In Jaffna - One Year After The End Of War...

So here I am in Jaffna... For the first time in my life!

I got really ill, two days before the scheduled trip and couldn't even go to work for almost two days. Lucky for me I got well just in time and today is our second day in Jaffna town. I have loads of stories to tell and loads more pictures to show. Jaffna was far far from what I had expected. It was so "green" to the eye and fast developing. Except for the number of occasional buildings in ruins, you would not have guessed that the peninsula had been at war with the rest of the island for the past thirty years. Amazing! I think Srilankans are good at moving on...

The language barrier was evident when we attempted order food or to get what we want at a restaurant or a shop. However, one of our group members was a Tamil and his home-town is Jaffna so we got by thanks to his translation skills :) I myself can manage a little bit of Tamil and was making maximum use of it during the past two days, of course impressing a few in the group who had no idea I could speak a bit of Tamil.


We've been to see many places including the old Jaffna Fort, the Nallur Kovil and some other ancient ruins in the city. We also dropped in at the popular ice cream parlor in Jaffna called "Rio Ice Cream" which totally blew me and everyone else away. Though you cannot compare the "quality" of the ice cream to some of the favorite brands in Colombo, this place was easily the largest ice cream parlor I've seen in entire Sri Lanka. I just have to write about this place and many other places - but in a little while...

Now we're headed towards the beach. So catch you folks later with detailed info on what I have seen and heard so far in Jaffna.

If you have any questions that you want to ask, curious about anything...? You are welcome to ask in comments, so that I can try get answers for you before I leave this place. Sounds good? :) Catch you soon!!