11/01
Here in Vavuniya the rain has eased a little. Our plan for today is to fax some paperwork between here and Colombo. Hopefully in a couple of hours we can attempt the military check point for a second time.
At nine o'clock the forms are filled in and faxed and we wait.
Will wonders off to find some food, something he is prone to do regularly. We are always wondering where he has gone, but this frustration is always short lived as he usually wonders back with a bag of something or other. To fill in time Lionel , Phil and Greg go to watch a concrete pour (Holiday?) and also find a chicken farm where Lionel asks to check out their biggest birds.
Another few phone calls and we are told it will be twenty minutes. A few hours later and the morning is gone. About 1:30 the fax at the exchange rings and the forms come spilling out. 1,2,3......9 we are good to go. We head back to the bus station and jump aboard the Jaffna Bus. As we roll out, we cross our fingers that all is in order. We won't really know till we are twenty minutes up the road.
Success! We get some stamps and are through. Jaffna here we come.
The road ahead is similar to what we have seen already. Every five hundred meters or so there is a little sand bagged cubby house with a bored looking soldier manning it. Bored but heavily armed. Interspersed are shacks and ruins, little shops and army barracks, rice fields and bush land. Half the boys are standing, half have a seat. Jesse isn't too impressed by the locals throwing up in front of him. The locals have bought bags of peanuts to eat along the way, so soon the floor is littered with peanut shells.
At certain spots on the the road huge glossy billboards advertising phones or cars are juxtaposed against farmers living under tarps with UNHCR logos. Certain parts of the road are flooded and the main industry appears to be military. Flash 4WD vehicles with NGO markings are also passing by. Danish and Swiss and US De-miners, UN, World Vision, Care, Oxfam and a dozen others that I don't know seem to work the stretch of road. This bus driver doesn't seem as fast as others that periodically pass by. It is a tough trip, I am shaken till my teeth feel like they are loose. I sit for a couple of hours and then stand for a few more, It is smelly hot and crowded, Welcome to bus travel developing world style. Jesse toughs it out and stands the whole way. Even in the last half hour when a seat finally comes available he won't give in.
By 7:30 we arrive in Jaffna, Knackered!. Is is dark but still bustling. We find a trio of tuk-tuks to ferry us to the guest house we found listed in the Lonely Planet. After dinner I am laying in bed, still a little motion sick and it feels like the bed is still bumping along the road.
12/01
Jaffna! was it worth it? We get up early and head out of the hotel to look for some breakfast. Streams of kids in their white uniforms on rusty old style bikes are heading to school. The architecture here is famously colonial, though after thirty years of conflict they look a little shabby. We see churches and monasteries and little shrines on street corners. Most of the public buildings here have, at one time or another, been the scene of fighting. Many are wrecked and
abandoned. Most of the buildings still in use show signs of bullet damage or lack of maintenance. We head into a Muslim hotel near the bus terminus and have nam with curry and little 
doughnutty things. rather than dishes they are served on banana leaves. when you are finished eating you pick up the leaf and take it to a chute in the washroom. toss the leaf and then wash your hands. Woo hoo pass the water, my mouth is burning. I ask for a spoon. The waiter grabs a dirty spoon and rinses it under the cold tap before squeegying it off with his fingers and handing it to me. The glasses arrive for our drinks. They are dripping wet and the waiter carries them with a finger in each glass. I order a tea instead and get a tea flavoured milky syrup in a stainless cup. mmmm sugar rush. 
Lionel spots a tailor across the way and decides it might be good to get a new suit for Mel's wedding. While he gets measured up, we wonder off to look at the fort. Lionel is done and the suit will be available for pick up tonight. We decide to leave the city center and head out to the outer islands. I get the lonely planet and find us the correct bus. One hour later we are still bumping along and I'm regretting choosing an activity that involves buses. This is now the third day running and I'm sick of this. Thankfully a short time later we arrive at the wharf to board the ferry. we are heading to the island of Nadantivu, famous for its ruined fort and wind swept shell beaches. The ferry is wild. Kind of like those boats that the refugees arrive on.....actually exactly like that. A crank handle start, three cylinder diesel engine fills the passenger area with fumes and noise. But that noise, that bustle, that lack of personal space, it just encapsulates the Sri Lankan experience.
Here in Vavuniya the rain has eased a little. Our plan for today is to fax some paperwork between here and Colombo. Hopefully in a couple of hours we can attempt the military check point for a second time.
At nine o'clock the forms are filled in and faxed and we wait.
