The forest of the night
Trip Start
Jan 14, 2010
1
17
45
Trip End
Jul 19, 2010
Khulna, Bangladesh
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Leaving Dhaka I was a bit sad to be leaving its vibrancy and craziness, but was soon cheered up by the journey. I of course made lots of new friends - a young chap called Raisul who's studying at Khulna (very trendy in his sunglasses), Jimi from Pabna in North Bangla who invited me to his home and was keen to show me the views from the open door of the train, Tajul who lived near Khulna and wanted to be my (free) guide, and the lovely teacher sitting next to me (my "I'm a student" lie backfired here). I had some interesting conversations andeveryone was keen to see photos of Aimee, Mum and Dad (Jimi wanted to keep one of Aimee and pretended to be happy with the passport photo of me he got instead). The views were stunning too and the locals knew lots of the history, pointing out British-built bridges and many a type of crop (..) The journey was soon over though, Tajul and Jimi had got off (though kept texting me) and Raisul went with me in the rickshaw to find a hotel - he even paid for it! Once I'd checked into the Castle Salam I met Nicky, a lovely English lady who's working for a foundation called Trinity College in London assessing teaching abroad. She gave me some useful tips and made me feel a lot calmer on my first night in a strange place...
My plan for the next day was to 'see' Khulna, but alas there's not a lot to see, as nice as it is. I also tried to book a Sundarbans trip, but Bablo, the slimey head of Guide Tours, came up with bizarre prices (80 pounds for a day!), transport (motorcycle on the most dangerous roads in the world) and couldn't even promise me an armed guard to fend off tigersand bandits. I then tried to book train tickets, but you can't book in advance from Khulna (a far cry from India I'll tell you!) All in all it was a bit of a nothing day, but the day improved dramatically. Khan, the owner of a restaurant I at at, told me about how he was a freedom fighter in the Civil War and sang me a song he'd written for his late mother, which was very moving, and after a lounge by the rooftop pool with Nicky, her colleague Ralph and a funny Welsh lady I found Sakib downstairs, a little boy I'd met the day before, who'd bought me presents (wrapped!) and written a note saying I was his "best tourist friend"! I even got a visit from Raisul and his uncle (I couldn't answer any of his questions about English slang or English words for Muslim prayers), who invited me to dinner at their house the next night. I love days like that which start rubbish and end so well!
The best lie in I've had so far followed the next morning, and at 11am I headed off for Bagherat, home to lots of old mosques. After passing through some stunningcountryside my first stop was the tomb of Khan Jahan Ali, a muslim mystic who built all of said mosques (Well, not personally). It was nice to see Muslims at a pilgramage sight, and theb uilding itself was rather pretty. There was also a pool at the back where pilgrims were bathing which is the home to 4 crocodiles (!) which I concluded was ill-advised. After that I saw the Shait Gumbad mosque, a huge structure which might have 60 domes, or 77, or another number entirely, as Raisul explained later that everyone who goes counts a different number! The museum unfortunately shut just after I arrived but the mosque was very peaceful. Weirdly the pilgrims and tourists seemed more interested in taking pictures of me than the mosque. It (and the couple of smaller mosques I saw) was well worth seeing though. Another swim later I headed off to dinner with Raisul's family. I wasn't sure whether to bring a gift but brought fruit, which was well received! (This was entirely based on fruit being the gift of choice for well-wishers in China when my foot was hanging loose.) His Mum and Dad didn't eat as his Dad had kidney problems, but I sat down to the meal with him, his uncle and his best friend. They explained that they'd agonized all day as to what to cook and if I'd like it (it was all vegetarian, which they did especially) but it was amazing - courgette curry, curried eggs and about 4 other curries with rice and salad! They even gave me a special spoon and fork (they eat with their hands like Indians) and then some special sweets afterwards which they;d been keeping from a holiday in Chittagong for a special occasion, to accompany my rice pudding. The meal and the hospitality was incredibly, maybe my best night so far - do look for the photos on facebook! I thanked them plentifully, got a rickshaw back with Raisul's friend (who paid!) and got some rest for my big journey..
So the next morning, a ride to Benepole took me to the end of my Bangladeshi journey. I'm genuinely sad to have left such an amazing country with such remarkably friendly people - still, it was exhausting! I hope I go back one day, as I've never felt more welcome anywhere in the world.
