Dhaka Diary 4: Adventures in Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and the island of Moheshkhali
'Dhaka diary' is a bit of a misnomer for this entry because it chronicles my first trip outside of Dhaka, to the bustling port city of Chittagong and then further south to Cox's Bazar beach (purportedly the world's longest beach!) and the island of Moheshkhali, near the border with Burma (Myanmar). The trip was a breath of fresh air (literally!) and though the beach was an anticlimax, the trip had its share of thrills and scares - including a terrifying train ride, an outbreak of bird flu in the country, meeting some militant trade union sorts and a shaky boat ride across the sea to the island of Moheshkali, off Bangladesh's cyclone-hit coast.
Chittagong: Living to tell the tale
After five months of a punishing work schedule in Dhaka, I was *dying* to escape the chaos of the capital and get out and see the *real* (cliched, yes!) Bangladesh. Since I'm a beach-bum, Cox's Bazar - which claims to be the world's longest beach - was a strong attraction. The opportunity finally presented itself when we had to travel to Chittagong to conduct workshops with stakeholders from Bangladesh Railways, including members of the trade unions who were vociferously protesting against the "reform" of the railway. If that made me feel like Daniel being thrown into the lions den, a scarier prospect was to emerge.
My manager suggested that I get a "feel" of the country's railway (our client!) and take the night train from Dhaka to Chittagong. Siren bells promptly rang in my head, since I'd read that there had been 707 rail accidents the previous year, including 592 derailments - statistics that would strike the fear of God into the hearts of the most intrepid travellers!
The train ride lived up to my expectations (read fears!). Travelling on a metre gauge railway line (as averse to a broad gauge line in India) induces wild swings when the line curves and it leaves one with a feeling akin to sea-sickness(!) or the heart-in-your-mouth sensation whilst riding a roller-coaster! I mumbled a short prayer when I arrived alive and well in Chittagong the next morning and checked into Hotel Agrabad, the city's main hotel, bracing myself for two days of "workshops" with railway employees, including feisty trade union sorts. Being the implementation agents for a World Bank / ADB funded reform project has to be the consulting industry equivalent of a UN peacekeeping force role - you come under immense fire and are assigned the unenviable task of implementing peace / change! I survived 2 days of workshops with firebrand trade union leaders who were screaming at the top of their voices, railing against the evil capitalist policies of the development agencies, American neo-colonial hegemony, etc. My neck eventually ached from nodding sympathetically; though one must admit a lot of their concerns were legitimate and it's always a fascinating experience to hear how people on the ground, feel about large-scale projects that will change their lives in many ways.
I enjoy exploring cities and I got some time in the evenings to check out Chittagong's main attractions which include a World War 2 cemetery / memorial, Chittagong zoo and Foy's Lake. The cemetery has graveyards of 755 soldiers from all over the world (Europe, Africa, Australia, Japan!) and a memorial for sailors whose graveyard was the sea. It's a serene and poignant memorial. It had been over a decade since I last visited a zoo (Augsburg zoo in Germany!) and I headed to Chittagong zoo with minimal expectations, which weren't really surpassed! The zoo's sparsely populated with the usual suspects - some bored and sedentary lions, elephants, emus, hyenas, giraffes, some birds and of course the piece de resistance - a lone Royal Bengal Tiger who was hiding in his enclosure. Tsk. Foy's Lake is similar to the lakes in most Indian hill stations that have a number of couples / families peddling sedately on small boats on the lake. It's a fairly large lake though, with a few islands in the middle - all in all, a welcome breathing space to have in the middle of a bustling commercial city.
The caretaker of the 775 souls resting at the Chittagong World War II Cemetery
The entrance to Chittagong zoo :)
Cox's Bazar beach: The *strangest* beach I've ever been to!
The workshops in Chittagong completed, we then set off on a 4-hour road-trip to the seaside tourist town of Cox's Bazar. Cox's Bazar is also Bangladesh's honeymoon capital and our possey of men stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the throngs of love-struck couples at our hotel! Though we reached after sunset, we hit the beach almost immediately and were thrilled to discover a beautiful, clean beach lit up by a full moon. There's something so intoxicating and therapeutic about a strong sea breeze and the exertions of Chittagong just seemed to be washed out to sea by the crashing waves. I was really looking forward to swimming in the sea the next morning. The hotel bar beckoned in the meanwhile and we were soon washing down some excellent fish with Heineken. I was amused though, to discover that like the earlier bars I'd sampled in Dhaka, this one too resembled a dark den of vice!
