Bangladesh
Suggested Itinerary
Day 1 - Dhaka
Hotel: Westin Dhaka
Check in to the Dhaka Westin, a five-star, international-grade hotel in the heart of Dhaka’s new business district.
Have lunch at the hotels comfortable Living Room restaurant before setting out for the day.
Start the day with a tour through the city by cycle rickshaw. Rickshaws are the most popular form of transportation in the Dhaka, there are some 300,000 on the streets, and are typically brightly painted with a riot of images drawn from nature, history, or popular films. Visit a workshop where rickshaws are painted and meet the artists behind these fanciful designs.
Explore the old city, which runs along the waterfront, and dates from the Mughal Empire, when Dhaka was an important regional trading center. Witness the bustling river life of the Buriganga, where floating merchants ply their trades and people from all walks of life queue for the riverboats bound for other cities in this riverine country.
Go to Lalbagh Fort, an unfinished fort dating from1678, when Dhaka was the regional seat of the Mughal viceroys. Though the fort was never completed, recent excavations and renovations have restored its imposing fortifications and ornamental gates. Several of the interior buildings remain, including a mosque, tombs, an audience hall and the hammam (or Turkish-style bathhouse).
Visit the National Museum which has an excellent collection of sculpture from Bangladesh’s Hindu, Buddhist and Mughal past, as well as an extensive collection of folk art. The head curator will take you on a personal tour of the highlights of the collection. The museum is located in the Shahbag quarter, where the British held court during the days of the East India Company. The neighborhood is home to numerous gardens and parks as well as bustling markets.
Tonight you will be hosted by a prominent member of Bangladesh’s intelligentsia and a friend of Remote Lands, who will arrange a private party with some of Dhaka's most interesting people. If you are lucky, a special event such as colorful Bangladeshi wedding may be occurring during your visit.
Day 2
Hotel: Westin Dhaka
Have breakfast at the hotel.
In the morning, meet with a top representative from the Grameen bank and visit some of the projects supported by Grameen loans, or funded through its wings that invest in the equitable development of agriculture and fisheries. Discuss with the representative Grameen’s economic philosophy and the vital changes it has brought about in Bangladesh.
Visit the stunning National Assembly Building (Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban), designed by world-renowned American architect Louis Kahn. Originally commissioned in 1961 as a parliament building for the government of East Pakistan (as Bangladesh was then known) the Bhaban did not come into its own until after Bangladeshi Independence, in the 1980s. Planned with both contemporary architecture and the aesthetic history of the region in mind, the massive stone building combines clean lines and forms with the monumental feel of a Mughal fort.
From the outside the building appears to be one story, and the exterior is marked with large geometric porticos and round towers. It is situated in the middle of a large man-made pool and appears to float on the surface of the water.
Learn about the city's religious history while visiting the beautiful Star Mosque, or Tara Masjid, in the old city. The mosque’s five domes, porticos and pillars are decorated with hundreds of large and small stars, created by setting pieces of china on white cement. In bright sunlight, this brilliant combination is quite striking and can give the building the effect of floating above the ground. The inside is just as lovely —covered with floral motifs and passages in Arabic calligraphy picked out in the same unusual style of mosaic, known as Chini Tikri.
Have dinner at the Pan Pacific hotel’s Jharna Grill, set in a Mughal-style pavilion in the middle of the hotel’s fountains (jharna means “fountain” in Bengali), which serves fresh seafood and grill specialties prepared in Bangladeshi style. The cuisine in Dhaka still shows the Persian-Arabic influence of the Mughal rulers, shown in the popularity of grilled meats and dishes such as moglai porota, a tasty, flaky fried dough interleaved with eggs, onions, green chili and minced meat.
Day 3
Hotel: Private river boat
After breakfast at the hotel, depart for the airport and fly to Jessore; a guide and driver will meet you and take you to the port of Mongla where you will board a private, traditional wooden river boat, designed using boat craftsmanship that dates back to the Phoenician era. Bangladesh has more than 600 rivers and tributaries within its borders, and traveling by boat is a viable, and sometime the only, means of transport from place to place. You will be embarking for a journey into the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest.
