Adieu Jaffna! (Part 3)

The 3rd and final day we spent in Jaffna was idyllic as far as trips go. We explored a lot, we ate our full and we came back wanting more. Let me be short and sweet and use pictures to describe our last day.

(Also 'coz I'm writing this in a hurry and I don't have a lot of time)

Breakfast was at the lovely Thal Sevana resort run by the Sri Lankan army. We had string hoppers with fish curry and... what's English for kiri hodi?

Afterwards we contacted 2 tuk-tuk drivers through the hotel and decided to sight see a bit. Our train wasn't due to leave till 1 PM and we could see the station a few metres in front of the hotel on the land side so we decided to head off - there was no possibility of missing the train, after all. FYI, the hotel has some AWESOME old-time carts in their collection.

The history nerd in me swooned

The model boat @ Dambakola Patuna

The tuk-tuks took us first to Dambakola Patuna an ancient port made famous by the arrival of Therani Sangamitta from India with a sapling from the sacred Bo tree for planting in Sri Lanka. The legend is required (sometimes forced) learning in all government schools, so most of us know and learn the story as historical fact. I was rather disappointed by how much 'mainstream' history seemed to have been imposed on the area; the temple at Dambakola Patuna was maintained and administered by the Navy and has been rebuilt into quite a compound complete with a working model of Therani Sangamitta's boat. I saw very little evidence of the rich history underlying the Jaffna kingdom. Even I only know about the Aryachakravarti dynasty, and I know there's a lot more to it than that.

View of the sea and port

After enjoying a cup of belimal at the Navy store, we decided to go to the Keerimalai pond, the magical bathing places which are separated from the sea by a mere wall but contain fresh water. There are 2 separate bathing areas for men and women, and the women's one is secluded. Since it was empty, I took the liberty of taking a few pics. Here's what the water looks like:

Keerimalai pond

We did want to go check out Nilavarai Bottomless well but were too tired and was running out of time so we went back to the hotel and relaxed a bit along the beach. The younger ones in the party decided to explore a food truck parked a little way away, and discovered that it sold kottu! Me being me, I badgered everyone into trying a kottu and it wasn't half bad. 

We'd asked the hotel to pack us lunches to take on the train since it would be evening by the time we reached Pettah. This time, I did take pictures:

The fish roll was in my stomach by that time :)

The train journey back was much more interesting than the one coming in because it was daytime and we could see everything. I wish I could've been on the roof of the train as we passed Elephant Pass because we went down a thin railway track with the sea on both sides and I could've taken a great picture. 

I fell asleep somewhere around Kilinochchi and didn't wake up till we came to Pettah around 8 PM. The trip was a blast, and I'm looking forward to another visit. 

See you again with another trip soon!

*All pictures are subject to copyright © Asuka Randeniye 2017