BANGLADESH – The Trip

Bangladesh March 7-17, 2023

Bangladesh is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with over 165 million people in an area of 148,460 square kilometres making it among the most densely populated countries in the world. It shares land borders with India to the west, north, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast; to the south, it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor; and from China by the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation’s political, financial and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language is Bengali, one of the easternmost branches of the Indo-European language family.
Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided during the Partition of India in 1947. The country has a Bengali Muslim majority. The Muslim conquest of Bengal began in 1204. Under Mughal rule, eastern Bengal continued to prosper as the melting pot of Muslims in the eastern subcontinent and attracted traders from around the world.
After the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, the 1971 Bangladesh genocide and the massacre of pro-independence Bengali civilians, including intellectuals, the new state of Bangladesh was formed in 1972.
A middle power in the Indo-Pacific, Bangladesh is the second largest economy in South Asia. It maintains the third-largest military in the region and is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. The large Muslim population of Bangladesh makes it the third-largest Muslim-majority country. It hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world due to the Rohingya genocide. Bangladesh faces many challenges, particularly corruption and the effects of climate change.
Bangladesh as a vacation land has many facets. Her tourist attractions include archaeological sites, historic mosques and monuments, resorts, beaches, picnic spots, forests and wildlife and unforgettable experiences that remain relatively unknown to the rest of the world.

Capital. Dhaka
Official Language. Bengali. English uncommon.
Ethnic groups. Bengalis 99%
Religion. Islam 91.04%, Hinduism 7.95%, Buddhism .61%, Christianity .30%
Independence from Pakistan. 1971
Area. 148,460 km² (92nd)
Population. 165,158,616 (8th). Density – 1,106/km² (7th)
GDP (PPP). $1.36 trillion (25th). Per capita – $7,985 (129th)
GDP (Nominal). $461 billion (35th). Per capita – $2,734 (137th)
Gini. 32.4 medium
HDI. 0.661 medium · 129th
Currency. Taka (BDT) 1US$ = 105.27BDT; 1 € = 111.03BDT, 1CA$ = 76.55BDT. (xe.com March 2023)
Driving Side. Left
Country code. +880

Visa. Visa on Arrival. I mistakenly filled out the Visa application online that wasn’t necessary. I missed the VOA counter on the right and waited in line for a half hour in the normal line along with about 1000 others, the longest lineup in the world and the most passport types in the world (citizen, expatriate, foreign, diplomatic).
Requirements. Pay US$51. Fill out a short form. List accommodation, arrival flight, exit flight (I had made a fake flight as I didn’t know when I was going to leave) and Covid
vaccination status.
At immigration, my visa said Mar 16 (even though it was a 30-day visa, at entry when asked how long I was staying, I said 10 days and she put it on my visa!!!) I was supposed to pay a fine but the officer let me off and then stamped in the centre of a page. I learned another lesson here. 

SIM card. Easy at the airport 800T ($7.50) for 12 gigs and 15 days. Registration and activation are very fast.
Transportation. Getting around is difficult as there are no traffic lights (major intersections have police directing traffic) and the only right of way is if you can edge ahead of the next guy. If there is no police control, every intersection becomes a quagmire of a few vehicles getting across before the next lane edges into the fray. Prices are very cheap except if you are renting a car. Horning is common and used to warn people and also get them out of the way.
Rickshaw. I haven’t seen these since Kolkata India but they are easily the most common way to get around and there are millions of them – this is possible as Bangladesh is so flat as any hill makes a rickshaw very difficult. They are of two types – bicycle (these also serve as the major freight hauling method and are a significant impediment to traffic flow as they carry enormous loads). and motor with an electric battery. Very cheap.
Tuk-tuk. Also very common but more expensive.
Share van. There are a few of these driving-specific routes.
Motorcycles. These are the most efficient as they have speed and can edge into traffic better and get around other vehicles. Easily the best way to get around Dhaka. Uber has a motorcycle option that is 1/10 the price of a car.
Renting a scooter also seemed hard as they wanted a lot of info – Uber image, NID, DL. I tried using Chaad in Dhaka, went a long way to their office on the 9th floor of an office building, waited 30 minutes and no one arrived. I think I could have managed although Old Town Dhaka may have been a challenge, as many areas have little traffic.
Taxi. Use Uber, a very efficient booking system and cheap. Motorcycles are much cheaper and tons more efficient than cars.
Bus. Dhaka public buses have great difficulty negotiating around because of their size. I have never seen such beat-up vehicles. Seem to ply major routes. I rarely use these as so hard to figure out.
Intercity bus. Use Shohos.com, a group booking site to access all bus companies (in Dhaka, each company seemed to have its own terminal but on the other sites, most buses are found together in one large terminal – much easier), my first bus was deluxe “sleeper” seat for 1400 T to Khulna, very nice, just like Brazil, but the second long bus was ordinary.
Buses tend to be faster than trains as they stop much less often. Roads outside cities are not busy.
Car. It appears that renting a car without a driver is not possible in Bangladesh, just like in Pakistan. To go anywhere out of the way means hiring a private car and driver which gets expensive as hotels book through tour agencies, much more than renting a car. And these drivers are nothing special. About $38 for a 2-hour drive.
Train. I thought one must register on the Bangladesh Railways to take any trip but apparently one can simply buy the ticket on the train. There is a foreigner option. I tried at least 10 times but never could get the OTP (verification code) to finish the registration process (the phone number worked perfectly well every other time I used it for other things so I knew it was correct, I even “borrowed” other people’s numbers to get the OTP but they didn’t work either), and even went up to the tech guy in an office whose solution was to get a new SIM. So I erroneously resigned myself to using buses or flying.
Plane. There are three domestic carriers with varying destinations. Note that some don’t have daily flights but all fly via Dhaka.
Novo Air. My favourite. Flies daily to all 8 airports in Bangladesh and Kolkata internationally.
Biman. Domestic flights to 8 airports and many international destinations.
US Bangla. Flies to all 8 domestic airports and many international destinations but no daily.
Hours: Thursday and Friday are holidays. Most things open at 3 pm on Fridays. The National Museum, the Art and the Liberation Museum in Dhaka are closed on both days.
Mosques. The Tara and Chawkbazar Shahi mosques in Dhaka are as pretty as any mosques in the world. Can’t enter with shorts (but I have zip-on legs). All have large ablution areas that are actively used. Islam here has strong rules.
Food. Most of the street food is pretty good (not as good as Pakistan) with pakoras, dahl roti, and many others I don’t know the names of. A lot have potato +/- vegetables in dough and deep fried. In Khulna, there was a crispy deep-fried shell filled with a veg puree, topped with onion and cilantro and served with a thin “sauce” that was truly delicious.

