Bangladesh does irony: the Rocket
One of the highlights of my time in Bangladesh was the few days we spent in on a river cruise to a town called Khulna, about 4 hours SW of Dhaka. Not long after we got back from Srimongal, mum, Lucy, her flatmate Shelley and I took a 30 hour boat trip down the many waterways of Banga to Kulhna - famous for its prawn farms. The boat trip was amazing - one of the best things I've ever done! The boat was an old paddle steamer, ironically called the Rocket as it takes more than a day to travel what would take 4-5 hours in a car! It was so incredibly relaxing though, especially after the business of Dhaka.
The boat left Dhaka at about 6pm one night and wound its way through hundreds of little villages and ports, arriving late the following evening. We spent a good part of the evening and the next day sitting on the front deck reading, relaxing and playing scrabble (much to the amusement of the other passengers).
When we got tired in the evenings (or sick of talking to our guide Razu aka Brass Razu or Razzle Dazzle!), we would "take some rest" - code for moving to a more private side balcony to drink some wine!
We might have been travelling first class, but it was no QEII - our cute little cabins were cosy and clean, but the toilets got progressively dirtier as the hours went on and there were no showers. And our cabins were luxury compared with the rest of the passengers. We took a tour of the boat and saw many people curled up on a sari on the hard floor - some right next to the engine!
I just loved being on the boat though - watching the villages go by on the shore and seeing the frantic loading and unloading of the boats at the ports.
And once we arrived in Khulna we had a great time too. We were taken to see the famous 60 dome mosque (which actually has 77 domes....??), 
a hindu temple open to all denominations,
a pan farm, 
(this is what the pan leaves look like when they sell them) 
and a fabulous prawn market where they sell prawns for export to countries like Japan and the US. The prawns were enormous!
(Weighing the prawns)
And we drew quite a crowd where ever we went!!
And this is Lucy multi-tasking Banga style - talking on the phone and taking pictures of some kids in a village and showing them the pics!
The boat left Dhaka at about 6pm one night and wound its way through hundreds of little villages and ports, arriving late the following evening. We spent a good part of the evening and the next day sitting on the front deck reading, relaxing and playing scrabble (much to the amusement of the other passengers).
When we got tired in the evenings (or sick of talking to our guide Razu aka Brass Razu or Razzle Dazzle!), we would "take some rest" - code for moving to a more private side balcony to drink some wine!We might have been travelling first class, but it was no QEII - our cute little cabins were cosy and clean, but the toilets got progressively dirtier as the hours went on and there were no showers. And our cabins were luxury compared with the rest of the passengers. We took a tour of the boat and saw many people curled up on a sari on the hard floor - some right next to the engine!
I just loved being on the boat though - watching the villages go by on the shore and seeing the frantic loading and unloading of the boats at the ports.
And once we arrived in Khulna we had a great time too. We were taken to see the famous 60 dome mosque (which actually has 77 domes....??), 
a hindu temple open to all denominations,
a pan farm, 
(this is what the pan leaves look like when they sell them) 
and a fabulous prawn market where they sell prawns for export to countries like Japan and the US. The prawns were enormous!
(Weighing the prawns)
And we drew quite a crowd where ever we went!!
And this is Lucy multi-tasking Banga style - talking on the phone and taking pictures of some kids in a village and showing them the pics!
posted by anna at 1:20 pm
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