Pettah Market in Colombo - Day 28

The Pettah Market, this is the place to go for shopping for all kinds of things from fruits to clothes to electronics if you want to buy at wholesale prices. You have to bargain extensively and it is recommended that you take a local you trust along with you. Even if you don't buy anything, Pettah, or Colombo 11 is an experience in itself being a very typical, loud and crowded oriental market place full of all sorts of odds, ends and junk. Each street in the market has its own speciality, for example, in 1st Cross Street you can find electrical items, 2nd Cross Street has jewellery and so on. In the Pettah Market area, some street vendors actively ask passers-by, foreigners and locals to view products they are selling though polite refusal is generally accepted.


The colorful streets teaming with ordinary Sri Lankan people going about on their daily shopping at this bustling market place..it literally ties up many, many city blocks filled with so much merchandise.


They carry huge loads on their heads as well in 3 wheelers and hand carts..the traffic is crazy with all of the vehicles and people all claiming the same small space of road..but everyone gives way! The have an acceptance that is not often found in our part of the fast moving world.


There are mosque's right next to temples which are next to churches.
Tolerance for the many different religions is what makes this country so interesting. It is the accepted way to live.


Some of the detailed carving on some of the temples. As Shane drove us around this busy, interesting market...we were the only 3 white persons there. We where greeted with wide and welcoming smiles...they are a lovely people finally living in a peaceful country after facing 30 years of war.