Daypack zipper blew out an hour before the long Matara bus — tape it, find a stitch stall, or risk the open bag?

Go to the tailor stall first. A blown coil zipper is often a ten-to-twenty-minute restitch or a slider swap if they have one; tape alone crawls open the first time someone bumps you in the aisle. Ask the time before they start, keep the passport on your body, and stand there while they sew. I will not invent a standard zipper fee — agree the number first. If they cannot do it before the bus, tape plus pins plus the pack on your lap, not on the rack. An open bag on a long bus is how a camera grows legs.