[Note: Internet cafes were scarce for the rest of my 2014-2015 trip, and I had no laptop with me, so I had to give up keeping this journal online. However, I did make notes, almost daily, and have used those to reconstruct the trip more than a year later.]
On the morning of the 28th I arrived at the banks of the river in Barisal about 5:30 and watched the old paddle-wheeler known as the Rocket arrive from Dhaka about twenty minutes later. I bought a deck ticket for only 80 taka (about a dollar), boarded, and the Rocket left about 6:30, with few passengers. There are sleeping berths and a dining room, but those are for first class passengers. I was able, however, to wander into the first class section and look around. The paddle wheel on the Rockets (there are only a few of these old ships left, built in the 1920's and '30's) is on the side, and I stood on the platform above the big wheel as the Rocket headed down the wide, mist covered river. Soon the captain, in the pilot house on top of the ship, invited me up on the narrow walkway running along the top of the ship from the pilot house to the bow. He was a friendly man, 55 years old he told, wearing a dhoti and skullcap and sporting a white beard. Later he told me that his son had drowned, though I now don't remember the circumstances. As the sun rose over the misty river the Rocket headed south and then west, passing under a long bridge just south of Barisal. There was little wind, but it was chilly up there in the early morning on the wide river, somewhere between a mile and a half mile wide, I would guess. A few small boats were also on the river and there were birds chirping in the riverside trees, the trees sometimes enshrouded in mist. The Rocket passed fields and villages and brickworks as the sun rose. Eventually a few others, all Bangladeshis, came onto the walkway on top. I seemed to be the only tourist on the ship.
About 8:30 we docked at the sizeable town of Jhalokati for half an hour. I walked along a street leading from the dock, where fish and betel nut were on sale. Women were washing pots and pans in the river. Just west of the town the river turns south, but the Rocket headed into a smaller channel heading west. This narrower channel, maybe 300-500 feet wide, was more scenic, with trees along the banks along with fields and villages. There were palm trees and banana trees, and fields of rice and vegetables. About 10:30 the Rocket turned south into a larger channel and made a brief stop on the east bank. Continuing south it soon passed a junction with a big river coming from the northwest and at 11 docked at Hularhat on the west bank. Here I reluctantly got off. The Rocket used to go all the way to Khulna, where I was heading, but does no longer. It stops and turns around now at another town maybe halfway between Hularhat and Khulna and from that town it is supposed to be difficult to get to Khulna.
From the dock I took an electric rickshaw, a little like a golf cart, through trees and past small channels to Pirojpur, only a few miles away, and from there I caught a bus northwest to Khulna, about 35 miles away. The almost two hour journey passed through very scenic countryside, with lots of trees and lots of very green, newly planted rice paddies. About halfway we passed through Bagerhat and by its 15th century mosque. The bus crossed by bridge another big river just before we reached Khulna before 2. Southern Bangladesh is a maze of rivers, as the Ganges and Brahmaputra, having joined together just to the north, spread out in a giant delta. I checked into a hotel and then went to enquire about trips to the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove swamp and a national park. I had expected difficulty in finding a tour, as there are few tourists in Bangladesh, but luckily I found a three day tour leaving that night, and booked a spot for 15,000 taka (about $194). I went back to my hotel to rest and shower before boarding the boat about 9. There were 19 of us as passengers, though some of those were still on the way on a bus from Dhaka. I met some of the others and went to bed in my tiny cabin about 10. My Japanese cabinmate appeared to have an extreme insect phobia and sprayed the small cabin with insect repellant before lighting a mosquito coil. I slept restlessly.
About midnight I heard the boat start up. The others on the bus from Dhaka must have arrived. In the darkness we headed down the river south to Mongla at the edge of the national park. The boat's engine stopped at 3:30 and the boat anchored just off Mongla. I got up at 7 and at 7:30 the boat started up again, heading south into the vast mangrove forest and interconnecting waterways of the Sundarbans. An estimated 400 Bengal tigers live in the Sundarbans, the largest concentration of tigers in the world, but because of the thick vegetation and waterways there are very difficult to spot. In fact, there are only very rarely seen by tourists, or anyone else. Our guide told me he had been on about 250 tours and had seen a tiger just twice, both fleeting glimpses very early in the morning.
The boat headed south along a very wide channel and then into a smaller but still wide channel, at first passing a few ocean going ships. We passed no villages and not much wildlife, though we did see birds, including kingfishers. We also two crocodiles on the muddy banks at low tide, one over 15 feet long, and here and there small fishing boats, like canoes.
