Negambo: the Indian Ocean, accident and delay

Thanks to my flight delay, I was able to spend the whole morning to explore Negambo, the small town where the airport sit. Checking out from the hostel (and I believed I forgot to return the key card, oops) I walked all the way to the beach, in order to see the Indian Ocean first time of my life.

Some interesting sites I saw on my way to the beach: a church, a cathedral and a prison. Finally I reached Negambo Fish Market at the beach.

Not only was this my first time seeing the Indian Ocean, it was also where I started to become a fan for visiting fish markets whenever available in different parts of the world. These are one of the most vibrant and energetic places with a variety of smells and colors. They are so full of cultural elements, where random iphone shots easily made postcard-level photos.

At this point I was very glad about my flight delay (words not heard and spoken often, but honestly I felt this multiple times in my trips so far). Even for people with a short 4-hr connection at CMB airport, who didn’t have time to visit Colombo and had no plans to visit the country whatsoever, I would strongly recommend taking a 10-min Grab to visit the fish market, if one’s visa condition permits.

And some with filters. Now I feel I tended to use too many filters in my photos then. The place was colorful by itself.

Unexpectedly, after I walked back to downtown Negambo and took a bus to the airport, filled with satisfaction about my superb stopover journey, one of the most scary moments in my travels happened. As I crossed the road to the airport, my mind was probably too occupied with the vibrant fish market scenes I just saw. A motorcycle coming from my left suddenly hit me at my thigh. The rider sped away abruptly.

I immediately fell to the ground (several feet to my right) before making sense of what had just happened. Fortunately the motorcyclist did try to break before he hit me, otherwise the accident would obviously be a lot worse. I didn’t really remember who was to blame (probably both of us honestly), but there was definitely no traffic lights, and I felt quite embarrassed about what just happened. Thus when some local pedestrians asked whether I was all right, I nodded and quickly left the scene.

I entered the terminal, grab a bag of Milo (the iconic South/Southeast Asian drink), and still hadn’t been able to collect my thoughts. Further thinking about what could have happened was terrifying. Even though the guy did reduce his speed, I was still injured to some extent, as I felt my knee hurt while walking.

Thus, my stopover journey in Sri Lanka started and ended both in an unexpected way. I tried to walk around in the terminal, to make sure I could still stretch my legs without major issues. What would have happened if the motorcycle didn’t break at all? I could well be lying in Colombo hospital now, which I could imagine would be an extremely awkward “reunion” with my friend Janidu. It could have ended my journey entirely, cost me an arm and a leg, literally and figuratively……

Still terrified, I messaged Wiew about what happened, which helped me to calm myself a bit. According to him, my flight to Kuwait was further delayed for 2 hours, as the plane failed to land in CMB on time (and he for some reason just walked pass my home in Taipei). Kuwait Airline provided restaurant coupons for all affected passengers accordingly.

Due to the huge delay, I was going to miss my connection flight to Jordan then. Should I email to cancel my hostel for my first night in Jordan? Should I go to the airline to ask about the original connection?

I was mentally to tired to do either of these. I walked to the immigration, and just wanted to board my flight asap at this point.

“Could I have the stamp in my passport?” As an avid passport stamp collector, I asked the immigration officer.

“One day your country in UN I will stamp your passport!” answered the officer.