Guns & Butter: Colombo Travel Guide

The Colmbo, Sri Lanka Travel Guide is part of the Trip Report: The $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World which covers 5 Continents, 13 Countries, and 17 Cities.

• Tokyo, Japan
• Melbourne, Australia
• Wellington, New Zealand
• Sydney, Australia
• Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Maldives
• Saigon, Vietnam
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Hong Kong
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Knysna, South Africa
• Durban, South Africa
• Mauritius
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Doha, Qatar
• New York, New York
• Helsinki, Finland

Find the nerdy planning here. Find the picture preview here.

Colombo, Sri Lanka just sounds like a cool place to visit. It is.

Here is the Travel Guide using the Guns & Butter methodology:

• A trip is composed of two factors: Labor And Lazy
• Anything on the line (Production Possibilities Frontier for my fellow economists) is an efficient use of your time depending on your tastes and preferences.
• Anything inside the line is inefficient as should be avoided.
• Anything outside is aspirational but may be impossible to do given the constraints of time and resources.
• The opportunity cost (what is given up) for relaxing and being Lazy is gained by being adventurous in the form of Labor and vice versa.

Sri Lanka is a country rich with history, culture, and people. The capital of the teardrop island is Colombo, a crazy city that has been described by the author Cherry Briggs as follows: “If Bangkok is Asia’s city of sex and drugs, Calcultta the city of death and poetry, and Tokyo the technotropolis of innovation, then Colombo is their immature sibling, still trying to find and assert its identity.”

Colombo is a mishmash of all countries in the region. This eclectic, colorful mix is what makes Colombo worth visiting even if it is only for a couple of days before heading off to the beaches of Sri Lanka or an atoll in the Maldives.

Here’s a breakdown of how to organize the chaos:

Street Shopping 

Looking for a headache, head to the local market where everything is on sale. Fruits, bootleg Beats by Dre, and clothing all are sold in one jam packed area. I suggest doing this first thing in the morning while you still have energy to deal with the crowds and the bargaining.

The City

There’s lots to do and see all over the city from temples to snakes.

• Beira Lake

• Gangaramaya Temple

Train to Mt. Lavinia 

Ask many people and they’ll say the best thing about Colombo is getting out of Colombo. It is that hectic. While you could take a taxi to the beach, I recommend taking the open air train. It moves slow enough that you feel safe but having no door between you and death makes it a somewhat dodgy experience.

The Beach 

You’ll notice the graph has the beach as the most restful activity in Colombo. That all depends on how much you feel like kicking back and relaxing or if you’d rather do push ups, pull ups, and dips on the makeshift gym at the beach.

Drinking & Eating 

The amount of energy you expend on drinking, eating, and exploring is up to you. It is also best told by me using photos:

• Street Food 

• Traditional Food at Pagoda Tea Rooms 

• Famous Food at Ministry of Crab 

• The Bar Next Door 

In order to get a table, patrons have to buy a vat of beer, so I did.

As you can see Colombo was an awesome time. Everything here was done in one day meaning I must return to so an do a lot more.

<==Back to Hilton Residence Colombo – Onto British Airways Business to Maldives==>