I hit the beach the next morning on a reconaissance mission, which proved prudent, because as I'd feared after reading this NYT travel article, there wasn't a single person in a swimsuit / swimming trunks! There was the odd person wading into the water *fully* clothed, but otherwise most people seemed content splashing their *feet* in the retreating waves, flying kites, riding beach-bikes and lazing around on beach chairs! The thought of getting into my swimming trunks and charging into the sea was quickly dispelled by the prospect of being attacked by some plain-clothes cultural-police sort who'd arraign me for not dressing "modestly" / appropriately in the country!
Also, given the country's conservative culture, there's a complete absence of the shacks that populate most other popular beaches in the subcontinent (Goa, Kovalam, etc) that serve alcohol. Indeed there wasn't a single place on the "world's longest beach" serving alcohol which was unfortunate considering the huge amount of tourist traffic and associated commerce that the beach could attract, if it allowed one to have a cold beer and a swim in the sea.
Cox's Bazar beach - Swimsuits, water sports, shacks, alcohol, etc are conspicuous by their absence!
"Family entertainment" available at the beach
Restaurant with a view on the beach
Part of the weekend travel plan was to also visit St. Martin's Island, off the coast with Burma, which boasts of some beautiful coral reefs ideal for snorkelling. "Reef" also happened to be the title of the book I was reading over the weekend, where Sri Lankan author Romesh Gunesekera in a manner reminscent of Arundhati Roy in G.O.S.T. weaves a tale that beneath a seemingly placid and serene surface has a foreboding sense of trouble waiting to erupt.
Adventures on the island of Moheshkhali
Given our time constraints, we chose to travel to the closer island of Moheshkali instead and soon found ourselves on a crowded pier with sailors, fishermen and assorted locals waiting to leap onto the ferries shuttling between the mainland and the island. Southern Bangladesh has large numbers of Arakanese tribal refugees who have been shunted out of of Burma by the junta and I got my first glimpse of them on the pier. Given that Arakenese pirates used to be notorious in the 16th century for raiding and pillaging ships in the Bay of Bengal, some of the Arakenese sailors on the pier still carried a rather menacing look about them. One would imagine some of them would make good extras for a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel or the inevitable Bollywood / Tollywood copy!
After much pushing and shoving, we leapt onto one of the ferries, an overloaded wooden ferry that looked destined for the bottom of the sea! My colleague laughed nervously when I asked him if he could swim. He was reassured however by a trio of English-speaking UNHCR chaps, who did this ferry ride across the sea frequently. UNHCR runs refugee camps for around 50,000 Burmese refugees in southern Bangladesh and it was disturbing to hear about the abject conditions they were in. They also gave us useful tips on the island's attractions which included a Shiva temple, a Buddhist stupa on top of a hill, a Buddhist pagoda and a virgin beach hidden behind a forest. So we felt a bit like the Famous Five(!) on one of their adventures, gallavanting around the island on foot and creaky rickshaw from the temple to the stupa to the pagoda and then walking a few miles through meadows and forest to reach the hidden beach, which afforded a beautiful view of the horizon peppered with fishing boats. Our cycle-rickshaw chap rode his vehicle like a man possessed(!), tearing through crowded markets, dangerously negotiating narrow bridges and bylanes on the island, uncannily managing to not cause bodily harm to us / islanders / cows, etc! (I was reminded of Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj's brilliant cameo as a getaway auto-rickshaw driver in the James Bond flick "Octopussy"!)
This has to be the back of beyond! Sitting with a colleague in front of a Buddhist stupa on a hilltop on the island of Moheshkhali off the southern coast of Bangladesh :)
Entering the Pagoda on Moheshkhali
Trekking to the "hidden" beach with the UNHCR guys
Fisherman and his son painting the underbelly of their boat, on the beach on Moheshkhali
Outside the Buddhist pagoda I struck up conversation with Aung, a Burmese refugee who ran a little provisions shop on the island. He smiled sadly when I asked him if he wanted to return to Burma one day. It seemed an unlikely prospect as long as the junta remained in power. Burma's ruling army junta (who quite euphemistally call themselves the Peace and Development Council") are curiously the latest "baddie" in a Hollywood flick - Rambo 4 has a 50-something Sly Stallone taking on Burma's junta! It's fascinating to see the evolution of Hollywood baddies over the years, from Russian KGB spies during the Cold War years, to Al-Qaeda and now Burma's junta! I figure it won't be long before Sudan's camel / horse-riding Janjaweed feature opposite a 007 / Rambo!
