Colombo, Sri Lanka - What to expect and what to do

Colombo and the rest of Sri Lanka have been on my list of places to see for some time. I stopped at CMB Airport before on my way to India and had heard good stories about the sights and sounds of the country. My plan was to visit Sigiriya and see the capital of Sri Lanka. The AAdvantage award chart provided another reason, since Sri Lanka belongs to the southeast Asia zone and the neighboring islands of the Maldives are in the Middle East zone - making it an easy and cheap way to jump between award chart zones...