Will wonders off to find some food, something he is prone to do regularly. We are always wondering where he has gone, but this frustration is always short lived as he usually wonders back with a bag of something or other. To fill in time Lionel , Phil and Greg go to watch a concrete pour (Holiday?) and also find a chicken farm where Lionel asks to check out their biggest birds.Another few phone calls and we are told it will be twenty minutes. A few hours later and the morning is gone. About 1:30 the fax at the exchange rings and the forms come spilling out. 1,2,3......9 we are good to go. We head back to the bus station and jump aboard the Jaffna Bus. As we roll out, we cross our fingers that all is in order. We won't really know till we are twenty minutes up the road.
Success! We get some stamps and are through. Jaffna here we come.
The road ahead is similar to what we have seen already. Every five hundred meters or so there is a little sand bagged cubby house with a bored looking soldier manning it. Bored but heavily armed. Interspersed are shacks and ruins, little shops and army barracks, rice fields and bush land. Half the boys are standing, half have a seat. Jesse isn't too impressed by the locals throwing up in front of him. The locals have bought bags of peanuts to eat along the way, so soon the floor is littered with peanut shells.
At certain spots on the the road huge glossy billboards advertising phones or cars are juxtaposed against farmers living under tarps with UNHCR logos. Certain parts of the road are flooded and the main industry appears to be military. Flash 4WD vehicles with NGO markings are also passing by. Danish and Swiss and US De-miners, UN, World Vision, Care, Oxfam and a dozen others that I don't know seem to work the stretch of road. This bus driver doesn't seem as fast as others that periodically pass by. It is a tough trip, I am shaken till my teeth feel like they are loose. I sit for a couple of hours and then stand for a few more, It is smelly hot and crowded, Welcome to bus travel developing world style. Jesse toughs it out and stands the whole way. Even in the last half hour when a seat finally comes available he won't give in.
By 7:30 we arrive in Jaffna, Knackered!. Is is dark but still bustling. We find a trio of tuk-tuks to ferry us to the guest house we found listed in the Lonely Planet. After dinner I am laying in bed, still a little motion sick and it feels like the bed is still bumping along the road.
12/01
Jaffna! was it worth it? We get up early and head out of the hotel to look for some breakfast. Streams of kids in their white uniforms on rusty old style bikes are heading to school. The architecture here is famously colonial, though after thirty years of conflict they look a little shabby. We see churches and monasteries and little shrines on street corners. Most of the public buildings here have, at one time or another, been the scene of fighting. Many are wrecked and
abandoned. Most of the buildings still in use show signs of bullet damage or lack of maintenance. We head into a Muslim hotel near the bus terminus and have nam with curry and little 
doughnutty things. rather than dishes they are served on banana leaves. when you are finished eating you pick up the leaf and take it to a chute in the washroom. toss the leaf and then wash your hands. Woo hoo pass the water, my mouth is burning. I ask for a spoon. The waiter grabs a dirty spoon and rinses it under the cold tap before squeegying it off with his fingers and handing it to me. The glasses arrive for our drinks. They are dripping wet and the waiter carries them with a finger in each glass. I order a tea instead and get a tea flavoured milky syrup in a stainless cup. mmmm sugar rush. 
Lionel spots a tailor across the way and decides it might be good to get a new suit for Mel's wedding. While he gets measured up, we wonder off to look at the fort. Lionel is done and the suit will be available for pick up tonight. We decide to leave the city center and head out to the outer islands. I get the lonely planet and find us the correct bus. One hour later we are still bumping along and I'm regretting choosing an activity that involves buses. This is now the third day running and I'm sick of this. Thankfully a short time later we arrive at the wharf to board the ferry. we are heading to the island of Nadantivu, famous for its ruined fort and wind swept shell beaches. The ferry is wild. Kind of like those boats that the refugees arrive on.....actually exactly like that. A crank handle start, three cylinder diesel engine fills the passenger area with fumes and noise. But that noise, that bustle, that lack of personal space, it just encapsulates the Sri Lankan experience.
As we drove to the wharf we passed dozens of abandoned houses, some quite substantial, just falling to rack and ruin. Roofs collapsing, windows and front doors ajar. after so many years of fighting people have just given up and left. After a short ferry crossing we arrive at the island. I ask directions to the fort and 
nobody knows what I'm talking about. "You know the fort.... Dutch fort......ruins". Ahh you mean the fort on Nainativu. What the?????? we're on the wrong Island. Oh well Nainativu is famous for its Hindu Temple so we wonder along to have a look. Before you know it we are invited in for lunch. more rice and curry on Banana leaves only this time no cutlery at all. Cross legged on the floor we all eat with our fingers. Luckily we know the drill. When we are done we take our banana leaves out the back and then wash our hands. After a swim at the not so nice beach we head back to Jaffna. More bus, more crowds, more bumping arggg!
