Profiles in Courage

A man in flip flops tied to the scaffold...

Me, getting highlights in Sri Lanka..that's COURAGE!

It was my Friday walkabout and my destination was the museum.  It was actually a pleasant day to be walking.  The weather is kind of weird...lots of rain.  Fortunately I've got my spiffy HBC umbrella (thanks Sue!), my black Converse tied on, camera at the ready.  I've discovered a back way of getting to the area, not much traffic and quite scenic.  The first municipal building I came upon was the library.  It's kind of a hideous, cool 60's designed building, it reminds me of Simon Frasier University

A rather grand entrance.

Not exactly a Diego Rivera but kind of neat.  It has that 60's optimism and spirit.

Do you know how hard it is to photograph school girls surreptitiously?  Wait... that didn't come out right!

Queen Vicky obviously not amused...at the gate to the Museum.

Side view of the museum complex.

I sort of had a hunch of what I was getting into when I decided to see the museum.  Yet I had to go.  It was worse than I thought.  The museum itself is a huge complex in a bad state of repair.  The exhibition halls are just a few and the rest of the building just sits.   I can just imagine how much it costs to maintain it.  The exhibits were very poorly lit and the signage vague, to say the least.  The problem is, is that there is not much you can do with old stones, they're just not that dynamic! The painting gallery was somewhat more interesting but again, very static.  This problem is certainly not unique to this museum.  The one bright spot was the new Textile Gallery.  It opened a couple of months ago.  Yet there was no real interpretation about how certain textiles were incorporated into daily life (other than clothes).  They could have teamed up with someone like Barbara Sansoni who is a textile juggernaut in this part of the world to highlight where Sri Lankan textiles are going.  There even could've have been a segment on the huge textile/clothing industry here.  Maybe the problem is, is that there is too much referencing the past!  

How is this guard supposed to chase me if I pinch something?

I really needed a coffee afterwards and I saw this facility on my way...

What?!  Do we do something different than the locals?