REFLECTIONS: Bengal Nights (And Days): Part I

I was thinking of where to spend my Chinese New Year holidays in early November when I suddenly had this strong desire to visit a country well below most travellers’ radar and relatively unexplored. It’s so well below the radar despite travellers flocking to its neighbours that most people won’t even guess it as a potential destination. I went to Kinokuniya and couldn’t even find a travel book on the country (I’m pretty sure there are travel books on the country but Kinokuniya didn’t stock them). As usual, I turn to the Internet and managed to find some info there. I started drawing out rough itineraries and started looking for travel partners; however, after having three people pulled out, I decided to just go solo. I really couldn’t be bothered to travel with people who are boring as fart anyway.

Ask most people here and they immediately grimace at the idea of visiting the country or ask me back why I would want to go there. Well, why not? There’s so much of the world to see if only we could be bothered to open our hearts and free our mind. So I bought my ticket to Dhaka, availing of MAS offers in January.

Why Bangladesh? Well, because like I said, it’s below most people’s radar but I didn’t make the decision lightly. I have been following @photographybd on Instagram (you can also check his FB). Either he’s a dang good photographer or Bangladesh is really beautiful or both. The following are some articles on Bangladesh and the single girls who have been there:

https://www.gonomad.com/80349-bangladesh-why-you-should-come-and-where-to-go

http://zafigo.com/stories/zafigo-stories/6-unique-reasons-to-visit-bangladesh/

https://www.coffeewithasliceoflife.com/is-it-safe-to-travel-bangladesh/

https://soultravelblog.com/the-reality-of-solo-female-travel-in-bangladesh/

Bangladesh has 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, one of them is the Sundarbans but a little pricey. You can do a 3D 2N tour (Lonely Planet even mentions a 4D tour!) from Khulna or a day-trip from Mongla (USD12-55). The two standout operators are Bengal Tours and Guide Tours. After having three people pulled out, I decided to go for a one-day trip instead of a 3D 2N (it would cost more for a solo traveller) and after much searching, contacted Orient Tourism and Arranger Tours and they quoted me USD150 and €103 (€115 including lunch after I asked for reduction) and I eventually decided to go with the latter.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/asia/travel-tips-and-articles/planning-your-sundarbans-adventure/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d277b4b5

http://bengaltours.com/trip-to-the-sundarbans-forest/

https://orientecotourism.com/

http://www.arrangertoursbd.com/

Besides Sundarbans, I also planned to visit Bagerhat and Pahapur (also UNESCO sites). I would also have liked to visit Chittagong by taking an overnight train to and fro but as this would add more days to the trip, decided to consider it and other cities on another trip, insyaAllah (if and when it ever materialises – which is also dependent on the outcome of this trip!).

Other things to consider:

1. Malaysians need visa to enter Bangladesh but can apply for visa on arrival at the airport. The cost is USD51

2. You can fly Malaysia Airlines, Malindo, AirAsia and even Biman to Dhaka but I always prefer to fly Malaysia Airlines. Plus Malindo always has issues with rescheduling their flights and when I checked, it actually cost more to fly AirAsia (and AirAsia arrives Dhaka just after midnight).

I then searched for accommodation in Dhaka and Khulna and searched for train timetables. Trains are slower but I like the fact that I can walk around in trains and the legroom is also bigger. I also tried to buy train tickets online; unfortunately, this is only available to Bangladeshis. I then asked if my Dhaka Airbnb host could help buy ticket for me from Dhaka to Khulna. He agreed but told me he usually buys through a broker and it would cost more. I agreed to this and a few days later he told me that he had managed to secure my train ticket. I also asked Mikail, my contact at Arranger Tours, to help buy train ticket for me from Khulna to Joypurhat (nearest main station to Paharpur). He tried doing it online but was not successful and had to go to the station to buy it. He couldn’t help buy the ticket from Joypurhat back to Dhaka though. Oh and there are no AC seats for the night train from Khulna to Joypurhat. I suppose because it’s the night train and AC is not necessary. Yes, I’d be spending one night on the train. It should be an adventure.

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

I left for KL Sentral and then KLIA after work. I managed to change seats from one in row 30 to tow 21. I was surprised to find the flight was full; I would have thought the locals would fly either AirAsia, Malindo or even Biman. ETD was 19:50; however, there was a delay in take-off as some passengers couldn’t board and we had to wait for their bags to be offloaded. Now that sounded familiar! We finally took off close to 21:00. After a while, the cabin crew switched to Malay when serving us as the majority of passengers spoke Malay... I was one of the fewer than five Malay passengers. There were three Caucasians and the rest were Bangladeshis.

We landed at Dhaka airport 22:30 local time and the ground temperature was about 9C. Whoa, I thought, this was one trip where I purposely left out my hoodie and it would be cold! Yes, ‘winter time’ is the best time to visit Bangladesh. I exited the plane quickly and made my way to the arrival hall. I quickly headed for the visa on arrival desk and had to fill up a form before paying USD51 (I was asked if I wanted to pay in USD or MYR so it seems MYR is also accepted although I didn’t ask how much it would be). After filling up and paying, I returned to the desk and the man attending to me did some paperwork before sticking the visa into my passport. I went to join the queue at immigration but was waved to a visa-on-arrival lane and that was it, my immigration process was done.

My bag came out quickly and I went to change money at one of the many money changers. I sold USD120 for BDT10,080 at USD1 = BDT84 (some money changers offered at BDT83.6 so of course I went to one that offered me more Taka). It was important that I changed money then as Fridays and Saturdays are their weekends and most businesses are closed then. Also, I was due to travel to Khulna the very next morning and Mikail had told me that it was more difficult to change money in Khulna (not sure if it’s because there are fewer money changers there). I had paid for my one-day Sundarban tour using Maybank’s Western Union.

I then used Uber to get a ride to my Airbnb in Uttara which was near the airport (I purposely booked a place near the airport as I planned to catch the Sundarban Express from Biman Bandar or Airport Train Station the following morning; this way, I didn’t have to travel into the city that evening itself). I waited but realised the car plates are all in Bengali and I couldn’t read them so I had to request another ride and my host helped with the plate number. I arrived at my Airbnb host’s apartment just after midnight (his check-in time until 23:00 but I had informed him earlier that I’d be arriving late). I paid BDT150 for the Uber ride and BDT1,300 to my host for my Sundarban Express train ticket. I then got acquainted with the family before having a late night shower at their advice (they didn’t have instant hot water facility and needed to heat up the water first and I agreed to their suggestion as I loathed the thought of waking them up at 05:00 to heat up the water for me. Also, I wouldn’t have to rush so much the following morning). And oh, there are many mosquitoes at the airport and in my host’s apartment. This explains the many comments on mosquitoes I read on booking.com when looking at hotels near the airport.