Tuesday 4th February 2025

Today was Sri Lankan Independence Day - and the 77th one since it first gained independence on 4th February 1948. In the days of the not-so-glorious British Empire, it used to be called Ceylon, of course, and 77 years doesn't seem that old for a country really. Independence Day is a national holiday, so there was no school, and Sandra had invited me to travel to Colombo with her for the day, which I was extremely happy to do, as I am always up for an adventure.

We were going to Colombo to drop off Maya and Kumari, who had been staying with Sandra over the weekend. We set off at 10:30, and it was a pleasant drive to Colombo in the sunshine, which I have appreciated so much after the dismal weather in the Hill Country in January. We arrived at Selyna's house around lunchtime, so we all sat down in the kitchen/dining area and enjoyed a lovely lunch of pork and rice, accompanied by jackfruit and sambal.

After lunch, Sandra went off with Sahan and Maya, and I went shopping with Liyanage to One Galle Face, to take advantage of being in Colombo today, as there was something that I wanted to buy, and it meant that I wouldn't need to come back to Colombo at the end of my stay this time. I spent about an hour there, then we went to pick up two Japanese guys who were travelling with us when Sandra and I returned to Kurunegala later this afternoon.

We headed back to Selyna's for a quick cup of tea, then set off back to Kurunegala. The huge advantage of it being Independence Day today has been the absence of traffic on the roads, particularly in Colombo, where journeys are often incredibly slow (as in pretty much any capital city). We got back to Kurunegala in very good time, and went straight to Olu for dinner, which was an interesting experience, as their level of English was rather low, and my Japanese is non-existent!

There are just a few photographs today, as I didn't take very many.