Colombo, Sri Lanka

We arrived here in Colombo, Sri Lanka at around 2 pm on Thursday April 17th.  We were napping when we arrived.  Then I got up and went to needlepoint and Bob went on deck to take some pictures.  We are docked at a container port.  It is interesting to watch how they load and unload these ships.

Then we dressed for dinner.  We had a cocktail in Horizon Lounge before the Indian Dinner.  This was for the Grand passengers, some doing as many as 136 plus days and others only doing 80 some days.   We were sitting with Mal Myers (he has done several world cruises with Regent), Nancy and Dick Pfliger from Minn who spend 6 months on the ship each year and The Captain and his wife Marianna.  He is from Italy and she is from Peru.  The food was interesting.  Not too spicy.  Loved the breads.  And we had a great time speaking with everyone.  Our table was the last to leave the room.

We returned to the suite instead of watching the local dancers.

In the morning we got up early and swam for one hour.  We are doing a tour this morning.  Just an overview of Colombo.  We have never been to Sri Lanka before so will be interesting to see.  The tour is called "Panoramic Colombo".  Not too long.

Bob took some pictures of the port as we docked.

We find the loading and unloading of the container ships very interesting.

We got on the bus and took off for our drive around the city.  This tour was a bus tour only.

This is the sitting Buddha.  

This is at the only stop.

And a garden with fountains.

Bob or Pop Pop thought he found an Easter Basket.

But on closer inspection, this was no ordinary Easter Basket.  Look what popped out!!!

The snake charmers indicate that the fangs have been removed.  But I was not going anywhere close to that snake.

This guy played a flute for the snake while the other fellow sort of just moved side to side.

At one point the snake tried to get loose.  And the fellow caught him by the tail.

We got back on the bus and continued our tour.

This was something we saw along the way.

The drive took us around to the resort area.  Nice big beaches but not sure if the water is swimming ready.

We returned to the ship for a nice lunch and then nap.  Needlepoint in the afternoon and then tea time.

Dinner in Setti Mari.  I had the lamb chops and Bob had a steak.  It was all very good.

Back to the suite to read and lights out.