Far north at Jaffna (Part 2)

Woke up at 6 am and got to the Jaffna Bus Station at 630 am where we managed to get on the bus 776 to Kurikadduwan ferry terminal. The bus ride took about 1 hour and the scenery along the way was good! There are ferry services from Kurikadduwan to both Delft Island as well as Nainativu North Jetty (which was where we were heading to). Got on to one of the small boats (which was covered) and it felt like being in one of those refugees boat that I always read about in the news. Luckily, we had a seat by the side and did not have to stand for the journey.

The boat that we got on to Nainativu

We first visited Nagapooshani Temple which is a Hindu Temple. There were people chanting inside the temple (into a microphone) which was played throughout the surrounding areas via loudspeakers. It was really… really… loud. The chanting was still okay to me, but after a while, they starting playing some “music” which was just really… loud and squeaky. Haha, it was quite an interesting experience and atmosphere in that area!

Nagapooshani Temple

The men have to take off their shirts before entering the temple. Something new that I learnt from Google is that "Rolling around the temple on the hot sand, with no signs of pain, is also a common practice of penance at this festival."

We also walked to the Nagadeepa Vihara which is one of the 16 most sacred places of worship by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. It is said that Lord Buddha visited this place before. However, it’s a rather simple place and there really isn’t much to see (unless you’re Buddhist and you’re visiting this place for religious reasons).

Nagadeepa Vihara

Before leaving the island, we also bought some seashells. Paid 50 rupees for a seashell. It’s 50 cents which is really nothing but I feel like it’s quite lame to pay for a seashell when I can pick them up at the beach (which was what I did in Australia and New Zealand) haha. I usually just throw the seashells back onto the beach after picking them up because I’m just too lazy to wash or bring them back to Singapore. So considering how I wouldn’t bother to keep them, it’s quite lame to pay $$$ for it. Hahaha, but yeah, I thought maybe it would be a good souvenir to keep because I probably won’t be buying any other forms of souvenirs back from Sri Lanka.

After heading back to Jaffna Town, we visited Nallur Kovil. It’s one of the most significant Hindu temples in Jaffna.

Nallur Kovil

For lunch, I got Thali takeaway from Mangos Restaurant which was located near Nallur Kovil. I loved it! I’m starting to develop a strong liking for rice and curry dishes :) Took the Yal Devi back to Colombo which was A/C and was a lot faster than the non-AC train. We took about 6 hours to get back to Colombo as compared to 9 hours when we took the non-AC train. However, the air-conditioning was waaaay too cold for me so I ended up shifting to the non-AC compartment of the train. Shall not pay extra for AC in the future (since it’s too cold for me!!!)

#SriLanka #Jaffna #Travel