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Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon)

The American ambassador to Sri Lanka was also the ambassador to the Maldives. Because of the pirates in the area we gave him a ride from Colombo to Male and back. We got Cinderella Liberty (back aboard by 3am) when we first arrived at Colombo, but no liberty when we dropped him off again. We met a man on the pier who claimed to work during the day for the Americans who offered to be out tour guide. We called him Gunga Din. He brought us to an area to buy souvenirs, then to a place we could get beer and finally to a brothel. One of the guys wanted to trade a cab driver his Worden Zippo lighter for a joint, but Gunga Din got the deal down to 50 cents. There were three of us I believe.      I remember the area we were taken for souvenirs reminded me of  Rudyard Kipling's India and the English Rule. The neighborhood was run down and had seen better days decades ago. You could tell it had been nice area at one time with brownstone type buildings. The jungle was trying to take some of it back and it had fallen into disrepair. Naked children ran the streets and people were laying around the street and doorways. I bought some ebony elephant bookends and a decent sized golden Topaz. Someone stole the gem from my locker on the ship.       I believe the beer may have been Three Coins or Tiger,  and we went to a American hotel chain (Maybe a Hilton or Howard Johnson's?) to get it. It was warm and we drank it in the bar on ice. Latter at the brothel I sent one of the girls out to get me beer and it was cold. I didn't partake at the brothel and sat in the kitchen with the madam and drank beer.

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