This remarkable environment of narrow river channels, mangrove swaps and thick jungle reaches some 50 miles inland in a wide band that covers much of the Bangladeshi coast, and is the delta of the holy Ganges River. It is a national park and has been a protected as UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997. Cruise through the waterways at sunset and enjoy a gourmet meal of coconut-milk curry made fresh-caught fish, prepared for you by your personal chef.
Day 4
Hotel: Private river boat
Spend your day exploring the remarkable scenery and ecological diversity of the Sundarbans. The region is home to a wealth of species, including Ganges river dolphins, nearly 300 species of birds, saltwater crocodiles, spotted deer, monkeys, leopards, and a small population of Bengal tigers.
The Sundarbans, while sparsely populated, are home to various communities, including fishing towns and nomadic populations of sea gypsies who fish the waters using trained otters.
Stop in a village and meet the people there; visit the home of a fisherman's family and learn about their lives in this unique environment. Have an informal cooking demonstration and enjoy a simple lunch of their fresh catch.
Day 5
Hotel: Private river boat
Conclude your visit to the Sundarbans with a visit to the Sundarbans Tiger reserve, one of the last wild homes of the magnificent Royal Bengal tiger. The population here numbers some 500 animals and your chances of an all-too-rare sighting of these beautiful animals in the wild one are quite good, especially in the dry season. To maximize the possibility of glimpsing a tiger, drift quietly among the trees and lose yourself in contemplating the richness of this environment: listening to the monkeys overhead, and watching the spotted deer, jungle fowl and giant lizards as you go.
Have a picnic lunch on an isolated beach in the midst of this wilderness.
Day 6
Hotel: Private colonial-era villa
Have a final breakfast aboard your boat, then cruise back to Jessore and then fly from there to Sylhet, via Dhaka.
A completely different environment from the saturated lowlands of the Sundarbans, the lush, green, highland hills of Sylhet are a famed tea growing region. A favored retreat of the British during the colonial era, Sylhet retains its odd England-meets-the-Subcontinent charm, with tree-lined lanes leading to the estates of plantation owners.
You will be staying in a charming private villa dating from the colonial era, which is located in lovely landscaped grounds and decorated with period furnishings. Have a delicious gourmet meal prepared for you by your personal chef and served to you on the grounds. The cuisine of the Sylhet region is distinct from other regions of Bangladesh, as the more temperate climate and hilly terrain produce ingredients not found elsewhere, such as freshwater lake fish, and sakora, a tangy citrus fruit only grown in the area and used directly in dishes, or in salty-sour pickle relishes.
Day 7
Hotel: Private colonial-era villa
Have a hearty English breakfast at your villa. Set out for the tea estates by bicycle and cruise through the verdant landscape. Hike through the terraced fields where the tea is grown and visit the processing plant to learn about how it is dried and prepared. Meet with the owner, who will give you a tasting of his product, and chat with him about the business of tea and its history in Sylhet.
Your car will meet you afterwards and take you to another plantation if you wish. Along the way, stop for an amazing glass of 'five-color tea,' a local specialty, in which five different types of tea and a layer of sweet honey are carefully floated one on top of the other.
It is also possible to visit the Bangladesh Tea Research institute, where you can meet with a local tea specialist who will tell you about their work, and give you a tasting of your choice of local tea varieties.
Day 8
Hotel: Peninsula Chittagong
Have breakfast at the hotel. Fly from Sylhet to Chittagong, via Dhaka.
Check in to the Peninsula Chittagong, which is not to be confused with the prestigious Peninsula hotel group, but is one of the best, comfortable business-class hotels the city has to offer.