Some Observations about Bangladesh
1. People. There are a lot of them in this high-density population country. There were many women with no hijab (head scarf) as this is a secular country where women have a choice. I initially thought they were Hindu but apparently, women have complete freedom about how they dress and most were Muslim, many attractive. Maybe the ugly ones were wearing hijabs? I find Muslim women in hijab and long outfits very unattractive – and intentionally made that way so men don’t look at them. There is cultural pressure to wear all this stuff – the Muslim community, their families and husbands. After they have had children, most are fat and get very out of shape. Hindus can be identified as the ones with a bindi (red dot on forehead) and a white bangle on their writs.
There are a few beggars, all Muslim, some very old but most young women with infants or kids living on the sidewalks. The kids are taught to beg. One of the five tenets of Islam is charity to the poor and they seem to see me as a walking bank.
Muslim teenagers around my hotel dressed very modern – no hijab, long hair (often to their knees), arms showing. I didn’t know Muslims could be so attractive.
Everyone stares at me, sometimes for a long time. I stand out with my white skin and shorts but my blue eyes seem to be a real attraction. I didn’t see white folks until Khulna where there was a Belgian old man and a group of Americans visiting an American agricultural consultant who has lived in Bangladesh for 34 years.
Many of the older men who are going grey dye their hair but most use a weird orange dye in the hair and beards that looks atrocious.
The men I have dealt with a very kind and generous, some of the nicest people anywhere. I had great help from two motorcycle drivers. Unlike India, people don’t come up and ask for photos all the time. Women never talk to you.
Many men smoke but buy only one at a time, buying from the numerous vendors who are surprised when you buy a whole pack (about $3).
2. Corruption. Bangladesh in 2020 was becoming an economic marvel with 7% growth but inept politicians (especially involving the 75-year-old president) and corruption are hampering progress. Bangladesh has the highest GDP/per person of any other South Asia country.
My trip to the Sundarbans was a case in point. The tour operator said that the boat would cost 2000T – it was 4000 at the boat. He said I would be given a boat number and the boat skipper would expect me – nothing was arranged and I arranged it all myself. The cost of the driver was supposed to be 500T but ended up being 4500! and everyone expected a tip.
3. Mosquitos are everywhere, especially at the airport (the terminal is even full of them). They come out at dusk and last all night. They find you on the 5th floor of your hotel room. It is not possible to buy DEET-containing repellents as it seems Bangladeshis don’t trust it (despite being proven to be very safe). Everyone sleeps under a mosquito net..
4. Islam and being a Muslim. Bangladesh is very secular tolerating all religions. I don’t see people praying all over the place but only in mosques. It is complicated but there is a big difference between Islam and how it is practiced daily.
Few B Muslims have more than one wife and most don’t aspire to more than one. Opi, a fellow I met in Rajshahi, was married for one year to a woman he had been in a great relationship but they had never been sexually active in all that time. He said they were unusual and most couples are sexually active before marriage.
Women are free to wear hijab or not. Opi’s wife does so that men don’t sexually look at her. About a third wear veils. Russel, my driver, wants his wife to ninja.
There is a real double standard everywhere with a lot of sexual hypocrisy. Men are often very sexually active before marriage but use prostitutes.
5. Rice. Bangladesh is perfect for rice as it is so flat. It is everywhere with crops in all stages of growth. They can plant 4 crops per year. They eat it for every meal. There are ponds and canals everywhere with pumps to water the fields.
6. Weather. In my 10 days in Bangladesh, there was zero rain and very warm temperatures averaging 35°C. Smog though makes for grey skies. The entire South Asia region has been in a usual heat wave (it was about the same in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. But humidity has been low and the temperature very tolerable.
7. Costs. Two things are relatively expensive in Bangladesh: hotels I have stayed at start at ~2000 and range to 3600 (US$20-36) and renting cars. Other things like food (street food dinner $1), and rides on rickshaws (30 cents) are very cheap.

Day 1 Tue Mar 7
GREATER DHAKA (Jamalpur)
Flight. Bangkok – Dhaka (DAC) Air Asia 23:00 – 01:00 arriving on the 7th; 132CA$
The airport area is a haven for mosquitos as it is surrounded by a lot of swamps. I got 5 bites in the bus ride from the plane to the terminal and had to wear a mosquito headnet during my sleep as there were also a lot in the airport. I slept well at the airport in departures but was woken up by a lot of noise at 5 am as I was next to check-in counters. 
I tried unsuccessfully to get an Uber and finally settled on a tuk-tuk to take me 4.8 km to the Uttara Metro Station. It was closed as it was a “metro holiday”!! I then took an Uber the 21 km to my booked hotel, most at a snail’s pace as he was very slow, non-aggressive and because of the traffic as it neared my hotel 700T (about $6.50, very cheap for a taxi). 
My booked hotel Shah Alam Villas (villas is the greatest misnomer in the world as it was a dank apartment building squeezed between several others) was down a tiny lane and only merchants within 10 m of the entrance knew where it was. The owner was there and apologized as it was not open due to renovation (he had not paid any attention to the Booking.com website for a while) and his phone number didn’t work as he lost his phone a week ago. He otherwise was extremely nice, spoke fluent English (lab tech), took me for brunch of parotta, egg and coffee and found another hotel.
I took a motor rickshaw the 2.8 km (50 cents) to my new hotel.
ON Embassy Inn Hotel. A cheap place with a reception on the third floor. Single room with bath 2130 T but I paid 2000. With A/C and a fan, a good bed, no refrigerator, and no means of getting hot water. On the 4th floor so good exercise. Many food choices nearby including an expensive Burger King. A small place around the corner has great food (chilli chicken is great). Supermarket close. 

DHAKA (pop 23,210,000 metro) is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is the sixth-largest and seventh-most densely populated city in the world. Dhaka is a megacity and has a population of 10.2 million residents as of 2022, and a population of over 22.4 million residents in Greater Dhaka. It is widely considered to be the most densely populated built-up urban area in the world. Dhaka is an important cultural, economic, and scientific hub of the Bengal region and South Asia, as well as a major Muslim-majority city. Dhaka ranks third in South Asia and 39th in the world in terms of urban GDP. Lying on the Ganges Delta, it is bounded by the Buriganga, Turag, Dhaleshwari and Shitalakshya rivers. Dhaka is also the largest Bengali-speaking city in the world.
The area of Dhaka has been inhabited since the first millennium. An early modern city developed in the 17th century as a provincial capital and commercial centre of the Mughal Empire. Dhaka was the capital of a proto-industrialised Mughal Bengal for 75 years (1608–39 and 1660–1704). It was the hub of the muslin trade in Bengal and one of the most prosperous cities in the world. The pre-colonial city’s glory peaked in the 17th and 18th centuries when it was home to merchants from across Eurasia. The Port of Dhaka was a major trading post for both riverine and seaborne trade. The Mughals decorated the city with well-laid gardens, tombs, mosques, palaces and forts. Under British rule, the city saw the introduction of electricity, railways, cinemas, Western-style universities and colleges and a modern water supply. It became an important administrative and educational centre in the British Raj, as the capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam province after 1905. In 1947, after the end of British rule, the city became the administrative capital of East Pakistan. It was declared the legislative capital of Pakistan in 1962. In 1971, after the Liberation War, it became the capital of independent Bangladesh.
A beta-global city, Dhaka is the centre of political, economic and cultural life in Bangladesh.
The city’s culture is known for its rickshaws, biryani, art festivals and religious diversity. The old city is home to around 2000 buildings from the Mughal and British periods.
This is the last of the 25 largest cities in the world I have visited.
Dhaka Airport (DAC)

Day 2 Wed Mar 8
I found out that the evening of the 7th and all day on the 8th was a holiday (Muhammad al-Mahdi, the final Shia Imām, was born on 15 Sha’ban. Shi’as celebrate Muhammad al-Mahdi’s birthday on that day and perform religious acts such as prayers for the reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi, fasting, and worship. In South Asia, Muslims make sweets (especially Halwa or Zarda) to be given to the neighbours and the poor on the evening before the 15th of Sha’ban) so everything was closed on my first day to see the sites of Dhaka. I ended up sleeping a lot to catch up, went for a short walk, had excellent chilli chicken and rice (200 T, $1,90), and bought a needed power cord for my computer.
I ended up being awake for several hours during the night. 
I thus took an enforced day off but it was much needed after a month of hectic travel in SE Asia. I also had a lot of business to catch up including updating this website, washing clothes, arranging a car rental, booking a scooter for tomorrow, and train, or bus tickets for Friday to leave Dhaka.
ON Embassy Inn.

