Friday 18th May 2012 - Jaffna, Sri Lanka

I started the day with no idea where I was going - I just knew I wanted to see the islands, which one i didn't know. I headed to the bus station and went to the information counter and pointed to a random place on my map - they in turn pointed me in the direction of the bus that would take me there. The place of today was Nainativu.  The bus journey was a real eye-opener and instantly bought me back down from my la la land. The bus went through village upon village with bomb-destroyed buildings, some overgrown by trees. I wanted to bring out my camera but it felt overly insensitive to try and photograph such a painful reality for the people. I watched on sadly from the back of my bumpy bus. Eventually we reached a small road that links the mainland to the small islands through the shallow water. It is not a bridge but a raised road, which was really strange, and the turquoise water was so shallow that fishermen just walked around checking and setting up fish traps. I had no idea what was happening but eventually the bus stopped at what looked like a port and the ticket conductor pointed me in the direction that I was supposed to go. I just walked behind everyone else looking around confused. It was a Navy base called Kurikadduwan. We were first directed into a waiting area where there were two sections - one for a temple and one for somewhere else. I had no idea what either of the places were but I just followed the masses of women in brightly coloured saris to the area for the temple. Again, whilst in the waiting area everyone stared at me like I was an alien, again I was the only white person - this area really doesn't get many tourists! So after maybe 15minutes of me trying desperately to make this cute little kid smile but only succeeding in making him cry, we were called forward, given life jackets and ushered into this deep blue boat by the navy.  The journey on the boat was about twenty minutes - there were no windows or comfortabilities - it was more like an industrial factory's steam room or something. I propped myself up onto the steps to see outside the boat and admire the beauty, despite being told off by the navy at the port not to do so. The water was such a beautiful turquoise colour and in the distance I could see a palm tree lined island. Upon arrival I walked out of the boat and was made to pay Rs.30 - I had no idea what for but I assume it was for the boat. I then walked out of the port to be met by a beautiful brightly coloured Hindu temple - it was huge and so were the grounds. I decided that now would probably be a good idea to see what else this island had to offer by checking my guidebook!! This Hindu temple was called Naga Pooshani Amman Kovil and apparently women wishing to conceive come here seeking blessings. A short walk away from the Hindu temple along a road lined with friendly stalls selling Sri Lankan sweets, there was a Buddhist temple with a silver Dagoba.  I wanted to see the rest of the island so I paid a tuk tuk driver to take me around. It was a really bizarre place because despite having beautiful turquoise sea all around, the 'sand' was more like desert sand and had cactuses. You couldn't lie down anywhere and sunbathe and the water was really warm. It was really beautiful though and completely authentic and different - but just not somewhere you would spend more than a few hours. Whilst waiting for my boat back to the mainland I was sitting on my lonesome when this annoying navy guy who spoke little English tried to make conversation with me. I didn't want to deal with the small idle talk (where you from? how's Sri Lanka? you married?) so i tried asking him how to get to another island, but nope, he didn't understand and I had no knowledge of Tamil! I sat back on the bench deflated desperately looking for Tamil words in my guidebook when an older navy guy on a motorbike asked me if I wanted to ride on the navy speedboat back to the mainland!! I jumped up so fast excitedly asking if he was serious! I walked over to the speedboat where four navy boys in cream polos and cream khaki shorts stood. They all laughed like little school girls as I got on the boat. During the journey we also stopped by another navy ship filled with men laughing at the site of me and clearly trying to work out why there was a random female sitting on the deck. What a surreal experience! Not many people can say they have ridden on a navy speedboat with the crew!! Haha!  It was early so my next stop was Kayts. I got a bus from the port and then had to change to another bus which luckily was there when I got there. I got to Kayts and saw nothing but a few stalls. I walked around the stalls and bought some bananas and was asked for money by a random man working on another stall. I then jumped straight back on the bus towards Jaffna.  I got off the bus and bumped into a guy who had randomly introduced himself to me the day before. He asked me if I had eaten and then took me to a place where I could get good food. We spoke for ages and he told me a bit about the civil war and his experiences.  His name was Suren, he was 28-years old and owned two buses that ran via Colombo and Jaffna. He had lived in London for four years in a corner shop but ended up having passport revoked for five years and going to prison in the uk after knocking unconscious two men who tried to rob the store he was working at. He was married but his wife stayed in the uk while he returned to Sri Lanka - he said that she wants to come back to Jaffna but that he doesn't want to stay there so he will divorce her if she wants to stay there. He was living in Colombo but came to Jaffna after suspecting that the ticket operators working on his buses were doing the dirty on him and pocketing a lot of the profits. He said he now has enough money and wants to leave Jaffna. Regarding the war he recalled being just five years old and seeing and hearing bombs going off outside his house. He said during the war near enough every Tamil person saw the inside of a jail for not carrying I.D and the SLA kept them in for something like 2weeks while they apparently tried to identify them - he saw prison when he was just 14. He explained that he thought that the civil war was definitely going to start again for many reasons but mainly because of the university situation - Tamils are very well educated and achieve really high grades but because the government has this rule that they will only take a set amount of Tamils, even though the Tamils have higher grades than the Singhalese they can't go to university. In my opinion it shouldn't come down to race or religion but only grades - you get the higher grades then you go to university - you don't get the grades then you do retakes like we do in England.  After food he told me to come and work with him in the bus station. I walked with him there but was immediately aware of the male dominated environment and the attention that was coming my way so I made my excuses and left.  I just went back to my room and washed my clothes. The task was made slightly difficult by the fact that the electricity kept going off meaning that my fan turned off making my room like a sauna. It's crazy because you don't realise how unbelievably hot it is until there is no fan. Within minutes I looked like I had been in a shower. I was getting text messages from Suren asking to see me and telling me that he felt love for me?!! What the hell! I just straight up cussed him asking if he was drunk or if he thought I was an idiot! His reply was that he was joking - not funny! He didn't text me anymore after that!