Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006
To:
touring@phred.org
From: “Michael Ayers” <michael@terminalia.org>
Subject: Gondwana - Barely Breathing room in Bangladesh
Nomoskaar Phreds,
Another country, Bangladesh, is complete, with more
interesting things to see, but yet more challenges.
The young nation of Bangladesh has had a constantly
stressful past. Born over 25 difficult years, from the partition of India, to a
bloody war of independence from Pakistan in 01971, more recent times have not
always been easy either. Cyclones, flood and transport accidents have taken
many lives. Today it appears that the country is stuck in a hole that it may
not be able to climb out of. Just about everything you have heard about
Bangladesh appears to be true.
From a touring perspective, Bangladesh was one of the
toughest places I’ve been, from a mental standpoint, if not a physical one. On
the positive side, the terrain is board flat, the weather was decent, and the
road surfaces were universally good, which was a true blessing after
teeth-shattering Myanmar. Everything else was tough. Most notably food, which
fell down to a quite low level in quality. Restaurants, in the normal sense,
were almost absent outside of a few larger towns, where they were still hard to
locate. There were always places that served flatbread, rice and a few chunks
of curried meat or fish. Shops had water, drinks and some fairly tasty baked
goods, but usually not much else. Air quality was very bad, but not particularly
worse than neighboring countries. The big drawback was the traffic, which
consisted of a constant mix of foot traffic, bikes, cargo bikes, rickshaws, and
an increased number of trucks and busses. The later two were the real issue,
almost always being operated in a maniacal manner, never slowing down, no
matter how crowded the thoroughfare, and each making frequent use of a horn
loud enough to wake the dead. Seriously. I thought that Myanmar was bad in that
regard, but Bangladesh takes the horn honking to a whole other level. It’s
inconceivable that that could be worse anywhere else, so I suppose I can say
that the worst is past.
The biggest issue in Bangladesh is the burden caused
by its huge population. The country has a population half as large as the U.S.A.,
living in an area about the size of the state of Missouri. Every square meter
of the useable area of the country either has someone standing on it or some
sort of human artifact. Those artifacts were initially low on the scale of
attractiveness, and time has not been kind to them. I have never seen any place with a similar
situation. There is not even a small clump of forest or other unoccupied land.
That made finding any sort of private camping, or, more problematic, private
waste disposal places completely impossible. With virtually no foreign tourists
in most places (I saw only one, entering from India, just as I was leaving), my
presence always drew a crowd, whether I simply stopped for a few seconds on the
roadside, or strolled through a village or town. In these cases people quickly
gathered around to stare at me, though someone would always inquire where I was
from. The people were always quite nice, but I always had to initiate the
encounter. I did notice that there is a significant separation between women
and men. Additionally, many of the women are quite demure and don’t smile very
much. I can’t say whether this is an Islamic issue, or one of poverty, since I
have been to other places with similar circumstances where the women were
outgoing and friendly.
The route was fairly short, starting in Dhaka, the
capital, and heading west and north towards the Indian border. I had hoped to
start towards the south for a while, but after a day lost leaving Myanmar, and
another lost while waiting for a package of supplies from home that was sent
out late, I had to skip that.
Dhaka is probably a place that will never be surpassed
on the scale of crazy cities. Noisy, crowded, with aggressive traffic,
considerable litter, smoke, and other filth the city is a smear of ugliness.
It’s hard to imagine that it will ever be much better in the future. That’s not
to say that everything is bad, there are a few slick western-style hotels and
shopping plazas, but those do not appeal to me very much. More interesting was
the Chawk Bazaar in the old section of the city. I have seen traditional
markets in lots of places, and they have recently started to lose their
uniqueness to me. The bazaar is different as it is located not in an outdoor
pavilion, but in a labyrinth of narrow streets lined by old buildings. There
are also more vendors than the typical food, crafts, and dry goods stalls. Some
of the more interesting shops were machine shops that looked like medieval
dungeons, sweatshops filled with men sewing burlap sacks, and places selling
brightly colored dyes. It was fun to walk around the bazaar as there was always
something interesting to see.
Once the ride started the scene changed a little, but
not the general feel. The first task was to get out of the city. I was apprehensive
about riding out, but the only other option was to take a taxi, and, given the
way they drove, I thought that would be even more hazardous. In the end it was
not as bad as I thought and before long I was out of town heading west on the
Aricha highway. That particular road was the most choked with truck and busses
of any, and it was rather stressful. Along the highway there were numerous
brick-making plants each with a tall smokestack surrounded by thousands of
drying bricks. Arriving at Aricha, a river port I had to take a ferry across
the watercourse where the mighty, and much revered, Ganges and Brahmaputra
Rivers join forces to head for the Bay of Bengal through the vast delta region
of Bangladesh. It was a pleasant crossing, though it took a lot longer than I
expected as the river is broad and sandy, appearing more like a seashore at
places.
The next four days were fairly similar, with crowds,
honking busses, uninspiring food, and flat riding. The one major sight along
the way was the ruins of Paharpur, an 8th century Buddhist
monastery. Reaching it required a significant detour, but some relatively
pleasant riding along a few quieter backroads. The site is small and in a
fairly covered state compared to some others I’d seen recently, but the central
vihara was impressive and was covered with numerous terra cotta tiles depicting
various real and mythical creatures.
The final full day included a long stretch along the
Teesta Canal, on a narrow paved road. There was not enough room for trucks or
busses there, so that was quite enjoyable. Had more of the country been like
that the tour there would have been much more pleasant.
The main impression of the tour was made by the crowds
and lack of privacy. That’s kind of a shame because with the huge load of water
and silt continually brought down from the Himalayas, the area is lush and
fertile, and if the human presence was less, it could really be a beautiful
place.
Next up, my most anticipated destination.
Dhonyabad,
Mike
--
The Tour of Gondwana
May 02005 - Oct 02007
http://www.terminalia.org/tour