So on a lighter note, I informed Aung, that the redoubtable John Rambo was taking on the dreaded junta, only to discover that he didn't know who Rambo / Stallone was. Since he knew Bollywood icons Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, I was counting him on him knowing the old Hollywood legend. So I did my best imitations of a deadpan Rambo machine-gunning down hordes and of Rocky landing fierce upper-cuts, to which instead of an "Ah" moment of recognition lighting up his face, he seemed bemused by the Indian stranger's histrionics! I felt chastened / embarassed enough to buy some sandalwood soap from his shop. :)
Chittagong: Living to tell the tale
After five months of a punishing work schedule in Dhaka, I was *dying* to escape the chaos of the capital and get out and see the *real* (cliched, yes!) Bangladesh. Since I'm a beach-bum, Cox's Bazar - which claims to be the world's longest beach - was a strong attraction. The opportunity finally presented itself when we had to travel to Chittagong to conduct workshops with stakeholders from Bangladesh Railways, including members of the trade unions who were vociferously protesting against the "reform" of the railway. If that made me feel like Daniel being thrown into the lions den, a scarier prospect was to emerge.
My manager suggested that I get a "feel" of the country's railway (our client!) and take the night train from Dhaka to Chittagong. Siren bells promptly rang in my head, since I'd read that there had been 707 rail accidents the previous year, including 592 derailments - statistics that would strike the fear of God into the hearts of the most intrepid travellers!
The train ride lived up to my expectations (read fears!). Travelling on a metre gauge railway line (as averse to a broad gauge line in India) induces wild swings when the line curves and it leaves one with a feeling akin to sea-sickness(!) or the heart-in-your-mouth sensation whilst riding a roller-coaster! I mumbled a short prayer when I arrived alive and well in Chittagong the next morning and checked into Hotel Agrabad, the city's main hotel, bracing myself for two days of "workshops" with railway employees, including feisty trade union sorts. Being the implementation agents for a World Bank / ADB funded reform project has to be the consulting industry equivalent of a UN peacekeeping force role - you come under immense fire and are assigned the unenviable task of implementing peace / change! I survived 2 days of workshops with firebrand trade union leaders who were screaming at the top of their voices, railing against the evil capitalist policies of the development agencies, American neo-colonial hegemony, etc. My neck eventually ached from nodding sympathetically; though one must admit a lot of their concerns were legitimate and it's always a fascinating experience to hear how people on the ground, feel about large-scale projects that will change their lives in many ways.
I enjoy exploring cities and I got some time in the evenings to check out Chittagong's main attractions which include a World War 2 cemetery / memorial, Chittagong zoo and Foy's Lake. The cemetery has graveyards of 755 soldiers from all over the world (Europe, Africa, Australia, Japan!) and a memorial for sailors whose graveyard was the sea. It's a serene and poignant memorial. It had been over a decade since I last visited a zoo (Augsburg zoo in Germany!) and I headed to Chittagong zoo with minimal expectations, which weren't really surpassed! The zoo's sparsely populated with the usual suspects - some bored and sedentary lions, elephants, emus, hyenas, giraffes, some birds and of course the piece de resistance - a lone Royal Bengal Tiger who was hiding in his enclosure. Tsk. Foy's Lake is similar to the lakes in most Indian hill stations that have a number of couples / families peddling sedately on small boats on the lake. It's a fairly large lake though, with a few islands in the middle - all in all, a welcome breathing space to have in the middle of a bustling commercial city.
The caretaker of the 775 souls resting at the Chittagong World War II Cemetery
The entrance to Chittagong zoo :)
Cox's Bazar beach: The *strangest* beach I've ever been to!
The workshops in Chittagong completed, we then set off on a 4-hour road-trip to the seaside tourist town of Cox's Bazar. Cox's Bazar is also Bangladesh's honeymoon capital and our possey of men stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the throngs of love-struck couples at our hotel! Though we reached after sunset, we hit the beach almost immediately and were thrilled to discover a beautiful, clean beach lit up by a full moon. There's something so intoxicating and therapeutic about a strong sea breeze and the exertions of Chittagong just seemed to be washed out to sea by the crashing waves. I was really looking forward to swimming in the sea the next morning. The hotel bar beckoned in the meanwhile and we were soon washing down some excellent fish with Heineken. I was amused though, to discover that like the earlier bars I'd sampled in Dhaka, this one too resembled a dark den of vice!
I hit the beach the next morning on a reconaissance mission, which proved prudent, because as I'd feared after reading this NYT travel article, there wasn't a single person in a swimsuit / swimming trunks! There was the odd person wading into the water *fully* clothed, but otherwise most people seemed content splashing their *feet* in the retreating waves, flying kites, riding beach-bikes and lazing around on beach chairs! The thought of getting into my swimming trunks and charging into the sea was quickly dispelled by the prospect of being attacked by some plain-clothes cultural-police sort who'd arraign me for not dressing "modestly" / appropriately in the country!
