Thursday, February 1, 2018

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Our hotel.
Kind sums it up...
My new dental office.




Thursday, February 1st.
We arrived in Colombo at 5:30 and found our way to the immigration point. The officer immediately told us we had to fill in a form, which normally they would hand you on the flight, but not this time. Back again, and both of us got our visas without problem. John had printed his approval notice, but I had not, as it didn’t say you had to. Anyway, no worries, and we found our way to the baggage carousel and were happy to see our bags arrive. We were a bit worried as there were two airlines involved. Then to an ATM to get some local cash and out the exit to find our GAdventure pickup. He rushed us out of the airport very quickly to his car and told us that the traffic would be very bad after 6:30. We drove 40 kilometres to the Sapphire Hotel, along a very modern motorway and city streets.
The hotel was waiting for us, we got our rooms, which Denise had booked for us for the previous night so that we would have a place to crash. I’m not sure why, but we have separate rooms for the next two nights, as we stay here to meet our tour group. They gave us breakfast vouchers and we settled into our rooms and went and had a pretty good buffet breakfast. Then we went to our rooms for a well-deserved sleep.
When I woke up, I did some work on the blog and then decided to go for a walk to visit a dentist’s office nearby I’d seen as we drove in. One of my caps had come off with my last meal in Ethiopia and left a gaping hole in my smile. I didn’t know what to do about it and went for advice. When I got there the dentist was out and I was told to come back at 5:00. On the way back to the hotel I stopped at a local barber and had my head and faced shaved. He also trimmed my ears, noses and eyebrows. It cost me 300 rupees, or $2.40. Then I bought a couple of tangerines and went back to the hotel. John was still sleeping.
Walking around the streets was very different from Ethiopia. Here I was accepted and ignored and no one stared at me or harassed me. This just felt so much more normal. But the traffic was very different, lots of cars, buses and tuk tuks all beeping their horns in a form of communication. 
I walked back at 5:00 and met the dentist. I had to take off my shoes to enter the operatory. I explained the problem and he looked in my mouth. He told me that the root was cracked or damaged and that when I got home I’d have to have it removed and get a bridge, but that he could glue in back in and it should last until I get there. So, that is what he did. What did that cost? 1800 rupees, or $14.43! So, problem solved, hopefully.
When I got back I tried Skyping but it didn’t work and my voice was all garbled.
John and I went up to the hotel restaurant and had a couple of gin and tonics and a good spicy meal. Then we both turned in as we were tired from all the flying the other day.

It is amazing how different it is in this country than Ethiopia. Here there are proper roads, traffic lights, highway signs, supermarkets, pharmacies, normal houses, hotels, lots of selection of fruit and vegetables and normal western type infrastructure. Even though Sri Lanka is not a first world country, it is much more advanced than Ethiopia. This will be a much easier country to travel in.

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