Heading to Kilinochi and Jaffna

It's about 9am and we're ready for the 200 kilometer journey to Jaffna via Kilinochi.  I know that the roads after Vavuniya will be in a poor condition even through they are under construction. The work is being completed in patches.
I've travelled the road to Vavuniya before so know that it's pretty good and now with no Military checkpoints.  It's been more than a year since the last trip and the landscape has changed.  More buildings and more greenery.
We drive for about 3 hours with no stops and surprisingly we've only travelled about 65k's.  The roads to Vavuniya are really good but once past, the situation changes.  They become potholed which causes us to go much slower than normal.  We've also got the car loaded with the goods for the school we're to locate in Kilinochi on the return journey.  It's Saturday so we can't visit the Divisional Education Office today, we'll do that on Monday after Jaffna.
Some more driving and we come to an Army checkpoint.  It was an inspection point and as a foreigner, I was asked to present my passport to one of the officers who would take it to another point and I was to follow in the car.  I wasn't happy about letting my passport out of my sight so I asked Raja to tell the Officer that I would go to the inspection point but he must give me back my passport.  I would take it myself.  At this they all laughed but obliged.  I did feel stupid but I felt it was better to be safe than sorry.
At the inspection point, I was asked my reason for visiting Jaffna, how long I would be there, why was I in Sri Lanka, what my job in Australia is and who was I travelling with.  Many of the questions, under normal circumstances I would question as to their relevance, but I just complied with all and eventually was given a document to sign to say that I was returning the following day and they also took Raja's car registration number.  They didn't ask Raja anything or to produce his identity card.
After about 15 minutes, we were given permission to proceed.  A short time later, we decided that we needed to eat lunch.  Now it was after 2pm and we still hadn't reached Kilinochi yet.
We found a relatively new roadhouse so had a Sri Lankan buffet rice and curry.  It was well priced and they were very busy.  We found a table and after a short time, a young western woman approached us to ask if she could sit at our table.  As it turned out, she worked for the US Embassy in Colombo and was travelling to Jaffna to visit her boyfriend.  She had visited before but her driver Rohan hadn't.  We chatted briefly and then they both left us to finish our lunch.
We proceeded on our journey to Kilinochi and on the way there was a lot of evidence of war.  The most sightful was the bombed water tower in the middle of the Kilinochi City.  It's a huge structure and it is well known that the LTTE blew it up during the fierest of the fighting.  Another visible sign of the war was the school on the A9 road.  There are two new buildings and the remainder of the classrooms are made of poles with pine tree thatching as a roof.  If you didn't know better, you'd think you were on some beach and they were bar huts.  As we drove further along the road, the remaining frame of a two storey school building was being renovated.  At least the shell was intact and could be saved.  Sadly this is the story of many buildings on the A9 road to Jaffna.
As we continued the drive, we came to Elephant Pass.  This is a famous place as during the war, there was an incident where the LTTE developed an armoured bulldozer which they packed with dynamite with the intention of ramming it into a Military post in the hope of killing many soldiers.  Their plan was stopped apparently by one young man who sacrificed his life to plant a grenade into the bulldozer which caused it to explode killing him and it's occupants but apparently saving the lives of hundreds of others.  He is a hero in this area with monuments and plaques in his memory.
We travelled through some very desolate terrain with many scars of the war. The most profound for me was the area along the A9 road on the Jaffna Peninsula where beautiful palm trees were now blackened trunks.  The area was fire bombed and as far as the eye could see on either side of the road, these blackened trunks protruded into the sky like totems. Another sign was the absence of the metal train tracks.  I later found out that the LTTE removed these to use in the building of their underground bunkers.  It really showed just how isolated this area and it's people were during the war time. 
We arrived in Jaffna at about 6pm, I couldn't believe that it had taken us 9 hours with a 1 hour stop for lunch to drive the 200k's to Jaffna from Anuradhapura.  The road conditions were not the best and at one stage, the road surface felt as if you were sailing on the water and of course our load of school things was heavy so we couldn't drive along too quickly.
