The train to Jaffna

I headed north from Colombo on the ten hour train ride to Jaffna, following Una's recommendation. I had reserved a seat but Emilio (on the left) and Giacomo were in standing room only having come that morning all the way from Weligama on the south coast, near where I had bee staying.  We got chatting and got on well so that we swapped phone numbers, and then bits of each of the next three days together.  They are friends from northern Italy.  Now we are all friends too. Giacomo is a surfer and has been in Sri Lanka for three months.  Emilio came to visit him in January and has to go home sooner.

I like the trains here as you can get so close to the landscape.  Here are E and G after the sun set.  Jaffna was still about forty miles away.