Also, given the country's conservative culture, there's a complete absence of the shacks that populate most other popular beaches in the subcontinent (Goa, Kovalam, etc) that serve alcohol. Indeed there wasn't a single place on the "world's longest beach" serving alcohol which was unfortunate considering the huge amount of tourist traffic and associated commerce that the beach could attract, if it allowed one to have a cold beer and a swim in the sea.
Cox's Bazar beach - Swimsuits, water sports, shacks, alcohol, etc are conspicuous by their absence!
"Family entertainment" available at the beach
Restaurant with a view on the beach
Part of the weekend travel plan was to also visit St. Martin's Island, off the coast with Burma, which boasts of some beautiful coral reefs ideal for snorkelling. "Reef" also happened to be the title of the book I was reading over the weekend, where Sri Lankan author Romesh Gunesekera in a manner reminscent of Arundhati Roy in G.O.S.T. weaves a tale that beneath a seemingly placid and serene surface has a foreboding sense of trouble waiting to erupt.
Adventures on the island of Moheshkhali
Given our time constraints, we chose to travel to the closer island of Moheshkali instead and soon found ourselves on a crowded pier with sailors, fishermen and assorted locals waiting to leap onto the ferries shuttling between the mainland and the island. Southern Bangladesh has large numbers of Arakanese tribal refugees who have been shunted out of of Burma by the junta and I got my first glimpse of them on the pier. Given that Arakenese pirates used to be notorious in the 16th century for raiding and pillaging ships in the Bay of Bengal, some of the Arakenese sailors on the pier still carried a rather menacing look about them. One would imagine some of them would make good extras for a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel or the inevitable Bollywood / Tollywood copy!
After much pushing and shoving, we leapt onto one of the ferries, an overloaded wooden ferry that looked destined for the bottom of the sea! My colleague laughed nervously when I asked him if he could swim. He was reassured however by a trio of English-speaking UNHCR chaps, who did this ferry ride across the sea frequently. UNHCR runs refugee camps for around 50,000 Burmese refugees in southern Bangladesh and it was disturbing to hear about the abject conditions they were in. They also gave us useful tips on the island's attractions which included a Shiva temple, a Buddhist stupa on top of a hill, a Buddhist pagoda and a virgin beach hidden behind a forest. So we felt a bit like the Famous Five(!) on one of their adventures, gallavanting around the island on foot and creaky rickshaw from the temple to the stupa to the pagoda and then walking a few miles through meadows and forest to reach the hidden beach, which afforded a beautiful view of the horizon peppered with fishing boats. Our cycle-rickshaw chap rode his vehicle like a man possessed(!), tearing through crowded markets, dangerously negotiating narrow bridges and bylanes on the island, uncannily managing to not cause bodily harm to us / islanders / cows, etc! (I was reminded of Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj's brilliant cameo as a getaway auto-rickshaw driver in the James Bond flick "Octopussy"!)
This has to be the back of beyond! Sitting with a colleague in front of a Buddhist stupa on a hilltop on the island of Moheshkhali off the southern coast of Bangladesh :)
Entering the Pagoda on Moheshkhali
Trekking to the "hidden" beach with the UNHCR guys
Fisherman and his son painting the underbelly of their boat, on the beach on Moheshkhali
Outside the Buddhist pagoda I struck up conversation with Aung, a Burmese refugee who ran a little provisions shop on the island. He smiled sadly when I asked him if he wanted to return to Burma one day. It seemed an unlikely prospect as long as the junta remained in power. Burma's ruling army junta (who quite euphemistally call themselves the Peace and Development Council") are curiously the latest "baddie" in a Hollywood flick - Rambo 4 has a 50-something Sly Stallone taking on Burma's junta! It's fascinating to see the evolution of Hollywood baddies over the years, from Russian KGB spies during the Cold War years, to Al-Qaeda and now Burma's junta! I figure it won't be long before Sudan's camel / horse-riding Janjaweed feature opposite a 007 / Rambo!
So on a lighter note, I informed Aung, that the redoubtable John Rambo was taking on the dreaded junta, only to discover that he didn't know who Rambo / Stallone was. Since he knew Bollywood icons Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, I was counting him on him knowing the old Hollywood legend. So I did my best imitations of a deadpan Rambo machine-gunning down hordes and of Rocky landing fierce upper-cuts, to which instead of an "Ah" moment of recognition lighting up his face, he seemed bemused by the Indian stranger's histrionics! I felt chastened / embarassed enough to buy some sandalwood soap from his shop. :)