Day 3 Thur Mar 9
I had asked for some hot water for coffee but they bought a huge bucket so that I could have hot water to bathe! I learned that Thursday was also a holiday for some museums so it was not going to be as productive a day as I had hoped.
I caught a motorcycle taxi 5 km to Chaad Rentals to get my scooter. It was supposed to open at 9, I arrived at 9:45, and waited until 10:15, but they didn’t appear and I left to see Dhaka by rickshaw or motorcycle taxi. I walked to the first two. All the distances between sites seemed to be 1-2.5 km between so walking a lot is not very practical.
Liberation War Museum was established in 1996 to commemorate the heroic struggle of the Bengali nation for their democratic and national rights. The struggle turned into an armed conflict following the genocide unleashed by the military rulers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and culminated with the emergence of Bangladesh as a secular, democratic state in December 1971.
Hindu-Muslim communal tensions fanned by the British colonial rulers to perpetuate their hold on India led to the partition of India in 1947. Pakistan was created as a separate homeland for Muslims. This unnatural separation of the Bengali society based on religion created deep fissures in a society – which had hitherto had a pluralistic character. The Province of East Pakistan was physically separated from West Pakistan by a thousand miles. Pakistan therefore, was an unrealistic and dysfunctional state from the very beginning. The Pakistani ruling elite controlled by the military elite subjugated the Bengalis politically, culturally and economically and therefore the disillusionment with the new nation was not surprising. In the first-ever national Parliamentary elections held in 1970 based on a one-man-one-vote basis, the Bengali nationalist forces led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won a landslide victory and his party, the Awami League became the majority party of Pakistan as a whole, and in accordance with democratic norms, was expected to form the new government. However, in an attempt to crush this nationalistic movement, the Pakistani Military Junta unleashed a systematic genocide against the Bengali people on the fateful night of March 25, 1971. The Junta received support only from a handful of religion-based local parties and religious fundamentalists. The Pakistani rampage in the nine months of 1971 resulted in the worst genocide since the Second World War, an estimated 3 million people was killed, some 278,000 women were raped and 10 million had to take refuge in neighbouring India. A government in exile was quickly formed and the resistance started becoming more and more co-ordinated. Young people from the villages and students took military training and the Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters) started fighting back the occupation forces divided into 11 Sectors, adopting guerilla tactics and keeping the Pakistani army in a harassed and indefensible state. By September these half-trained young men had infiltrated deep inside Bangladesh and a large part of the country was virtually self-ruled. On December 3, after Pakistan attacked and bombed airfields in the western part of India, the Allied Command of the Indian Army and the Muktibahini (Bangladesh Freedom Fighters) was formed and they started the formal armed assault. On December 16, 1971, the Pakistani Armed Forces ignominiously surrendered to this Allied Command and independent Bangladesh was born as a democratic and secular state.
Museum displays include rare photographs, documents, coverage in both electronic and print media and materials used by freedom fighters and martyrs of the Liberation War.
I stopped at a tiny restaurant and had an excellent dahl + fried egg with roti. I sat next to two guys who insisted on paying for me.
Kamalapur Railway Station. I took a rickshaw 50 T to the railway station to get a ticket to Khulna. It was not possible to buy a ticket without registering with the Bangladesh Railway. I had tried several times to do that but was unable to receive a verification code (OTP), a lovely man tried again several times at the station and I finally went to the “tech guy” who finally said that I needed to get a new SIM card (a woman from India was also there with the same problem).
After wasting 2 hours, I finally gave up, went outside and got a motorcycle taxi. Akash (Sky) Whatsapp 01644471977 spoke fair English and was smart enough to understand Google Maps and drove me around for the rest of the day. I paid him 1500 T ($14.25) for about 4 hours of driving. He was a very nice accommodating guy, driving for about 4 years, married with one child. 
Rose Garden Palace is a mansion and garden in Old Dhaka built in the late 19th century by a Hindu lower-caste landlord who lived there for a decade. In 1927, he became bankrupt, it was sold a few times and became the birthplace of the Awami League in 1949 when East Bengali liberal and social democrats converged in Dhaka to form an alternative political force against the Muslim League in Pakistan. The government has revealed plans to turn it into a museum but has been closed since. It can’t be visited and one can only see the top half of the mansion above the walls.
Baldha Garden. A small garden with many trees, a pond, no flowers and a place where Muslim “lovers” hang out. Very dusty. It is not a botanical garden per se. 20 T 
Ahsan Manzil Palace Built during the Mughal Empire and after changing hands a number of times over the next several centuries, was severely damaged in a tornado, abandoned, renovated several times, was a slum and finally bought by the government in 1985, renovated and transferred to the government. It is 125.4 metres by 28.75 metres, and has 5-metre porticos, and verandas with open terraces. It has 2 sides – Rangmahal has a 27 m high dome, a drawing room, a card room, a library, a stateroom, and two guest rooms; Andarmahal has a ballroom, a storeroom, an assembly room, a chest room, a dining hall, a music room, and a few residential rooms. 27.13 metres (89.0 ft) tall. 200T

Armenian Church. Walk over several graves that are part of the sidewalk and terrace and peer through the door at the back. It is a simple white structure inside and out with clear windows and a wood altar.
Tara Mosque (Star Mosque). One of the prettiest mosques both inside and out – ornate tiles in many styles, 5 domes with blue stars on the outside.

Chawkbazar Shahi Mosque. In the chaotic old town, it is the centre of a maze of pedestrian streets and then a tiny lane to get here. A single minaret and lovely tiles on the walls and round columns.
Puran Dhaka, The older part of Dhaka, is a city of history, with hundred-year-old buildings crammed on each side of hundreds of narrow lanes. Each “Moholla” (city block) of Puran Dhaka is unique with its specialized shops and artisans and gives an authentic taste of what Dhaka is all about. The traffic is part of the experience – pedestrians, guys carrying enormous loads on their heads, the freight rickshaws carrying enormous loads (these block traffic) and a lot of rickshaws carrying people. A place full of smells from all the spice shops, sounds and atmosphere.
Don’t miss old Dhaka, the best part of the city.
Central Shaheed Minar. National memorial dedicated to the Bengali Language Movement activists killed during protests in 1952. Two sets of brick stairs lead up to rectangular monuments.  
Lalbagh Fort. Tentative WHS (17/02/1999). An incomplete 17th-century Mughal fort complex on the Buriganga River in the southwest. Built-in 1678 AD by the son of Emperor Aurangzeb. His successor, Shaista Khan, did not continue the work, though he stayed in Dhaka up to 1688. The fort was never completed, and unoccupied for a long period. Much of the complex was built over and now sits across from modern buildings.
For long the fort was considered to be a combination of three buildings: Diwan-i-Aam is a two-storied residence of the Mughal governor of Bengal. A square-shaped water tank (71.63m on each side) is placed to the east of the Diwan-i-Aam. There are four corner stairs to descend into the tank. The tomb of Bibi Pari, the daughter of Shaista Khan, is in the middle of the complex. The entire inner wall is covered with white marble. Eight rooms surround the central one. Lalbagh Fort Mosque has three domes, relatively small with a water tank for ablutions in front.
The fort is mostly a garden with lawns, hedges and flowers. 200 T

