The Base Hospital New Colour?

Well driving at night time, you don't realize a massive buildings colour. But in the day time, with nothing else to look at, your eyes are drawn upon this orange tambily (king coconut)  colour building, and then you realize it is the base hospital. The first time I saw the colour change I was shocked then upset (don't know why) and then I found it completely ridiculously funny. I thought maybe the decorator was colourblind or something, or just liked that colour a lot and decided to paint it without asking anybody. But then I thought that was a stupid idea,  so I wondered was that orange colour the cheapest paint the government could buy, with our tax money, in bulk. Well it's a mystery to me. So now what can they do about it.. whats done is done. So when going to Arpico from the back, one can see the Arpico dark blue building and this massive orange building in the not so far distance, and its a pretty funny sight. But I don't think many people mind these colours, as I haven't heard any remarks about it from anyone I know (ie my family) So Gampaha is home to its own very large ORANGE block (like a juice box).

If you have any idea why they painted it orange please do reply and shed some light upon this matter. 

Arpico new slogan?

So the other day I noticed something that none of my aunts and uncles could explain.
As I looked up, from the van window, at the tall blue Arpico building, I read the logo. Normally I wouldn't bother reading it, but being bored and being parked in a good view of it, I decided to read. And well I always thought that the slogan for Arpico was 'the best for my home'. Well correct me if I'm wrong but when I read it this time it said 'fresh ideas everyday'. I wondered was it a management change, or were they just bored of the old one and needed a fresh new start.

If you have any idea why they changed it please reply and comment.

Food Outlets ~ Rumors

I have mentioned this big shot multinational fast food restaurants in one of my previous posts, and how they seem to be avoiding Gampaha. Well I have heard from my sources (my aunts) that Pizza Hut and KFC, have been scouting out locations in Gampaha to open up their restaurant, which is pretty exciting because I am a big fan. And I have wondered why haven't they opened up here sooner, I mean Gampaha is a busy place and a very large district. Well one guess is that there seem to be few or no foreign tourists coming and staying in Gampaha, not only staying but even passing Gampaha. Maybe these fast food outlets need to reassured they don't need to tourists to make a profit here, I mean, I have seen many Sri Lankans after school or work lining up around Perera and Sons and First Choice, to grab something to eat. So clearly fast food would drawn in this target market. And having this big shot chains will be a big step up for Gampaha, and will create more jobs etc. I should cut off now, seem to be going to economical ....

Food Outlets ~ Letona Restaurant

So, in Gampaha I have noticed there aren't many (that I know of) sit down, fine dinning restaurants. So to my surprise when I heard of a new restaurant called Letona a few years back, I had to try it out. So one day we went  for a lunch, the building it is in, used to be an old colonial house. The restaurant kept the homely feel and it was nice and cheery and bright. It wasn't too busy, since it was a week day afternoon so that was pleasing. Service was acceptable nothing different from any other eating place in Sri Lanka, and the food was pretty good. They had a variety of dishes and when we ordered the food less spicy, they actually listened and so we enjoyed the meal without burning our mouths. Last year, Letona did a fine delivery service, so for dinners at home we used to order from there nearly every night because it was convenient. But this year for some reason we ask for delivery to our home, but they always say their delivery boy is sick ... and so now this delivery boy has been sick for over a month ... hmm.Though when passing the restaurant by, they strongly advertise their home delivery service, which doesn't exist. So nowadays we pre-order (by phone) and then pick it up later. So every time we go to pick up our meal, we see there are so many people like us waiting, even on weekdays. Thus business must be booming for them. Though during weekdays the sit down customers are only a handful unlike the weekends i'm told.

Off topic I wonder why their named Letona ... its such a good name, it sounds very western yet exotic and if they did make it up, congrats to them. 

