Jaffna - the last few days of my Sri Lankan adventure

Thursday 2^nd April 2015

I woke up early today and fannyed around for a bit packing and double checking train times. I read on trip advisor that it was best to book ahead for Jaffna but since booking.com and the rest charge a fee (and then here the hotels add an extra tax and service charge if you use a website) I decided to wing it.

I got to the train station early as I wanted to chill out and get some food and relax but the ticked counter didn’t actually open until 10am meaning I had to stand in line with all my bags until it did. When I got my ticket I had about 15mins to spare so went and grabbed a couple of samosas and some water and chilled out on the platform.

A train was called but it was to Colombo 10.25am came and went without a train so I asked what was up, the train was delayed by 40mins. I read my book and kept an ear out as I didn’t even know what platform it was coming in on (neither did anyone else staff included)

The train came and was pretty empty I found a seat and settled into my book but was soon nodding off so I gave up and put my music in and went to sleep. When I woke up the carriage was empty except for the seats in front of me behind me and across the aisle from me all occupied by men watching me sleep.

I tried to ignore them and looked out the window. The train ended up arriving in about four hours late after continuously breaking down and sitting between stations for long stretches of time.

I got out to the front of the station (which was beautiful and new) and had a look at the lonely planet for places to stay my search this morning had indicated that a lot of the top picks (also the cheapies) were actually rubbish according to reviews so I was a bit lost.

I ended up going with a driver to see a place it sounded really good and was within my price range but when we arrived it was fully booked. This was the point the lying started tomorrow is a Poya day and apparently the whole town is full because of it. I asked my driver to take me to a few places but he just did his own thing taking me to places that were out of my price range or cheap but really shit and full of shirtless fat smelly men.

In the end I caved and agreed to pay more than was fair the rickshaw driver tried to get more money out of me but I told him we had agreed a total price and I wasn’t paying more.

I went up to my room to chill out for a while and the guesthouse owner kept turning off the wife “to save power” in the end I got so mad at him he put the router in my room.

About 530pm I walked down the road to try and find some food it was a lot further than the 200m the guesthouse man told me but it was Indian (even if they were only serving Dosa) I sat and tried to enjoy the delicious food but was being annihilated by mozzies.

Back at the guesthouse I read my book and watched a movie and kept the door locked after people kept coming to check on me. Quite late there was a knock at the door followed by the door handle being turned. Thank fuck I always lock myself in. it was late and I was barely dressed and the guy wanted me to come have a pot of tea. I declined by yelling through the door and made sure everything was locked and dead bolted

Friday 3^rd April 2015

At a little after 6.30am this morning there was a knock on my door followed by the door handle turning followed by furious pounding on the door when the person realised it was locked. I called out to the person and the same as last night they wanted to know if I wanted tea (it was free as if that made a difference) I wasn’t sure what the time was an thought maybe I had slept late but when far too early to be drinking tea.

Alas once I was awake I could fall back asleep despite being hugely tired. I went back to bed and read a bit but was up and ready for the day far earlier than I had planned to be or needed to be. When I went downstairs I asked if they had a map of the city as I was told yesterday they would get me one however the manager hadn’t arrived for work yet and was going to be at least another 30mins and I was ready for action so I decided to just wing it.

My first stop was Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil Temple it’s the biggest Hindu temple in town and really is quite spectacular. The grounds are huge with lots of Bodhi trees here and there. When you get close there are huge signs saying photography is prohibited but of course that didn’t apply to the two busloads of foreign tourists snapping away completely oblivious to all the angry stares they were receiving.

I went inside and was happy that by chance I had arrived in time for the morning Puja. As I wondered about the huge complex prayers and music rang out through the huge speakers. The inside walls are painted with fabulous murals including one beautiful wall of Shiva repeated over and over in different poses.

I spent some time in the temple before walking through the grounds and back out onto the street where a perfectly healthy well-dressed man stopped me and asked me for money his exact words being “give me money for something to eat” while pointing at a closed restaurant. I did not give him money. Not having a map was a bit of an annoyance so I asked someone which way to Jaffna Fort and he pointed down the road and said to just follow the road. After a while I came to a bunch of rickshaw drivers and asked them they told me it was 7km away and that I couldn’t walk that far but I knew it was only 2km from the guesthouse then they changed it to 4km I asked if I was going the right way and they said yes. A little while further I asked someone in a shop and they said 1km. along this road I saw several ruins I went in and had a poke about since the gate was open but there were no signs so I didn’t know what the building was I later learned it was Manthri Manai which was the ministers quarters of the royal palace. I kept walking but as I was heading out into the countryside not into town I felt I was going the wrong way so I flagged down another rickshaw driver who told me I was going the wrong way every single person since the temple had put me wrong! The rickshaw driver was very friendly and understood that I didn’t want to go with him and put me on a bus heading to Jaffna town from there it was a short walk to the Fort.

