let's go on a tour of the bustling capital of sri lanka colombo
good morning from colombo
people love honking here for some reason
i have just landed in colombo international airport which is a little far from the city
i've had a really long flight and i'm exhausted honestly
i'll take a couple of hours of sleep and then i'll start showing you around colombo
it is amazing what a couple of hours of sleep does for you so i took a tuk-tuk and i am
in pettah which is one of the oldest areas in colombo and also probably the busiest as well so
i'm gonna get some food and i'll show you around there are a couple of really interesting spots
here that you don't want to miss when you come to colombo uh before we go any further so colombo is
the capital and i mean it's not the usual capital with a lot of frills and this and that but
it has some really interesting spots and you definitely don't want to just come and just you
know leave for a resort because that's not gonna be fun right so let's start the tour of pettah
so this is supposed to be the first stop for the day the dutch museum and it is under renovation
but it's still an interesting building so i hope by the time you get here it will be renovated
so you can visit it sri lanka is actually quite diverse in terms of the religion there's muslims
hindus buddhists christians all different types here and it's perfectly fine um and they also had
english as well as a dutch colonizer so you get a little bit of that as well you get to see a
little bit of that in their names as well which are very complicated to pronounce and they're
very long as well so let's move on to the next stop which is the red mosque in this area pettah
is absolutely bustling with life there's so much happening at the same time it's a little dizzying
but it's a great chance to meet locals and if you want you can also buy some stuff cheap here
i am in the jamia ul alfar mosque which is really beautiful and it feels like
really misplaced as well because it's located in a very busy market area and
you come in and it just completely changes you know it's a beautiful courtyard with endless
red and white in all directions do come here with trousers and don't bring any bags with
you otherwise they won't let you in and please be respectful because it's a mosque and people
do worship here it's built in the early 20th century 1908 and it has been standing since
gorgeous i didn't honestly i didn't think it would be like this
i thought it would be a small little place i didn't expect this at all i'm going to spend
some time here and i'll meet you at the next part you watch the mosque until then
so far it's been a little overwhelming with so many people around all the noise all the busyness
it's a little crazy honestly but i am at galle face now which is this green area and has a
little beach narrow beach and i'm here to see the sunset it is also a little busy with the
road right behind me but it's not as bad as pettah or some other areas and there you know
you can see right behind me people are flying kites and you know like family outings and stuff
one sad thing is you see the cranes that's the area that's been confiscated but i don't know
with the chinese government or chinese companies because the government here took loans from them
and couldn't repay them apparently there are also places where sri lankans are not allowed
including restaurants and they're obviously not happy about it
oh well let's see the sunset
good morning from colombo where we were just having a really nice chat
and she's just left me so i'm gonna go explore the city again today
my first stop for today is the crowning jewel of colombo the gangaramaya buddhist temple
it looks really interesting from outside but it's famous for having like endless statues of buddha
which i'm really a big fan of let's go check it out it's a weekday today and there aren't
that many people around which is great because i can explore all of this big complex on my own
it's not one giant temple rather a collection of small buildings into a complex and the statues
actually change considerably when you go from one building to the other i think it's a good
time to tell you that in sri lanka whenever you are with buddha you should never have your back
towards him whether you're taking photos videos even when you're leaving you should basically
face him and just back out rather than turning your back towards him please be respectful
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i've noticed something interesting here as jesus goes along the world and he changes his features
like he's even a blonde white man in europe same happens with buddha so this is a more
local version of buddha and he looks a lot more sri lankan compared to if you go to south east and
you see the statues there it's a very interesting thing that you get to see around the world
this is not just a temple it's a really big collection and it's actually a treasure trove of
beautiful statues whether it's wood metal silver gold even ivory absolutely stunning and every time
you feel like okay i've seen quite a lot of them more appear out of nowhere as you turn a corner
and you could spend an entire day here and not get bored looking at these this one is
my favorite and i believe this is lord buddha on riding a peacock really really beautiful and
very well carved and these right behind me are the ivory ones i mean these are obviously before the
whole trade thing happened and these are historic but absolutely gorgeous
barely two or three minutes walk from the temple you have this seema malakaya which
is another beautiful temple located inside the bera lake now the lake is man-made and
bera comes from portuguese it means butter and the green you see behind me is not clean water
it's all algae and pollution so yeah don't think about stepping inside although i think you can
hire some boats and go around a bit but if you want to check out this is another gorgeous spot
not so far from the temple i think i'll give it a miss because i need to get some food
and i need to get to a hospital for that weird right i'll explain it the next time
this is the old dutch hospital building that has been converted into a commercial area and there
are a few nice bars and restaurants here now alrighty food done it's time to explore around
i am in fort area which sort of worked well with coming here because this area has all the
interesting colonial buildings from the past i'll show you a few of those now before we
go if you come here in the night they also do some live music so it's quite a lively area i
like to eat in peace and quiet so i chose the afternoon let's get going let's explore fort
this is the clock tower this is the center point which used to be the old central bank of sri
lanka and then right behind me you get to see the new central bank of sri lanka all in one street
a couple of things about colombo the tuk-tuk drivers are quite persistent and they will
approach you no matter where you are especially if you're on your own to say a firm no and move
on don't engage and don't be rude especially it's not nice they're just trying to make some money
the second thing is and this is you need to be a bit more careful with someone will randomly
approach you like i was like five six times yesterday they will offer to take you to a
temple where it's like a special ceremony and it's the last day and blah blah blah
and obviously the temple is really far and you'll like pay a lot of price to get there for tuk tuk
and the guide and it's a little bit of a scam so be careful of that let's continue
fort is not a very big area and i just walked around exploring all these interesting buildings
this is the place where the legacy of colonialism is strongest
so far there's one thing that has baffled me in sri lanka especially colombo the level of noise
yeah hear that that's a constant thing people love honking here for some reason
i hope i get used to it fairly soon
the pyramid-like structures you see on top of the doors is the mountain of gods and it
was my first time seeing it which was great it's also my first time in a hindu temple
and the caretaker was nice enough to show me around he was very sweet all in all
a perfect first visit i came here thinking i would be seeing one hindu temple instead
there are three here i unfortunately cannot pronounce the names so you will see the name here
but the stars alone are so gorgeous absolutely worth a visit let's go check them out now
after all that crazy roaming around i am in nuga which is going to be my last stop in colombo
so this is an old house which has been converted into a beautiful spot where you can just sit
and enjoy some tea or some coffee or some coconut water like me and it's a great way
to actually see what old architecture was like let me show you around a little bit
this is all from busy colombo i'm taking you to sigiriya lion rock next time it is called the
eighth wonder of the world so click that link above meet me there and i will tell you why
this is brown boy travels and i hope you really liked this video if you did please
do like subscribe and comment and let me know some amazing destinations in your country i would
love to come i will see you guys in the next video until then you have an amazing day ahead