Baitul Mukarram. The National Mosque of Bangladesh (and the largest in the country), is a sprawling mosque complex with spacious interior courtyards, a soaring minaret and geometric archways. Completed in 1968, it has a capacity of 42,000+. A mosque without a dome over the roof of its main prayer hall is unique. The mosque has several modern architectural features while preserving traditional Mughal architecture. Its large cube shape was modelled after that of the Ka’abah at Mecca making it a noticeable structure, unlike any other mosque in Bangladesh.
St. Mary’s Cathedral. A plain rectangular building with 3 naves and plain white walls. I was let in by the guard. Also a convent and archbishop’s residence.
Ramna Park. In the NM Urban Legends series, this is a large, tranquil green space with trees, formal gardens, paved walkways, a playground, a lake and a racecourse.
We passed by the Supreme Court an impressive white colonial building in a large park. 
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre (Planetariums), there are six astronomy shows per day each lasting about 2 hours. 30 Entries + 100 T per show. Also digital exhibits, a 5-D theatre, Virtual reality, and a free Nuclear Energy exhibit.
Bangladesh Military Museum. Many jets (one on the roof), tanks and artillery in the grounds and a lot of rather boring exhibits on uniforms, weapons, history and photographs. 100 T
Parliament Building (Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban). In the NM Modern Architecture Buildings, this is a cubist structure with pools and several small brick buildings in trees that are residences for MPs).
The Bhaban consists of nine individual blocks: the eight peripheral blocks are 110′ high while the central octagonal block is 155′. All nine blocks include different groups of functional spaces and have different levels, interlinked horizontally and vertically by corridors, lifts, stairs, light courts, and circular areas. The entire structure is designed to blend into one single, non-differentiable unit, that appears from the exterior to be a single story.
The main committee rooms are located on level two in one of the peripheral blocks. All parliamentary functionaries, including Ministers and chairpersons of some Standing Committees, have offices in the Bhaban.
The Parliament Chamber holds 354 members. There are also two podia and two galleries for VIP visitors. 117 ft (36 m) with a parabolic shell roof designed with a clearance of a single story to let in daylight.

Baitul Falah Jame Masjid. It is a not-so-interesting mosque with plain white walls and a grey marble mihrab.
Bangabandhu Museum. (Father of The Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum). This is the house of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was also called Bangabandhu, the founder and president of Bangladesh. 
Sheikh Rahman was imprisoned until 1960; after his release, he constructed a one-storey house here where he lived in the two-room, unfinished house with his family, In 1966, the house was extended to two storeys and became a complete residential building. On the night of 25 to 26 March 1971, Sheikh Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh in the house shortly before the Pakistani army arrested him. After Sheikh Rahman returned from Pakistan, he and his family returned to the house, where they lived from February 1972 to August 1975. On 15 August 1975, disgruntled army officers assassinated Sheikh Rahman, his wife Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, and their sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel.
A three-story flat-roofed building with period furniture and many photographs. Lots of security – can’t enter with a bag, motorcycle helmet or phone and must park down the road outside a barricade. An amazing price of 5 T (5 cents).
I left Akash at a mall near my hotel and walked down sampling the street food. At about 7, I walked the 1 km to the New Market.
New Market. Built in 1954, it has an imposing entrance with a hexagonal tower. This large market (and the shopping mall and other markets in the area) makes for a shopping mecca.

Day 4 Fri March 10
Up early, showered and left my main pack at the hotel, I took a VIP bus to Khulna (Greenlines 1400 T) for the 4-hour drive. As per usual, I arrived at the bus terminal (Green Line Paribahan) with a great and very helpful motorcycle taxi (Farruq Whats App 01684595059) at 08:10 and got a bus that left at 08:45 arriving at 13:00 (about 4 hours faster than the train as it is slow and has many stops). No place to stay yet but no worries. 
I sat next to a man who worked for World Aid and he was quite helpful in recommending a hotel and how to get to the Sundarbans.
I enquired at Greenlines about a bus to Ryshahi. They said that there was none and the train was the only option. Seeing as that was out of the question, it was disheartening news. Maybe the only option is to fly. 

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BARISAL, KHULNA (Jessore, Sundarbans)
KHULNA (pop 1,022 million 2014). The third largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and Chittagong, a port city on the Rupsha and Bhairab Rivers. It is the second-largest seaport in the country, a hub of Bangladeshi industry and one of the two principal naval command centres of the Bangladesh Navy.
A colonial steamboat service, including the Tern, Osrich and Lepcha, continues to operate on the river route to the city. Khulna is considered the gateway to the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home of the Bengal tiger. North is the Mosque City of Bagerhat.
Khulna is a much more gritty place than Dhaka – more garbage, a lot of unfinished construction, broken sidewalks, packed dirt unfinished areas between the street and sidewalk, and open sewers. The people were also much different and many approached me asking questions which rarely happened in Dhaka – What is your country and asked to take selfies. Fewer rickshaws and more tuk-tuks.
Khan Jahan Ali Bridge. Over the River Rupsh, it connects Khulna to Mongla Port, the second largest port in the country. It is 1600 m long and is only 4.5 km from Khulna. We drove over this bridge on our way to Bagerhat.

Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat. World Heritage Site. Situated in the suburbs of Bagerhat, at the meeting point of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, this ancient city, formerly known as Khalifatabad, was founded by the Turkish general Ulugh Khan Jahan (d. 1459) in the 15th century. It sprawls over on the southern bank of the old river Bhairab. The city’s infrastructure reveals considerable technical skill and an exceptional number of mosques and early Islamic monuments, many built of brick.

The 50 km² city contains some of the most significant buildings of the initial period of the development of Muslim architecture of Bengal: 360 mosques, public buildings, mausoleums, bridges, roads, water tanks and other public buildings constructed from baked brick.
This old city, created in a few years and covered up by the jungle after the death of its founder in 1459, is striking because of certain uncommon features. The density of Islamic religious monuments is explained by the piety of Khan Jahan. The lack of fortifications is attributable to the possibility of retreating into the impenetrable mangrove swamps of the Sundarbans. The quality of the infrastructures – the supply and evacuation of water, the cisterns and reservoirs, the roads and bridges – all reveal a perfect mastery of the techniques of planning and a will towards spatial organization.
The Mosque City of Bagerhat preserves all the necessary elements – mosques, residences, roads, ancient ponds, tombs, and chilla khana (ancient graveyard) of a medieval Muslim town in the northern peripheral land of the Sundarbans.
More than 50 monuments are divided into two zones 6.5 km apart: There are only two monuments to see:
Mosque of Shait-Gumbad  (Shait-Gumbad (Sixty Dome Mosque) is one of the largest mosques and represents the flavour of the traditional orthodox mosque plan and it is the only example of its kind in the whole of Bengal. Its walls are 2.54 m thick, it has 60 pillars, four round corner turrets, 10 mihrabs (all of the unpainted brick with a decorative stone plaque above the lintel, some with brick medallions, 25 arches, The mosque is surrounded by its own 5-foot high brick wall, grass and two large trees, and around that extensive gardens with hedges, grass and flower beds. The museum has some interesting things: decorative terracotta bricks, large black stone plates, and eggshell Chinese porcelain. 200 T

In this area are also the mosques of Singar, Bibi Begni and Clumakkola (not seen).
Mausoleum of Khan Jahan. To the east, it is a square brick building painted white, this has a single large dome. The large tomb was draped by a cloth but I saw it lifted up to see the stone base with calligraphy along the top edge. Free
The mausoleum sits in front of a large square lake called Khanjeli Lake. 
In the east area, are the mosques of Reza Khoda, Zindavir and Ranvijoypur (not seen).
This was WHS #800.
The only transportation here was to hire a rental car with a driver (4000 T, or $38) which cost the same as a motorcycle taxi. My driver was fine but spoke little English. He drove me to the Genocide-Torture Museum.
1971 Genocide-Torture Museum. In the NM the Dark Side series, I saw this on my way back from Bagerhat. Hours 5-7 pm (Fri?) and 10-6 most days.
In a side street, this museum was mostly photographs – of dead bodies lying all over the place and left in the open for so long that crows, dogs and vultures were eating them. Some torture instruments and descriptions, art, weapons used by the Bengalis (mostly basic metal curved swords) and period material. 20 T