Shortly after 1 pm the boat turned into a narrower channel, still heading south, though it widened as we continued. The banks were lined with mangroves for the most part, with some other trees. It wasn't terribly scenic, but it was pleasant cruising in the sun for hours and hours. The folks on board were a friendly bunch, about one third Bangladeshi and two thirds foreigners. The crew was great, very friendly and serving good meals.
About 3 and having traveled about 50 miles from Khulna, we were nearing the southern end of the Sundarbans at the Bay of Bengal. In fact, we were near the southeast edge of the Sundarbans, which stretch into India, about two thirds in Bangladesh and one third in India. The boat dropped anchor and we took a small boat onto the shore at a place called Kotka. The muddy ground is covered completely at high tide during full and new moons and the leaves of the ubiquitous mangroves were all cropped underneath at the same level -- by deer. We saw a sizeable herd of deer (the spotted chital), between 50 and 100 of them, many of them with impressive antlers. A few wild pigs were also around. A few of the crew cut off some of the mangrove branches and the deer quickly gathered their courage and came to eat the leaves. We kept our distance and they ate quickly and then dispersed. With our guides (one with a rifle) we took a walk along the muddy ground through mangroves and a few other trees, and some mud-covered bushes. There were thousands of mangrove roots coming up through the mud. We passed an old, abandoned salt works and reached another channel before heading back, reaching a muddy beach to the south with the Bay of Bengal stretching out onto the southern horizon. Gnarly roots broke out from the trees along the shore. There was a little broken pottery along the shore and a tall cell phone tower nearby. Other than that, no sign of human habitation. We headed back to our boat in the channel as the sun set, arriving at the boat just at sunset. That evening, after dinner, we watched a very good documentary entitled "Swamp Tiger." We saw no other tigers on the trip.
The next morning about 6:30 we all got on a small boat and spent an hour going down a scenic narrow channel to the east. We spotted a two foot long monitor lizard on a branch, but not much else. There were only a few birds. We docked and walked to a watchtower with a few shy deer around before heading back. We got back to the boat about 9 for breakfast as we headed north and then east into a narrow channel just wide enough for the boat to pass through, though it later widened. Eventually, we turned south again into a wide channel. We saw a large crocodile slide into the river at our approach and we saw some birds, including brahminy kites.
About 11 we arrived at a place called Kochikhali and docked. We took our small boat to a sand bank on the Bay of Bengal where we spent about an hour and a half. A chilly wind blew from the north and there was no wildlife but small crabs. After lunch on the big boat we left about 3 on another small boat excursion down a narrow channel to the west, spotting a few deer and the tracks of an otter. A big bird flew from tree to tree ahead of us as we approached, avoiding us. We disembarked and walked back to the channel in which our boat was anchored, passing through mangroves and then a grassy area, with grass cutters' huts, and seeing a few deer. We were on our boat again by about 4:30. We headed north into a chilly wind, with the sun setting into haze after 5. We continued north until about 7, when we stopped for dinner. After dinner the boat continued north for another two hours, reaching a place called Tambulbunda about 10:30, where we anchored for the night.
The next morning we once again boarded our small boat and were quietly paddled up a very scenic narrow channel for more than an hour. Mist covered the water and shrouded the outline of trees along the banks. Egrets and kingfishers flew by and we passed two small fishing boats with big wicker fish traps at the stern. Mangroves and nipa palms lined the banks while other skeletal trees overhung the river. Birds chirped and it was a very pleasant trip. We turned around and motored back to our boat for breakfast and then set off about 8.
First we headed south along a wide channel but soon turned west into a narrow, twisting, and scenic channel for about three hours. We saw another big crocodile on the bank. About 11 we docked at a place called Harbaria at the mouth of a small channel. We spent about an hour there on a wooden plank walkway above the muddy ground in a scenic forested area. Monkeys frolicked in the trees as we left. Our boat quickly turned north into the very wide Pasar River, perhaps a mile wide. About 2 we reached the northern edge of the Sundarbans, where the mangroves disappeared, and about 3 we passed by the large city of Mongla, with a huge cement factory and a large port. We passed by maybe a dozen gray naval vessels and five white coast guard vessels docked along the shore and passed by much larger ocean going cargo vessels in the river. As we continued up river we once again passed villages and agricultural fields, absent in the Sundarbans. We passed under the big bridge near Khulna and anchored after 6:30. After dinner on board we were taken to the shore. I got back to my hotel about 8:30 for a welcome hot water bucket bath after three days without bathing on the boat, which only had cold water. The political tension in the country, including public bus bombings, had intensified during our tour and the tour company had arranged a bus to travel all night for those of our group who wanted to get to Dhaka. All but five of us did so.
