{"id":948,"date":"2016-02-11T03:49:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T16:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/50.87.168.44\/wordpress\/?p=948"},"modified":"2017-01-29T20:19:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T09:19:55","slug":"day-eleven-trip-to-north-of-jaffna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/?p=948","title":{"rendered":"Day Eleven – Trip to North of Jaffna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday\u00a010 Feb 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

The day started with an early morning walk with my cousin Sangaran and Charles. \u00a0We walked to Jaffna Fort. \u00a0It was built by the Portuguese first and then fortified by the Dutch. \u00a0The date on the entry way is 1690. \u00a0It was heavily damaged during the war but is slowly being repaired. \u00a0Not much has progressed since my last visit.<\/p>\n

Then a group of us decided we will visit North Jaffna. \u00a0We were going to Keerimalai Springs and then to Point Pedro, the northern most point in Sri Lanka. \u00a0I have been to these places before but it will be good for a return visit.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Ruins of old Keerimalai Temple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our first stop was the Keerimalai Springs. \u00a0The Hindu temple besides it dates back from the BC era. \u00a0It was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1620. \u00a0It was rebuilt in 1894. \u00a0However, the civil war caused extensive damage to the temple. \u00a0Bullet holes and mortar damage was visible on my last visit. \u00a0A new temple was built.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Main entrance way of old temple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Inside Old Temple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
New temple with old in foreground<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Inside ruins of old temple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of us had a swim in the Keerimalai Springs. \u00a0It is meant to have some medicinal properties. \u00a0It was refreshing after the swim and a good relief from the heat. \u00a0After Keerimalai Springs, we headed down the road to Dambakola. \u00a0When Buddhism was came\u00a0to Sri Lanka from India, it was reputed to have come through Dambakola.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Dambakola Buddhist Shrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After Dambakola, we headed for\u00a0Niravalai deep well. \u00a0It has a deep aquamarine colour and the depth of the well has never been determined. \u00a0Legend has it that this is where Rama from the Hindu epic Ramayana stopped to rest.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Stairs leading to well<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Niravalai Deep Well<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a brief stop at Niravalai well, we headed for Point Pedro, the northern most point in Sri Lanka. \u00a0The 2004 Tsunami hit this place too and caused massive destruction. \u00a0A lot of the buildings here have not been repaired or replaced.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Distance marker at Point Pedro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Point Pedro fishing community<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Point Pedro Jetty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Looking up the coast in Point Pedro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Building at Point Pedro jetty probably built in colonial era, damaged by Tsunami<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/a>
Lighthouse at Point Pedro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After Point Pedro, we had lunch at a local shop and headed back to Jaffna. \u00a0There were some temple festivities later on our home island Karainagar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday\u00a010 Feb 2016 The day started with an early morning walk with my cousin Sangaran and Charles. \u00a0We walked to Jaffna Fort. \u00a0It was built by the Portuguese first and then fortified by the Dutch. \u00a0The date on the entry way is 1690. \u00a0It was heavily damaged during the war but is slowly being repaired. … Continue reading Day Eleven – Trip to North of Jaffna<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sl-2016-trip","tag-jaffna"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.anaimugan.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/P2100502.jpg?fit=4608%2C3456&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=948"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anaimugan.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}