Bangladesh - Thoughts and Advice

I made the following post to the IndiaMike Forum. The idea was to help other travellers who were thinking of visiting Bangladesh. Please visit the original IndiaMike Posting to see further questions and comments. If you are intending to visit Bangladesh, there's a another IndiaMike posting that you will find useful.

BANGLADESH - THOUGHTS AND ADVICE FROM MY RECENT TRIP
I have just returned from a 3 week trip to Bangladesh. I had a great time, and would really recommend the country as an interesting destination in its own right, or as a side-trip from India. I could have spent longer there, but May is not the ideal time to visit, with the increasing heat and imminent monsoon. The country is so flat in the south, and floods so easily, you would be crazy to go once the monsoon has actually started.

BEFORE YOU GO
A good guide book is essential. I bought a pirated copy of the Lonely Planet Guide in Dhaka's 'New Market'. I never saw a genuine copy for sale. The online site has plenty of useful information. Bangladesh Railways have an online timetable and route map here and the Bangladesh High Commission website has visa information.

VISAS
I was in Agartala, the capital of Tripura state, when I decided to visit Bangladesh. Agartala has a Bangladesh Consulate at Ananya Complex, Budhya Mandir, and getting a 30 day visa there was quite easy, and took about 2 hours, including a trip to the bank to pay the fee to their account. The cost, for a British passport-holder, was US$ 64-30c. Other visas are available, at different costs. My only recommendation is to get to the Consulate just before the 0900 opening time, to avoid the rush from locals wanting transit visas to Kolkata. Important: the visa has the entry and exit points for Bangladesh entered on it, so you must decide in advance which of the crossing points you wish to use, as they can't be changed later.

BORDER CROSSINGS
I entered Bangladesh by bus from Agartala to Dhaka. It took 6.5 hours for the full journey, and cost 232rs. The BRTC bus starts in Agartala, passes through the border, and continues on to Dhaka - note the difference from the Benapole/Bongaon crossing (see later) where two buses are used. The border crossing point, not far from Agartala, was a small affair that rarely sees foreigners. The exit from India went smoothly, apart from laborious form filling as usual. The Bangladesh customs guys checked all hand luggage, but didn't bother looking at the main luggage, which stayed on the bus. As the only foreigner on the bus, I was a natural target for the Bangladesh customs guys, who wanted money from me. They started by asking if I had dollars cash, which most Indians have to take with them. When I said that I didn't have any, just travellers cheques, they wanted to know how many Indian rupees I had left - in my case about 10000, which was a mistake. They initially wanted me to just give them 10%, which I refused; they then insisted that I changed some into Bangladesh takas, with no receipt: I lost about 600rs on the deal! My advice to anyone else crossing this border is not to admit to having any dollars/pounds/euros in cash, and to say you've only got a couple of hundred rupees on you. The Bangladesh immigration guys, on the other hand, were all friendliness and welcoming. They spoke good English, and apologised that they had no suitable accomodation for me to stay in.

I left Bangladesh by taking the bus from Dhaka to Kolkata, which cost 600 taka and departs at 0700, taking about 11 hours. The bus is booked at the BRTC office, near to Kamalapur railway station in Dhaka, and is a daily service. There is also a daily night bus that leaves Dhaka at 2200 - it is popular with Indians who take a through trip from Agartala to Kolkata on a transit visa, changing buses in Dhaka, to save the long haul through Assam. The border crossing on this journey is between the towns of Benapole and Bongaon. The bus from Dhaka stops about 1km short of the border, and the remaining distance, with your luggage, has to be made on flat-topped bicycle rickshaws (10 taka). At the border, you are required to pay 300 taka government charge, and 100 taka immigration fee, so make sure you still have some takas left as you leave the country. You'll also need extra for rickshaws, and tips to the various useful small boys who guide people from one office to the next, and are well worth the tips they get. The last small boy gets whatever you have left, as you are not allowed to take taka out of the country. Once again, as a foreigner, I was the only one on the bus hassled for money at the border - this time it was the Bangladesh immigration guys, who tried to make out that my Indian visa was faulty as it 'had not got the entry routes marked on it' - of course, it never does! I called their bluff and in the end, after their threatening bravado and shouting, they gave me my exit stamp anyway. Their manner could have been quite initimidating to someone not experienced in the ways of border-officers - you have been warned! My baggage was not checked at all. Once out of Bangladesh, and into 'no-mans land' another small boy takes over and guides you to the different Indian offices. They didn't check my bags either as the small boy rushed me past before they had time to consider stopping me. The Indian immigration point has a separate office for foreigners: they didn't raise any problems with my multiple-entry Indian visa, and all went well, apart from the time is always takes to enter details first on the computer, and then by hand into the paper ledgers. I was then conducted to a new bus for the final leg of the route: after a final passport check by the military, we were officially in India, and the remaining bus journey went without any problems, dropping us in Kolkata at the New Market, not far from Sudder Street.