Sarasavi Bookshop ~ Part 1

Well Sarasavi Bookshop is one of the best bookshops in Gampaha, well that's my personal opinion, since I have only been to one other. Since Sarasavi has a plenty of English books up stairs and many educational books, which are helpful when you need to buy them to study or the summer break. Well since sometimes (well most of the time) there isn't much to do, I read. I read ALOT. So we visit Sarasavi every year, and buy a bunch full of books. Mainly a variety. And yes sarasavi is nicely air conditioned which is always nice, because we do spend quite awhile there. And it is always hilarious to see the staff hovering around suspiciously to see what we are doing for a long time. This year in fact, I drop a heavy large book and it made a deafening loud sound, I was totally embarrassed as everyone just looked at me, and 2 or 3 members of staff slowly walked over to me thinking I broke the book (which is actually very unlikely and hard to do). Sarasavi also have board games, like monopoly and ludo which last year we bought and played for about a week or so. I realize how boring monopoly is to play with only two people.

Sarasavi Bookshop is a good place in Gampaha, as it has parking as well, which happens to be very rare in the crowded town. As I mentioned before, they are suspicious bunch of people, which is reasonable as well this is sri lanka, and so they don't let people bring in bags, which is okay, but they don't even let ladies (or men) carry their hand bags. I think that's a bit much, but they must have had a lot of shoplifting which is a shame.

Arpico Super Centre ~ Part 1

Well so every year we come back for two months and live in our house, well you see to buy our groceries etc. We travel not too far to the massive Arpico or how my parents like to call it 'Richard Pieris' or 'keels' . Because the building used to under those names many years ago. Well we visit Arpico nearly every week and sometimes, reluctantly every day. It does have nearly everything you need. Well I always think that the staff there must think we are crazy, as they must see us as frequent customers only for two months out of the twelve, but now they must realize that we are visiting for summer holidays. And the great thing about Arpico I have observed over some years, is that the staff hasn't really changed that much. Alougth this year, we saw that one of the ladies that put the goods in the bag has been Promoted to a checking counter, and we are well kinda proud of her, even if we don't know her at all.  

Food Outlets ~ Perera and Sons

For ages in Gampaha there hadn't been any quality food outlets. And lets just say all these big multinational fast food outlets, ie MacDonald, KFC and PizzaHut seem to be avoiding this area. So anyone living here would have to travel 11/12 kms away to the closest KFC, which is kinda depressing. So when a few years ago Perera and Sons, one of the big bakery branches in Sri Lanka, choice to open up, not One but TWO shops in Gampaha, I was overjoyed. And now always when I'm here for summer I get my breakfast bought there every morning. Okay, it does sound a bit depressing, but I am proud that Gampaha has finally got some big Colombo food shops opening here. Perera and Sons, have always been in Sri Lanka since I was very small. It was a frequent stopping place to eat on long (and even short) journeys across Sri Lanka, and my first choice from their menu would always be MALU bread (Paane). Alouthg I knew it was spice, I would (and still) love to eat the bread around and only eat a bit of the actual filling.

And so Perera and Sons which is a great place to buy 'shorteats' as my parents call it. And it seems to be always busy, like always. So maybe these big shot Colombo food outlets should learn that Gampaha is a great place for busy, they should follow the example of Perera and Sons, and start up shop here.

The Statue Mystery

Well this year I have realized that all those statues which were found plotted around gamapha have vanished. Anyone who is familiar to Gampaha knows about the volleyball statue near the railway station. They were a bunch of black men in white uniform playing volleyball. These men all ways seemed to have crow poop on them, and their once black coloured skin was smeared with whitish green crow excretion. It is like the crows AIM for these statues’ heads.

Well before leaving sri lanka last year, they were starting to paint these volleyball men with peach coloured skin and with yellow vest and red shorts. It looked very gaudy and well I felt a bit offended in a way. Since we are in sri lanka and this statue was depicting our players, so why did they have white skin? Who ordered the repainting must have an issue with our race... well lets not get in to that... 

But now the statue outside the Gampaha Railway Station has gone. As I have missed any news of what has happened to it, it seems to me like a mystery. And I am pretty annoyed that statue always used to fascinate me and keep me a bit more interested when waiting in the van, while my aunt shopped. Yes, it did fascinate me when I was younger, but over the more recent years it did make me feel more uncomfortable, since the positioning of each man was pretty hilarious now that I think of it. But the statue has been there since I was born, it feels like this memory will now only be a memory. Did these statues get bored and just walk away?

If you have news about this please tell me.