I walked from the hotel to the New Market to see it and eat. It is all formal stores most surrounding a large central area with benches. It was crowded and most were eating dessert. I went outside to the street and bought small bags of puffed rice salad and bean dahl for 40 T (40 cents) and ate them in the market. In front of me was a tiny stand selling a round crispy pastry with a bean paste, cilantro, onions and a thin sauce that was very delicious 30 T (27 cents). I had two plates but was too full to have more. So I had a tasty dinner for 1$. 
Just outside the market on the street were many small stalls selling fast food and the place was packed. I knew where I would be coming tomorrow night.
On my walk about, I passed two crews pouring cement for large slabs. To feed the two mixers, there were two crews of 8 men, four on each to shovel and four to carry either sand or gravel in small round baskets on their heads (had thick “hats” to cushion the load). Water dripped out of the baskets and the carriers were covered in dirt. One other carried bags of cement. It was hard back-breaking work and would make anyone want to pursue an education to avoid it. It is no wonder Khulna has so much unfinished work – a lot of cement-related. They need a large cement plant and trucks. 
ON City Inn Hotel. Recommended by the fellow I sat next to on the bus. It is a very nice hotel. Standard single 2000 (all gone), deluxe single 2500 + tax = 3036 T, breakfast included. It was a much better deal than the Embassy in Dhaka (1000 more) as it was clean, had complimentary breakfast, the plumbing worked and had a guy at the front desk who could arrange anything I needed. 

Day 5 Sat Mar 11
I arranged for a driver to take me the 50 km to Mongla Port, where the road to the Sundarbans ends, to get a boat to see the mangroves. It was somewhat confusing but to go to one town was 2000T plus a 575T permit, 2 towns was 4000 + another 575T permit. A guide was 1000 and I didn’t think I needed one. The driver was quoted as costing 500T but I realized that this amount was ridiculously low for an hour’s drive each way plus waiting time there. It ended up that the tour company that this was arranged through was completely fraudulent as all prices were low, not realistic.
The Sundarbans. World Heritage Site 1987. The Sundarbans mangrove forest, located in the southwest of Bangladesh between the river Baleswar in the East and the Harinbanga in the West, adjoining the Bay of Bengal, is the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world. 60% lies in Bangladesh and the rest in India’s Sundarbans World Heritage site. The land area, including exposed sandbars, occupies 414,259 ha (70%) with water bodies covering 187,413 ha (30%). It is the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers.
The site is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes. The area is known for its exceptional biodiversity and wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger (400 to 450 individuals, a higher density than any other population of tigers in the world),  estuarine crocodile, Indian python, Ganges and Irawadi dolphins, and the critically endangered endemic river terrapin (Batagur baska). 334 plant species, 693 species of wildlife which includes; 49 mammals, 59 reptiles, 8 amphibians, 210 white fishes, 24 shrimps, 14 crabs and 43 mollusks species. 315 species of waterfowl, raptors and forest birds including nine species of kingfisher and the magnificent white-bellied sea eagle.
Monsoon rains, flooding, delta formation, tidal influence and plant colonization represent the process of delta formation from sediments deposited by the three great rivers.
The three wildlife sanctuaries in the south are core breeding areas for a number of endangered species. It is in reality a mosaic of islands of different shapes and sizes, perennially washed by brackish water shrilling in and around the endless and mind-boggling labyrinths of water channels.
It took an hour to drive to Mongla. On arrival, there was no boat arranged and I had to haggle the price which turned out to be 3000 T. There is no opportunity to join other people’s trips – of which there are many. I got on the small rust-bucket boat with a very congenial skipper, an older guy with an orange beard who liked to sing. It took about 30 minutes on the very wide river full of freight boats to reach the park and the mangroves. I have seen mangroves many times before. They are an ecological wonder but not very interesting – at low tide their roots are exposed. These were unusual in that the trees were much taller than the ones I had seen before. We went along the shore for about 20 minutes seeing exactly the same scene – bush, before we arrived at the first “village” where a narrow canal joined the river. There were many boats and people as this is a very popular trip but little to see – some nice houses and gazebos but little of any interest. I got off and was immediately accosted by a “park ranger” who wanted me to pay the 575 T permit fee to visit the village. I immediately turned around and reboarded. What was the point? 
To go up the canal required a permit of 2700 so we simply returned to Mongla. 
Just past the park is a village and houses built on the water on stilts. Next was a row of metal shacks he called Santa Maria and asked if I wanted “tikki-tikki”. There were girls outside and many young guys taking advantage of the brothel. In these Muslim countries where the opportunity for sex is limited before marriage, brothels are very popular. There is quite a double standard, both in the religion and the sexism. 
We finally got back to Mongla with a total trip time of 1 1/2 hours, enough for me. I would have happily done more if there was an opportunity to see wildlife but we didn’t see a bird on the way there so I thought that unlikely and seeing a tiger next to impossible. 
I bought some potato dumplings, cucumber and coke while I waited for the driver who didn’t expect me this early.
When we got back to the hotel and it was time to pay, the price became 4500T!!, not an unreasonable amount, but I paid 4ooo because of all the lies from the tour operator. 

Divisional Museum. Just 100 m from my hotel, this has archaeology, history and ethnography like most regional museums. 100 T
My next big decision was what to do next. There was no bus to Rahshahi or possibility of a train and the only way there was to fly. US Banglia, a domestic airline had daily flights but they left from Jessore, 75 km away by private car. left at 07:00 and entailed a 9-hour layover at Dhaka Airport. 
So I decided to take a bus back to Dhaka and then onward to Chittagong with a plan to see that and then continue on to Northern Dhaka province and the NW province of Bangladesh. 

Day 6 Sun Mar 12
Up early, I had BF with 4 Americans, one a 34-year resident of Bangladesh who works as a consultant in the agriculture industry. A very nice guy with some great insights into Bangladesh. 
The bus (Sougia, 1300T, 11 hours) was supposed to leave at 08:45 but did at 09:20. It is a rattletrap bus but I have a front window seat and enjoyed the view across the south of the country, endless rice paddies being cut with a sickle, many ponds, dusty villages, some logging, trees. Instead of going the “north” route on a 4-lane divided highway through Dhaka, this went south on a two-lane road, had regular stops and was driven by a madman constantly on the horn. There is almost no traffic but many electric rickshaws, so he maintains a good speed. This route is much more up-close and personal.
We eventually hit a 4-lane divided toll expressway.
Padma Multipurpose Bridge. Over the Padma River at its narrowest part, this is very high and long, a big sand island is on the north side. Sand dredges are working the east side.
The bus made a loop through south Dhaka, just as busy as the rest of the city and stopped at a bus “terminal” on a street and under a freeway (no passengers came on or left and it appears everyone is going to Chittagong, then regained the expressway. The bus ran into another bus, bending the right mirror – the kid on the bus climbed up and pulled it straight and with the electric control gone, straightened the glass so that he could use the mirror – all good!. The bus had no AC so it got pretty warm depending on a fan and open window (I was lucky to be on the non-sunny left side).
Meghna Bridge. Over the Meghna River, it is not that long.
The broken mirror swung out with the wind – they tied a bunch of rags together and secured the straightened mirror to the base of the windshield wiper, took 1 minute but the wind stretched the fabric “rope” so that tightened it again!
We stopped for lunch and eventually arrived in Chittagong at about 18:00 making for a 9-hour drive. It was 35°. I got off close to my hotel (I had no reservation).
At 9 I went out to eat. With many small shops selling convenience store items, fruit and veg, there was no street food and only one cafe with food I was not interested in. I eventually found one small stand with one of my favourites – the small round crisps filled with bean paste and topped with onion/cilantro.
ON Patra Flagship Chittagong City Centre, I splurged for once on a nice hotel and this is lovely. Only open for 2 months, it was perfectly outfitted – king-size bed, TV with BBC and CNN, balcony, kitchen with a hot water kettle, fridge, toaster and microwave, BF included.
4000T ($38). Almost impossible to find. Walk uphill on the street directed by Google Maps and turn right at Epic Crown Road 3, walk about 60 m to and hotel on the left (two nice columns) with no name on anything, walk through the small parkade to the elevator, reception on floor 4.

