Some time in Colombo...

When traveling to Sri Lanka, find out when is the full moon. Each month, at the full moon, Sri Lankans celebrate Poya, a time when buddhists traditionally go to temple, and it is a public holiday. In May, Poya is combined with Vesak, which celebrates the birth and enlightenment of Buddha. It's quite amazing to see. The roads are blocked off, people are walking/driving on the streets that are not blocked. They are singing, playing music and having a good time. It all seems to culminate on the Galle Face Green, a huge open lawn facing the sea. It looked like a really good time and people were friendly and waving at us, but traveling with two small kids and being stuck in traffic for hours only to arrive at our hotel at 2am was very exhausting for all.

The Galle Face Green, post Poya celebrations:


Otherwise, going to Colombo from Delhi was a beath of fresh air, literally. We all enjoyed the blue skies and being by the seaside. We also visited some interesting places.

On our way to the National Museum, we saw the hugest banyan tree. It was so amazing. Dorian played inside it.


We visited the Gangaramaya temple and I realized that I really do need to brush up on my knowledge of Buddhism if I'm going to take a curious 4-year old boy to see such sights.




On our way to the Natural History Museum, we stopped off at the Art Gallery

because, well, we couldn't find the museum and everyone we asked about it had no idea. We finally did find it, just behind the Art Gallery. It wasn't really worth the trip--way too hot with no a/c or fans. Dorian was disappointed that there weren't any dinosaurs, but Arthur loved the models of the huge turtles.