We had heard that up north, we would see Army and Police on every corner and be stopped more times than we could count..
But! We never found that.. In actual fact, in Jaffna particularly, we saw hardly any Army or Police...

And then we took the main road from Jaffna down to Vavuniya and wella! Hello Army and Police checks!!

In the 150km from Jaffna to Vavuniya, we were stopped by 4 Army checkpoints! More than in the entire time so far in SriLanka!! 

And wow, Police! In Vavuniya, in the space of 10 minutes, we were stopped 5 times!!

Sure, one time was because Roh was speeding... but still..

On the road we also saw alot more reminders from the war. A water tower that was knocked over...

And a tribute to a soldier who sacrificed his life to help defeat the "terrorist" Tamil Tigers...

I find it ironic that with every war, the victor is always the hero, and the loser is branded a terrorist... Why can't we just all get along and live in peace?

After bidding goodbye to the donkeys, we headed north along, what looked on the map to be, a main road that followed the sea. Our first stop was a beautiful old Shiva temple, one of the most important in the country. And we were lucky enough to be there for the amazing smells and sounds of morning Puja!

Gypsy loved the resident holy cow!

Having left nice and early, we were hopeful we would make Jaffna not too late in the afternoon. We hadn't eaten breakfast or even had our daily dose of Ceylon Tea! We figured we would find something in the first little town we went through. 
And then we saw it.. 
The dreaded "concrete road ends here" sign.... Oh no..

And so it took us over an hour to go the next 15 km....

We were finally reunited with bitumen long enough to get breakfast and for Gypsy to be passed around what seemed like the entire village. 

No sooner had we gotten back on the road and felt like we were finally making progress when it happened again.. Now you see it, now you don't... Goodbye again nice smooth road..

And so our journey to Jaffna went. Bitumen for 10 mins, bumpy dirt roads for an hour, then bitumen again.. 
What the roads were lacking in comfort though, they made up in wildlife! Being such a terrible road we didn't see too much other traffic apart from a couple of buses and trucks and the inevitable Army checkpoints, but we did see more variety of birdlife than I have ever seen before! Ibis, Peacock, Eagles, Herron, Kingfisher, Crows... To name the ones we recognised! It's just beautiful countryside!

When we finally made it to the bridge over to Jaffna we were surprised to see it was more of a rockwall through the shallows than an actual bridge. I swear you could walk over the strait it is that shallow! Quite surreal actually.

And so we arrived in beautiful, peaceful, tree-lined and shady Jaffna. We really like the chilled out vibe here. I think we will stay a while.... Gypsy, as always, is already making friends...

Even though the fighting here in northern SriLanka has been over for some time, there is still a bit of tension in some parts apparently. As a result, we were expecting to see lots and lots of Army and Police. 
That being said, we haven't seen anywhere near as many as we were expecting.

Since first entering the northern provinces we have been stopped at a couple of checkpoints, but, every SriLankan man is clucky, and so they see Gypsy, hold Gypsy, take photos with Gypsy, and then wave us on our way!

Here in Jaffna we were stopped by the police yesterday who wanted to check Roh's International license and SriLankan driving permit, aswell as the Tuktuk's paperwork, and then they waved and blew kisses to Gypsy and we were on our way again.
As far as foreign visitors goes atleast, everyone has been more than welcoming, if a little baffled at why we would chose to drive around in something like a bajaj!!