Anything can go here, in any language... except my native language Sinhala. Be cool... anybody is warmly welcomed! :)

Jaffna Tour (10/09/2010 to 12/09/2010)

If you've read my last post you'll find that I had a trip to Jaffna. Yes, it was last month, but I had nothing to do other than waiting for my internet connection to be restored. Sad. :( Early in the last month, our ADSL router seemed not working properly. So we handed it over to claim warranty. This caused me miss some important events including few career opportunities. I tried to use my mobile phone to connect, but it also failed. Although Airtel provides a very attractive and pleasing 'Youth Pack', no chance for us to use at least 100 MB of the 400 MB data bundle -- no 3G connectivity. I live in Ambalangoda, a well known coastal urban area in Sri Lanka, and I don't know why would such a big telecommunication service provider fail to offer a satisfactory service.

However, things are now OK as we got the router back yesterday evening. :)

---

Okey,... let's get back to the topic -- Jaffna. I had a chance to join a group of devotees who were on their way to Nainativu. For a person living in the Southern Province it's a fairly cheap travel to Jaffna. Since I'm a novice photographer I wanted to make this a chance to enjoy the art of photography also. So,... my K770i was back in action, althogh it has begun malfunctioning a bit. Here's the journey... (please click on each image to enlarge)


Turbine of Iranamadu power plant which was built by the LTTE.



This little guy seemed not ready to leave his pals at the camp.


Kilinochchi water tower which was destroyed by the LTTE.


A panorama of A9 highway at Elephant Pass. Camera is aimed along the way South.


Monument for the legendary hero of Hasalaka, Corporal Gamini Kularatne. [read story]


A pet aligator kept at a military camp, somewhere I don't exactly remember.


Nallur Kovil, Jaffna


Interior frescoes at Naga Vihara, Jaffna.


The narrow road from the peninsula to an island.
If my memory is correct this is the way to Mandativu, as we were heading to Nainativu.


Prawn traps set in the lagoon


Way to the boatyard. Boats are used as the transportation means to Nainativu (Naga Deepa).


The lord settling up the dispute between Chulodara and Mahodara [read story]


Cattles!
(I took this one sitting on the foot-board of the bus,
and I was not able to properly aim the camera with just one hand.
Also the bus was moving at a speed)


Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa monument [read story]


Thewarikkulam tank - uncommon, but it was somewhere near the rest house.


Remainders of a/the railroad?


Dagabas at Kadurugoda Ancient Vihara - a landmark that you should visit!


Bhikkhuni (nun) Sangamitta statue


Statues at Naguleswaram Kovil


Cultivation in Jaffna


Nilavarai water well - a natural well believed to have no bottom
This is the last landmark we could vi
sit during the tour


The danger zone
Landmines are not yet 100% cleared in Muhamalai.
As you can see in the photo, only the narrow area surrounded by the ribbon is safe.
This is almost aside along the A9 highway.


The Monument of Victory!


Dignity of the LIONS... towards the infinity...!


I have many more. Not all are worthy shots, but I've kept them because I believe that in any particular graphic any viewer other than myself may see something that I may never see. They're available to download.


---

Since sunlight is too heavy in the North province, lighting quality of raw photographs were poor. Even automatic white balance settings in my camera didn't work. So I had to do some post-fixes such as curves and levels, with the use of GIMP 2.6 software. This is something usually I don't like to do becuse I believe that the photographer must retain the original lighting conditions whenever possible; simply because photography is the art of capturing light.

Overall I'm not satisfied with my photography experience during this tour. I even missed several 24k shots. If you're a reader of my Sinhala blog, you could know that I had a wondeful experience in our tour last year. This time it was with a group of devotees and the tour was to worship Nainativu and some other religious activities. No no time to wait and capture light... what do do? :(

Okey... thanks for reading! Have a great time!!


PS:
If you use Airtel be sure to keep your phone in 'Flight mode' to save battery. Your Airtel SIM will act as a world class dumb SIM, as it is required for nothing but keeping few other phone functionalities other than communication. X(  

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