Cheap street umbrella bought in a downpour fell apart in minutes — pay more in a supermarket or grab a poncho?
Colombo rain hit hard. I bought the first fold-up umbrella from a pavement seller. Twenty minutes later a rib snapped and the canopy inverted into my face. Partner is soaked and laughing. For the rest of the trip do people replace with a slightly sturdier shop umbrella, or is a plastic poncho from a pharmacy the smarter wet-season buy?
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4 Answers from travellers
Pavement umbrellas in a panic buy are often the thinnest stock. If you still need shade and rain cover, a supermarket or pharmacy umbrella one step up usually lasts a week of travel; a thin poncho covers you and the daypack when wind turns the canopy inside out. Neither needs a tourist ceremony. I will not invent a fixed umbrella price as gospel — compare two stalls or walk into a shop. Replace what failed; do not keep fighting a broken rib in traffic.
Supermarket umbrella survived the rest of the coast week. Pavement one was landfill in an hour.
Pharmacy poncho over me and the bag beat another fragile canopy in side wind.
Heading to a supermarket for one sturdier fold-up plus a spare poncho for the bag.
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