On the morning of the 28th I arrived at the banks of the river in Barisal about 5:30 and watched the old paddle-wheeler known as the Rocket arrive from Dhaka about twenty minutes later. I bought a deck ticket for only 80 taka (about a dollar), boarded, and the Rocket left about 6:30, with few passengers. There are sleeping berths and a dining room, but those are for first class passengers. I was able, however, to wander into the first class section and look around. The paddle wheel on the Rockets (there are only a few of these old ships left, built in the 1920's and '30's) is on the side, and I stood on the platform above the big wheel as the Rocket headed down the wide, mist covered river. Soon the captain, in the pilot house on top of the ship, invited me up on the narrow walkway running along the top of the ship from the pilot house to the bow. He was a friendly man, 55 years old he told, wearing a dhoti and skullcap and sporting a white beard. Later he told me that his son had drowned, though I now don't remember the circumstances. As the sun rose over the misty river the Rocket headed south and then west, passing under a long bridge just south of Barisal. There was little wind, but it was chilly up there in the early morning on the wide river, somewhere between a mile and a half mile wide, I would guess. A few small boats were also on the river and there were birds chirping in the riverside trees, the trees sometimes enshrouded in mist. The Rocket passed fields and villages and brickworks as the sun rose. Eventually a few others, all Bangladeshis, came onto the walkway on top. I seemed to be the only tourist on the ship.
About 8:30 we docked at the sizeable town of Jhalokati for half an hour. I walked along a street leading from the dock, where fish and betel nut were on sale. Women were washing pots and pans in the river. Just west of the town the river turns south, but the Rocket headed into a smaller channel heading west. This narrower channel, maybe 300-500 feet wide, was more scenic, with trees along the banks along with fields and villages. There were palm trees and banana trees, and fields of rice and vegetables. About 10:30 the Rocket turned south into a larger channel and made a brief stop on the east bank. Continuing south it soon passed a junction with a big river coming from the northwest and at 11 docked at Hularhat on the west bank. Here I reluctantly got off. The Rocket used to go all the way to Khulna, where I was heading, but does no longer. It stops and turns around now at another town maybe halfway between Hularhat and Khulna and from that town it is supposed to be difficult to get to Khulna.
From the dock I took an electric rickshaw, a little like a golf cart, through trees and past small channels to Pirojpur, only a few miles away, and from there I caught a bus northwest to Khulna, about 35 miles away. The almost two hour journey passed through very scenic countryside, with lots of trees and lots of very green, newly planted rice paddies. About halfway we passed through Bagerhat and by its 15th century mosque. The bus crossed by bridge another big river just before we reached Khulna before 2. Southern Bangladesh is a maze of rivers, as the Ganges and Brahmaputra, having joined together just to the north, spread out in a giant delta. I checked into a hotel and then went to enquire about trips to the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove swamp and a national park. I had expected difficulty in finding a tour, as there are few tourists in Bangladesh, but luckily I found a three day tour leaving that night, and booked a spot for 15,000 taka (about $194). I went back to my hotel to rest and shower before boarding the boat about 9. There were 19 of us as passengers, though some of those were still on the way on a bus from Dhaka. I met some of the others and went to bed in my tiny cabin about 10. My Japanese cabinmate appeared to have an extreme insect phobia and sprayed the small cabin with insect repellant before lighting a mosquito coil. I slept restlessly.
About midnight I heard the boat start up. The others on the bus from Dhaka must have arrived. In the darkness we headed down the river south to Mongla at the edge of the national park. The boat's engine stopped at 3:30 and the boat anchored just off Mongla. I got up at 7 and at 7:30 the boat started up again, heading south into the vast mangrove forest and interconnecting waterways of the Sundarbans. An estimated 400 Bengal tigers live in the Sundarbans, the largest concentration of tigers in the world, but because of the thick vegetation and waterways there are very difficult to spot. In fact, there are only very rarely seen by tourists, or anyone else. Our guide told me he had been on about 250 tours and had seen a tiger just twice, both fleeting glimpses very early in the morning.
The boat headed south along a very wide channel and then into a smaller but still wide channel, at first passing a few ocean going ships. We passed no villages and not much wildlife, though we did see birds, including kingfishers. We also two crocodiles on the muddy banks at low tide, one over 15 feet long, and here and there small fishing boats, like canoes.
