columbo to jaffna by road

Columbo to Jaffna by Road

Got up early today the driver arrived on time around eight in the morning . I had my trip planned by the staff at the Regent Hotel it is an eight day road journey around the coast and northern area’s of Srilanka , covering more then dozen cities like Candy , Trichnapali and many others . The road trip to Jaffna started smoothly . My Driver Jhoseph spoke good english and was alert all the way . We stopped over at a few ancient Hindu Temples on the way . The most remarkable thing i found was how distinctly different these temples and deities were from the ones i had seen in other south indian cities like Kochi and Thiruvantapuram . The colours were very bright and vibrant the sculptures of the various god’s , devi’s and diva’s also varied from the ones i had seen in say Kanyakumari and other South Indian cities . The domes of the temples carried the images of devi’s and diva’s itself , blue , pink and gold were the predominate colours used .

We stopped over at various eateries on the way i tried a beef samosa for the first time here . The Chicken and mutton dishes were very spicy and hot and reminded me of the Chittanad cuzine of India . I smoked the local Dunhill cigarets on the way and enjoyed the coconut water and pineapples . The coconut water in this part of the world is sweeter and the coconut is yellow in colour .

We stopped over at the Jaffna Lagoon on the way which had a huge Buddha staring into the Horizon . I chatted with some locals and some policemen .They informed me that Jaffna is now a peaceful area and their is no fear of the LTTE or their notorious gang leader Prabhakaran . The journey was a long one it took us twelve hours to reach Jaffna and finally to my hotel