Viator Viator Travel Blog

Bangladesh may confound your expectations. For example, you probably think tourism is all about looking. You get the guidebook, or book yourself on a tour, you go somewhere, and you look at the things you’re supposed to look at: churches, museums, forests, beaches. Sometimes you go look at the people you’re supposed to look at: Thai hill tribes, African pygmies, whirling Dervishes. But in Bangladesh, you’re the attraction.

I am the attraction

Wherever you go in Bangladesh, people will find you fascinating. It takes different forms: in Dhaka, people will watch as you go by, quite a few will say hello or ask where you’re from, and rickshaw drivers may become involved in small accidents because you are so much more interesting than the passing traffic. But out in the country, the interest hits another level of intensity altogether. Head to any of Bangladesh’s lovely, quiet villages, and you will understand something of what Britney Spears’ life is like (if the paparazzi were friendly, kind and only meant her well, that is).

Stop to stretch your legs on any rural roadside, or take your spot on one of Bangladesh’s hundreds of river-crossing ferries, and watch the crowds arrive. They come seemingly from nowhere – one minute you can be kicking back in a bucolic idyll, watching cute baby goats forage among the rice paddies; the next, 30 people are standing around you, quietly, earnestly and unblinkingly staring. Occasionally someone will drag up a bit of English from somewhere (though often, the crowds found it entirely unbelievable I couldn’t speak Bangla – they may not have known other languages existed), asking you ‘what is your country?’. If there are children, some giggling will eventually ensue. And, because this is the 21st century, a few people in the crowd may pull out their mobile phone cameras to take a few snaps of you for later viewing by anyone unlucky enough to have missed the show.

I remain the attraction

If this was India, they’d probably want something from you. In Bangladesh, they just think you’re implausibly interesting. It’s this almost complete lack of exposure to tourists that makes Bangladesh one of the most delightful countries to visit, or one of the most pointless. Because in Bangladesh, there’s really not much in the way of tourist attractions. Not in the way you think: it’s not because nothing happens here but cyclones and famines. It’s just that no one much visits, so they haven’t set up many of those things designed to separate tourists from their money.

So instead of taking a hill tribe trek, or eating a tapas plate at an olive oil plantation, you’ll find you end up doing a lot of the things the locals themselves do. For example…

Bangladesh: Take a boat

Bangladesh is mostly water, and life revolves around the country’s rivers. There are countless ways to get out on it. If time is short, ask someone to punt you across the Buriganga in Dhaka. In the country’s south, take a speedboat from Barisal town to the sleepy rural island of Bhola and watch riverside life roll by. Or do your whole trip on water – the paddle-steamer ‘Rocket’ is Bangladesh’s most famous ferry, but the more modern multi-storey ‘launches’ give you the chance to rent your own VIP room, complete with its own private deck and bathroom.

Bangladesh: Finagle your way into someone’s home

Bangladeshis are breathtakingly hospitable. They’re interested in your welfare, they want you to have a good time in their country, they’re happy to provide a history of any of the country’s thousands of monuments and - more than anything - they would like to feed you. And Bangladeshi food is good. I hope it’s not a slight on Bangladeshi cuisine to describe it as a milder version of Indian food, with subtler flavours and gentler spice.

You staring at me?

Eat a meal at someone’s house and you will get to try pretty much every dish that Bangladesh has ever devised. Seafood will be a big part of it: hilsa fish, the country’s national fish, is devilishly bony but delicious fried in spices; there’s a good chance you’ll also get to try some of the country’s mammoth prawns. Goat usually makes an appearance (though it might be called mutton) and beef is another likely contender, cooked up in a spicy, slightly sour curry. Chicken will be there, in a creamy korma sauce. There will be chapatis or roti, probably a curry made from gourds, definitely a dahl, and there will be a mountain of the Bangladeshi staple, rice. If someone offers you homemade curd (a type of yoghurt) for dessert, take it; if it’s made from buffalo milk, take seconds or thirds.

Bangladesh: Get up early and go for a walk

When your taxi is jammed between three buses, a truck and seven tuk tuks, all hitting the horn every two seconds, and you haven’t moved an inch in the last half an hour, you may find it hard to believe that the streets of Dhaka can be quiet, calm and even peaceful. But if you can haul yourself out of bed at 6am, you will find a different world.

A Bangladesh feast

On the early morning streets, you can watch the city waking up. Sleepy rickshaw drivers pedal sluggishly by you (staring, of course), security guards will wish you good morning, early commuters stroll by wearing lungis and carrying briefcases, the first of the sweepers will be brushing dirt from the pavements, the odd dog will chase a cat or a squirrel, and the occasional expat will jog sweatily past.

Bangladesh: Take your sweetheart to an historical site

While there aren’t that many must-see historical sites, the ones there are are very popular with Bangladesh’s courting couples. At the Red Fort in Old Dhaka, or the colonial palace of Ahsan Manzil, you’ll be guaranteed to see couple after couple ensconced in nooks and crannies, having a quiet chat, gazing into each other’s eyes or, if they’re super daring, holding hands.

Bangladesh’s Muslim culture frowns a little at unmarried love, so if you want to get to know your future wife or husband there’s nowhere better than a historical site: there’s almost no chance of running into a neighbour or family member, entry is practically free, and you can learn a little about your country while you’re there. Even if you’re not traveling with your crush, Ahsan Manzil is definitely worth a visit: this recreated turn-of-the-century mansion is packed with intriguing trinkets, and it costs all of 3 cents to get in.

Bangladesh: Visit Cox’s Bazaar. Please.

I didn’t meet a Bangladeshi who wasn’t mortally offended at the omission of Cox’s Bazaar from my itinerary. Why would anyone in their right mind come to Bangladesh and not visit Cox’s Bazaar? Is there, in fact, any other reason to visit Bangladesh at all? One absolutely must visit the sea beach (this is always pronounced ’sibbitch’) at Cox’s Bazaar. You will hear - and not just once - that Cox’s Bazaar is the longest sea beach in the world. (Unfortunately, wikipedia asserts that is comes in behind Praia do Cassino in South America and Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria.) Not only that, it is also the most beautiful and most interesting or all the world’s sea beaches.

I can vouch for none of this myself, but I can tell you that you’ll hear about it if you don’t go. A lot.

-Jane Rawson