Going through Colombo on the first day was far easier than I expected. I had been told that check points are plenty in the city since the government is afraid of suicide bombers sent by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, otherwise known as the Tamil Tigers. But the conflict being now officially over, the check points have been partially removed. However, barbed wires and steel panels that were used to block the road remains on the side of streets. Around the business district, where the hotels are also located, every single street is rimmed by barbed wires. A month ago, going to the centre must have felt like entering a bunker, and travelling through the city must have been absolute hell.

Check point near the harbour

Generally speaking, the city shows little signs of having been recently through a war. People are relaxed and friendly, businesses run as usual, and although the hotels are rather empty and virtually no western foreigners can be seen in the streets, there is no feeling of insecurity.

Three-wheelers tuk-tuk -a sort of motorcycle with a back seat for two people and a metal canopy- are bouncing between cars on the roads. The atmosphere is heavy and sticky and the sky grey. The city has this feeling common to most developing countries’ capitals: exotism mixed to an (awkward) aspiration to modernity.

The portrait of the president is displayed on signs, sometimes accompanied with a reference to his success at beating the Tamil Tigers. I found him a physical resemblance with Stalin, maybe the moustache, or his round cheeks. Or maybe just my dislike of his methods at handling the war.