A Day Out in Colombo (Part 2): Makeen Books, Wellawatte Vegetable Market and Bombay Sweets

This is part 2 of my day trip in Colombo. You can find part 1 here, where I visited the Plâté art gallery that also sells art supplies and the Sri Lanka Tea Board where I found some fun packaged black tea!

From there, we went to a bookshop, because no trip is complete without visiting one!

Makeen Books

The discount section had mostly thrillers, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drews. Prices ranged from LKR 250-600(US$1.50-4) if I remember correctly.

The staff were quite friendly and ready to help. Too bad the store didn’t have what I wanted: Lies by Michael Grant.

They had a decent amount of YA, Romances, Thrillers and Children’s fiction. The place consisted of 2 floors with a large section dedicated to educational books.

Adult fiction

I was a bit surprised they had J. K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike novels!

Wellawatte Fruit & Vegetable Market

Messy floor! A crow shocked me when it swooped in right above my head!

The avocados are large here, yum!

Guys…what is this?? Looks like a large, mole-like mushroom…what’s your guess?

And here are some random street shots of Colombo:

These rickshaws, or tuktuks, are the taxis of Sri Lanka. They do have Ubers and cars for taxis, too.

40 kmph? Yeah, right. Like they even pay heed to the speed limit here! Buses and trucks and everything in between all seem like they’re on a time crunch, I have no idea why. Quite dangerous, to be honest.

Our last stop was the local candy shop, Faluda House, popular for their Indian sweets. You won’t find any gobstoppers or licorice straps here. They sell them in varying box sizes at set prices. Aside from the sweets they also sell samosas(a fried, savoury snack with filling. In this case, chicken or mutton), which they make themselves, syrup and salty chili. I love their samosas, although they can be a wee bit saltier than I like. Their sweets are also a bit too sweet for me, but taste good. Sometimes I feel like they taste almost the same xD

This is before I cut them up myself into smaller cubes.

They have mainly two textures: crumbly blocks and jelly-like. The block ones have a milky flavor and can be buttery-soft or more firm. I prefer the jelly ones, they’re quite like turkish delights, with rose syrup as a common ingredient, and can have figs, peanuts or almond flakes in them. The forest green jelly has Nelli syrup, a.k.a. Indian gooseberry.

The shop itself is very minimal and a bit narrow. I did not appreciate the swarm of flies at their entrance. It’s so off-putting, not to mention, unsanitary. The locals here don’t seem to mind flies though!

I’m curious, what are the local specialties in your town? Did you spot any books you love or are reading currently in my bookshop pictures?