Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

It’s hard to believe we’ve passed the three-month mark on this incredible journey. Both of us were a little concerned about how we would do on a ship for this long, but so far, we are doing just great. The time has just flown by, and we are already dreading having to say goodbye to so many new friends. I have a feeling we will consider other long cruises for future travel.

We arrived in Colombo this afternoon shortly after lunch. Sri Lanka is an island nation located just off the southeastern tip of India. Colombo is the largest city and the executive and judicial capital of Sri Lanka. The city is brimming with old-world British charms, as Sri Lanka’s cultural center, where modern skyscrapers rub elbows with historic architecture. The island was first colonized by the Portuguese, who took control of the cinnamon trade. The Dutch followed, then the English ruled it as Ceylon until it became independent in 1972. Still today, evidence of all three of its previous occupying nations is clear, from cuisine and language to architecture. Within the city’s 19th-century fortress stands the Old Parliament, a neo-baroque treasure from the British colonial era, and the city’s streets were named for former British governors.

Today we took a tour of the city by Tuk Tuk. We found the tour on Trip Advisor/Viator. Viking offered a shorter version of the same tour for approximately twice as much. A Tuk Tuk is a very nimble three wheeled vehicle the zips in and out of traffic provided a different, yet perfect perspective for a city tour.

We were met by our amazing guide, Romesh, from Capital Tour by Tuk Tuk just outside the cruise terminal gate. Romesh had texted us a picture, so we knew who we were looking for plus he was holding a Capital Tour sign to help us find him.

After brief introductions we loaded up in the Tuk Tuk and headed out of the port and into Columbo. We didn’t know what to expect as neither of us knew much about Columbo or Sri Lanka, but we were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the city.

Our first stop on the tour was at the opulent Gangaramaya Buddhist Temple. Many of the statues and other temple treasures were donated by other Buddhist nations — India, Indonesia and China — as Colombo is a crossroad on trade routes between those countries, and traders and sailors from those countries would worship here during their stops.

We continued through the city passing the old parliament building, new city hall and the independence memorial.

We also visited the original City Hall/Assembly building that was built by the British in the early 1800’s. The building is adjacent to the city vegetable market.

Next, we visited the Hindu Temple of Sri Kailawasanathan Swami Devasthanam Kovil (that’s a mouth full), built in the late 1700s.

We passed several British and Dutch colonial era buildings, the presidential residence, markets and the lotus tower.

The final stop of the evening was at a local restaurant where we were treated to a local dish called Rotti Kothu a spicy stir-fried dish of local vegetables, egg and chicken.

Tomorrow we will depart the ship for a private seven-day trip to India. We will be traveling with four other couples that we met online prior to the cruise. We have had this tour planned for over a year. We will try to do daily blog posts while in India.