Sri Lanka - end October to early November 2012
We were in Sri Lanka for 11 days in Oct/Nov 2012. This was our first time to Sri Lanka and the main purpose of our trip was to attend a wedding in Point Pedro, a town in the Jaffna district. We also took the opportunity to spend some time up north in Jaffna and in the capital city, Colombo.
Arrival in Colombo
We got to Colombo in the
late afternoon on a Saturday and there was a private mini van waiting to pick us up to
drive us to Nelly Rest, the lodge in Colombo that my father-in-law had booked. The journey to Nelly Rest took about 2 hours although the journey felt much longer.. The roads in Colombo reminded me very much of the roads
in Jakarta - messy and noisy with small shops by the side. Nelly Rest is
a small establishment. The rooms were not well maintained. They were
supposed to have water heater and air conditioning but the water heater
was not working. There were also a lot of red ants in our room. It's only saving grace - the restaurant next to it.
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| Nelly Rest in Colombo |
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| Nelly Rest in Colombo |
On a side note: The food and entertainment on Sri Lankan Airways was decent. However, I was not happy with their service as I had to ask them for water 4 times before I was told they had run out of water.
Journey from Colombo to Point Pedro (by rail)
We
woke up early the next day to take the 6.50 train from Colombo (Fort Railway
Station) to Vavuniya.
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| Fort Railway Station |
We bought second class tickets (at SGD 4.50 per
ticket). Our section was not very crowded. The trains were a little old
and dirty, but the long ride (about 6 hours) was fairly comfortable. From time to time, we also saw a couple of people walking up and down the aisle hawking local food but we did not buy any.
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| On the train en route to Vavuniya |
There is not much to see along the way - just a lot of paddy fields and
cows.
About 6 hours later, we arrived in Vavuniya.
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| Just outside the railway station at Vavuniya |
It was drizzling when we got to Vavuniya. Again, a our private van (which was pre-arranged by a friend)
picked us up and we went to Nelly Restaurant for a meal before starting on the 4-hour drive to Point Pedro. The roads along
the way were fairly smooth. There were some bumpy parts but the roads on
the whole were pretty good.
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| Road to Jaffna |
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| Road to Jaffna |
Along the way, we also noticed many army
posts and army vehicles. There was a checkpoint after Vavuniya for which
we all had to get off. They asked us some questions (where we were
going etc) and made copies of our passports. The whole process was quite
fast and the army officers were quite friendly.
Slightly under four hours later, we crossed the Elephant Pass, also referred to as the Gateway to Jaffna.
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| Elephant Pass |
For a fairly long stretch after that, there were just paddy fields on
both sides. It was actually very scenic. Sometime later, the van turned
off the main road into a small road and from there on, the roads were
very bumpy. We had turned into the road leading to Point Pedro, a small
coastal town. Here, the roads are full of gravel and from time
to time, we'd pass by a small shop by the road side. We arrived in
Point Pedro about 30 minutes later.
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| One of the towns we passed on the way to Point Pedro |
Point Pedro
We were in Point Pedro for 6 days and during our time there, we stayed at a relative's place. The house here
is a little different from what I am used to - front porch was not tiled, just mud and soil.
In Point Pedro, the electricity supply also goes off from time to time - sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes longer. Once, there was a huge thunderstorm and we didn't have electricity for slightly more than a day (that was also the day of the wedding so the bridegroom's family rented a generator for the occasion - didn't dampen the celebratory mood though). It rained quite heavily throughout our stay in Point Pedro.
During our stay here, my husband's aunt cooked almost all of our meals. She is a fantastic cook and I looked forward to all the meal times. The food is one thing I really missed.
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| One of the dinners cooked by the hub's aunt |
The drinks, however, were not so much to my liking. The
coffee here is extremely sweet and milky, and it lacks any
sort of kick that coffee normally supplies. While I had enjoyed my first
cup of this beverage, I got sick of it pretty quickly.
For the next couple of days, we explored the little town on foot and on auto (a three-wheel vehicle). We visited a couple of schools, a library, a hospital, a beach and the little town area.
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| A school |
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| A building inside the school compound |
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| The signboard for the library |
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| The hospital |
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| The beach |
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| The beach |
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| The town area |
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| The town area |
Jaffna
Colombo
After spending 7 days in Point Pedro, we headed back to Colombo to spend a couple of days. For our way back to Colombo, we decided to take an overnight private mini van. We boarded the van at 7p.m. at night and arrived in Colombo at 3.30a.m. The journey took a little longer as the van went around picking up passengers from all over the island. We only crossed Elephant Pass at about 9p.m. Along the way, the van also made multiple stops. This seems to be the norm as we also saw a lot of buses stopping at the same rest stops. Food can be found at most, if not all, the rest stops. Toilets can also be found at all the rest stops though the conditions were appalling. However, one does not really have much of a choice. When we got to Colombo, the mini van drove around various parts of the city, dropping passengers off at their preferred locations. We got off in front of our hotel. For this trip, we paid about SDG20 per ticket (if I remember correctly).
We stayed in Renuka Hotel. It was a nice hotel with very reasonable prices. Its location is very good so we walked to many places from our hotel. On our first day there, we went to a Chinese Restaurant for lunch (the food was good. Not fantastic, but good), visited a couple of shopping malls frequented by the locals and an upmarket bookshop, and ended our day with meals from McDonald's!
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| Renuka Hotel |
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| Renuka Hotel |
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| Seaside...next to the road |
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| Bus Station...sort of |
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| Along the streets |
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| Along the streets |
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| Along the streets |
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| A bookshop |
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| A local mall |
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| Road next to the local mall |
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| Streets at night |
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| McDonalds's veggie burger |
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| McRice |
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| McRice |
On our second day there, we went walked around some more and discovered a more upmarket mall. We also decided to go look for Odel, another place to shop. We were told that Odel was a 20-minute journey by auto, but we decided to walk.
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| Renuka Hotel |
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| An upmarket mall |
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| Along the streets |
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| Another local mall |
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| Along the streets |
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| Along the streets |
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| Outside a park |
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Outside Odel
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Our time in Colombo flew by and we left early the next morning. Again, a private van was hired to take us to the airport as we heard it was safer that way. The trip was an eye-opener, and the local food was tremendously enjoyable. Safety though, at some points, was a concern, On the whole, it was quite an experience and I believe I'll be back! :)
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