hey everyone we're Nicole and Mico and we are on a road trip around Sri Lanka with a
mission to show you why this country is our favorite in the whole world Sri Lanka's tourism
industry has had a rough couple years and we want to do our small part to show the world
why we think this is an incredible travel destination in this video we're going to be
exploring the capital city Colombo as well as finalizing the last few things that we
need before we officially start this road trip tomorrow
so the city of Colombo is a beautiful city it's got 2 million people in it it doesn't
feel like that it actually feels more of like a nice relaxed town but with big buildings
yeah so far it just feels really like quite quiet to be honest
so we are at gangarama Temple which is like a beautiful temple in the middle of this greenish
looking Lake and also in the middle of Colombo so Sri Lanka's population is broken up by
like what is it 70 or 80 percent Buddhist yeah 70. I think there's 4 major religions
here 70 Buddhist 10 percent 10-ish percent Hindu 10-ish percent Muslim and like five
percent Christian I think predominantly Buddhism I'm not sure if that adds up to 100 percent
it doesn't quite so there's a few other ones in there to make up the last few percent but
this is a very beautiful looking Temple also it's really nice that it's a covered but like
not uh like blocked off because there's a nice breeze going through this Temple so you
can really admire like the Golden Buddha statues uh in this Temple and just like look around
but not getting too too hot because it's a smoking hot day here in Colombo this is key
for Mico's health and well being this is really cool look how many Buddha statues there are
and they like line the perimeter of this temple in case there is any doubt what kind of Temple
you just walked into these Buddha statues should be able to tell you and I also noticed
that they all have very different um like hand signs because I I know there's like different
poses that the Buddha can have actually looks like they cycle through the same four behind
you hun there's also more Buddha's over there I actually think this is a really really cool
part of the city it feels like the city has really made space for this Buddhist temple
I feel like in other places that we've visited you kind of have just like one little Temple
or church or like mosque in the middle of like a giant City and it seems almost kind
of out of place but here this entire area is dedicated to like the peacefulness and
Tranquility of this Temple and then the rest of the city is just kind of happening around
it so it I think it's a kind of almost like a nice little Escape From the City from the
busyness oh that's his head I thought this was his head I thought it was backwards look
at this guy just baking in the Sun what are they called again do you know I think he's
like a monitor a monitor lizard yes yes a monitor lizard God they're big do you hurt
people like am I supposed to give him my berth or is it fine that I hang out next to him
I I love how this guy's just chilling here in the middle of the city nobody seems to
mind he's just enjoying the lake he seems pretty pleased to be here I don't think I'm
gonna get any closer but he looks pretty cool alright if you missed our last video you may
have not met our new ride this is Bumblebee you can't really tell but she's yellow hence
the name yeah she is what's going to be bringing us around Sri Lanka for the next month here's
a little better better view 110 cc's of pure power pure 110 CC's for the two of us and
all of our stuff it seems kind of weird to be like starting a road trip in a big city
but we felt like we can't miss Colombo so it's not like the Epic driving road trip yet
that's starting up very very soon tomorrow for us next week for you yeah but right now
it's just like nice to have our own ride through the city we don't have to get taxis or ubers
or tuktuks or anything like that that's really really nice it's honestly amazing [Music]
all right guys our next stop is something that I'm hoping is going to make your experience of this road trip awesome
we bought you guys an insta 360. if you ever told me it'd ever
be in Colombo Sri Lanka buying an insta 360 I wouldn't believe you nope but because we're
gonna be on the bike so much during our road trip around Sri Lanka we really wanted some
awesome footage we wanted to get some cool clips and show you guys this country this
beautiful country really well so we needed a new camera we're hoping this will work we've
never used it before we're not really Moto vloggers so this will be our first time bear
with us as we get over a little bit of a learning curve but I think it's I think it's going
to go well we just need to put a few hours into learning
wow we just got to the Lotus Tower so this is the uh tallest freestanding Tower or building
I think structure structure in South Asia it's gigantic it's hard to take it all in
and really like colorful it really looks like a flower because it's like a green stem and
a purple top it reminds me of like the Lotus Temple that we went to in India but now this
is the Lotus tower Tower every time we've talked about it though we keep accidentally
calling it the Lotus Temple but it's not it's the Lotus Tower maybe this is before the Lotus
blooms this is what you get yeah you're probably right it's very neat you can actually go up
it we're not going up it I think it's about 20 USD per person to go up yeah but you can
go up and apparently get really nice views of the city so something to do if you've got
longer in Colombo than we do
[Music]
Sri Lankans are the best those guys were so stoked to be in the video such nice locals
such nice people here man
I don't know how we're gonna get out
so the area that we just got to is supposed to be the Pettah floating Market but unfortunately
