Travelogue Bangladesh
2000 Rita Müller +
Andi
Hefti (16.9
-19.10.2000)
'Come to Bangladesh before the
tourists'! Actually, Bangladesh
is like India,
but different. The tourist industry is not very
developed yet (at least not for western tourists),
nevertheless the infrastructure is available. During the 4
1/2 weeks we spent in Bangladesh, we only met 9 other
tourists, apart from in Dhaka where there were a few more.
We always got to the places we intended (with Rickshaws,
Baby-Taxis (three wheeled scooter), boats or buses; we
always found some place to sleep. If there was no hotel,
like in Lama Bazar, a small place at the Bandarban Hill
Tracts (the hilly area in the southeast, close to the border
to Myanmar), we were allowed to stay at the Forestry
Department guesthouse. One condition for being able to stay
there was to notify and ask the Forestry Department director
for permission in written form prior to going there.We
always were able to find something to eat, mostly rice and
dal (lentil soup), eggs or fish
and vegetables, at times some naan (bread made in a clay
oven). But the quality never was as good as in India. We
hardly ever had (except once each) any stomach trouble due
to food. Although we never came across as many mosquitoes as
expected, we were not spared from them. But it was not so
bad for a country with such a huge amount of water as
Bangladesh. The people were very helpful and hospitable,
frequently we got invited for a tea (cha) or for a
meal. At Lama Bazar, where we had to stay two days longer
than scheduled (there was a bus strike, until we detected
there are some small boats navigating to the coast),
Mohammad Ali (no boxing experience!), block supervisor of
the Agriculture Office, showed us around the
area. This included the
Buddhist temple (bara khyang), the small villages from the
tribal people with their bamboo houses on stilts. We saw
alot of paddy
fields (where aren't there any
paddy fields in Bangladesh?), banana trees and forests in
this hilly area. The small roads are often made
of brick, due to the fact,
that there aren't any stones in Bangladesh, only clay and
sand. On the market day, alot
of (tribal) people trooped
from all directions into town. They carried heavy loads on
their heads, or in two baskets, which were hanging on a
bamboo stick over their shoulders. On the riverside,
bamboo
was bound together like a
raft. Many of these rafts were bound together and built up
like a big carpet, floating down the river to the next road,
where they were loaded onto trucks. At night it was very
quiet, we could only hear the chirping of the cicadas, and
the croaking of the frogs. Thousands of fireflies zipped
around the paddy fields. Communication with the people was
not so easy. Only a few people spoke English, our Bangla was
not much better. Frequently, when we were pausing to a
have
tea or a Coke, approx. ten
people were standing around us and looked at us. One of them
asked, where we were coming from (which country?), asked our
names, if we were married and having children, then he
translated the answer to the others: the folks was always
very curious, but always very kind. In big cities, like
Dhaka or Chittagong, there is huge traffic chaos. Streets
are totally blocked with Rickshaws,
Baby Taxis and buses. All the time there is hooting and
ringing. On the highways there is only one traffic rule: the
heaviest has precedence, first the trucks, then the buses,
cars, Baby Taxis, Rickshaws, bicycles and lastly the
pedestrians. Buses are driving honking at full tilt through
the villages (at full throttle), only slowing down, if
somebody wants to get on or off. We experienced a couple of
near misses. How nice and quiet it is to take a boat. From
Teknaf
(the south eastern tip of Bangladesh, at the border to
Myanmar) we went on a wooden
boat for about three hours
(together with approx. 40 people and a water buffalo) to
St.Martin's Island, a small coral island, where there are no
cars nor rickshaws, only a couple of bicycles (!). The
island is full of coconut trees, paddy fields and fish
drying in the sun along the beach. Life is peaceful and
easy, there is no electricity (anymore). After sundown,
around 6 p.m., it gets and remains mostly dark. With some
kerosene lamps or candles, there is not much light (at least
not enough for us) to read some books, we went to bed early.
There are some beautiful beaches
on St.Martin's and big waves. We had some long
walks
along the beaches, but in five
hours we walked around the whole island. Before we were to
leave there was some very stormy weather. We had to stay two
more (dark and rainy) days, than we had planed, because the
boat couldn't sail to the mainland. With a big
boat we sailed from Chittagong
to Barisal
to the actual delta of the Ganga river. The
1stclass cabin had two windows and a door with a
mosquito net. At every moment there were some local folks
gaping into the cabin. We did feel like being in a zoo (but
on the wrong side of the fence!). It's nearly impossible for
tourists to have a private life. With another small boat (a
modified lifeboat from the ship breaking yard in
Chittagong), we undertook at Mongla, a nice day trip to the
Sundarbans
National Park. This is a giant mangrove belt, jungle and
alot of rivers. Situated 80 km away from the open sea, still
under the influence by the tides, big ocean vessels navigate
until Mongla port, to unload their freight to some smaller
boats. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to sail very
deeply into the jungle. The officer at the forest station
didn't give us permission to do this. He said, they recently
had some problems with pirates and robberies. Nevertheless,
we had a nice impression of the forest. It was so green, I
didn't know there are so many different shades of green. The
ship breaking place in Chittagong (where the small boat in
Mongla originally came from) is situated about 45 minutes
away by Baby Taxi from the city. Already on the journey to
this place, we saw alot of merchants selling kitchen
fittings, chairs, toilets, pipes and scrap metal. Huge ships
brought there at high tide and run aground, taken apart with
welding torches, and dragged to the shore with the help of
winches. Some men cut these parts into smaller pieces, and
up to ten guys load the pieces onto trucks (handmade
in Bangladesh).Yet another
trip on a boat was with the "rocket",
a paddle steamer from 1936, which brought us from Khulna
back to Dhaka. There was a separate deck for the
1stclass passengers with chairs and air
conditioning. We sailed 30 hours with the rocket through
rivers
and canals, passing by paddy
fields (!) and small villages, until we finally reached
middle of Dhaka in the morning. There were alot of vessels
and freighters, small
fishing and ferry boats on the
river. We only spent as little time as possible in Dhaka.
It's always noisy, has bad air pollution, and heavy traffic.
But in the better quarters of the city, there is alot of
construction of residential house as well as commercial
buildings. We spent a very interesting time in
Bangladesh. Many things were much different than we had
anticipated. We never had the feeling, that the poverty is
overrunning us (as it did sometimes in India). People do not
live in slendour, but they have what they need. We were
particularly surprised in a positive way by the people of
Bangladesh. The scenery is so overwhelming. It's
so green, so flat and there is so much water. © Andi Hefti 2000
