Firstly, we went to renew our visas. The large, new Department of Immigration & Emigration is not far away. Battaramulla is around twenty minutes from the Nugegoda house. We went after nine by taking a PickMe 3-wheel. One of our credit cards is dotted with rideshare charges which are mostly around CA $1.50 or less.
The process has improved over the years but still seemed designed for maximum employment rather than maximum service. The nice surroundings made the 2-hour wait tolerable. We now can stay here until February 3rd but already have flights for the Kuala Lumpur portion of our winter vacation on the last day of January 2020.
We wanted to walk a little, so we went to the new marshland park near Parliament Junction. This area was nice and is apparently very busy during the evenings.
We returned home in time for lunch. As Jay's sisters had been out buying a lot of food for a special almsgiving day, they bought back some rice and curry packets. These are the prime Sri Lankan comfort food and are available everywhere for between CA $1 and $2. A lot of people grab them for lunch. They always contain more rice than one person, unless they are a sumo wrestler, should eat.
After a nap, we went to a huge, modern, private hospital about 20 minutes from here in the opposite direction. Jay had a 5:10 PM appointment to see a general physician. Jay shaves his head but since being here, we noticed a rather large bump on his skull behind one ear. Lanka Hospital is shiny and efficient. It is designed to compete with the government system for those who can afford higher fees, but I expect it also caters to medical tourism. His doctor was going to be late but the hospital texted us about it, although we'd already left.
The doctor Jay saw first wrote prescriptions for some antibiotics which is just what I read on the Internet. He will also get a little blood work done. If after a couple of weeks, it hasn't cleared up, he can get a scan. I'm impressed with the professional services offered.
We left the hospital after it was dark and rather than waiting for a PickMe tuk-tuk, we grabbed a metered 3-wheel outside of the hospital. Because he figured he could get away with it, the driver started taking us in the wrong direction for a very long ride. We yelled at him and made him stop. We gave just a little bit of cash, not what was on the meter. We scolded him and completed our ride through the PickMe app.