AirAsia Launches KL – Colombo

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Today’s the day we finally get down to business and officially celebrate AirAsia’s daily direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo. Tony arrived earlier for interviews with the Media which we kindly obliged. Tony’s his charming, articulate self as usual. Always a pleasure to talk to the man. Asked him why he was bold in having daily flights instead of the normal 3x a week flights they usually do for new markets and he replied, “Well, if you can’t make a direct flight work, my as well not have a flight to that destination at all.” Way to go Tony. That’s the Malaysian spirit. Ok ok I’m a fan of the man. Moving along..

They opened with some Malaysian cultural dance and had a dynamic Sri Lankan drum performance later. Our Malaysian cultural troupe paled in comparison. Sigh.. Oh, wrote my first news piece and sent it in. Hope they use it!

Sri Lankan drummers

It was time for shopping so Dana brought us to Odel, a departmental store in Colombo. They don’t have many shopping malls, only 2 small ones so departmental stores are the next best thing. Building was interesting. An old converted colonial mansion. Shopping wise? Nothing that great. Malaysia’s much better for shopping. Prices aren’t that cheap either. Bought loads of tea & elephant dung paper and Sri Lanka souvenirs like t-shirts & fridge magnets of course.

Sri Lanka's leading departmental store

Air Asia brought us for dinner at another place tonight. Thank god, no more Indonesian food. It’s a lovely place at this old British mansion which they converted into Mount Lavinia Hotel. Really really lovely place. The guards were dressed in those olden days uniform as well, complete with the white hard hat & white shorts.

Diner area was called The Cove, a beautiful thatch hut built on the beach. It’s a market system, where you choose your seafood per gram and they cook it for you. Panduka, AirAsia Colombo staff, arrived and sorted our drinks out straight away. Really efficient. Food was a bit of a disappointment as the food was cold and Sri Lankan crabs were not in season but the great ambience and company made up for it.

Mount Lavinia Hotel
Dinner at The Cove

As we quite tipsy from dinner, Dana suggested we head to the night club in Hotel Galahari, just down the road from our Hilton Hotel. It was Dana, me, Sheila, Ivan & Gareth. Night scene in Colombo is quite the pathetic. There was no one there at all except for us! We were the only ones conquering the dance floor. Had enough of Colombo night life so headed back to our hotel. So much for experiencing night life on a Tuesday night!

Boggying at a Colombo night club