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Vesak Day, Sri Lanka: 3 Days of Celebrations -Lanterns and Fireworks

It was hard not to miss the Vesak Day celebrations with all the lanterns displayed along the streets and at lobbies of buildings. In addition to that, you can’t miss the huge crowd of people who were enjoying their 3 days off work shopping in the city or having a splash with their families by the coast.

Colombo City Vesak Day Celebrations

Lights and Lanterns in Colombo City

Huge crowd celebrating Vesak Day

Typical Lantern for Vesak Day

Throngs of people were crossing the roads, affected the flow of traffic at the main roundabout. Policemen had to direct both human and car traffic to ensure that there were no major traffic jams or accidents.

Police directing traffic during Vesak Day Celebrations in Colombo City Sri Lanka

Everyone was excited about the fireworks and wanted to get a good spot. We weren’t too comfortable with the crowd and decided to head back up to the Paronoma Roof Top Restaurant at our hotel (link) to watch the fireworks. It was indeed a good choice 🙂

Huge crowds waiting for fire works

Fireworks during Vesak Day Celebrations in Colombo City Sri Lanka

It was nice way to end off our last night in Sri Lanka! 🙂

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Colombo City Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Ahhh…I just want to Zzz zzz

We arrived at Colombo slightly before 5am, after a 6 hours bus journey from Trincomalee. The bus stop was at the main train station. We checked our GPS on our phone (only 1 rupee for 1MB. So cheap!) and noted that Colombo City hotel was 800m away. There were many tuk tuk drivers touting for customers and they quoted us 300 rupees for the ride. Even though it was only about S$3, we refused to take the tuk tuk because we knew that it only cost 50 rupees for the first km (subsequent km is charged at 30 rupees). The streets were still filled with locals heading home after the Vesak Day celebrations, and there were many policemen patrolling, so we reckoned it was safe enough to walk to Colombo City Hotel.

World Trade Centre opposite of Colombo City Hotel

Colombo City Hotel Sri Lanka

It was fairly easy to locate Colombo City Hotel as it was just opposite the World Trade Centre. The facade of the building was brightly lit and the light decorations on the trees in front made it a very beautiful picture as we approached the hotel. The staff on duty that night was friendly. He brought us to our room after we decided to pay the half day rate in order to get some rest due to the lack of sleep on the bus. I loved the room! It was spacious, the TV had ESPN channel, and most importantly, a bath tub! 🙂 The little pleasures in life….ahhhhhh.

TV and Kettle in Colombo City Hotel

Bath tub in Colombo City Hotel

Comfy Beds in Colombo City Hotel

Dressing Table in Colombo City Hotel

We took a nice hot bath and rested for 3 hours before we head up to the Panoroma Roof Top Restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast was simple but filling, and the supervisor on duty gave us directions to shopping malls.

Panoroma Roof Top Restaurant in Colombo City Hotel

We were in Colombo 1, and most of the shopping malls were in Colombo 3,4 and 7. It was easy to flag down a metered tuk tuk. We enjoyed a day in the city, shopping for gifts for friends and relatives. When we were done, we strolled along the coast and made our way back to the hotel. The location of Colombo City Hotel was awesome, and the price of USD90 was well worth it! 🙂