Into the Land of the British East India Company

Prepared March 4 and 6, 2012, en route and in port, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Viet Nam


February 22, 2012, en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka:  A Very Small Reward

Although the Indian Ocean pirate zone extends to the Cape of Coromandel at the southern tip of India, after departing Male, the pirate issue and the resulting ship's precautions seemed to gradually disappear.  By the time we arrived in Colombo, the pirates were history!

We sailed northeast from Male, passing south of Coromandel on a nearly straight-line course for Colombo.  The weather was squally, with wind and rain following one after another.  During this time, the on-deck passenger contingent suffered from not baking on deck.  Now, any hardy soul could get a deck chair without squabbling with someone who claimed generational ownership of said deck chair back to William the Conqueror.  Squabbling over pool-side deck chairs is a major activity of the "bake in the sun" subset of passengers.  And "ownership" of deck chairs is hotly disputed.  It seems that the German and English contingents are often involved in those disputes.  That may by just a feature of demographics, as they make up a large element of the current passenger list.

Tonight's dress code for dinner is formal.  So, it is into the monkey suit and the gown for the two of us and off to a ritual event called the Venetian Society Cocktail Party, which preceded tonight's dinner.  At this event, people are rewarded and awarded with pins for having sailed on Silversea for so many days.  The rewards start at 100 days, when you receive free laundry.  In many ways, this is the most sought-after reward.  It is held in much higher regard than the Venetian Society pins, which have small (miniscule) precious stones to identify how many cruise days you have sailed.  It's the thought that counts.


February 23, 2012, in port Colombo, Sri Lanka:  Visiting a Grand Dame

Docking in the port of Colombo on the morning of February 23 was an interesting experience.  We have been in the port on three other trips since 1997, and it always seemed quiet and not very busy.  This morning, that was definitely not the case.  There was shipping everywhere, and it was extremely busy.  We were assigned a berth at the far end of the container port area; probably lucky to get a berth in the port at all.

Since J had worked in Colombo, and both of us had visited on other occasions, we decided not to take a tour.  Instead, we opted to retain a car and driver for a trip to the Mount Lavinia Hotel.  J had wanted to show the hotel to E since he first visited Colombo in 1980, but events had always transpired so that it was never feasible.  However, this time we finally arranged to see it.

The Mount Lavinia is a sister hotel to Raffles in Singapore and The Strand in Yangon.   All were established in the 19th Century to accommodate the travelling Raj of the British Empire.  The original (main) building was built in 1806 by the British Governor of Ceylon, Sir Thomas Maitland.  It was built outside the city of Colombo to help conceal the governor's love affair with a Mestizo dancer, named Lovina.  (Yes, dear, even the Raj did it!)  Passing in and out of British government hands, in 1877, it became The Grand Hotel, Mount Lavinia  (some say a corruption of the good governor's mistress' name, Lovina.)  Since 1877, except for WWII, when it was used as a military hospital, it has operated as a resort hotel.

Mount Lavinia Hotel

Center portion is original 1806 building

We had thought we were going for a drive into the countryside south of Colombo along the coast, as was the case in 1980.  We did go south from the port, which is located very near the center of Colombo, but we never reached the rice paddies of rural Sri Lanka.  It seems in the 30-plus years since J's original visit, the hotel had moved into the suburbs of Colombo!  (Actually, the city has expanded outward, and now, it reaches well past Mt. Lavinia toward Kalutara on the road to Galle.

We arrived at the Mt. Lavinia and went to a patio/pool area for a coffee.  A look around the pool deck at the hotel buildings quickly revealed the impact of 25 years of civil war between the Sinhalese and the Tamils.  The buildings, although clean and orderly, were in need of serious maintenance.  For example, in some places, plaster facades were chipped and falling off.   Generally, the property looked like it had seen better days and was in serious need of an upgrade.  After we finished our coffee, we walked around the grounds, taking photos and looking at the buildings.  The most impressive is the original 1806 governor's residence, built in the late colonial Georgian style.  It is now squeezed on both sides by additions, probably dating to the early to mid-1900s.  All-in-all, the hotel needs renovation, such as has been done to Raffles' original buildings or The Strand, to bring it up to international standards.  One suspects that this will happen in the near future, as it is obvious from our drive around Colombo that economic activity is picking up rapidly since the Tamil Tiger War ended.

View of Colombo from Mt. Lavinia Veranda

Mt. Lavinia Hotel 1806 Building 

Mt. Lavinia Hotel - 20th Century Building

Mt. Lavinia Hotel Colonade

Mt. Lavinia Hotel -- Landscaping

Our driver rescued us from the hot noon sun and suggested, since the car was ours until 2:00pm, a little City tour.  This was fine with us, except that we needed to make one stop at an optometrist's shop to find a pair of "fit-over" sunglasses for J, since we had failed to find them in Mauritius.  Well, at the first shop we visited, they had a pair of fit-overs, so that allowed time for us to drive through the City and see some of the important sites, including the Municipal Building, Independence Monument, a Buddist temple, and the new, Chinese-built stadium.  Also, we got to see the hectic street life of Colombo.  Although traffic was not Bangkok "bad,"  it was congested enough to make crossing the street on foot a very exciting experience.

Colombo Municipal Building

Buddha Statue, Colombo City Park

Independence Monument, Colombo

Statue, Buddhist Temple, Colombo

J & E at Buddhist Temple, Colombo

Returning to the ship,  we thanked/tipped our driver and climbed the gangway to Deck 5 in the boiling afternoon sun, glad to be back and in the air-conditioned hull of the Silver Whisper.