Shortly after 1 pm the boat turned into a narrower channel, still heading south, though it widened as we continued. The banks were lined with mangroves for the most part, with some other trees. It wasn't terribly scenic, but it was pleasant cruising in the sun for hours and hours. The folks on board were a friendly bunch, about one third Bangladeshi and two thirds foreigners. The crew was great, very friendly and serving good meals.
About 3 and having traveled about 50 miles from Khulna, we were nearing the southern end of the Sundarbans at the Bay of Bengal. In fact, we were near the southeast edge of the Sundarbans, which stretch into India, about two thirds in Bangladesh and one third in India. The boat dropped anchor and we took a small boat onto the shore at a place called Kotka. The muddy ground is covered completely at high tide during full and new moons and the leaves of the ubiquitous mangroves were all cropped underneath at the same level -- by deer. We saw a sizeable herd of deer (the spotted chital), between 50 and 100 of them, many of them with impressive antlers. A few wild pigs were also around. A few of the crew cut off some of the mangrove branches and the deer quickly gathered their courage and came to eat the leaves. We kept our distance and they ate quickly and then dispersed. With our guides (one with a rifle) we took a walk along the muddy ground through mangroves and a few other trees, and some mud-covered bushes. There were thousands of mangrove roots coming up through the mud. We passed an old, abandoned salt works and reached another channel before heading back, reaching a muddy beach to the south with the Bay of Bengal stretching out onto the southern horizon. Gnarly roots broke out from the trees along the shore. There was a little broken pottery along the shore and a tall cell phone tower nearby. Other than that, no sign of human habitation. We headed back to our boat in the channel as the sun set, arriving at the boat just at sunset. That evening, after dinner, we watched a very good documentary entitled "Swamp Tiger." We saw no other tigers on the trip.
The next morning about 6:30 we all got on a small boat and spent an hour going down a scenic narrow channel to the east. We spotted a two foot long monitor lizard on a branch, but not much else. There were only a few birds. We docked and walked to a watchtower with a few shy deer around before heading back. We got back to the boat about 9 for breakfast as we headed north and then east into a narrow channel just wide enough for the boat to pass through, though it later widened. Eventually, we turned south again into a wide channel. We saw a large crocodile slide into the river at our approach and we saw some birds, including brahminy kites.
About 11 we arrived at a place called Kochikhali and docked. We took our small boat to a sand bank on the Bay of Bengal where we spent about an hour and a half. A chilly wind blew from the north and there was no wildlife but small crabs. After lunch on the big boat we left about 3 on another small boat excursion down a narrow channel to the west, spotting a few deer and the tracks of an otter. A big bird flew from tree to tree ahead of us as we approached, avoiding us. We disembarked and walked back to the channel in which our boat was anchored, passing through mangroves and then a grassy area, with grass cutters' huts, and seeing a few deer. We were on our boat again by about 4:30. We headed north into a chilly wind, with the sun setting into haze after 5. We continued north until about 7, when we stopped for dinner. After dinner the boat continued north for another two hours, reaching a place called Tambulbunda about 10:30, where we anchored for the night.
The next morning we once again boarded our small boat and were quietly paddled up a very scenic narrow channel for more than an hour. Mist covered the water and shrouded the outline of trees along the banks. Egrets and kingfishers flew by and we passed two small fishing boats with big wicker fish traps at the stern. Mangroves and nipa palms lined the banks while other skeletal trees overhung the river. Birds chirped and it was a very pleasant trip. We turned around and motored back to our boat for breakfast and then set off about 8.
First we headed south along a wide channel but soon turned west into a narrow, twisting, and scenic channel for about three hours. We saw another big crocodile on the bank. About 11 we docked at a place called Harbaria at the mouth of a small channel. We spent about an hour there on a wooden plank walkway above the muddy ground in a scenic forested area. Monkeys frolicked in the trees as we left. Our boat quickly turned north into the very wide Pasar River, perhaps a mile wide. About 2 we reached the northern edge of the Sundarbans, where the mangroves disappeared, and about 3 we passed by the large city of Mongla, with a huge cement factory and a large port. We passed by maybe a dozen gray naval vessels and five white coast guard vessels docked along the shore and passed by much larger ocean going cargo vessels in the river. As we continued up river we once again passed villages and agricultural fields, absent in the Sundarbans. We passed under the big bridge near Khulna and anchored after 6:30. After dinner on board we were taken to the shore. I got back to my hotel about 8:30 for a welcome hot water bucket bath after three days without bathing on the boat, which only had cold water. The political tension in the country, including public bus bombings, had intensified during our tour and the tour company had arranged a bus to travel all night for those of our group who wanted to get to Dhaka. All but five of us did so.
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