Jaffna
Click above to view photos from Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka
I only spent two days in Jaffna, which was unfortunate. Hopefully the next time I visit Sri Lanka I'll be able to spend more time there. It was a calm, quiet and serene place - in stark contrast to what it must have been like during the two decades of fighting. With the 2002 cease-fire agreement, people are able to visit Jaffna 'freely' again.
We went to Jaffna by plane (I don't remember the airline, it was a small, domestic carrier). There are no pictures from the journey because we weren't allowed to take any. The plane didn't take off from the commercial airport, it took off from an air force base near Colombo - an interesting experience. Besides the presence of a lot of weaponry, everyone had their bags hand-checked thoroughly and we had to remove the batteries from our cameras and store them in our luggage. It wasn't exactly a full service terminal but there wasn't any real trouble aside from the heat and the hours of waiting. Besides a few aid workers, all of the passengers were Tamil.
The plane landed at Palali air field on the north end of the Jaffna peninsula. Palali is controlled by the Sri Lankan Army and is within a high security zone. As a result, there is no photography or cell phone use allowed. After getting our luggage there was more waiting until a bus came to pick everyone up (except the aid workers, they had their own rides). A soldier accompanied us on the drive through the HSZ but left at its boundary. The mood lightened a bit when he got off and the driver put on Tamil music.
You will notice a lack of photos of the military - that's not to say they weren't around. Sri Lankan Army soldiers were common sights; they sat in bunkers and rode around in trucks. They also all had an unnerving way of glaring at everyone around. I also heard that they take cameras away from people. All things considered, I avoided taking their pictures. Although the army is visibly present in a lot of Sri Lanka, their presence in Jaffna seemed much more imposing.
Hope you enjoy the photos.
I only spent two days in Jaffna, which was unfortunate. Hopefully the next time I visit Sri Lanka I'll be able to spend more time there. It was a calm, quiet and serene place - in stark contrast to what it must have been like during the two decades of fighting. With the 2002 cease-fire agreement, people are able to visit Jaffna 'freely' again.
We went to Jaffna by plane (I don't remember the airline, it was a small, domestic carrier). There are no pictures from the journey because we weren't allowed to take any. The plane didn't take off from the commercial airport, it took off from an air force base near Colombo - an interesting experience. Besides the presence of a lot of weaponry, everyone had their bags hand-checked thoroughly and we had to remove the batteries from our cameras and store them in our luggage. It wasn't exactly a full service terminal but there wasn't any real trouble aside from the heat and the hours of waiting. Besides a few aid workers, all of the passengers were Tamil.
The plane landed at Palali air field on the north end of the Jaffna peninsula. Palali is controlled by the Sri Lankan Army and is within a high security zone. As a result, there is no photography or cell phone use allowed. After getting our luggage there was more waiting until a bus came to pick everyone up (except the aid workers, they had their own rides). A soldier accompanied us on the drive through the HSZ but left at its boundary. The mood lightened a bit when he got off and the driver put on Tamil music.
You will notice a lack of photos of the military - that's not to say they weren't around. Sri Lankan Army soldiers were common sights; they sat in bunkers and rode around in trucks. They also all had an unnerving way of glaring at everyone around. I also heard that they take cameras away from people. All things considered, I avoided taking their pictures. Although the army is visibly present in a lot of Sri Lanka, their presence in Jaffna seemed much more imposing.
Hope you enjoy the photos.
posted by N at 4:20 a.m.
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