8 April 2013

We got up at 5:30am to have an early morning walk to the waterfront. One of my cousins came with me. Fishing is quite active in the waters off Jaffna between the mainland and Karainagar.

Again, we also passed by homes that were destroyed in the war. Some of these homes with have been quite magnificent during the good times but now are in a sad state. This is quite widespread.

We returned to the hotel after an hours walk to have breakfast. The we were on the road for a tour of Jaffna. We drove through some areas were some of the worst battles took place during the civil war. The devastation is quite confronting. We were heading for the Keerimalai Springs which is adjacent to an ancient temple.

The springs are meant to have curative properties. We had a swim here. The adjacent temple was built in ancient times but was first destroyed by the Portuguese in 1620. It was rebuilt again in about 1894. Some ancient structures are still visible today.

The Sri Lankan army occupied the temple at various times but in 1990 in was destroyed by aerial bombing as retribution. The destruction is quite extensive.

We came by a dog in the temple compound have a good snooze on a mount of sand. He was very comfortable and was enjoying his sleep under a shady tree.

We also went to another ancient temple (most of these temples date back to several hundred to a 1000 years). This is a famous temple that was struck by indiscriminate bombing. This temple has quite exquisite workmanship on the front gopuram (tower). This temple is the Maviddapuram Kanthaswamy temple.

We stopped by for lunch at what seems like a reasonable place. The air-cond in the place wasn’t the best but what caught our eye was the notice on the wall.

We returned to the hotel after lunch. I chilled and had a snooze. Charles decided to follow the ladies on a shopping trip. Our dinner was at a local restaurant called ‘Taste of Jaffna’. Food was good. In fact the food in Jaffna is great. We our off tomorrow on a 2 day trip to Trincomalee.