Day 7 Mon March 13
CHITTAGONG (pop 8.6 million). A major coastal city and financial centre in southeastern Bangladesh. The city is located on the banks of the Karnaphuli River between the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Bay of Bengal.
The Port of Chittagong, one of the world’s oldest ports with its natural harbour, is the principal maritime gateway to the country and the third busiest in South Asia and the largest base of the Bangladesh Navy. A controversial ship breaking industry on the outskirts of the city, which supplies local steel but causes pollution, has come under international scrutiny.
Portuguese Chittagong was the first European colonial settlement in Bengal. A naval battle in 1666 between the Mughal Empire and Arakan resulted in the expulsion of Portuguese pirates. British colonization began in 1760 when the Nawab of Bengal ceded Chittagong to the East India Company. During World War II, Chittagong was a base for Allied Forces engaged in the Burma Campaign. The port city began to expand and industrialize during the 1940s, particularly after the Partition of British India.
Chittagong has a high degree of religious and ethnic diversity among Bangladeshi cities, despite having an overwhelming Bengali Muslim majority: Bengali Hindus, Bengali Christians, Bengali Buddhists, the Chakmas, the Marmas and the Bohmong.
Chittagong Airport (CGP)
Cox’s Bazar was 148 km and 3 1/2 hours south with only the longest beach in the world (120 km) to see. None of the museums in Chittagong (Ethnological Museum (not open till 2), Fisheries Museum, Zia Memorial Museum, Butterfly Park Bangladesh, Baitul Falah Mosque (several km north) were 1-2 km between and few sounded interesting so I decided to try to get to Mymensingh. No buses or flights so went to Sylhet. 

OTHER DESTINATIONS
COMILLA
The Lalmai-Mainamati Group of monuments. Tentative WHS (17/02/1999). Some fifty archaeological sites dating between the 8th and 12th century have been identified on an area of elevated land 18km long and 4,5km wide, representing a major religious and political centre without parallel in the sub-continent. It appears to have been the religious centre from which Buddhism was spread to Southeast Asia. A vihara is an educational centre with residential facilities.
Moinamoti is 8 miles from the city of Comilla, 114 km from Dhaka city through National Highway 1 and 162 km from Chittagong.
Comilla Cantonment is located nearby and houses a beautiful colonial-era cemetery.
Shalban Vihara: The centrepiece – 115 cells built around a spacious courtyard with a cruciform temple in the centre,
Kutila Mura: 5 km north of Shalban Vihara – three stupas representing the Buddhist “Trinity” or three jewels, i.e. the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Charpatra Mura: is an isolated small oblong shrine situated 2.5 km. north-west of Kotila Mura stupas.
Ananda Rajer Badi
Mainamati Ranir Badi: Next to Shavian Vihara, houses a collection of copper plates, gold and silver coins and 86 bronze objects.

Chittagong Hill Tracts. XL
St. Martin’s Island. M@P, XL 3 km²  island in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh and 8 kilometres (5 miles) west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at the mouth of the Naf River. There is a small adjoining island that is separated at high tide, called Chera Dwip.
Settled 250 years ago by Arabian sailors, it is the only coral island in Bangladesh. It has 9 villages/areas and 3,700 inhabitants living primarily from fishing, rice and coconut. During the rainy season, it can become dangerous.
Access by boats and ships (mostly for tourists) from Cox Bazar and Teknaf. There is no electricity supply from the national grid since a hurricane in 1991. During the day, it comes alive with water and beach sports, with beach parties and bonfires. From 1989 to 2004, non-residential Bangladeshis and foreigners were the only people permitted on the island; however, this has changed and now residential Bangladeshis are allowed. St. Martin’s Island has become a tourist spot, and five shipping liners run daily trips to the island.
Several endangered turtles nest plus corals,
It is possible to walk around the island in a day because it measures only 8 km² (3 sq. miles), shrinking to about 5 km² (2 sq. mi) during high tide. The island exists only because of its coral base, so removal of that coral risks erosion of the beach. Because of this, St. Martin’s has lost roughly 25% of its coral reef in the past seven years.
Fishing is one of the largest professional activities of its 5,500 residents but territorial disputes between Myanmar and Bangladesh have resulted in violence, often targeting unarmed Bangladeshi fishermen.
The best weather is usually between November and February, the major tourist season. Between March and July, cyclones can strike. The island was devastated by a cyclone in 1991 but has fully recovered, and was untouched by the 2004 tsunami.

COX’S BAZAR. 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of Chittagong. It is one of the fishing ports of Bangladesh. At Cox’s Bazar is one of the world’s longest natural sea beaches (120 kilometres (75 mi) long including mud flats).
Cox’s Bazar Airport (CXB)
Cox’s Bazar Beach

Day 8 Mon Mar 13.
I was up early, made breakfast in the small kitchen and took an Uber 920T to the airport. 40 minutes.
Flight Chittagong – Syhlet. Biman Airlines via Dhaka. 09:25-12:15. Could not get two boarding passes.

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BANGLADESH – SYLHET, MYMENSINGH (northern Dhaka province)

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Day 9 Tue Mar 15
BANGLADESH – RAJSHAHI, RANGPUR (Dinajpur)
Flight Sylhet to Rajshahi Novo Air via Dhaka @11:50-16:30
I took a tuk-tuk into the city as there are almost no motorcycle taxis here.

RAJSHAHI. (pop 765,000) Major urban, commercial and educational centre located on the north bank of the Padma River, near the Bangladesh-India border, Arguably, Rajshahi is the most clean and green among the cities in Bangladesh. But there is still a lot of garbage, a little different than anywhere else. I saw women sweeping the gutters in the evening. Dating to 1634, a historic center of silk production. 
Varendra Museum. I didn’t have time to see the only NM site in Rajshahi.
After checking into my hotel, I took an electric rickshaw 3.5 km to New Market basically to find street food for dinner. The rickshaw was an amazing 30T – I gave him 70 and he couldn’t believe someone would overpay.
On the street, I met Opi and spent the next 2 hours with him. He is a computer science engineer and very nice. We stopped at three food stands where he could negotiate the order, ate, saw the train station, and walked the 3.5 km almost to my hotel.
ON Jatra Flagship Rajshahi. Another very nice hotel with a kitchen.

Day 10 Wed Mar 15
I had arranged for a driver to take me to Paharpur and the other three Tentative WHS in the central part of the Northern Province. Russel (WA 01795430569) gave a good price of 7000T ($68) for an expected drive of about 350km. He is great, young, speaks passable English and drives fast. The hope is that I can fly to Dhaka in the late afternoon.
Halud Vihara. Tentative WHS (17/02/1999). A large mound 100 feet across and 25 feet high is the principal monument of a Buddhist archaeological site contemporary with the existing World Heritage Site of Pahar – a serial nomination. Associated with Raja Haladhara and Sonavan in local legend, the site has stone and metal images, terracotta plaques, ornamental bricks, etc.. Vestiges of the Past
Google Maps said the 128km would take 2’45” (which I thought pessimistic) but it was 2’35” as we passed through many villages  The last 6km on initially very broken pavement and narrow, then dirt (road actually barricaded but they moved the sign), through tiny villages, farms, rice (people labouriously weeding), grain, bananas, corn, palms, cattle, sheep, cats, dogs, geese, motor rickshaws, a bridge blocked with a tractor pulling a huge water tank, brick factories spewing black smoke, and finally the village. Maps showed a wrong location through a schoolyard and I ended up with 50 kids following me asking all sorts of questions (speaking not bad English), walking back and finding the site – a large dirt mound with low brick foundation walls (a large “room”, small antechamber and stairs). We only did so well because of Russel’s fast driving. It was a great taste of rural Bangladesh.
It was then 16km (30 minutes) to Paharpur, also very narrow but with good pavement, and eventually two lanes with a centre line. We saw the first car in a while and many tuk-tuks, a good sign. The road got progressively better.

