A much better nights sleep was had by us both and we readied for the excitement of new experiences with another lovely breakfast sat on the verandah overlooking the nicely manicured garden and pool.
Suminda picked us up promptly at 10 am and we headed off to view the sites of Colombo. We saw lots of former colonial buildings, the floating market and street markets.
We also stopped and had a walk around one of the largest Hindu temples in Colombo.
We continued to see several other temples both Buddhist and Hindu and an array of churches and other religious places of worship.
After much sightseeing Suminda headed for his home in the small town Kesbewa. We picked up a small bunch of flowers and I had selected a gift from the presents I had brought from home which on arrival I gifted to Disna, Suminda’s wife. It was so wonderful to meet his family- Methika whose birthday it was today is 19 years old, Minuka is 16, and Senithi is 10 years old. We were also joined by Stanley and Grace, Disna’s parents, who are on either end of the middle group picture. Suminda also introduced us to his mother.
We tried hard to get the formalities of greeting each other correct, hopefully we succeeded without causing any offence. We were given a drink, then asked to touch a plate with a drink on it which Disna held out to us. This is a traditional invitation to eat some food. Wow, wow, wow …Disna and her mother Grace had prepared a feast for us. We sat down with Suminda to a real feast of plain and pilau rice, jackfruit curry, jackfruit seed curry, chicken curry, Dahl, potato curry, bean curry and a grated coconut and onion sambal it was absolutely delicious. We had never tasted some of the dishes before and they were fantastic, spicy and flavoursome without being chilli hot. We have to admit to being totally overwhelmed by this magnificent spread and the effort which had been put into its preparation. This was followed by us tasting buffalo curds for the first time…very similar to thick yogurt …delicious, and Sri Lankan cherries, pomegranate seeds and an array of fruit…
After lunch we stood around Methika and sung happy birthday whilst he cut his cake. He then took a piece to each member of his family to take a bit from and we were included in this wonderful celebratory tradition. As we were leaving Disna gifted us a very useful notebook and a wonderful carving of an elephant which we will treasure for a very long time.
What a wonderful experience we have had meeting Suminda’s family and enjoying the feast they prepared for us and celebrating Methika’s 19th birthday…what a privilege and an honour thank you so much Suminda.
For those of you reading this and thinking of visiting Sri Lanka, we can thoroughly recommend Suminda as a driver and guide..a true gentleman.. Suminda Dissanayake can be contacted at Suminda711@gmail.com. or what’s app/ phone number is + 94772279050
Our drive back to the Ayubowan Guest House was about a 1.5 hours drive Suminda told us it was the first time his family had met foreigners in their home, we felt doubly privileged.
Arriving back we decided a dip in the pool was required to cool off before what has become an habitual and necessary siesta/ rest.
What a truly wonderful day.
2 J's World of Adventure 