Chittagong is the second-largest city in Bangladesh and its largest sea port. It is a sprawling, crowded, business-like place that is not particularly remarkable in and of itself. It is, however, home to one of the most compelling sights in the country. Chittagong is where a large number of ships from all over the world are sent, when they have reached the end of their lives, to be dismantled and sold for scrap. The work is done piece-by-piece, largely by hand, and there are some 20-odd yards stretching for miles along the shore. They have been the subject of intense international scrutiny, as Greenpeace and other organizations have called for improved labor and environmental standards (the dangerous work of ship-breaking is rarely done in industrialized nations where the standards for such things are too high and would eliminate the profit to be had from the scrap metal and spare parts). We believe that the only way to understand the nature of the situation is to witness it firsthand, and feel that a visit to the yards, while potentially disturbing, remains an important, eye-opening experience.
Return to the hotel to relax in the evening and have dinner.
Day 9
Hotel: Homestay in tribal village
Leave early in the morning for a drive into the hill country outside Chittagong. From the coast, the terrain sweeps rapidly upwards to high ridges and mountains where the borders of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar (Burma) converge. Completely different from other regions of Bangladesh, this region is thickly forested and has semi-evergreen vegetation in places. The people, too, are distinct from the Bangladeshi population, with half of the region’s small population belonging to tribal groups such as the Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tenchungya, Chak and Mru, whose are descended from Himalayan peoples, practice Theravada Buddhism and have their own languages and traditions.
Visit a small village where you will be a guest tonight, and spend the afternoon visiting with the local people and learning about their traditions, lives and livelihoods.
The day will conclude with a traditional celebratory meal held in your honor.
Day 10
Hotel: Hotel Sea Crown
Drive back down through the mountains to the coast, and then on past Chittagong to the beach town of Cox’s Bazaar. A popular spot with local vacationers, it is still off the radar of international tourism, which is fortunate because it is home to the longest natural sand beach in the world, stretching for 77 miles along the Bay of Bengal. For Bangladeshis inured to often overcrowded cities, there is no better place to come and get their own personal piece of the beach.
Check in to the Hotel Sea Crown, a simple, comfortable place whose main advantages are its location right on the strand, and its lovely sea views.
Spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and exploring the town. Have dinner at one of the many popular seafood restaurants that turn the local catch into delicious local specialties such as crispy fried fish, or prawn dopiaza, prawns sizzled in tomatoes, onion, chili, coriander and turmeric.
Day 11
Hotel: Hotel Sea Crown
Explore the outskirts of Cox’s Bazaar and drive to Ramu, a unique Buddhist village where there are many ancient wooden shrines and temples, or Inani Beach, a quieter and more pristine stretch of the coast, perfect for a swim and a picnic. It is also possible to take a half-day trip to some of the islands off of the coast for swimming and exploring, such as Maheskhali, where a temple to Shiva and a Buddhist shrine occupy the same hilltop, or the sparsely populated Sonadia, which is a stopping point for a variety of migratory bird species and is known as a great spot for collecting shells.
In the afternoon, return to Cox’s Bazaar and visit with organizers for Nayakrishi Andolon (the New Agricultural Movement). Nayakrishi provides Bangladesh's many small farmers, with the tools to fight the pressure to farm the 'modern' way: using heavy fertilizers, pesticides and expensive, imported seed stock, and to preserve ancient farming knowledge and local plant varieties. The latest techniques in sustainable farming are added to the mix to produce an outcome where subsistence farmers become self-supporting in a way that helps to regenerate, and not harm Bangladesh’s uniquely sensitive riverine environment. There are more than 2,000 farmers in Bangladesh engaged in Nayakrishi agriculture, and the movement is gaining in popularity every day. Meet with some local Nayakrishi farmers and learn how they are transforming their own and their society's well-being.
Day 12
Hotel: Private retreat outside Dhaka
Fly from Cox's Bazaar back to Dhaka. Then, drive into the country outside the city, to the private getaway of a friend of Remote Lands, a business leader who is instrumental in one of Bangladesh's largest companies, and is a great patron of the arts.
Spend the afternoon relaxing on his property and enjoy exploring the grounds or fishing in the nearby pond. Your host will treat you to a fabulous farewell dinner prepared by his personal chef, and some fascinating conversation about the arts in Bangladesh.