Port 28 Hambantota, Sri Lanka

by Ed · November 17, 2025

Greetings, and Vaittukai (Tamil word for “Greetings,” pronounced “vie-too-kay”)!

Today is May 1st, 2024!

The water is glass as we glide toward the island of Sri Lanka.

The Hambantota dock is a working dock rather than a cruise port. For a working dock, it is by far the cleanest dock we have ever seen! All of the buildings in the background are the administrative facilities for the docks. The grey area is a parking lot for transport goods – empty!

Two buses pull up close to the ship. I see the little bus on the right has a sign for the tour we are going on today – “Culinary Experience & Culture Show at Chaarya Hotel”. We get the little bus! That must be our tour guide!

Soon we are on the little bus! We meet Benil, our tour guide! (The smiling man in the green shirt is Lester – you’ll see him again later!)

We drive past the Magam Ruhunupura International Convention Center. I would hate to come here for a conference and have to climb these steps every day!

We pass the first of several stupas. These are Buddhist structures housing sacred relics.

We pass rice paddies – this one has a stilt house in the middle of it!

Traffic slows as we encounter cows on the road.

Then we pass a small herd of water buffalo! No one appears to be around tending this herd!

I am surprised to see this – the entrance to a Sri Lanka Air Force Base!

The gate has an Israeli Kfir fighter model on display! This is probably a little less than half-size. The Sri Lanka Air Force has about 160 aircraft in their inventory, including 15 fighter jets. Most of the aircraft are for maritime patrol and transport.

We see another herd of water buffalo, but these are being tended by a herder.

I watched this scene for a couple of minutes while we were in slow traffic. I believe I’m watching driving lessons!

The bus is stopped at a makeshift checkpoint. We are asked to put our phones down and not take pictures. My camera is hanging around my neck – I can’t resist just snapping the shutter…! Oh, well… it didn’t focus outside the window…

I never get a clear answer what I captured here, but my guess is this is either a cemetery or a memorial.

We see another rice paddy field with workers slogging through the mud…

…then another rice paddy being enjoyed by a flock of black-headed ibises!

We come to Yatala Dagoba stupa. This was built in the 3rd century BCE (Before Common Era, a.k.a., Before Christ!), and is thought to commemorate King Yatala Thissa.

Finally, we arrive at our tour location, the Chaarya Resort & Spa! No, we didn’t bring swimsuits.

Inside the lobby, Benil beckons to us to see the ceremonial lamp that we will be lighting.

Musicians and singer/dancers join us and begin entertaining us with a shell horn and drums while we each take turns lighting a stem on the lamp.

While the music plays, Joy takes her turn! I’m next!

The singer/dancers then invite us to join them in the courtyard!

We follow the troupe down the hall. Lester (remember him?) dances his way down the hall!

As we approach the courtyard, the dancers turn around and we get another performance!

We take our seats, receive cocktails, and the dancing begins!

The show begins with the Pooja Dance!

Then we see the Gujaara Dance!

Our original singer/dancers perform next with the Kandyan Dance!

Two ladies carry out pots and entertain us with the Folk Dance.

Then we are treated to something not our program – a Fire Dance!

The Drum Dance is next, but it is more of a Dueling Drums performance!

The women reappear with beautiful peacock costumes for the Peacock Dance! The tail feathers actually move up and down!

The final performance is the Monkey Dance!

We move on the culinary part of our tour.

Tables are already laid out with labeled ingredients!

Prep continues while Benil introduces the chefs and the meal plan.

Benil does a great job narrating the cooking process!

In about 45 minutes the chefs whip up three dishes that will be part of our lunch!

We have green bean curry at the top, chicken curry on the right, and dhal (lentil) curry at the bottom!

The dining hall is nearby! There is an incredible spread in the buffet, but our three dishes are only placed on our table for our group! Everything was delicious! I ate everything I could, coming back to some of the dishes three times!

We begin the drive back to the ship. Another stupa rises up behind more rice paddies!

The graphics on this bus are striking and scary! I wonder what this bus is for? It has images of masked, armored gunmen with assault rifles, and the words “No challenge, No fear, Just faith…” underneath. It has signs for “HiFi Sound System”, “Phone Chargers”, “Dual TV System”, “Water Tanks”, and “59 Seats” over the windows! Along the roofline it says “Nimsara Speed Coach” – that’s our best clue!

We see we are heading the right direction to the ship!

I snap this photo for the elephants – a whole wall of them! This photo wasn’t going to make the cut because of the excessive window glare. But I translate the sign and discover this is actually Dharma College! Not just a temple!

We pass a bus stop where some interesting “baggage” is being offloaded! (Potatoes? Peppers?) I realize this bus has the same peel that is on the bus I saw earlier. This is a commercial bus! They just chose an odd theme for the imagery… No challenge, No fear, Just faith… Hmmm…

This little jet peeks out of the trees. I discover there is a runway just beyond the trees!

We see one final stupa, at the Sri Nalandarama Maha Viharaya Buddhist Temple. [OK, there are over 3,000 Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, many with stupas! You almost can’t turn around without seeing or bumping into one, if you haven’t figured that out…]

As we go around the corner we get to peek into the Naladarama Buddhist compound. I love the orange drapery!

As we approach the port we drive by this building – the Hambantota Maritime Center. If you look closely at the first photo when we are docked you will see this building in the background!