My journey to Jaffna started with an hour and a half wait for a “luxury” express bus to Colombo that supposedly ran every 20 minutes…...

Jaffna

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 My journey to Jaffna started with an hour and a half wait for a “luxury” express bus to Colombo that supposedly ran every 20 minutes… Could it be possible that 5 busses were late right when I needed them? I have learned to be more patient in Sri Lanka as things just work in their own time over here.


The journey was supposed to last 1.5 -2 hours tops but somehow my journey ended up being close to four hours! Sitting next to a mom with a baby who screamed for the last 2 hours!  The aircon was as its maximum, the baby dressed in shorts and a tank top cried and cried and cried, I think he was cold; I was cold!!! That mom needed an Andrea to help pack for a bus ride, she was totally unprepared, no warm clothes, no toys! The baby cried, the mom breast feed him, and then bounced him up and down, up and down… oh Gosh! That wasn’t going to end well! They baby kept crying, the mom kept feeding the baby and then what I thought would happen, happened! That baby threw up all over.. I think I got some too! I wanted to die, and throw up too! I quickly pushed myself all the way to the window and looked at my map to see how long more I had to deal with this situation.

As I approached Colombo I realized I could take the 8:50pm bus to Jaffna so went online to book a ticket and when I was going to pay it said the time window had closed and I couldn’t get a ticket. I had such a hard time figuring out where busses to Jaffna leave from Colombo so I texted the company on facebook and they quickly responded and put me in contact with a bus operator who would take care of me. 

 I arrived in Colombo and was dropped God knows where. It was dark, and my maps.me app said I was by the Pettah floating market but had no idea where to go from there. I called the bus operator and I just couldn’t figure out what he was saying! It was loud outside, he accent didn’t help at all, I gave the phone to the tuk tuk driver that had been asking me to get on his tuktuk. They talked, he figured out where he needed to take me. I was confused, I couldn’t make sense of it all. Was I going to get on the 9pm bus? I didn’t want to leave at 7:30, that meant getting to Jaffna way too early!

Five minutes drive in a tuk tuk I reached a dark street. The driver stopped in front of a gas station and pointed to the side walk and said to wait there. I was so confused, that was not a bus stop. Did I really have to wait there? in the dark? by myself? I told the driver to come with me. I was hungry and looked around… no food! I gave the tuktuk driver my phone and told him to call back the bus guy to make sure I was at the right place. I was! He told me to wait ten minutes. With puppy eyes I looked at him and looked around, and said “I really need the bathroom” (after all it had been like 7 hours since I left Polhenna) I think he thought my 300 rupees came with a lot of requests; he looked at me (I think he felt bad) and said “come”, I followed, he took me to the bathroom and waited for me outside, then walked me to the sidewalk where I had to wait under a post office sign for the bus to come.

After some time a guy came with two women, I asked him if this was the place to wait for a bus to Jaffna and he said yes.
 “What company?” he asked
 “I don’t know” I said
 “What time” he asked
“I don’t know” I said
“Do you have a ticket” he asked
“No” I said
He looked at me with a puzzled look, I explained that I got a phone number and the guy told me to come here to wait for the bus. He said he would talk to the driver and make sure I was on the ride bus. I felt better.

On my way to Jaffna I asked the guy who collects the money for the arrival time and he said between 4 and 4:30am. The only reason I wanted to take the 9pm night bus was because it arrived around 6am I and wouldn’t have to bother my host. I texted Jonathan, my couch surfing host, and he said he would be there to pick me up. Jonathan contacted the bus driver and gave him exact instructions on where to drop me off. Two minutes before my stop I was woken up and told I was close to my stop. Once I arrived Jonathan was waiting for me in his motorbike.

We rode the dark streets of Jaffna and got to his house, which reminded me of old towns in El Salvador. The house is very old and very very basic... I wanted the real Sri Lankan experience, right?!?!
The room
It took a lot of self talk to get used to the bathroom!
Laundry day... washing in the bathroom!

The drying station...

The kitchen


While I stayed there Jonathan cooked and introduced me to some of the Sri Lankan cuisine. He taught me how to open a dry coconut, how to make coconut milk and how to scrape the inside of the coconut. So cool! I was so impressed by the thousand ways that they use coconut!

Woodapple. Jonathan made a smoothie out of it, I tried really hard to drink it without gagging!

Delicious string hoppers!
The next day we went and explored Jaffna town.
The streets of Jaffna


Jonathan took me to the local market and showed me many of the products sold there and explained their uses. 
First stop was at the shop that sells bettel leaf, something the locals chew like gum. I gave it a try and it was horrible! Have no idea how they can chew that thing!


He then showed me all the products they make from palmyra trees and from coconut trees! They really get creative, they make sugar, oil, milk, mats, hats, bowl; you name it, they can probably make it!


We also went to the fruit and vegetable market and told me the names of the ones that I didn’t know. It is incredible to see the thousands of mangoes and bananas all over the markets. 



 My favorite part was to walk around and take pictures of people and  experience more of the untouched Sri Lanka.


Hindi Gods are everywhere!
Our next stop was the post office, which felt as if I just went 50 years back in time! 
It was… old! and the people so not efficient! 


Jonathan needed stamps and the person in charge of them had to go get a note book where they kept them, the notebook seemed like it was 100 years old.

 After purchasing the stamps one had to go to the table with glue and seal the envelope, and finally go back to the desk and get the cards/ postcards stamped with ink. The whole process was exhausting to watch.



We then went around Jaffna on the motorbike, which was a great way to see more of the the city. I wanted to come up to Jaffna because it was only recently opened for tourists and they said it was more India influenced than the rest of Sri Lanka. During many years Jaffna was in war and you can still see many of the destroyed buildings around town. In fact, so much of Jaffna has not been reclaimed after the war so as we rode around I was able to see temples, houses, and many other building destroyed and unoccupied.



The next stop was the Jaffna fort, which was occupied by the military during the war.
No kissing or hugging allowed!

Entrance to the fort.




We then went to the library which was destroyed in 1991 and then re constructed.


The last stop of the day was at an amazing Hindu temple. In this particular temple I was told that all men have to take their shirts off! I was so confused because usually there is a big emphasis on everything being covered (especially on women.) We got to the temple at the right time and I was able to witness how they worship, lots of singing, bell ringing, and chanting. 












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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

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About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com