A Local's Guide to Jaffna

After a blissful night spent on a bed that a) didn’t move and b) allowed room for me to stretch out (check our previous article to get the full story on that), I was ready for another day of exploring Jaffna before returning to Colombo. A day in Jaffna can mean many things depending on your plans. Mine… didn’t allow for much. Since we planned to leave by early afternoon, so that we reached Colombo towards late evening, it didn’t allow us to visit many sights.

The Jaffna Public Library

The famous Jaffna Public Library is not only a landmark building with historical value to the locals. It is also a heaven for any bookworm. The stately facade of the building hints the wealth of information and knowledge you can find inside. However, if you are going purely with the intention of touring the library, you may find more enjoyment admiring the exterior and the landscaping.

If you do love books, this is a great place to spend a day in Jaffna. However, your level of fluency in Tamil and Sinhala may limit the number of books you can read.

Nallur Kovil and ice cream...

Our visit was just a few weeks after the annual festival at Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil. So we missed all the vibrancy and beauty of the festival, but we did get to enjoy the kovil in all its post-festival glory. Nallur kovil is as different from the under-going-renovations Puttur kovil as possible. While the latter gives you a peak at the labour of love that goes into a kovil, the former is all about how beautiful a kovil is.

Once you finish paying your respects and admiring the kovil, don’t forget to grab some ice cream! Ice creams are a fantastic way to cool down on a typical day in Jaffna. Rio Ice Cream is one of the most popular ice cream brands in Jaffna, and there is an outlet just a few metres away from the kovil. Rio offers an extensive menu, so you can find something that suits your tastes. An ice cream is a welcome relief after being outdoors in the heat!

Shopping at the Jaffna market

The Jaffna Market is not a ttourist destination, per se. But if you want to get a more intimate peak at the typical day in the life of a local in Jaffna, it’s a fun attraction. Now, unless you are fluent in Tamil, you won’t understand much of what’s happening by vocal cues.

But body language says a lot. Whether you are shopping for fresh produce or simply just observing the goings-on, you can learn much just from paying attention to body language. It’s great place to buy fresh produce -especially fruits and veggies – but you can also find a treasure trove of locally-produced items. For instance, there are some beautiful handicrafts for sale at some stall. You also find items you can’t easily find elsewhere. For instance, Jaffna grapes and grape juice, nelli (Indian Gooseberry), local sweets, treacle and jaggery, etc. But wait, you can find jaggery and treacle downsouth, too, right? Yes, but the treacle and jaggery you find in Jaffna have one difference compared to the produce downsouth. The difference is in the flower the farmers tap. In Jaffna, they use the kithul palm tree. In southern Sri Lanka, farmers tap coconut flowers.

The long road back...

As much as we would have loved to explore further, we were returning to Colombo that day and planned to drive down via the Kandy-Jaffna Highway (A9). The route takes several hours, so to get home at a reasonable hour, we had to begin our drive soon. I wouldn’t recommend driving from the north peninsula to essentially the other end of the country in a car. It gets crampy and uncomfortable for all involved. However, a rented spacious van (or even a bus, as some large groups do) gets the job done well. The drive, despite being long when you look it up on Google, goes by fast as well. If you take frequent breaks to break up the monotony, you can even stretch your legs a little!

Pull up at one of the many roadside stalls selling king coconut and other fruits. The vendors often put the king coconut water into glasses and add ice cube (some also add lime). It’s incredibly refreshing on top of beng delicious! (But of course, you can use a straw and drink out of the coconut if you prefer) You pass several famous Sri Lankan towns between Jaffna and Colombo. These inlcude Anuradhapura),Sigiriya and Dambulla. If you prefer, you can plan to stay at least one day in each town. Although, Anuradhapura deserves at least two days so you don’t get overwhelmed. The A9 eventually leads to the new Kandy Highway. While it is not complete yet, there are two portions of the route accessible to vehicles. It truly makes the journey faster.

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