I got off the bus and wondered into a shop to pick up a veggie roti I also got a samosa they were probably the best food I’ve had since arriving in Sri Lanka both spicy and full of flavour and not cold for once! I ate them walking along the road towards the fort I could see it but not how to get in and on my wander I passed a vehicle testing site where learner drivers where weaving in and out of cones (all quite badly) I also passed a cricket stadium which had seen better days although I wasn’t sure if it was war damage or under renovation.

A bit further along the road I came to the public library which was one of the first building to be built after the 2002 cease fire. It’s a really impressive building with a beautiful statue of Sarawaswati out the front. Unfortunately it was closed as its Good Friday (I think it’s also a Poya day despite the full moon actually being tomorrow) the security guard at the library pointed me to the fort entrance and I walked there getting glimpses of the sea as I went.

The Fort is pretty cool and even though there are multimillion dollar restoration projects in place it is free to enter. The Fort sustained a lot of damage during the war when the LTTE forced out the government troops who were using it as an encampment during a 107 day siege. It’s also very old (in its present form it’s been there since 1792, but there has been a fort on this spot since 1680)

I went in and had a look through the display at the start which shows agrological excavation and talks about the history of the Fort after which I walked through into the main courtyard and sat under a tree for 30mins or so to rest from the sun for a while and read my book. Unfortunately I didn’t get much peace as a young guy started peppering me with questions I told him its rude to ask if a girl is married and how old she is he laughed it off and stared asking me if I liked kissing and what did I like doing with a man (this last question was asked with a wink) at that point I decided to move on and explore.

The Fort is mostly empty and after the creepy guy asking creepy questions I kept looking over my shoulder to see if anyone was following me but the only people I bumped into were couples getting it on in the ruins. I walked around the perimeter of the walls and then back out to the road.

After almost a month of using it I figured out how to zoom in on the maps on my e-book version of the lonely planet and mapped out a little tour for the rest of the day. I started walking along the main street every now and then I would see the sea but I couldn’t get close as there was razor wire fence blocking it off.

I walked along and interestingly stumbled across the town’s prison a grisly looking affair topped with barbed wire and armed by a huge military presence. Across the road from the prison was St James School for girls…

Further along the road I came to St Marys Cathedral a pretty impressive affair with a corrugated iron roof. I stopped inside for a rest in the shade the place was huge and there was a small congregation saying Good Friday prayers. Along this street were man churches, a convent, a retirement home for priests and several catholic schools despite the pre-war population of Christians being as low as 12% and nowadays being much lower.

After the churches I went to see the ruins of the former kachcheri which was the administrate office before the war I’m not sure if the building I saw was the one I was looking for but either way it saw some trouble in the war as told by the pockmarks of bullets.

As I was close-ish I decided to head into the train station and enquire about trains back to Colombo on Sunday when I was just around the corner the rickshaw driver from yesterday went past on his motorbike and insisted he take me there. Once there I was no clearer as when the trains would be as what the guy told me differed to what the board said and to what it says online. All three say there is a6.30am train so it sounds like that one is defiantly a goer.

I came out of the station and the rickshaw dude had replaced the motorbike with his rickshaw and insisted he take me where I wanted to go to for free I said no and he followed me along the road until I went with him so he wasn’t following me. Stupid idea. I told him I wanted to go to the archaeological museum but he wanted to take me to the beach finally after I got angry and he had pointed out several temples I had already seen walking about this morning and last night he declared we were going for ice-cream, again I tried to protest but he pulled in and short of running away there wasn’t much else I could do but have an ice-cream (which was actually pretty fucking fantastic!)

We came out and I told him I was going to the museum on foot but he wouldn’t let me walk. We got there and it was closed because it was Good Friday. At this point he kept asking me to dinner and telling me he would take me to the beach tomorrow I was very firm and told him I wanted to be left alone to spend some time by myself eventually it sunk in and he left me to do my thing.

