Last month we saw news item that new train brought by Sri Lanka Railway Department & it deployed to Northern Line. This news item saw by our little one & on that time he wants to travel on this train.

I and my friend decided to visit Jaffna and Worship Nagadeepa temple on Full moon day 22nd February. We left home somewhere around 4.00 clock in the morning on 21st. Our plan is to travel Jaffna by Train. But It was found that the intercity AC train from Colombo fort at 5.35 am is fully booked and no seats available, Therefore we decided to take the next train Yal Devi that leaves Colombo Fort at 6.30am and reaches Jaffna about 3.15 pm. it is worth saving time in a this nature of trip and advisable to book the intercity AC train reaches Jaffna about 12.30pm

We went this tour 23-25 of December 2015 by intercity AC train which leaves Colombo Fort at 5.35am and reaches Jaffna at about 12.15pm. Seats can be reserved prior to 45days. Government servants eligible for 1st class warrents can also reserve this train.
Try to reserve as early as possible if you plan to travel in high season. Train journey is quick and really comfortable.

We started our trip on January 14.We went Fort railway station to take the “Yaldevi” train to Jaffna. It leaves around 6.15 a.m & it reached to Jaffna station at around 5.00 p.m. When we reached Jaffna our main target is find the place to stay. We found the Guest near to the station. Rooms are ok with basic facilities. On next day ( 15th January ) early morning we went bus stand to take the bus to KKD jetty.

The bus ride as usual is no worse than a roller coaster. I can still remember my first experience in the Jaffna-Kurikkattuvan bus when I visited Jaffna in 2013. These drivers don’t believe in driving slowly and they keep their foot firmly planted on the accelerator. No stopping or slowing down but keep going at the speed of wind. Fortunately the road from Jaffna to Kayts is under construction and most of it is finished. However it got really interesting when we turned towards Velanai and from there to Kurikkattuvan. The road is not in good shape especially the long Pungudutivu causeway. There are so many pot holes but the driver tried to go above them rather than slow down and take it easy.

The result was that we didn’t have our bottoms on the seat for second or two at a time. The bus would fall into a pit and down goes the seat leaving the bottoms hanging in mid-air. Then the bottom starts its downward journey but by then the fallen bus had started its upward journey thanks to the shock absorbers. This meant the bottoms going down would meet the seats coming up and have this collision. I just gave you the description of a fraction of a second process. This kept going on and on until I couldn’t feel my buttocks anymore. I kept touching them after getting down to make sure I had them still on me.

General attractions of Jaffna Penninsula are already covered adequately by forum members. So I don’t intend to repeat the same things other than exceptions. In fact, I was invited to join the trip as all others, except my wife, were first timers and in need of a guide. We started from Maharagama around 8.30 pm on the first day and reached Jaffna by 6.00 am on the second day. After checking in to our Rest, we immediately proceeded to Nagadeepa to avoid the expected mad rush.

It was a Monday, the 4th day of our Jaffna visit. Earlier we were planned to go to Nainativu on the previous day and postponed it to the 4th day. The reason for that was we got to know the annual festival of the Nagadeepa Kovil was going on those days and Monday was the last day of it. So we wanted to be there for the final grand festival.