Thursday 17th May 2012 - Leaving Anuradaphura to go to Jaffna

I got up super early and packed up my stuff and got the same guy and  tuk tuk that took me around yesterday to take me to the bus station. Apparently I would need to change buses at Vavuniya. The tuk tuk driver was really sweet and firmly came orders to the driver in Sinhala about where I was going. I loaded my big rucksack into a compartment on the back of the bus and hopped onto the bus - taking a seat at the back of the bus so I could look out and check my bag, also because it has more leg room. The bus was just a standard bus that does short journeys also so not exactly comfortable for a long journey but it was an experience. Despite my tuk tuk driver giving the driver instructions he didn't understand when I asked him to tell me where to get off so I had to call Gayan and ask him to ask the ticket conductor to tell me where to get off. These connections are so helpful! Gayan must have said something right because once at Vavuniya the ticket conductor walked me to the place where I needed to get my next bus.  Everyone looked at me and giggled as I walked passed and then the ticket conductor at the bus I was taken to told me that the bus was full. When the next bus came I loaded my stuff into the back again and got comfortable on the back seat only to be told that this bus was now not the next bus. I jumped off with all the local men and boys laughing at my hopping with my luggage from one bus to the other and looking completely lost I would imagine. The ticket conductor on the next bus grabbed my bag from my hand and hurriedly threw it in the bag and shut the door - I could see puddles of water so opened the door back up and my yoga mat and rucksack were soaked. One of the local men that had been bantering with the other men whilst watching me obviously saw that I was not happy and came over shouting at the ticket conductor, he grabbed my bags and threw them towards the ticket conductor while indicating that they were wet (I couldn't understand what was being said but from his gestures and actions I assumed he was calling the guy an idiot for putting my stuff in the wet muddy compartment). The conductor then put my things at the back of the bus on the floor so I sat with them. This journey was the longest and was made so much worse when maybe two hours in there was a man at the roadside waiting for the bus with about twenty boxes of fruit. Everyone from the back of the bus was bundled towards the front and these boxes of fruit were loaded onto the seats. Despite being moved, i left my bags as they fit neatly into the corner and didnt take up much space but the locals kept telling me to move them under a chair - for about 15minutes I had to keep repeatedly saying that my rucksack was too big to fit. Anyway, the crazy driving mixed with bumpy roads meant that the boxes were breaking and the fruit was being hurled onto the floor and rolling around everywhere. I felt really bad for the man whose fruit it was because this was obviously his livelihood and it was probably being bruised. I kept picking up any of the fruit that came near me and putting it into a bag. The journey must have been about 6hours and was hot, sweaty and bumpy but I couldn't help but laugh at the whole experience. I constantly had kids turning their heads to stare at me and aroused their curiosity more by pulling funny faces at all of them - which had the adults laughing. It was a fun trip.  Along the way we got stopped at an army checkpoint where I had to hand in my passport and declare how long I was staying in Jaffna, what my job was, and why I was going there. The soldiers took a copy of my passport and sent me on my way.  The bus arrived at Jaffna at around 5pm and upon leaving the bus I was thrown right into the madness - busy dusty roads filled with stands of people selling clothing, fruit and food. I was overwhelmed and stood their with no clue on where to go! Because my guidebook was written at the time when the conflicts were happening the accommodation recommendations all said that there is no guarantee that this place is still standing! I was standing there with my bags thrown on the floor when a chirpy friendly man on the stall behind me asked me where I was going. I joked that I had no idea so he hold me to bring my luggage and put it near his stall out of the way. His name was Nalinda and he was from Kandy but working in Jaffna selling fabric. He asked about my budget and then recommended a place around the corner - VK lodge or something like that. I paid a tuk tuk Rs.100 to take me literally one minute away, I wanted to beat the driver, but then I saw the long dark hallway to get into the place and didn't want to see anymore - it was daytime now and I couldn't see anything so nighttime would be so scary as anyone could be hiding there. The tuk tuk driver was still hanging around but I was angry with him and told him that I don't want him because he was dishonest charging me Rs.100 for such a short journey. I pulled out my guidebook again and decided that I should just try and see if any of the places are still around - this attracted the attention of another tuk tuk driver who came over and asked if I needed help. Without me even asking he used his phone to call the YMCA for me to see if they were still standing and if they had vacancies. He then drove me there for a reasonable price and gave me his number in case I wanted any other trips.  The room as the YMCA was Rs.750 for just a bed and a shared bathroom - it had no mosquito net but had loads of openings in the walls. I jumped straight on a bus back into the town and bought a plug-in mosquito repellent. Also I didn't have a Sri Lankan plug adaptor so my mission was also to find one, which I did, and then i found an Internet cafe. My first instincts of Jaffna was that literally I was the only tourist in site and that all the men at the different stalls insisted on asking where I was from and telling me to go to their stall. It was a lot!  I had no idea which bus to get back but luckily the bus station is right there with some really helpful information guys behind the counter who pointed me in the right direction.  I got back to my room and just chilled.