PAHARPUR
Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur World Heritage Sites. Located to the north-west of Bangladesh in the district of Naogaon, the heart-land of ancient “Varendra”, close to the village of Paharpur the extensive ruins of the Buddhist monastic complex are the most spectacular and important pre-Islamic monument in Bangladesh.
The first builder of the monastery was Dharmapala Vikramshila (770-810AD), the king of Varendri-Magadha. It is a large square quadrangle 231 x 240 metres, with the main entrance, and an elaborate structure, on the northern side. The outer walls of the monastery are formed by rows of cells that face inwards toward the main shrine in the centre of the courtyard. In the last building phases of the Monastery these cells, which formed the outer wall, totalled 177. Each cell is 4.26 x 4.11 m and was initially a living space for monks but later used for worship and meditation.
The main central shrine has a cruciform ground plan and a terraced superstructure that rises in three terraces above ground level to a height of about 70 feet. The upper level is a massive rectangular central block which forms the central brick shaft. The intermediate terrace is a wide circumambulatory path which passes four main chapels or mandapas, a simple cruciform elaborated with a series of projections at the re-entrants, a form that is copied at all levels on the main shrine. At the intermediate level, there were originally two bands of terracotta plaques running around the full perimeter of the shrine, out of which half are still preserved in situ. These are the most interesting part of the site as the bas-reliefs seem all different and very interesting – people in all poses (including standing on their heads) and many animals – snakes, cobras, elephants and even giraffes. The entire base of both the bottom and intermediate terrace has a row of plaques.
The cultural and religious life of this great Vihara was closely linked with the contemporary Buddhist centres of fame and history at Bodhgaya and Nalanda, many Buddhist treatises were completed at Paharpur, a centre where the Vajrayana trend of Mahayana Buddhism was practiced.


It was then 16 km and 32 minutes north to see the next tentative WHS.

Jaggadala Vihara. Tentative WHS (17/02/1999). An extensive mound, 105 metres long by 85 metres, which represents the archaeological remains of a Buddhist monastery associated with the existing World Heritage Site of Paharpur, to which is proposed to be added as an additional Monument Zone as part of a serial nomination. Finds have included terracotta plaques, ornamental bricks, nails, a gold ingot and three stone images of deities. Vestiges of the Past.
This was really not interesting enough to drive so far completely out of the way and not on the fastest route. It was 60 km and 1 1/2 hours to Mahanstangarh. The road got progressively wider with less traffic and we made reasonable time. We passed through a town known for potatoes – incredible mounds and gunny sacks full of potatoes.

Mahansthangarh and its Environs. Tentative WHS (17/02/1999). The extensive archaeological remains of Mahansthangarth extend along the western bank of the River Karatya and consist of a massively fortified oblong enclosure, 5000 feet long by 4500 feet broad, with an average height of 15 feet above the surrounding agricultural land. The site, which has been identified with ancient Pudranagar, is protected by the river on the west and a deep moat on the south, west and part of the north. It dates back to the 3rd century B.C. and represents the earliest city-state in Bengal. The site is the focus of several lesser monuments, situated within a 5-mile protected radius.

Gorinda Bhita. Across the street from the museum (200T) is this site (100T) part of the rampart wall and the north limit of the holy city. The road then followed a massive 3m wide brick wall that enclosed fields.

It was supposed to take 2+ hours to drive 81 km to close to Rajshahi, but we had Bogra to deal with.
Bogra (pop 3.7 million) is a major city and major commercial hub in Northern Bangladesh. Bogra province has a population of around 12,40,000 people and is one of the oldest cities in Bengal, Bogra is famous for its many ancient Buddhist stupas, Hindu temples, and ancient palaces of Buddhist kings and Muslim sultans.
To avoid the business of the city, there is a ring road around the city. But a 4-lane cement bypass ring road was being constructed and traffic was at a snail’s pace. We turned around to try to drive through the city.

Uttara Ganabhaban, Natore. An 18th-century (1734) royal palace, an aristocratic landed estate in the East Bengal of India. It is a fine example of a jomidar bari (country house). It has a round Italian-made clock on its front gate with a large bell and a clock room and a beautiful garden full of foreign trees and Italian marble stone statues of women. It serves as the principal residence of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister in the northern part of the country. It has been used as a ceremonial site for receiving foreign ambassadors.
Puthia Rajbari is a palace built in 1895, an example of Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture. It is currently used by Lashkarpur Degree College but is in a poor state of repair.

Puthia Temple Complex is a cluster of old Hindu temples, the largest number of historic temples in Bangladesh. The ornamental terracotta has been destroyed, and stolen, and at high risk of decaying because of high salinity. The temples were built by Hindu Zamindars Rajas of the Puthia Raj family who were noted philanthropists of Rajshahi. The temples have been built in terracotta in a variety of styles. The Rajbari Puthia and the Dol Mancha are part of the complex. The temples are laid out around a lake with a sprawling lawn.
The Puthia Royal Family estate was the second-largest zamindary and the wealthiest in British Bengal. After India’s partition, the then-Pakistani government abolished the zamindary system and confiscated all Hindu properties. The Royal Family migrated to India shortly afterward.
There were two temples behind the palace. The main one is fantastically ornamented with terra cotta designs of rosettes and animals and has a conical roof. Unfortunately, it has bamboo scaffolding set in front. To see the second one, go outside the complex and around the back – it is small, and also has great terracotta designs and a 4-sided cement roof. 200T to see the palace and temples.

I was wise and still had not booked my flight back to Dhaka. We could have made the 17:30 flight on US Bangla but I decided to relax, liked the Jatra Flagship Hotel, had nothing special to do in Dhaka and didn’t want to stay at the Empire Hotel.
The day was long almost 10 hours and about 400 km over a 10km narrow road and some awful traffic in Bogra. I could not have done better than with Russel, a very competent driver and a super nice guy. The original quote was 7000T. I asked about how much gas was (4500T) so I paid him 12,000. He offered to drive me to the airport in the morning.

