940008a: The Nanking Hotel

S. M. Owens posted a photo:

Sri Lanka: Colombo, The Nanking Hotel on Chatham Street

The picture above is of the Nanking Hotel. It has been cropped from my photo of the Lighthouse (see pic next door) which I took in March 1983, on my first visit to Sri Lanka. I’ve made a couple of other adjustments to the image, for effect.
The Nanking has long-since been demolished, nonetheless, the old business, the old cars and the dated fashions, may interest. This is how it was back then, in those innocent days before security matters became paramount.
As I say in my earlier piece: “I once ate at the Nanking, and recall ploughing my way through a plate of fried rice. Then, it was no longer really a Chinese restaurant – in name only; although even today, miraculously, there are still a couple of Chinese owned textile businesses on Chatham Street.
In my earlier piece, it was remiss of me not mention the Orchid Chinese Restaurant. It’s also on Chatham Street, on the opposite side from where the Nanking stood, further down toward York Street, and on the same side as the textile shops. The Orchid managed to survive during the civil war, although it may have had to close on occasions. I believe that over time, the business changed hands, perhaps more than once, but I can’t be certain.
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Photo and text:
© S. Owens
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