Much entertainment at breakfast this morning with a very large egret standing just outside the dining area looking for something to eat in the water. And yes – it caught a fish so was also able to dine:
As we left Mannar, I wanted to photograph the dozens of wild donkeys we had seen wandering the town (descendants of donkeys brought by Arab traders centuries ago) but they had all disappeared with the exception of this one down by the fort:
Bit of history: Mannar was famous for its pearl banks which were rich pickings for divers from antiquity until about 1905. Apparently Bizet’s ‘The Pearl Fishers’ was inspired by the divers. Arab traders brought not only donkeys but also baobab trees, the largest of which we went to visit:
During the civil war (much more about this tomorrow), Mannar really suffered and its large Muslim population was driven out by the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) although the same didn’t apply to the local Catholic population (some 40 per cent now, the highest number in Sri Lanka).
There were a LOT of churches in the area but we only visited one with our driver, Dino, who is, himself, Catholic (despite the Buddha icon on the car dashboard and the (to me) Hindu good luck lime and leaves hanging off the front of the car).
En route we passed rice drying on the road:
And we stopped to buy cashew nuts at a rather nice stall in what felt like the middle of nowhere (certainly nowhere with phone signal):
We resisted the ice-cream despite the charming tuk-tuk appropriately modifed:
In Jaffna, they sell ice-cream on a bigger scale:
The remnants of Thai Pongol are still around: we stumbled across this little festival outside the market this evening. In the middle of the traffic, a group of rather ill-rehearsed men were trying to move the god around and back into a tiny temple nearby but nearly dropped it in the process:
The priest and musicians were doing their best with this hapless group of men:
Jaffna is very mixed in terms of population – we’ve seen hordes of churches including ones we’ve never heard of; there are lots of temples and there’ll be Buddhist gopuras as well. We’ve also seen covered Muslim women. But it’s a lively place with a brisk trade in coffins. We were particularly admiring of this hearse:
There are also some vintage cars being driven around:
Some, however, are not!
Looks like it really needs that paint job!
Your funniest post to date. I loved all of it.
Oh thank you, Kenny! We do our best. For me the most appealing moment was the guys trying to carry – solemnly- the god into the shrine without having sorted out which way round the god should face. As Nikhil said ‘ they just hadn’t rehearsed’..
Hapless is exactly the right word for ‘that’ group of men.
Yes, indeed – their reactions to the mess they were making were very funny – arguing, irritated with each other and laughing, all accompanied by pipes and drums and the priest trying to impose some sense of dignity…
Can’t believe you resisted the ice cream from that wonderful tuk-tuk. And btw I loved the photos of all the amazing vehicles. (I thought there would be more tuk-tuks and scooters in general – what are you seeing on the roads? Are many folks just on foot?)
Jaffna heaves with motorcycles and tuk tuks, together with very old men on very old cycles with no lights and a rather resigned air. Plenty of people walking both in town and outside but preferred means of transport definitely tuk tuks and a range of wild buses ( lots of hooting and fumes and driving just that bit too close to surrounding pedestrians).
How interesting that the Arabs brought baobab trees to Sri Lanka – presumably from Africa. the ones I remember from my childhood were much, much larger (presumably because they were older) and had cream-coloured bark (perhaps another sign of maturity!) Very taken by the hearse – who wouldn’t want to take their final journey on a zhooshed up flatbed truck.
Yes, completely agree – I’ve also seen baobabs and they were definitely taller and paler – this one is quite short and undeniably plump – must be something to do with the tropical climate. My question was more about why bring a tree – spices, precious metals, something to trade but a baobabs tree? This probably just shows my ignorance about early trade routes.. Agree completely about the hearse – M sadly didn’t include a picture of the coffin shop which was also pretty memorable
What wonderful looking Uber taxi and tuktuk. The expressions of the hapless group of men photo made me laugh
Me too! They were hopeless!