Thursday 11 Feb 2016

We had a late morning start at the temple on Karainagar island, our ancestral homeland.  There was a festival at the temple, a precursor to the consecration of the temple following some renovations.  We were annointing oils on the deities and this was the only time we were allowed to enter the inner chamber of the temple.  Following this we had lunch at the temple.

In the afternoon we decided to explore Jaffna town, slighter further from our hotel.  The first stop was Nallur Kandasamy Temple, the most famous temple in Jaffna.  The original temple was built between 1450 to 1467.  It was levelled to the ground by the Portuguese in 1620.  The present temple was built during the Dutch period, around 1807.  It was not rebuilt on the original site.  The original site is occupied by St James Church.

The next stop was Mandri Manai (Ministers House).  It was built in the fifteenth century.  It is deserted now but in has cellars and underground rooms where the inhabitants stored their valuables.

We then visited one of the largest church in Jaffna, St Patricks Catholic Church.

We finished with a visit to Rio Ice Creams, the most famous ice cream parlour in Jaffna.  Despite it’s popularity, the system within the parlour is chaotic.  We took some take-away to have it in the van.  The ice cream is very sweet and has inconsistent texture.  We enjoyed it though.  That evening Susie, Shantini and I had dinner at Susie’s uncle’s place.  He was an interesting man and kept us most amused with his stories.