I guess today is the one day of the week on Sunday where they're closed so no real shops
on floating boats or anything like that but there are a few shops here that are open and
also like some food places if you want to get some food or drinks and there's also some
very Funky Music going on over there wow look how big those birds are look at them
this things huge
the people here honestly like just so nice like I was just standing trying to take a
video of Mico going up the ramp getting the scooter up and then someone comes over she
asks where I'm from I say Canada and then she proceeds to tell me that her husband went
to Canada 35 years ago and still hasn't come back
where in Canada my daughter inside pregnant and now he's very rich and she is not um but
she was like it is okay like my daughter is pregnant and I get to be here with her and
uh we chatted a little bit and when I left when I told her I had to go because Mico was
waiting for me she's like just welcome welcome welcome to Sri Lanka welcome I'm so glad you're here
it's just so nice like just strangers in the middle of everywhere they see us and they
just like come and say hello and it's like no questions asked they're not like up to
something they literally just want to come say hi to you see where you're from have a
small conversation and like go about all our days it's just it's man it's refreshing
so we have unexpectedly found ourselves in like one of Colombo's biggest malls we think
we assume it's amazing it's really nice we're still looking for a little bit more camera
gear and uh stumbled upon this it's like very very fancy it's clean and beautiful so nice
like we're just blown away we're like coming up the escalators and I'm like what the heck
is this where have we stumbled into it's gorgeous they have so many brands that we recognize
and a lot of brands that we don't recognize because I think it's way above our pay grade
ah look it says spa Ceylon down there so if you aren't familiar Ceylon is one of Sri Lanka's
like previous names so if you see Ceylon anywhere that means Sri Lanka and some place you'll
probably find it in your home country is Ceylon tea which is actually tea from Sri Lanka it
looks like Nicole's got some fans and they want to take a photo with her it's like the
whole the whole family
still feeling like a celebrity I still feel like a celebrity what's funny is so if you
missed our last video we were in Sri Lanka for four months last year and not once was
I ever asked to have a photo taken of me but now in Colombo I'm being asked to have my
photo taken again but it's mostly by really sweet young girls so I actually I don't like
it at all you know in our Vlogs like that Nicole and I make we really try and focus
uh on showing like all parts of a culture not just like the parts that you expect to
see online when you Google it we like to show like what is actually happening today so when
we looked at Colombo Vlogs online they were all very kind of typical this Market or that
statue or whatever but it's nice to show like a nice modern Mall in Colombo to show that
like hey like there's there's also this part of life that I don't think really gets enough
attention I think it's perhaps a part of Colombo that just like get's missed but like this
place is gorgeous yeah and there's live music somewhere which is like really drawing us in
[Music]
the man can sing okay Nicole's admiring the singing of the local
Sri Lankan man a little too much so we're gonna get out of here let's go are you sure we have to go [Music]
we have made our way to galle face green or galle face sea this is like a nice Beach area
on the west uh Coast here in Colombo it is uh also the local hangout spot on a weekend
there's lots of people here very very busy Lively we got some nice uh coffee with Cardamom
Coffee with cardamom I'm spilling it all over myself it's actually really really nice it's
ice cold too it's very refreshing I know it's the evening and we probably shouldn't have
coffee but we always drink coffee and Nicole Nicole has a I got my cake her caramel cake
okay so while we drink our coffee I want to share with you guys my first impressions of
Colombo because we've been to Sri Lanka before if you caught our last video but we never
actually got to come and see Colombo and I think what is like super striking for me is
truly and I think we've mentioned a few times in the video already but just truly how friendly
and open and warm and welcoming people are here I just feel like people are so excited
to see foreigners here and they like want to see they want to talk to you see where
you're from ask how you know how you feel about their country so far particularly as
a female traveler I feel like just really comfortable here like I get some people definitely
like looking at me but it's it's just like looking at me and like oh there's a foreigner
here way not in a creepy way and what I'm loving is that people still look at me because
I stick out but they always smile so instead of just like staring at me me and kind of
creeping me out because they're just looking at me they acknowledge you yeah they actually
I actually feel like I'm a human being because they're like they look at me and then they
smile or they wave or they say hello or something so yeah it's just honestly it's so nice I
think as a female traveler specifically it is really nice to be like acknowledged when
people are like interested in you you just it's just comforting
well it has been a great day in Colombo it was a short visit but I'm glad we finally
got to see this city we're glad we soaked in the city but now we're ready for some more
relaxed Beach Vibes and starting in the next video we'll be kicking off the road trip officially
around Sri Lanka we cannot wait so make sure you hit subscribe and come and join us on
this awesome adventure thanks for watching
looks like Nicole's not the only one famous [Music]