The north of Sri Lanka

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Once we had explored Jaffna Jonathan took me on a road trip on his motorbike to the North of Sri Lanka!.

We started the day by visiting an orphanage that was behind Jonathan’s house. The orphanage was probably one of the most beautiful orphanages I have seen. The organization that runs the orphanage is Austrian and the model they follow is awesome.

They have 11 houses in total and each house has a maximum of 10 children and one mother. The mother looks after the children and the whole family helps with the chores. Their houses were separated by religion, 2 christians and the rest Hindu. The orphanage has many siblings so they make sure that they are not separated and they live in the same house. I really liked this model because the children really get to be part of a family and get the feeling that they belong there. I asked if kids get adopted and they told me no and that the kids can stay there until they reach 18; after that age they either go to school or vocational training. Those students who do not have a place to go during the holidays are always welcome to come back and spend it there.

Inside one of the houses.

I was impressed by their kitchen. Can I couch surf here?!?!

How cute is she?

So pretty!

Saying bye!

As we rode up north the more I could see the impact of the war and was impressed to see how many towns still haven’t been able to reconstruct; all over I saw empty houses. We went by beautiful beautiful beaches that are pretty much untouched and have so much potential!

I find it interesting that the boy can be shirtless and in shorts while the girls have to be fully dresses.

Many times had to drive between empty and destroyed building to get to the beach.

Riding on a motorbike haha

Selfie on a bike!!!

Beautiful and empty beaches

Sunset was beautiful!

This was crazy... A lady peeing while standing up... everything running down her legs!!!

We got to the northern tip of Sri Lanka, Now i have been to both ends of the country!!!

As we rode I saw maybe a gazillion hindu temples, some really pretty, some needed some TLC, and some others were completely destroyed. My favorite temple was the Selva Sannity Murakan Temple, it was huge and had so many people on a friday afternoon gathered around for praying. The bells rang the whole time I was there, people were chanting, praying, and some were doing some rituals such as kissing the floor or breaking coconuts… very interesting.

People waiting/ hanging out outside the temple

This guy rang the bells for the whole 30 minutes I was there

No shirt men

Man doing his ritual... touching his forehead to the floor.

So typical... most men on one side, most women on the other!

Loved seeing picture of the Gods in the shops

Street Market

Bike riding... Sri Lankan style

On the new year I packed my bag and put it on Jonathan’s scooter and we started our way down to Colombo. Our first stop was Mannar, another coastal town, this one being the closest to India, only 32 km away.

At the Mannar pier, which used to have the monorail all the way to the ferry station to go to India.

I was impressed at the amount of donkeys that were in the streets of Mannar… Kind of like the deers in Nara!

We spent the night in Mannar and the next day we headed towards Anuradhapura and stayed 40 km from the historical town. Jonathan had set up a couch surfing host so we were all set up with accommodation.
First stop was.. breakfast!

Local Restaurant

They always put a plate full of samosas and roti and one pays what they eat

My breakfast... String hoppers... YUM!

On our way to Anuradhapura we stopped to check out more ancient sites and buddhas!

A Boddhi tree

Giant lying buddha

After a couple of hours on the bike we got to the couch surfing host and it was a surprise to me that we were staying at a volunteer place. He never mentioned any of this to me and to be honest I am exhausted and the last thing I want to do is volunteer with kids right now. I think I was kind of in shock trying to piece everything together.
Jonathan started talking to the host and asking questions about the program and how he is using couch surfing and work away… was he ever going to mention it to me?
I was upset about it because he didn't mention it to me, he totally dismissed me and didn't ask if I was ok with it and still went ahead and made a choice for me... without my consent. I am 99.9% sure that if he had asked me and explained the terms I would have said yes! but imposing it on me... That was not cool!

After the host and Jonathan finished talking he excused himself to go get the room ready and when he finished he took me to the room… with a shared bed… KILL ME NOW! I was not ok with it but I didn't have a choice!

We were told that the kids were coming later after school… Just the thought seemed exhausting! I was annoyed but once again, I couldn't do much about it! Thankfully the program only had like 2-3 since it was the first day after the holidays so I didn't have to do much.

Our homestay came with free lunch and dinner provided by some locals. One of the families from the village prepared all meals for us and it was so delicious!!!! They pretty much prepared a lot of delicious vegetables from their garden and made vegetable curries with them. All this time in Sri Lanka I have been eating rice and curry with a fork since it was always provided to me but not here, so I had to eat the local way… smash everything together with my hands and eat with my fingers!!! Bon Appetit!

Home made string hoppers

The family who cooked for us!

The kitchen

All the veggies from their garden!!!

About Post Author

Andrea

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!