Once there, we met with the relative of my friend Arul who lives in Noble Park.  It was a little difficult finding his home.   We found it eventually, along a narrow lane that leads from the Jaffna train station.  This is a shell of a building, bombed during the war as it was suspected that the LTTE were using it as their headquarters. Of course no trains were running, no tracks.
They lived in their home during the bombings and it suffered severe damage.  Fortunately no one was injured but I'm sure the scars of living through such an ordeal have had an impact on their health and lives.
It was difficult to find accomodation but this gentleman was kind enough to help.  There is very little accomodation in Jaffna apart from a few Guest Houses that have sprung up in people's homes.  This gentleman and Raja went to look at a couple of Guest Houses, one was not suitable but the other was OK.  No Driver accomodation for Raja so he ended up sharing the room with me, what else could we do. 
Funny thing was, as we arrived, this young man came to me and asked, "Madam, do you remember me"?  I was puzzled, how would someone so far north know me and where from.  Then it hit me, he was the American woman from the US Embassy's driver.  He was also staying at this Guest House.
Time for sleep now or so I thought.  There was a bar at the front of the premises and being Saturday night, many of the local men had come for a drink or ten.  They sang very loudly until about 12.30am, I couldn't get to sleep.  Finally I did nod off and then the local dogs decided they'd get a chorus going, well they went on and one.  It was now 2am and still I've not slept apart from a few minutes here and there.  Finally sleep came and at about 4.30am, the gate which was located near to the window in the room which happened to be where my head was clanged with someone opening and shutting it.  I jumped out of my skin with fright.  At 6am, Raja and I were both awoken with the sound of grinding coconut which is used to make Pol Sambal.  We had ordered Pol Sambal as part of our breakfast so I guess we knew that we were getting.
What to do now but just talk and laugh over the events of the sleepless night.  I thought that Raja had slept well but he also had a slepless night.  Oh, I forgot to mention, the temperature was high and during the night, the power went off 3 times so each time, I had to get up and start the airconditioner.  You can't sleep in this region without an airconditioner.  Anyway, it gave us something to tell of our experience in Jaffna.
Now it's Sunday and we have decided to spend the morning being tourists and just taking in the sights of the area.  One place that I had wanted to visit was Nallur Temple.  This is a very big and famous Hindu Temple.  It is majestic to say the least.  We ventured to what is known as the never ending well, not too sure how that all works but none the less, I saw it along with bus loads of local people from all area's of the Island. 
We also visited the famous swimming baths at a place called Kankesanthurai.  This is a small place some 12k's from the City of Jaffna.  Along the way, we drove through a small village, road workers were busy on road construction.  Everywhere I looked on either side of the road and into the scrub all I could see were bombed out homes.  About 100 of them but who knows what was further inland that I couldn't see from the road.  Not any sign of life here.  It was earie and moving.  I felt really moved to see this destruction as I contemplated the loss of life here.  Buses packed with people from everywhere use this road and I think to myself if they also feel as moved as I do as they pass through on their way to spend leisure time at the swimming baths and beach area.
We arrived at the swimming baths about 20 minutes later and there were hundreds of local tourists visiting for the day.  It was a nice place but definately a place that I didn't feel comfortable visiting.  The baths reminded me of the Roman style of baths, dug deep into the ground with stone steps heading downwards to the water.  One side for men and the other for women. Of course the men were yahoooing and bombing into the water as men to and the ladies on their side were quiet and sedate in the way they entered the water.
Now our time here in Jaffna is over and we need to leave to head back to Killinochi so that we can visit the Department of Education the following morning (Monday)  to see if we can find a small school in that area that we can support.
The journey to Killinochi will take most of the afternoon so we have lunch in Jaffna City at a place called Taste of Jaffna.  The food is nice but the food at our Guest House was much nicer, anyway, we need to eat before we continue our journey.