Back at the guesthouse all I wanted to do was have a shower and read my book for a while before dinner but there was no water and since I have a thing about being clean in bed I sat on the floor and read for a bit.

When I got hungry I headed out to a local Indian place I didn’t have high hopes since most of the Indian restaurants here have just been Sri Lankan curries with Indian names. I walked there which took about 15mins the restaurant is part of a hotel and when I walked through the hotel bit to get to the food out the back I had to walk through a room that went silent as all the men stared at me I almost walked out but was glad I didn’t as the atmosphere in the restaurant was a lot less hostile and the food was to die for. I was still the only woman about but the guys that worked there were friendly and everyone who was eating seemed to be doing their own thing. I ordered a veg curry and a naan bread and got just what I wanted the food was spicy the naan bread huge and I was in a cosy corner reading my book. It was a perfect evening of solitude.

The walk back to the guesthouse was a bit hairy, the street lights were all off and other than the occasional shop front being lit up or the headlights hurtling towards or past me the road was in darkness. There were also a lot of dogs about but thankfully they all just did their thing. I almost missed the turn off to the guesthouse the road was so dark I was worried about falling in a pothole and never been see again.

Back indoors I cranked the aircon and had a shower (thankfully the water was back!) and chilled watching a movie which I fell asleep watching.

Dogs sleeping in Jaffna Fort

Ruins of Jaffna Fort

St Marys Cathedral

War Ruins in Jaffna Town

Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil Temple

Ruins of the royal Palace

Two Beautiful boys i met by the water front

Saturday 4th April 2015

Today I was going to take a bus and see the Jaffna peninsula but it was ridiculously hot (37 degrees!) and I didn’t feel up to being groped on the bus so I skipped that idea. I mooched about in the morning and then walked towards the fort which took about 40mins I decided to go and see the library since I missed it yesterday but when I got there was told foreign visitors are only allowed to visit between 4.30pm and 6pm the security guard tried to make it out that no one could visit except during these times but his argument was proved a lie when time and time again he had to let people past to go in or out (with books I might add!) another ridiculous rule of Asian bureaucracy I also had to purchase a ticket when I returned at 4.30pm (worded as a mandatory donation) I decided that I wasn’t worth waiting around all day and I didn’t have the energy to walk back and forth so I gave up on that idea.

Feeling a little lost I walked along the waterfront and took a look at the causeway that joins some of the islands to the mainland it’s a thin stretch of road that just seems to disappear into the water. Along here I found a shady spot and rested and read my book for a while before continuing on my way.

I was going to check out the museum but decided that actually I couldn’t be bothered and that all I wanted to do with the rest of the day was eat and relax so I walked back to my guesthouse and past it to a pure veg restaurant and had a thali for lunch. I lingered their reading my book and having a cold drink before heading back to the guesthouse via the supermarket for some supplies.

I spent the afternoon sorting out my photos of Sri Lanka and sorting out my bag and final travel arrangements for my last two days in Sri Lanka and then relaxed to finish off my book and watch a movie.

While chilling out this evening the guesthouse owner once again tried to gain access to my room I defiantly won’t miss Jaffna.


Sunday 5th April 2015

This morning I woke up early and packed up the last of my things ready to leave. I somehow managed to knock something off a high shelf and slice my thumb open which was not a great start to the day. I was ready to leave but there was no one to give the keys to, I was about to just leave when the guy showed up trying to get me to go with him in his rickshaw but I decided since I had time I would walk.

The train schedule for trains to Colombo is messed up the 6.30am train arrives at 3pm the 9.10am train arrives at 6.20pm and the 10.10am train arrives at 4.35pm. I opted for the 10am one and turned up to the station I had already asked about trains and had been told I could get a second class ticket on the day but when I showed up they said it was all sold out and I had to get third class.

Next I tried to get some breakfast I asked for two vegetable rotis went into the station and sat down on the platform to eat, I took a bite and the thing was full of chicken despite me asking repeatedly for NO MEAT! I took them back and the guy tried to tell me the meat was egg… eventually after much yelling he gave me back my money and put my half eaten roll back into the cabinet.

I went to the shop next door and got some freshly made roti. Back at the station I got chatting to a German girl and we spent the train ride chatting. Unsurprisingly the train moved ridiculously slow and got in two hours late. From the station I got a bus to the hostel and once I had checked in and organised a rickshaw to the airport I grabbed some food and chilled out for the evening.