Blogs from Sylhet, Bangladesh, Asia

Biking Through the Tea Estates- 29/05/09 This morning I woke up thinking it would be a mellow day bike riding through the tea estates of Sylhet. However, I am quickly learning that nothing in Bangladesh is easy or relaxing. The bike shopkeeper was supposed to deliver fifteen bikes for the interns at 9 am to the Nirala Guesthouse. Of course, when we walked downstairs in the morning there was no one waiting. Two hours later, after much sweating and negotiation, we had fifteen shoddy bikes and a tour guide who neither spoke English nor knew the area. Heading out to Lowacherra National Park, we rode through lush forests, pineapple bushes, rubber plantations and beadle trees. Stopping at a little shop on the side of the road, I tried the infamous five layer tea. After finishing walking ... read more

Im Hotel nach einer laengeren Reise von einem Bankautomaten zum naechsten und dann einigen Stunden im Internetcafe wollte ich mir eine Route durch Bangladesh ausarbeiten. Aber.... der Reisefuehrer war nicht mehr da........SCHEISSE! Ohne Fuehrer geht es grundsaetzlich auch, jedoch schwer, da niemand english spricht und alles in Bangal angeschrieben ist, somit nicht lesbar. Also eine Rikschatour durch Sylhet gemacht..... der Fahrer wusste natuerlich nicht warum ich kreuz und quer durch die Stadt gekarrt werden moechte und war schon ein wenig genervt. Eigentlich habe ich das Buch bereits abgeschrieben, da ich es in jeder Bank hatte liegenlassen koennen, ABER.... es lag..... im Internetcafe und nun pass ich besser auf ;-))) Mit einem Taxi gings die Berge ueber horrende Serpentinen nach unten. Die flache Ebene von Bangladesh, die Jahr fuer Jahr Schlagzeilen wegen Ueberflutung macht, beginn... read more

A friend from the UK came to visit me last Friday, and prior to her arrival I/we decided to go on a brief sojourn to Srimongol (there are different spellings, but I’m going to stick to one). Srimongol is where the tea-estates are here in Bangladesh, in the Sylhet region, east of the country, very close to the Indian border. Dhaka is such a chaotic city to live in, and visit, especially for a first-timer to Bangladesh, that I thought it’d be a change in scene to visit Srimongol, as well as the fact that I had never been. I organised the trip through Guide Tours, a travel agent if you will, with an office close to me near Gulshan 2. A few days before the trip, I collected our train ticket (a tiny blue slip ... read more

4 glorious days off work stretched in front of us - how should we spend it? Drinking tea and sheltering from the horrendous daily onslaught of Dhaka noise seemed like a sensational way to escape. We rose early on Friday morning to catch the 4 hour train ride to the northern state of Sylhet, renowned world wide for it's magnificent tea. The jam-packed train station was the usual source of panic for me, made worse by the combination of extreme interest in my sensationally white skin and the presence of Dylan, our friends' baby boy. 8 white people, 2 of them extremely tall, 1 carrying a fair headed, blonde child in a massive backpack, all wandering aimlessly on an overcrowded platform - perfect early morning viewing for the multitude of locals! The train finally arrived and ... read more