Happy Independence Day to Sri Lanka. On this day in 1948, the Dominion of Ceylon formally became a separate country as part of the British Commonwealth. In 1972 it more formally broke from Britain and became the Republic of Sri Lanka.

I am told alcohol is not sold today, there are celebrations in Colombo and a small ceremony by hotel staff. Otherwise it seems just like yesterday.

Yesterday and this morning I met enough riders that I’m already forgetting names but that will all get figured out. Today is a rest day but they’ve put different events (bike build @11, sectional rider meeting @2, full rider meeting @5) – that I mostly stay around the hotel and switch rooms.

This morning I walked over to the fish market. Much more impressive than the “woman and her cell phone by a table of fish” that I found yesterday and was also marked Negombo Fish Market by Google maps.

It was a nice walk past a large Christian church.

Also a Hindu temple.

Sellers of fruits and vegetables.

Fish.

Freshly caught fish being sorted

Fish laid out to dry.

Morning cricket matches.

Trash collection day.

TDA van.

Bike unboxing and assembly. Mine was fast since I put things together two days ago but the mechanic, Baba, was going to check the torque.

Basic lunch of chicken fried rice and water. While some riders use the trip as a chance to sample different exotic restaurants and cuisine, so far I’ve been more cautious with basics of rice, bread and similar staples. My gut is normally more resilient than most but I still like to introduce it to new local bacteria more gradually.