Post #13 October 12

 Today we are up very early 4:30 to catch a train to Jaffna to the north end of Sri Lanka.  Most tourists that come to Sri Lanka don’t travel this far north.  It takes over a day to get there and there are fewer attractions for tourists.  But sine we’ve extended our Sri Lanka stay, we can spend the time to explore this area.  

We are met at the hotel by Prya, our driver who will take us to the train station.  Since we will miss the breakfast buffet this morning, Sura arranged for some takeaway breakfast packages to bring with us on the train.  The hotel staff bring out a large shopping bag filled with two large cake sized pastry boxes for us to take.  It’s heavy and I know there’s enough food in there at least 6 people.  As we walk towards the entrance of the station we see many people sleeping on the hard concrete.  Judith asks Prya if he thought it would be OK if she gave away one of the breakfast boxes.  Prya indicated that with so many homeless people around that might cause a problem.  He said he knew of a place to donate the box so we left it with him.  

   

I am glad we have a guide to follow.  There are several platforms and I don’t see any numbers which tell me what platform to be on.  Our ticket says Platform #4 but there are 8 of them.  There are no English signs or Sinhalese ones that show what train is arriving or going.  I’m not sure how anyone gets on the right train.  We follow our guide up a flight of stairs that is an overpass to other platforms and we exit down to a set of platforms in the middle of the station.  

When I turn around I can now see the platform numbers.  They’re only visible when you’re standing on the platform, but not if you’re trying to find them.  The train eventually comes and we board.  

It’s a bit of a scramble.  We are in first class seating with air conditioning.  The outside temperature will be warmer than our last ride because we’re close to sea level, so the cooling effect of a mountain range won’t apply here.  We both have our overnight bags as Sura took our large suitcases yesterday.  We also have the large breakfast boxes.  

Boarding the train.  First class are the last few cars at the end of the train.  The seating reclines with lots of leg room and plenty of overhead storage for our overnight bags.  

It’s selfie time.  The train is quiet and there seems to be many empty seats around us.  As it gets underway my seat mate falls asleep so I amuse myself taking selfies of us…

The ride is about 7 hours long.  My favourite parts as we wind our way north are at the train crossings where traffic is stopped to permit the train to pass.  Here you see many people bunched up by the crossing waiting for the train to get out of their way so they can get on with their day. They can see people riding the trains and I always wave.  I’m always impressed by how many of them wave back.  

Train crossing.  The motorcycles are lined up across the front and past their side of the road (there are only two lanes), so that they can get ahead of the crowd when the train passes and before the crossing bar is raised.  Note the white motorcycle where a small child gets to ride in front, standing on the floor board.  I have seen motorcycles carrying 4 passengers, two parents and two kids.  The rules here are very different in this part of the world.

I am impressed with the train conductor uniforms.  They look pretty sharp with all those rope braids and shiny buttons.

We pass through many miles of dry land.  The northern province area is under drought conditions, while the south of the island is experience weather that is too wet and there are many southern areas that have been flooded out.  A landslide recently closed down a major highway that we had travelled the day before.  

Sura is there to meet us at the Jaffna train Station.  It’s been a long trip and I was glad to get out and stretch my legs.  We drive straight to our hotel, the Thinnai.  

Lobby of the Thinnai.  There are koi pond built into the floor at the sides and the decoration on the floor is made of coloured grains spread on the floor, making a flower pattern.  

Our room at Jaffna is really a large 1 bedroom suite.  This is the living room kitchen area.  Judith is standing at the front door.  

The doorway by the chair leads to the bathroom and bedroom.  

The bedroom looking back into the living room.  The space is huge and I find myself spreading all my junk all over the place.  I carry lots of electronic bits during my travels and need to recharge them everyday.  I have a 5 port USB charger to accomplish all this charging (apple watch, power bank, phone, ipad and camera batteries, etc.) so it’s great to have the room to organize my cables and such and not have to find the space on a little bedside table.  

And I get the livingroom to write my blog.  I haven’t written everyday because I am too tired or the Wifi is too crappy to upload anything.  Usually I do this late at night usually stretching into the early morning.  Judith goes to bed much earlier than I do, and having a separate room makes me feel less guilty when I’m tapping away on my keyboard.  

Apparently sitting on the train is a tiring event, so we end up having a nap.  We eventually wake up and decide to walk down the road that runs in front of the hotel.  On our way out we come across what we think is a dance troup on the lawn.  They’re mostly taking pictures.  As we pass by them, they are posed in front of the large relief sculpture assuming the same pose as the relief itself.

Costumed group mimicking wall sculpture.

On our walk along the city street, we find it’s noisy and crowded.  There is no sidewalk and I find it difficult to navigate around parked cars and street traffic that is really close as it passes by.  And the shops aren’t really interesting except this one.  

Banana store.  I am told that Sri Lanka has 29 varieties of bananas.  I know I haven’t tried them all, but I have eaten some very tasty varieties including one that tasted like an apple.  They have both short and long varieties but the short variety outnumbers the long bananas by a lot.   

I find a smoothie place and I order a mango smoothie for 220 SLR, equivalent to .93 CDN.  It’s delicious.  We end up back at the hotel and chill for a bit before heading for the restaurant for dinner.  Other than another table for 1, we are the only ones in the restaurant.  We had a quiet dinner and then back to our spacious room.  

Near empty restaurant.  There were at least 5 wait staff.