Day 11 Thur Mar 16
Flight Rajshahi to Dhaka US Bangla @10:25-11:30. 6600T
I was first out of the airport and was accosted immediately by a motorcycle driver. I hired him to take me to Panam City (38 km) and then to my hotel (27 km). I didn’t know immediately that he couldn’t read but communication became hard and he wasn’t a good listener. He insisted on going through a heavy traffic area and it was initially very slow. It eventually took 1’45”.
Panam City in Sonargaon was the site of the 13th-century Hindu capital city of Sonargaon. It was part of the Muslim metropolis that developed on the south of the old city as the residence of the early Muslim governors of the Sultanate of Bengal from 1338.
After the Mughal conquest in 1610, Panam was connected to the ruling metropolis by highways and bridges which still exist. They indicate that it was the suburban area of a medieval city.
One of the earliest cities in Bangladesh that is still standing, the metropolis area once covered roughly 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi), but all that significantly remains are these 54 historical buildings. Other Mughal monuments from the original city include Sonakanda River Fort, the Panch Pir Mazar Shrine, and Ibrahim’s and Abdul Hamid’s Mosque. British colonial architecture preserved in Sonargaon includes the Ananda Mohan Piddar House and other street-front houses. For travellers making their way along the 2,500-kilometre-long (1,600 mi) Grand Trunk Road from Peshawar in the Hindu Kush, Sonargaon marked the end of the line.
In the early 19^th century, during colonial rule, Sonargaon developed into a trade centre for cotton fabrics, mainly English-piece goods. About 1400 Hindu and Muslim families were weavers in and around Panam. Then the British East India Company established its factory in Panam to purchase muslin and other cotton fabrics.
A group of wealthy Hindu merchants from Kolkata, then the capital of colonial India, returned to their ancestral land in Sonargaon and built a township in the area over an older ruined settlement establishing the new township of Panam Nagar (Panam City). The existing 54 buildings, the Hindu merchants’ residents, date from the early 19^th to the early 20^th century. The city continued to flourish until the end of the WWII.
Panam Nagar was abandoned after a series of racial riots sparked during the Bengal Divide in 1947. The city was finally deserted after the Hindus migrated to India during the Indo-Pak War of 1965, making it an empty township. Although the buildings are now mostly in ruins, the historical city boasts architectural examples from the Sultanate, Mughal, and British Colonial periods.
In 2006, the World Monument Fund declared Panam Nagar one of its 100 historical ruins.
Threats to the site include flooding, vandalism, unauthorized occupation, illegal development etc. The historical buildings are becoming increasingly dilapidated with age and there are no signs of any significant restoration attempts.
What is visited now is a single street about 400 m long between two canals lined with 54 very attractive brick building ruins embellished with crests above doors, corinthian capitals, stone columns and some ancient tiles on one building. 100T

Bangladesh Folk Art & Crafts Foundation. In an old structure, the Sardr Bari, is a wonderful 2-story white building with porticos and columns sitting on the side of a pond. Exhibits are household and archaeological artifacts from the Mughal period and include jewelry, pots, weapons, drums, tapestries and religious artifacts. More modern crafts include wood, brass, bamboo, metal, musical instruments, pottery, textiles, ornaments and much more. 100T
Sonakanda Fort. On the Shitalakshya River, the fort is one of three Mughal Empire forts in the area that date to 1650-70 built to defend Dhaka and Narayanganj from pirates. The 3-metre high defensive wall has many loopholes for guns and light cannons. The artillery platform held cannons of larger calibre. The quadrangular fort is 86 by 57 metres and has octagonal bastions on the four corners and a gate on the north side. 100T

The 27 km drive to my hotel was much faster as most were on the expressway. However, it backed up along a narrow street. There were a hundred rickshaws going the other way. It would have been much faster to walk.
Despite the agreement to pay 2000, he now wanted 4000 and I gave him 3000. He was a very safe and a great driver.
ON Empire Hotel. Back in my old room, I retrieved my big backpack, had dinner of chilli chicken, shopped and prepared for my big flight the next day to Burundi.

Flight Dhaka to Bujumbura, Burundi – Vistara and Ethiopian Airlines
Dhaka-New Delhi@10:15-12:35 UK182 / DEL-Addis Abba@02:45-06:55 ET687 / ADD-     BJM@11:30-13:25 ET811. ET0719300795530.
I was quite happy with Bangladesh until the airport – poor restaurants, the exchange people paid much less even after their commission, at immigration my visa said Mar 16 (even though it was a 30-day visa, at entry when asked how long I was staying, I said 10 days and she put it on my visa!!!) I was supposed to pay a fine but the officer let me off and then stamped in the centre of a page. Security didn’t happen after immigration but at the gate and took so long I didn’t have a chance to even sit down. 

OTHER DESTINATIONS
Dahala Khagrabari (formerly India; only third-order enclave in the world). M@P. Was an Indian enclave located on the Bangladesh–India border belonging to the district of Cooch Behar in the state of West Bengal. This was a piece of India within a piece of Bangladesh within a piece of India within Bangladesh, making it the only third-order enclave (or counter-counter enclave) in the world until 1 August 2015, when it was ceded to Bangladesh.
It was one of the smallest—7,000 square metres (1.7 acres)—of the Indo-Bangladesh enclaves, albeit not the smallest of the 106 Indian exclaves inside Bangladesh and 92 Bangladeshi exclaves inside India.
Dahala Khagrabari (#51) was completely encircled by the Bangladeshi village of ‘Upanchowki Bhajni, 110’ itself contained in the Indian village of Balapara Khagrabari, itself contained in the Debiganj, Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. Thus Dahala Khagrabari was the enclave of an enclave of an enclave. In practice, it was a parcel of land used for farming and was not actually inhabited. It was separated by a few metres of Bangladeshi land from its first-order Indian enclave.
Because of a lack of governance and unfavourable conditions faced by residents of the enclaves, India and Bangladesh swapped 162 enclaves, giving residents a choice of nationality. In 2015, India agreed to cede the enclave to Bangladesh.

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Bangladesh Experiences
Barsha Utsab. Day-long Monsoon salutation festival celebrated in Bangladesh. Usually falls on 15 June of the Gregorian Calendar. Singing performances, drama, poetry recitation, screening of cinemas on rain, puppet shows, Hilsha Fest and many other programmes. Traditionally women wear sky-blue saris to celebrate the first day of Wet season.
Mangal Shobhajatra. A mass procession that takes place at dawn on the first day of the Bengali New Year in Bangladesh. The procession is organized by the teachers and students of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University. The festival is considered an expression of the secular identity of the Bangladeshi people and a way to promote unity.
The procession of the festival was first observed in 1989. At that time, the country was under a military dictatorship and was suffering from floods. A mass uprising took place in Dhaka during which many people, including Noor Hossain, died. The students of the Dhaka University Faculty of Fine Arts decided to demonstrate against the regime by arranging the Mangal Shobhajatra on Pahela Baishakh.
Every year, thousands of people take part in the procession that features gigantic replicas of birds, fish, animals, folk tales and other motifs. The rally symbolizes unity, peace, and the driving away of evil to allow the progress of the country and humanity. It is considered as an expression of the secular identity of the Bengali people, uniting the country irrespective of class, age, religious faith, or gender.
Pahela Baishakh is the first day of the Bengali Calendar. It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh, The Celebration of Pahela Baishakh traces its roots to the Mughal rule in the region with the proclamation of tax collection reforms by Emperor Akbar. The festival is celebrated with processions, fairs and family time. The traditional greeting for Bengali New Year is “Shubho Noboborsho” which is literally “Happy New Year”.
Play Kabaddi. is a contact sport, native to the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the most popular sports in India, played mainly among people in villages. India has taken part in four Asian Games in kabaddi and won gold in all of them. Four forms of kabaddi played in India are Amar, Suranjeevi, huttuttoo, and Gaminee. Amar is generally played in Punjab, Haryana, the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world, mostly by Punjabi sportsmen. Suranjeevi is the most-played form of kabaddi in India and the world. This is the form used in international matches generally and played in the Asian Games. Huttuttoo was played by men in Maharashtra State.
Shakrain Festival (Kite Festival) is an annual celebration in Dhaka, Bangladesh, observed with the flying of kites. It occurs at the end of Poush, the ninth month of the Bengali calendar (January 14 or 15 in the Gregorian calendar). This day is known as Poush Sangkranti. Shakrain Festival is one of the oldest annual festivals in Bangladesh. It’s famous and a very important event in Bangladeshi culture. It is the symbol of unity and friendship in Bangladesh.
As part of the celebration, colourful kites are flown high from the rooftops around the area in the afternoon. It often takes the form of kite fighting, in which participants try to snag each other’s kites or cut other kites down. When night falls, fireworks light up the sky of old Dhaka. Flame-eaters also gather on the roofs to entertain people with their skills of manipulating fire. Music awakens the whole town, while people keep dancing from their hearts. Bringing thousands of people together to compete and have fun, it is an occasion and a day every youngster waits eagerly for.