical gardens either, simply very lousy tourists.

So we turned to the good old fashioned pastime of consumption and headed towards the central market. Corridors of stalls selling cloth, clothing and very attentive staff. That said there were often price tags set out and indeed locals shopped so it seemed many of the places had fair prices that only required minor haggling. We headed off for the second market and there finally succumbed and bought a few nice bags and later a pair of linen trousers (7 EUR) while Mona got a pair of ballerinas for the same amount.
All the walking hade made me a bit hungry so I had some Rotti at a place called Muslim Hotel (?), this delicious fast food is something I’d be happy to see spreading to Scandinavia. On our way back home we encountered a modern mall as well and scouted it, I tried a few items but except for some imported brands the fashion is a tad gaudy for yours truly. I think more than half of their shirts come in metallic colors and well, let’s just leave it at that.

Mona had dinner at Sharon Inn which was right next door to our hotel while I still satiated from the Rotti only went for soft drinks. It was a nice buffet and we chatted with a friendly Canadian couple trading traveler tips and warnings. Back at our hotel we struggled to arrange accommodation for Colombo before realizing that the reason wifi was impossibly slow was due to a policy by the hotel to kill Internet after 22. After talking to the reception they turned something back on and voila – everything was working well again.