Backpacking In Bangladesh

Published by Johnny on April 30, 2010

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We had our hotel in Dhaka sorted so now it was time to do some sight-seeing, first-off was a trip to the waterfront, Sadarghat, on the banks of the river Buriganga- this place is an eyeopener for sure! Crowded with ferries, boats, paddle steamers, fisherman’s boats and dhabas all hiving with business and commotion

If you make it to Dhaka I recommend making your way to the waterfront. From here you can hitch a ride on one of the boats and ride around the river, sure it’s filthy but you get a real feel of the old city this way and for half the price of a can of coke you can’t go too wrong.

After getting covered in the dirtiest water this side of the India we thought we’d continue our trek through Dhaka, next up was the countries largest Mosque. For me, this is what traveling is all about; I’m not ashamed to admit, being a caucasian lad from a small town in Ireland I wasn’t exactly clued up on the world’s religions, but in the 3 or 4 years I have been traveling I have been exposed to Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Ba’haism and Judaism is some depth and now I feel more than comfortable holding a conversation about any of these religions. So, this was my first direct exposure to Islam and the people in the Mosque were overwhelmingly happy to see us there – a really positive experience and one I will never forget.

We spent the next couple of days exploring the area and the place never ceased to amaze me. The heat was almost unbearable but the peoples’ warm smiles more than compensated and although the blatant staring never let up, you come to realise that there is no malice in their eyes – only  intrigue and wonder, which in fairness is the same thing our stares were carrying right back to them so I guess we were even! Here are a few of the sights we came across:

Ahsan Manjil (The Pink Palace) in Dhaka

Lalbagh Fort, Dhaka

Crazy balancing man in Dhaka

Things were about to get a lot more interesting. We met a guy in the mall who basically adopted us as his foreign friends, before we knew it we were playing cricket and having dinner in the slums!

Our extended Bangladeshi Family

Playing cricket in Bangladesh

Our accommodation for the evening

Rahul and Azim really took care of us, let us into their homes, showed us around the city – what a cracking experience. With their help we devised a plan to get to India, we were going to take the steam boat down the river Buriganga to Khulna, just off the bay of Bengal. From there we can make our way to India.

So off we went in search of tickets to this rocket steamer….

Searching for the ticket kiosk to get the boat

Onto the boat we went (but i do love boats!)… again the only white people to be seen…

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4. Things to See in Bangladesh – Top 5 Sights
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Tags: Backpacking, Bangladesh, cheap travel