I arrived in Bangladesh on January 8th, 2024, the day after the General Election. The incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected to enter her fourth term in office. It was reported that some dissenters were protesting aggressively in Dhaka, weeks leading to the election.
Before I boarded the plane from Kuala Lumpur, I made a conscious decision of skipping the capital city until things settled down more. So I carefully mapped out a totally different route to visit Bangladesh. Instead of doing my routine circling around a country, I zigzagged BD in order of popularity of the attractions. In the event that I had to leave the country before the scheduled departure date, I would have visited the more important sites.
I took an express train to Chittagong within a couple hours of arrival in the Dhaka Airport. Then I visited the world's longest unbroken natural beach in Cox's Bazar, 150 kms south of Chittagong. Then I headed to the NW corner to visit my first UNESCO site in Bangladesh. Somapura Mahavihara is ancient Buddhist temple ruins from the 8th century. It turned out to be my favourite place in Bangladesh.
I spent five nights in my next destination city, Khulna. The second Bangladeshi UNESCO site is in Bagerhat which is 50 kms south of Khulna. There I learnt about a local saint, Khan Jahan Ali. His mausoleum and pond are revered by the locals. Many people washed themselves in the pond. Other than the Mosque of Sixty Domes, the Mausoleum and pond of the saint were visited by all local tourists.
Unfortunately I was not able to visit the Sundarbans and perchance see the Royal Bengal Tigers. Well, I found out later that I would not be able to spot a tiger so easily because they are usually sighted near late afternoons. There are only 104 Bengal Tigers in the entire National Park.
From Khulna, I headed out to the NE corner, Sylhet City which is near the Indian border. The NE corner of Bangladesh is famous for its tea gardens. However, I came at a wrong time. The tea gardens were pretty brown.
The last stop is the capital city, Dhaka. I spent several days visiting Old Dhaka. I managed to visit Sonargaon before bidding farewell to Bangladesh. Sonargaon was founded in the 13th century and abandoned in the 19th century.
Bangladesh is also known for its many rivers. I had plans to take an overnight ferry from Dhaka to visit Barisal. A chain of events in the last week of my visit prevented me from visiting the "Venice of the East". Instead I had an opportunity to see the more modern side of Dhaka and I did more shopping.
My biggest pet peeve is the traffic congestion in all Bangladeshi cities. The drivers have a habit of honking with or without problems. The air is very dusty. The locals are constantly spitting. The streets and waterways are filled with litter. Even the toll roads are in poor condition. A 250 km trip would often take more than eight hours to complete.
Many Bangladeshis asked me what I think of their country. My honest reply would always be, "It is a very unique country". I didn't think manual rickshaws would still be in use in the 21st century but I rode on them many times. I did not think there would be day labourers working at the docks loading and unloading cargo boats and trucks. But I stayed in a hotel where these labourers also stayed in Khulna. They were always so kind to me even when I teased them with my silly jokes. May God protect and keep Bangladeshi people from all harms.
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