Day 72 - We looked for something new to do this morning. I noticed a nearby wetland park we'd not visited. It really isn't far from the main Kotte Road that we generally use to get to the Mirihana area of Nugegoda.
Our tuk-tuk took only around 15 minutes to get from the house to the old main gate. We had to ride back a little to a newer entrance that is now used. Jay spoke Singhalese to the ticket guy and got local rates. He paid SR 100 whereas, I as a more obvious foreigner had to pay RS 1000 (US $3.10).
It is nice to see wetlands celebrated and kept free from development. We didn't see many of the birds promised on the signs, but it might be that we were there at the wrong time of day. It was a pleasure walking through the different environments on boardwalks. In Sri Lanka, dating couples often go to parks to get away from family and most of the others in the park were young couples. Many types of special trees were planted along the trails with signs indicating what they were.
The area surrounding the capital city has much fresh water and wetlands. We are not that far from the new Parliament Building that was built on an island in the middle of a lake. The weather was nice and it seems as though we are now coming into a stretch of clear, dry weather.
We spent well over one hour walking around. We used Pick Me to call another tuk-tuk and went across town to the HSBC bank. We travel widely and enjoy having our bank in almost every country we've spent much time. The ATM never has extra withdrawal fees directly from our accounts. However, HSBC Canada has now been sold to Royal Bank in Canada. I hope we can keep the same perks after the acquisition.
We came home for a late lunch.