Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Hotel Nippon +94112431887
Spacious double room with fan for LKR 2,250.- or US$ 20.30 per night.
Click below for an interactive road map of the Hotel Nippon in Colombo and for directions:
Coming across another blatant example of cruelty to animals in the name of human culture when leg-shackled elephants with visible chafe marks on their legs are forced to trudge through Colombo’s crowded and noisy roads during the annual Nawam Maha Perahera, an orchestrated and uber-patriotic, all-pomp-and-pageantry procession of traditional dancers and musicians, (i) tightly controlled by a parade of the state’s all-present obnoxious police, (ii) loudly applauded by a grovelling entourage of Western bigots in politically correct white robes, and (iii) zealously blessed by the orange-clad hard-line weasels of the omnipresent Theravada Buddhist clergy, the vanguard of Sinhalese nationalism.
“Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test, consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.”
Taking a crowded commuter train in third class from Colombo's Kompannavidiya Railway Station to the well-organised Colombo Fort Railway Station, a busy hub for commuter rail within the Colombo metropolis (LKR 10.- or c. US$ 0.10 per person), sharing thereafter with a friendly Sri Lankan family of Malay origin a 2nd-class compartment of the local train from Colombo to Galle along the scenic southern beaches (LKR 180.- or c. US$ 1.80 per person) and surviving eventually a wild ride in one of the notorious Sri Lanka Transport Board buses from Galle back to Walgama (LKR 45.- or c. US$ 0.45 per person).
"A sip of wine, a cigarette,
And then it’s time to go.
I tidied up the kitchenette;
I tuned the old banjo.
I’m wanted at the traffic-jam.
They’re saving me a seat.
I’m what I am, and what I am,
Is back on Boogie Street."
And then it’s time to go.
I tidied up the kitchenette;
I tuned the old banjo.
I’m wanted at the traffic-jam.
They’re saving me a seat.
I’m what I am, and what I am,
Is back on Boogie Street."
Click below for more blog posts about spectacular Asian spectacles
01 Feb - 17 Feb 2013 Penang (Chinese New Year)
12 Apr - 23 Apr 2011 Madurai (Chittirai Festival)
05 Feb - 09 Feb 2010 Chiang Mai (Flower Festival)
06 Feb - 16 Feb 2009 Kuala Lumpur (Thaipusam Festival)
14 Sep - 24 Oct 2008 Phuket (Vegetarian Festival)
Click below for a summary of this year's travels
01 Feb - 17 Feb 2013 Penang (Chinese New Year)
12 Apr - 23 Apr 2011 Madurai (Chittirai Festival)
05 Feb - 09 Feb 2010 Chiang Mai (Flower Festival)
06 Feb - 16 Feb 2009 Kuala Lumpur (Thaipusam Festival)
14 Sep - 24 Oct 2008 Phuket (Vegetarian Festival)
Click below for a summary of this year's travels
Recommended books - click below for your Amazon order from the United States:
