Ahsan Manzil in Dhaka

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world, but not a day will pass without an invite to someone’s house for some tea. Walking around anywhere in this fascinating country and you’ll feel like a celebrity, groups of people will follow you around daily and should you stop and try to ask someone a question, you’ll literally be surrounded within 60 seconds – it’s a crazy feeling!

If your wandering soul takes you off the beaten track to the shores of Bangladesh, make sure you squeeze in these five gems during your time there:

1)     Dhaka: The capital and probably your starting point for the adventure ahead. If you’ve never visited the subcontinent you’re in for a treat. If you’re feeling like jumping in at the deep-end, head over to Old Dhaka and sort out your accommodation – just don’t expect much luxury! Then you can spend a day or two checking out Lalbagh Fort, Ahsan Manzil and Para Bibi’s Tomb, or make your way down to Buriganga river and rent a small boat to see the hustle and bustle of Dhaka from the water front. One trip to Dhaka, and you’ll never forget it – I assure you of that!

Lalbagh Fort Dhaka

2)     The Sundarbans: Located near Khulna, the Sundarbans mean it’s safari time! This mangrove forest is home to over 400 Royal Bengal tigers – you can sort out your safari from either Khulna or Dhaka. Expect to pay around $30 for everything, which is a great bargain considering what you may see. No guarantees on the tigers I’m afraid folks, but always worth the gamble!

Bengal Tiger on Safari

3)     Cox’s Bazar: The longest sea beach in the world! Over 120km long, what more could you ask for!? This place offers great respite from the madness of Bangladesh, and it’s dotted with religious sites too. The beaches get quite crowded and there’s plenty of accommodation to be found upon arrival.

Cox's bazar beach

4)     Bagerhat: Accessible from Khulna or Mongla, Bagerhat offers a couple of impressive Mosques and the famous tomb of Khan Jahan Ali. Lots of locals make pilgrimages here daily so expect some organized chaos!

Shat Gambuj Mosque in Bagerhat

5)     Nafa-Khum:  This one is a bit of a wild card. You’re already off the beaten track by simply being in Bangladesh but if you want to really get away from it all, then this is the place for you. Nafa-Khum is a beautiful waterfall found a 3hours walk from Remakri, which  is found 3 hours by boat from Tindu, which is a 3 hours drive from Thanchi! It may not be the biggest waterfall but it’s awesome none-the-less and you can swim in the pool, the trek is beautiful too and you’ll really feel like you’re traveling if you make it out here!

Nafa-Khum waterfall

There you go folks, five of Bangladesh’s most awesome sites. This country is not easy to travel in, not by a long shot, but it’s well worth the effort. This is real backpacking! Happy Travels!

Things to See in Bangladesh – Top 5 Sights is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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My hotel in Old Dhaka

After a long day trekking around Dhaka where my first memory was eating curry with my wrong hand and getting scolded by the ‘restaurant owner’, we were handed a life-life – a Bangladeshi draped proudly in an England football shirt came bounding over to welcome us to his country in English (a rare talent in Bangladesh, and my Bengali was a little lacking), and then later that evening, to his house.

After having dinner with his extended family, he insisted on walking us back to our hotel. Thanks to my serious lack of preparation for this trip, we had ended up staying in a hotel in ‘Old Dhaka’, where running water and electricity were at a real premium. Air-con had yet to be introduced to Old Dhaka and the 40 degree heat was overbearing.

The corridor in my hotel

Anyway, Raul (our Bangladeshi friend) called one of his friends to meet us. He took great pride in being new friends with seemingly the only white people in Dhaka (certainly in Old Dhaka). We had some tea and then went back to the lobby of our hotel. There, we chatted with Raul and his friend who happens to be a female. We chatted for 30 minutes or so, told him we’d meet for lunch the next day and headed up stairs to our room, dodging rats and cockroaches quite successfully on the way.

My luxury room - before it was raided by the secret police

I went to sleep around 11am, and I was in a deep slumber until I was awoken by the most aggressive pummelling of my hotel room door. “WTF is that, what time is it, 4am”?!!?

I jumped up, pulled some clothes on and tentatively opened the door to my room when a loud Bangladeshi guy burst through the door, followed by 3 of his big, burly friends! Flash lights in our face, shouting in a language I knew nothing of. This was not good.

After a few words were exchanged, nothing was understood and I was pretty terrified. One of the guys with a Government badge went and dragged the hotel manager up to translate.

“You are with a brown girl, tonight, with a brown, Bangladeshi girl – where is she!?”

“Huh?! It’s our mate’s mate, what’s going on”

“You’re having sex with a prostitute, it’s illegal. Why you do this in my hotel?!”

“What are you talking about? We shared a coffee left”

“You lie, you lie, this is big problem in Bangladesh, big money”

They proceded to search our room again – cartoon style. Looking under the bed, then in the cupboards, then under the sheet on the bed (I think you would have noticed the her under that mate – genius). They then imformed us that if they find her we will go to prison and have to pay a fine. “How much?!” I asked. “If she’s beautiful, very much. If she’s not so beautiful and fat, not so much”. Ok, good to see the justice system is working nice and fairly then.

After another couple of minutes they realized she wasn’t in our room (good work Sherlock), they apologized and left within 20 seconds, leaving me and my mates to go back to bed very thankful she wasn’t there, and wondering about what the rest of our time in Bangladesh will entail!

The Night I Nearly Got Arrested in Bangladesh for NOT having sex with a (non) Prostitute is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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What drugs should I take for malaria?

Good question and although there a numerous different options – there are 3 main choices that people tend to go with, all of which profess to be around 98% effective:

1) Doxycycline: This is the drug of choice by backpackers worldwide – why? Because it’s the cheapest. It’s highly effective and cheap as chips. You should take it with water and food to stop yourself getting quesy, but if there’s no food around it’s no big deal, you’ll be fine!

Generally, in Western countries, these cost around .50 cents (30p) a pill. You take it daily so a 6 month trip will cost ya less than $100. If you have the confidence (and sense) to wait and buy it when you arrive somewhere, like Thailand for example, you’ll more than halve your cost.

Doxy can make your skin more sensitive to the sun so sunburning on this pill can be common, not ideal when you want to lounge on a beach in the Philippines somewhere :S

POSTIVES: Cheap cheap cheap and easy to get everywhere, including the countries you plan to visit

NEGATIVES: Increases your skin’s sensitivity to the sun, can reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills (hear that ladies, be smart!), can cause nausea.

COST PER 6 MONTH TRIP: $100 or less, much less if you buy it abroad.

DURATION: Start two days before travel, throughout your stay in an endemic area and continue for four weeks after return

2) Malarone: The flashpackers’ choice, at a cost of $3+ a pill and a daily dosage your 6 month stint is gonna cost you over $500! But with little or no negatives it’s without doubt the ‘best’ pill in terms of prevention vrs side effects.

POSTIVES: Higly effective AND you only have to take it for one extra week after your trip

NEGATIVES: Pricey at $3 a pill to be taken daily

COST PER 6 MONTH TRIP: Upwards of $500

DURATION: Start two days before travel, throughout your stay in an endemic area and continue for one week after return.

3) Larium (Mefloquine): Hmmm what to say about this wonderful drug?! I took this for months in Africa and the rumours of crazy dreams are 100% true, this stuff does crazy stuff to your brain after dark. Quite funny in fairness, especially if a few of you are taking it! Anyway, it’s not much more expensive than Doxy, you only have to take it once a week (a big plus for a forgetful guy like me)

POSTIVES: Only have to take it weekly, pretty cheap

NEGATIVES: Crazzzzy dreams for the first month or two until you get used to it

COST PER 6 MONTH TRIP: Around $150

DURATION: Start two and a half weeks before travel, throughout your stay in an endemic area and continue for four weeks after return.

I should also note that Chloroquine (in addition to proguanil) is another anti-malarial drug that crops up now and again. From meeting people on the road, and internet research I’d stay clear of this – mosquitoes demonstrate widespread resistance!

Ok guys that’s the general vibe on anti-Malarial drugs. I have taken doxy on a crazy Chinese cargo boat trip through Burma, Thailand and China – it was fine, no side-effect at all. Then I took Larium throughout my time in Africa (until I got bored and stopped taking them) and again, aside from vivid dreams, was fine again. The choice is yours – happy travels!

Malaria – What Drug You Should Take to Prevent It! is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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So you want to teach English overseas, you want to travel the world while you work, you want to live in far flung and exotic countries, you want to enhance your CV and learn a language, you want to have a host of small Asian children running around with an Irish accent (ok that last bit was just me)… the whole ‘teaching English overseas’ thing can be far too confusing. A google search offers a horde of mind-boggling acronyms (TEFL, CELTA, IELTS, TOEFL, DELTA, ESL) arrrrrrrgh! What does it all mean?! Let me help you out once and for all…

Let’s start with the most obvious question…

What does TEFL mean? It means Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Basically, there is no one specific TEFL course. A TEFL course is any diploma/certificate/qualification that teaches you how to teach English overseas. There are literally hundreds of different TEFL course available (much in the same way that there are many different types of degrees available) so which TEFL should you choose and how do you distinguish the legitimate offerings from the cowboys?

To simplify things, I have crudely cut the TEFL world into 3 main sections – the big players, the onliners and the ‘i need a TEFL qualification quick’. They are as follows…

1) The big players: These are the most expensive, most diffcult, most internationally recognised and, all-in-all, the best TEFL courses you can do. There are two main TEFL courses which will have the schools fighting to hire you (thereby banishing all memories of being last pick every tuesday when the dodgeball teams were being chosen), they are the Trinity College Cert-TESOL or the Cambridge University CELTA.

They currently cost around $1600 USD for one month of intensive learning with 2 full-time tutors. They are audited by the universities during every course to ensure the school is delivering the course as directed, and ALL schools which offer the CELTA or Trinity MUST follow the exact guidelines or they will be dropped from the franchise. They offer a minimum of 120 hours of in-class instruction (which many reputable schools actually demand a minimum of in their job specifications).

2) Language School TEFL: When you sift through googles 10 billion results for TEFLs the majority you see will be independent language schools who offer certification in teaching English. They are often legitimate schools offering legitimate courses but make sure you do your research before you commit to one of these as many of them can be 2bit operations working out the back of a Korean BBQ diner! If they have an affiliation with an official school and can offer a job, the signs are good.

3) Online TEFL courses: These are TEFL qualifications in their loosest sense.  They will permit you to work in countries where a TEFL qualification is a prerequisite of a work visa (Thailand, China etc). They are relatively easy to pass, inexpensive, fast to obtain and allow you to tick the right box in your teaching application. Ideal for someone who isn’t entirely sure if they will teach as they travel around the world but would like that extra string to their bow should they require a job at any point on their trip.

There we have it folks. The entire TEFL world sliced neatly into 3 perfect piles. If you’re still asking yourself “which TEFL course should I choose” have a read below and decide which category you fall into…

• If you are thinking about teaching English as a career, or in more than one country, or want to work in a university then CELTA or TRINITY is for you
• If you plan to take a year out teaching English in one country and want a guaranteed job on arrival, sign up for a specific local LANGUAGE SCHOOL TEFL and you’ll be all set to go
• If you want to have a TEFL certificate on your resume, are thinking that at some point you may teach for a few weeks or months to supplement your income on your gap year, get yourself an ONLINE TEFL

I hope this has helped clear-up the TEFL world for you guys (partially at least). Feel free to email me on johnny ‘at’ onestep4ward ‘dot’ com for any further questions, I’m always happy to help.

Don’t forget to check out the 16 FAQ ABOUT TEACHING ENGLISH OVERSEAS for further info on this awesome industry. Good luck and happy travels =)

What is a TEFL course exactly?! is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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Incidentally, I recently read a book called ‘The Lunatic Express’ and I had to giggle when I saw our old trusted rocket steamer feature as one of the most dangerous boat journeys in the world, apparently over 1000 people die each year on Bangladesh ferries – the highest ratio of deaths to journeys in the world – I’m glad I had read the book prior to our departure or our $4, two day journey mightn’t have felt quite as good value.

The ridiculous hospitality of our adopted Bangladeshi family had continued as Raul had arranged family of his to meet us in the Khulna port when we arrived which removed some of the trepidation that I was constantly flooded with throughout Bangladesh (probably partly due to the huge holes I saw in the boat we were about to disembark on). So we boarded and off we went! The three of us had our own cabin which apparently was one step down from the luxury travel but a hell of a step up from 200 people squeezed head to foot in an open room on the basement of the boat so we were happy enough.

I headed to the back of the ferry and had one long gaze back at Dhaka, it had been a hell of a start to my new backpacking life and one that would hold me in good stead in the years to come..

Dhaka had been a hectic place but one worthy of a visit for sure and we felt as if we were leaving in true Bangladeshi fashion, this boat was an experience itself and I was relishing every moment. The scenery over the next 40 hours was amazing and the widespread damage from all the flooding is there for anyone to see, this country seems bereft of any hills, mountains or hump of any description! As we meandered down the river we past scores of ‘ports’ where the people were full of frantic smiles, laughs and waves..

To be honest the 40 hours or so flew by, we had constant visitors peering into our cabin making sure the rumours they heard about the 3 young white guys were true. Wandering around the boat kept me occupied for a long time too as did fighting off the various insects and cockroaches that were cohabiting our cabin for the evening, before too long we were approaching Khulna which would be our next and last leg of the Bangladesh adventure, praying that Azim would be waiting for us at the port :S

Backpacking in Bangladesh: The Boat from Dhaka to Kulna is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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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…

Backpacking In Bangladesh is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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So here was the plan:

1) Finish teaching contract in Chiang Mai

2) Travel around Asia for as long as the money lasts on a ridiculously cheap budget

3) Get to Australia without flying after we touch down on our first destination

Sounds pretty easy, I wanted to go to India to start and then pretty much loop across the whole continent over the next year or two although it didn’t quite work out like that and rather than go straight to India I found a cheap flight to Bangladesh – and so the hardcore backpacking began :S

I roped two friends into the crazy trip (Swede and Andy), we flew from Bangkok to Dhaka, the Capital of Bangladesh – as I was semi-permanently leaving Thailand the week before so my the week before I set off was inundated with leaving parties, sad goodbyes and tearful partings so I didn’t really get time to actually plan anything for the trip to Bangladesh. Basically, we found ourselves as the ONLY white people in a 1970′s airplane on Air Bangladesh one-way to Dhaka. I had no idea what language they spoke, what their currency was, what the climate or cuisine was liked, if they spoke English, I had no accommodation booked, no idea if there was anything to see and no direction in which to travel. Oh shit.

Straight after landing the plane we were swamped by Bangladeshis, people stopped, jaws dropping, giggling, pointing, running up and touch us etcIn fact, people running up to us in awe and amazement became quite a theme throughout my time in Bangladesh and I never realy got used to it although I can’t deny it wasn’t hilarious. Also, should you ever happen to be in Dhaka please walk into the middle of the street , stare straight up in the sky and point for about 15 seconds – then quickly have a look around you and I guarantee at least 500 people will be standing still looking directly up trying to see what the crazy white man is pointing at (sometimes you ave to just amuse yourself )

We managed to get some money and a ‘taxi’ (read guy cycling while pulling a homemade wooden cart) to a hotel. It was 45 degrees and I had no idea where we were going. But we went straight to the old city, amidst a lot of shocked faces, and found a hotel for around $1 a night, no air conditioning, no cold water but cheap and on a budget of 5 GBP a day that was the most important thing – besides, when in Rome…

My hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh

We checked in and went for a walk, wandering around old Dhaka was an experience in itself. Never in my life have a seen such an overpopulated place – it was literally difficult to walk due to the sheer amount of people; and the rickshaws were everywhere, thousands of them, pouring out of every alley, ringing their bells to tell you they are coming and you need to get out of their way

The culture shock was so large and I was so far out of my comfort zone that my head was spinning, but what can you do?! So we got stuck in, we accepted that we were going to sweat, accepted we were going to be dirty, accepted that it was going to be difficult but we were seeing things that most people will never see and experiencing a country that most people will never visit – soaking up such a different culture is the reward for all the stress, and it more than outweighs the negative aspects. As it turns out, the people of Bangladesh were so friendly and open that retrospectively I was ashamed I judged their country. They were so happy that we had made the effort to come there that anyone who could speak any English would spot us in the distance and sprint to us to see if they could help – I challenge you to find that behaviour on Oxford street.

It had been nearly a day since we arrived and we hadn’t ventured to an actual restaurant yet but our stomachs were yelling out to us so we had to take a leap of faith

The photo is from second restaurant we braved. The food in Bangladesh was delicious, honestly. It tended to be quite a sweat, scented rice mixed with chunks of meat with lime squeezed over it and I couldn’t get enough. The same couldn’t be said about the drinks – the restaurant owners loved having us sit down in their place so they would rush over with some sort of milk, perhaps goat milk?, anyway it was revolting, vile, gag-inducingly sour but we had to take it on the chin, finish it and conjure a thankful smile. The fake smile was a work of art though, especially in countries where the locals are so friendly – you have to smile because they are so nice but you don’t want to smile too much or you could end up with 3 more glasses of the goat’s piss, so through trial and error you discover the tipping point and now I am a master

Making our way back to the room

So day 1 and 2 were under our belts we felt a lot more at ease in Bangladesh, the stress had subsided and the travel euphoria was taking over – i love that feeling. Knowing you are lucky to have the opportunity to be there, you want to savour every sight, smell, sound because you may never return to this place, not knowing what to expect with every corner you approach but relishing the excitement of it all.

I’ll chat some more about what we did in Bangladesh tomorrow – what a truly unique country.

Cheap Travel: Bangladesh is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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