Lionel picks up his suit and we head out for tea. Our initial plan was to take a night bus to Vavuniya. But honestly, we are spent, so we organise another night in Jaffna. We will start again early tomorrow.
13/01
We have a plan to meet the ten o'clock train in Vavuniya. We plan to hire a small hiace and leave at 5am. The driver thinks that this might be cutting it a bit fine so he suggests leaving at 4 am instead. The hotel guy, wanting to be helpful, wakes us at 3:15 just to be sure. So after another syrupy tea, we roll out of Jaffna just on 4 am. I'm not feeling too good. First it's stomach cramps then we have to stop. Luckily I've a full supply of toilet paper. Some places on the road are still lined with mines so stopping opportunities are limited. At the station it's another race to the rest rooms this time with Dan and Jake. When we return we find that the ten o'clock train is not leaving till 4:00.
Its decided to pay the driver extra and get him to drop us off at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka's version of Ankar Wat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuradhapura .
Anuradhapura probably needs at least two days exploration to do it justice, but we only had about two and half hours. We were on a mission. Greg was also on a mission, to locate a toilet ASAP.
After two hours we were spent. It was now about 2:30 and we still had another two and a bit hour bus ride ahead of us. This bus was an Indian version of a Toyota coaster. We piled into the packed bus with visions of standing all the way to Dambulla, only this bus had a trick. As the seats filled, the arm rests folded out into the isle, creating another row of seats down the isle. In fact there now was no isle and everyone was seated. No leg room mind you. I spent the next two hours in the fetal position. But I'm in Dambulla now an although I'm extremely tired, I'm looking forward to a good nights sleep and getting back on the bikes tomorrow. The weather has eased though it is still overcast. My apologies for not proof reading this thoroughly, but its all getting a little blurry. Roll on tomorrow!
nobody knows what I'm talking about. "You know the fort.... Dutch fort......ruins". Ahh you mean the fort on Nainativu. What the?????? we're on the wrong Island. Oh well Nainativu is famous for its Hindu Temple so we wonder along to have a look. Before you know it we are invited in for lunch. more rice and curry on Banana leaves only this time no cutlery at all. Cross legged on the floor we all eat with our fingers. Luckily we know the drill. When we are done we take our banana leaves out the back and then wash our hands. After a swim at the not so nice beach we head back to Jaffna. More bus, more crowds, more bumping arggg!Lionel picks up his suit and we head out for tea. Our initial plan was to take a night bus to Vavuniya. But honestly, we are spent, so we organise another night in Jaffna. We will start again early tomorrow.
13/01
We have a plan to meet the ten o'clock train in Vavuniya. We plan to hire a small hiace and leave at 5am. The driver thinks that this might be cutting it a bit fine so he suggests leaving at 4 am instead. The hotel guy, wanting to be helpful, wakes us at 3:15 just to be sure. So after another syrupy tea, we roll out of Jaffna just on 4 am. I'm not feeling too good. First it's stomach cramps then we have to stop. Luckily I've a full supply of toilet paper. Some places on the road are still lined with mines so stopping opportunities are limited. At the station it's another race to the rest rooms this time with Dan and Jake. When we return we find that the ten o'clock train is not leaving till 4:00.
Its decided to pay the driver extra and get him to drop us off at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka's version of Ankar Wat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuradhapura .
Anuradhapura probably needs at least two days exploration to do it justice, but we only had about two and half hours. We were on a mission. Greg was also on a mission, to locate a toilet ASAP.
After two hours we were spent. It was now about 2:30 and we still had another two and a bit hour bus ride ahead of us. This bus was an Indian version of a Toyota coaster. We piled into the packed bus with visions of standing all the way to Dambulla, only this bus had a trick. As the seats filled, the arm rests folded out into the isle, creating another row of seats down the isle. In fact there now was no isle and everyone was seated. No leg room mind you. I spent the next two hours in the fetal position. But I'm in Dambulla now an although I'm extremely tired, I'm looking forward to a good nights sleep and getting back on the bikes tomorrow. The weather has eased though it is still overcast. My apologies for not proof reading this thoroughly, but its all getting a little blurry. Roll on tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment