← All articles · Sri Lanka · 6 July 2018

Jaffna, Sri Lanka: The bus down the causeway, jackfruit markets and pittu for breakfast

Jaffna in July 2018: walking the tracks of the railway yard near Kankesanthurai, past rusted carriages left over from the years the northern line stood still.

Jaffna, July 2018. At the very top of Sri Lanka the railway line runs out near Kankesanthurai, and in the yard there the past is still parked: rows of rust-red carriages with their windows long gone, sitting on the sidings the war left behind.

Inga standing on railway tracks beside a line of rusted, abandoned train carriages in a railway yard near Kankesanthurai — The northern line's ghost train. The working trains run again, but these carriages stayed.

The north feels different from the rest of the island, quieter, hotter, palmyra palms instead of coconut. From here we looped down the coast: next stop, Trincomalee.

Photos from Jaffna

The rest of what we saw over those few days in July 2018: the road in, the market, the food, and the traffic, which in Jaffna includes cattle.

A green Sri Lankan road sign reading Jaffna in Sinhala, Tamil and English, with the line elevation 2.7m above MSL underneath — Three scripts and an elevation of 2.7 metres. The north is very, very flat.

A small orange and red roadside shrine with a statue in a glass case at its centre, standing in front of a house topped with a cross — A roadside shrine painted orange, red and turquoise, with a house behind it wearing a cross on the roof.

Inga in a sun hat standing in a market lane under a blue tarpaulin, lined with woven baskets, clay pots, mats and bags for sale — A market lane under blue tarpaulin: baskets, clay pots, mats and rope, all stacked to the roof.

Inga standing beside a market stall piled high with large green jackfruit, with a stallholder behind and mangoes on the next table — A wall of jackfruit. Each one is roughly the size and weight of a toddler.

Inga sitting at a table in a plain tiled cafe with a stainless steel tray of bright orange fried rice in front of her — Lunch on a steel tray in a bare tiled room, and it was one of the best things we ate all trip.

Inga at a table with a roll of steamed pittu on a banana leaf, bowls of dhal and curry, coconut sambol and a plate of bananas — Pittu on a banana leaf with dhal, curry and sambol. Breakfast in this part of the world isn't shy.

A white cow standing on the pavement outside a jewellery shop in a Jaffna street, next to parked motorbikes and Tamil shop signs — Parked outside the jewellers, in front of a poster of a woman wearing quite a lot of gold.

A lorry painted in bright multicoloured patterns with the name Philomena across the top of the cab, driving down a Jaffna street — Philomena, painted end to end. Nobody here drives anything plain if they can help it.

Two oxen pulling a wooden cart with large spoked wheels along a road, one man walking beside them and another driving — Sharing the road with a bullock cart, which has right of way by default.

A blue and white Lanka Ashok Leyland bus lettered Matha Travels, route 776 to Jaffna, driving along a causeway road beside shallow sea — The 776 to Jaffna, coming down a causeway with the sea on both sides.

Two men standing in white fishing boats moored in clear turquoise shallow water under a bright sky — The water up here is so clear and so shallow that the boats look like they're floating on glass.

Point Pedro, the top of the country

On 6 July 2018 we drove out to the far end of the peninsula, to Sakkotei Cape at Point Pedro. It's the northernmost point of Sri Lanka, and once you're standing on it there's nothing between you and India but the Palk Strait. It's about a ninety-minute run east from Jaffna town, and the reward is a small paved terrace, two signs and a lot of coral rubble.

A weathered green road sign with a hand-painted yellow map of the Jaffna peninsula, marked Now where you are, above the words Sakkotai Cape is the northern most point of the Sri Lanka — Hand-painted, hand-lettered, and pointing left. "Now where you are" is our favourite bit of signage in the whole country.

Inga in a sun hat leaning on a black granite plaque showing the outline of Sri Lanka with a red dot at the top, reading Sakkotei Cape the Northernmost notch in Point Pedro, with the sea behind — The plaque calls it "the northernmost notch", which is a better description than anything we could manage.

Inga standing with arms outstretched under a tiled arch at Point Pedro carrying the Sri Lankan flag and the words Unity in diversity is the strength of Sri Lanka, with the sea and coral rocks behind — "Unity in diversity is the strength of Sri Lanka", which lands differently when you read it at this end of the island.

Inga and Dileep standing together under the tiled arch at Point Pedro, photographed from low down along the paved terrace with the sea behind them — Both of us at the top of the country. The next stop north is India, and we didn't have the boat for it.

We stayed at Thinnai Organic Farm, out of town and worth the drive.