Recently ProfessorAbe posted a photo of Sri Lankan drummers, which reminded me of these photos taken about 25 years ago in Colombo.
During my travels to Sri Lanka, I always stayed at the historic Galle Face Hotel while in Colombo. The Galle Face Hotel is over 150 years old, an elegant remnant of the British Colonial era. It was Arthur C. Clarke‘s favorite hotel; he actually wrote most of 3001: The Final Odyssey in its Presidential Suite, and it was one of the few places you could get him to join you for dinner.
The hotel is a popular venue for weddings, especially on weekends. It was common for these weddings to feature young people in traditional dress who danced and performed at the reception.
One day at dusk I was readying myself for a walk along the ocean by the Galle Face Green, I encountered this group of dancers on the hotel’s veranda enjoying the cool evening breeze and waiting for a wedding to end and its reception to begin. I asked the dancers if they minded if I took their photo. Obviously they didn’t and I was rewarded with a special souvenir!
For a list of DrFumblefingers blog posts on Sri Lanka, please click on this link.
