A 5:30am start with one of the hotel staff as my tuk-tuk driver (who incidentally slept in his tuk-tuk waiting for me!), we made great time to Colombo Fort Station despite him driving like a actual sane person in the dark and rain. This went counter to what I was expecting as there wasn’t much traffic, so I felt compelled to egg him on to floor it, but held my tongue for the sake of not dying.
When I first bought it I feared I had somehow purchased the wrong one, as the Arrival and Destinations were neither Colombo or Jaffna. A search online revealed what I suspected; those were the originating station and the final destination. The ticket doesn’t actually tell you what time it arrives in Colombo, nor when it arrives in Jaffna. I guess that’s what the internet is for if you forget.
With the trains arrival I was told by the guard I was in the last carriage, which is the 1st Class Observation carriage. It’s observation as there’s a giant window at the rear where you can observe where you just were. I nice deaf staff member took me to my seat and showed me a pamphlet of his deaf school and on over the page were a list of people that had donated. I usually don’t give money away, but I did feel like this was a good cause and gave 1000 rupee, which is what everyone else had donated. He looked pleases, gave me some kind of blessing and was on his way back to help others getting onboard.
The ride from Colombo to Jaffna is an endurance test. I don’t say that lightly. I was reading online there should be all manner of people selling food, snacks, and drinks. This is all lies (for 1st class, as I would learn later on). We had one guy get on selling gum and peanuts, and eventually another guy selling curry and rice. This was designed to be opened on the chair table and eaten with your fingers. There were a group of kids earlier in the trip that had brought their own and were taking turns eating. I’m slowly getting okay with this, but not on this trip.
It was bumpy. As in, we’re in the jumping castle carriage, get ready for a derailment any time soon. The train would leap a meter or two in the air and you’d be forced into the air and hurdled back down. The poor elderly gentlemen in front of me was having a bad time of it, standing and bracing himself as the leaps and bounds piled on. So eating a package of rice and curry when the train is literally throwing everything in the carriage into the air was a bad idea. I tried eating it like a wrap, but got maybe a third through before giving up. I didn’t want any more rice and curry on myself, I have a reputation to uphold.
9 hours and a numb butt later, I’m at Jaffna station. The tuk-tuk drivers ask where I’m going and tell them the Get Inn. I couldn’t find the addresses street name via Google Maps or Maps.ME, but one of the drivers said he knew it so I jumping in, and off we went to Jaffna city.
There city centre is really you’re standard Asian craziness, with stalls and shops lining the streets selling everything you can think of, as bikes, tuk-tuc’s and cars jostled for space on the road. Mix with this a spoon full of Sri Lankan charm, a healthy pinch of Hinduism spice, and a splash tropical ferns and greenery, stir it all together and you have Jaffna.
I thought I had been taken for a ride when we got to the guesthouse, and not literally. There was no signage, it was down a dirt track off the main road, and pretty much looked like someones house. And in fact it was. I told the tuk-tuk driver I’m pretty sure this isn’t it, he just shrugged and said we can try somewhere else. Just as we were about to leave the owner walks down the path with Pizza Hut boxes. This the Get Inn? Yes it is, my friend!
I’m sure there’s a lot of this going on in Jaffna, now with the violence gone and with the long hand of tourism rising from the grave, a lot of smart entrepreneurial locals should be starting up their own guesthouse. It’s wasn’t the greatest, but if he put some effort in I could see this place as being quite good. As it stands now, it’s quite dodgy, but the owner is so nice you over look flaws.
The biggest issue I had with Jaffna was the rain. I sure did pick the wrong time of year to come here. We’d get a major downpour for 30mins, then a few hours of overcast skies, followed by raining all night. It’s a such a shame as I really took to Jaffna and would have loved to have spent another couple of days exploring the peninsular if i weren’t for the weather.
The two sites I did make it to were the Archeological Museum and the Jaffna Fort. The museum was a trek to get to, but it was through beautiful suburbs covered with emerald green ferns and Hindu inspired homes. Just wandering the suburbs was worth it, particularly when stumbling on stunning colourful Hindu temples. One such temple I walked past was a Hindu priest had just arrived. I can only assume this was this first time he’d seen this cornucopia of colour and artisanship as he just stood there blowing kisses at the construction men, just filled with such joy and gratitude. The dude was very very happy with what they’d constructed.
The Jaffna Fort was originally founded by the Portuguese and taken by the Dutch, who build the current fort in 1680 giving it isn’t unique 5 corners. There’s not a whole lot left of it, the ramparts have been restored but not a lot else. It’s worth a visit for half an hour, like a group of school kids did, but it’s nothing particularly special. I would have been much more photogenic if it was clear blue skies with the bay in the background.
I had read in the Lonely Planet of a restaurant that made amazing Jaffna Crab Curry. So after the tracking the place down (they’d moved from where LP had them, but they’re now just down the road). Looking the menu, I flip though page after page of Indian cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Sri Lankan cuisine, until finally on the back page are the Jaffna specialties. Crab Curry. The moment after I ordered it, I had wondered if I’d make a big mistake. Once it arrived, I knew, I had made a big mistake.
I’m terrible at cracking open crab as it is. I like crab, but the effort just isn’t worth it. So out comes the Crab Curry, with the crab’s submerged in curry sauce. Yeah this is going to be messy. I taste the curry and it’s fantastic. I eye off the crab, then look side ways to the crab shell cracker, then back to the crab covered in curry. I choose to embrace it.
Trying to hold a shell covered in curry is not easy. Really, it’s not. After the first semi-successful crack, I put the crab back on the plate and use a dozen tissues to clean my hands. The crab meat scrapper thing yields me a few centimetres of flesh. Why am I doing this?
I dive back in, cracker in one hand, crab in the other, curry dripping all over the table. The crab slips, I hold tighter, I get the cracker around it, it slips again, I use brute force to shatter it’s defiant shell. Crab juice, curry sauce, shell, it all flies everywhere. I look up and see a group of three locals staring at me, no expression on their faces, just bewilderment.
I pretend to finish off the remaining crab, moving it to the side of the plate, and just enjoyed the delicious curry sauce and rice instead.
On the final day I messed up the time I was taking the train the next morning to Anuradhapura, and booked the ticket for 6:10am rather than my planned 9:30m. So another early morning train. Some guys at the station were having a good laugh at my repeated failed attempts to pronounce Anuradhapura, and asked me if I liked Jaffna. Of course, I love this place. The beaming grins were worth it, but I wasn’t lying, I really love this place.
Next stop, Anurraa… Anupad… Anuradhapura!
2 responses to “Jaffna – Where Buddha meets Hindu”
Hope you made it to Anuradhapura OK Matt, trying to post a comment again so I'll see if this sends this time.
Yes, it went through this time. Didn't work with Firefox, didn't work with Edge. Had to use the old tried and tested Internet Explorer. Looking forward to the next instalment.