What’s going on this weekend, July 27th through the 29th? Friday is Bike To Work day, though you really need to get up at 6 AM to get a jump on that. On Saturday the ARTRA Magazine Launch Festival begins at 6 PM with music from some of Sri Lanka’s most creative bands (the Music Matters team is a ...
On Monday, August 6th, Professor Rohan Samarajiva* will launch his book on economic strategy at the BMICH Bandaranaike Center For International Studies: “The book, co-authored with C.J. Amaratunge, covers multiple infrastructure sectors and international economic strategy. The work was done outside the scope of LIRNEasia’s activities, but is obviously influenced by them. One obvious influence is the cover. In 2009-10 ...
Villa Red is the private home of boxing/garments magnate Dian Gomes which they rent out as a villa. It’s a fun space (pool, good stereos, TVs) in a fun area (watersports, Lunuganga, turtles) and they serve pretty good food. Since you rent out the entire villa, it makes sense to go with a gang (we think the place can fit ...
This is one of Colombo’s most puzzling coffee spots. It’s got a nice location lots of space and ample parking down Wijerama Mawatha near the heart of Colombo 7 but it always seems pretty empty. I recall a bit of fanfare when it opened but lately no one talks about it. Coco Verandah, Coffee Bean etc are still going strong ...
This is an amazing exhibition at Barefoot which ends this weekend (the 25th November). These posters, lovingly curated by Anura Sapramadu, are well worth checking out. There are also some original hand-painted Bollywood posters as well. It all takes you back to a day before Photoshop and unlimited fonts led to an explosion of great work amidst a nuclear bombing of the bad.
As a note about quiz, it’s awesome and quite fun. Jehan Mendis is a great host and the questions are challenging and the crowd fun. What’s different about the Christmas edition is that it’ll be Christmas themed (we suppose) and there are some extra prizes. The regular prizes are Rs. 10,000 for the winning team, Rs. 2,000 for second place ...
If you’re in Independence Square this is the place to go, ie, the only place. Down the long Independence Walk there’s a small cafe which serves the basic stuff, Fanta, Coke, short eats. Literally your usually kade, just in the middle of the park. It’s nothing special but nothing bad either, and it’s in the middle of a lovely space. ...
The Brewery by O!, or O bar as it’s more commonly referred to, is insanely popular. Go there any night of the week, even Sunday, and it’s likely to be full to the brim with beer brandishing patrons. Located in the back courtyard of the lovely Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct, the bar itself isn’t huge – there are two sections ...
A Christmas carnival organized by the British School of Colombo will be held on the 8th of December (Saturday) at the school premises. Entertrainers, the pioneering group fitness company in Sri Lanka will be having Zumba and Kidsfit sessions for kids at the carnival and there is also the promise of a dunk tank!
The Revelations, Sri Lanka’s renown all male vocal choir will welcome this Christmas season with ‘He is Christmas’ on the 30th of November and the 1st of December at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. The concert hopes focus on Jesus and the message he brought to the world. The group will be accompanied by Neranjan De Silva on keyboards and Christo Prins on drums.
With its exceptional location (next door to the Dutch Hospital/opposite the World Trade Center) and rather fanciful French-colonial front (lots of balconies), the Colombo City Hotel looks rather promising. In fact tourists tend to imagine it’s some sort of Colonial gem when it’s at most 15 years old. Despite all the promise though the hotel is, for the most part, a ...
“Thank you Come Again,” Says the sign on the A35, leaving Puthukkudiyiruppu. Just beyond that is the shelled-out carcass of a homemade LTTE Tank. The friendly sign, which welcomes the visitor back to Puthukkudiyiruppu, creates an unsubtle irony to those visiting the Mullaitivu district, where the Sri Lankan Civil War ended in May 2009. A small littoral strip of ...
The other day our Ahamu service got a question regarding Home Decor in Colombo and we realized we hadn’t been too diligent about covering places where you buy things for your home. To fill this gap in our coverage we trotted/tuked off to our neighbors Gandhara. Now Gandhara is more a high-end decor empire than a shop. Along with its ...
Independence Square is Colombo’s newest public space. It’s part monument, part park, part walking ground. It’s main function seems to be as the place where Colombars go for their evening constitutional (walk), including the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who lives nearby. Independence Square has existed since, well, Independence, but it used to be just the iconic building with traffic flowing ...