THOUGHTS ON BANGLADESH
Bangladesh is quite similar in lots of ways to West Bengal, though there are some differences. It is even cheaper than India, and for my 3 week trip I averaged UK pounds 6-50 per day, even staying in some nice hotels. There is a lot less English spoken in Bangldesh than India, and hardly any English signs or direction boards, which can be difficult. I found sufficient English speakers, though; at all the necessary places like stations, bus stands, hotels, etc.

Bangladesh has very few tourists: in my 3 weeks to all the major tourist areas, I didn't see another one! Consequently, I found the people I met very curious about me, but very friendly and welcoming. 'What is your country?' is a question that gets asked 100 times per day! I never had hassles or nasty moments, apart from at the border as mentioned above.

Bangladesh seems cleaner at times than India; I think that this is because it is poorer, and hence the scavengers pick up every last bit of anything that can be sold for recyling. There seems to be about the same number of beggars as in India.

THINGS TO SEE
I won't spend a lot of time talking about the different things to see in Bangladesh - a copy of the Lonely Planet guide will serve you much better. Suffice to say that there are plenty of interesting things to see, both in the cities, at archeological sites, and in the countryside. The highlight of the trip for me was the Rocket Steamer from Dhaka to Khulna, which at only about UK pounds 8-00 for a first class cabin on the 27 hour trip was excellent value indeed. Other highlights included the various Buddhist sites, the Kantanagar Temple, an assortment of mosques, the tea estates in the north, the old city and river in Dhaka, and the ship-breaking yards near Chittagong. For photos of all these, check out my blog site.

FOOD
Food is very difficult if you are a vegetarian, as there is so much meat eaten, and meat finds its way into most snacks, and even the dhal at times! There is generally only one mixed vegetable dish available at most restaurants, so whilst you won't starve, it does get very monotonous. Meat eaters will have no problems - you can even get beef! Soft drinks, such as Pepsi or Coke come in 250ml bottles, and cost 10 taka. A tip of 5 or 10 taka is welcomed by any waiter, and brings special service when you next go there.

ACCOMMODATION
There is a wide range of accommadation available, from 100 taka per night for a basic single room with private bath and fan, to 1000+ for luxury A/C. In the 300-400 range, there are some excellent bargains to be had. In Dhaka, I stayed at the Al Faruque Hotel, just around the corner from where the Agartala bus gets in, and near to the main Kamalapur railway station. It offers excellent value at 275 taka for a single (that's only just over 2 UK pounds per night!!). The rooms are clean and safe, with modern furniture; the staff are friendly, and the next door restaurant is good value and hygenic. A meal of 2 parathas, mixed vegetables, dhal, and a cucumber salad costs less than 30 pence in UK money. I finished with 2 bananas from a stall nearby, and couldn't eat another thing!

TRANSPORT
Bangladesh transport is very good value, with frequent buses everywhere, and a reasonable rail network, though the rolling stock is very old. Bicycle rickshaws are everywhere, and charge about 10 taka per kilometre. At these prices, its hardly worth walking! The auto-rickshaws in Bangladesh are called 'Baby Taxis', and typically charge twice the rate of the bicycle rickshaws. Because there are so few tourists, the rickshaw guys don't seem to have cottoned on to the concept of charging foreigners more, which is nice, but some of the baby-taxis drivers do, and frequently 'forget' to use the meter, or claim it is broken. There are also standard taxis, but I didn't use any so can't comment about them.