Pettah Market & Red Mosque

Colombo's wholesale bazaar, organised the old way: one street for textiles, one for electronics, one entirely for gold. At its heart stands the Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, a candy-striped red-and-white confection from 1909 that sailors reportedly used as a landmark for finding the harbour. Loud, tight and hot — and the most honest hour you will spend in the city.