Dhaka, a city full of mysteries and magic. Beautiful colours, friendly people but with some eyes always watching for some possibilities to lure you. The less visited and appriciated Dhaka and Bangladesh as a whole is not that bad. People just have not seen the true colours of the city and the country. A reverse meaning of true colours.
Smoking Autos, more than 400 thousand rickshaws and rest of the population on foot. A few minutes before landing at the International Airport, I believe I saw Dhaka almost sinking in. The whole city looked as if it was drowning. Waters everywhere. The airport was decent and convenient. I met a a Bangladeshi whom immediately identified me as Malaysian. Then he spoke to me in fluent Malay. This guy was working in Malaysia for more than a decade. Step out of the airport and you will see the most interesting Bangladesh.
People are generally friendly and helpful. Unlike India where anyone on the street could speak some basic English, the communication in Bangladesh tend to be difficult. English is for the upper class and the new generation is generally good at it. The rikshawallas, auto drivers and the merchants speak Bangla. Knowing few words on Hindi/Bangla will help you. Most of the Bangladeshis speaks Hindi and Bengali. There are many interesting areas in Dhaka where you can enjoy visiting. Sadarghat Boat Terminal is one of the place that should not be missed. This is starting point of the "Rocket" Steamers & Boats Khulna and Barisal. The cost starts from Taka 600 to 4000 per night journey depending on the type of room. The scenery of people crossing the river is definitely to be witnessed.
Take note that Bangladesh is still new for incoming visitors. It was actually a little difficult to get a Tourist Visa at the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia without an invitation. Meaning that you must be invited with a valid letter and identity of the Bangladeshi to be given a Visa. The question was, there are nothing much to see in Bangladesh?! Why do you planned to go there? Fortunately after an Interview with the a good diplomat, First Secretary of the High Commission, they gave me a 15 days Single entry Visa. Please check on the Visa requirements before booking your tickets.
I spent 5 days visiting the important monuments and places in the city. Clean food and water are rare unless you tend to choose the high end restaurants. Hotels are bad for the price you pay. Some of the hotels which costs even up to US 35-45 are unacceptable. So imagine the cheaper ones. After some initial disappointments, I found a good hotel. Hotel Ashrafee with a single room for Taka 1850. Decent, clean and comfortable hotel in Rajabargh close to the main Kamalapur Train Station. This is the station where you get the Maitree (Frenship) Train to Culcatta from Dhaka. It runs every Tuesday and Thursday from Dhaka and Sunday and Wednesday from Culcatta with almost 12 hours journey including the checkpoint procedures. The train timings and days has changed, so please check again and don't just follow information on the web. The cost of one way ticket is about Taka 1260.
Clothes, jeans, paints and jackets are the speciality of Bangladesh. Bango Bazaar is so far the best place to shop for rejected branded goods. It's extremely cheep and original items. Again do check yourself to confirm the original items as recently they are mixing the clothes with counterfeits from China and Thailand. You can easily buy a good Levi's jeans and a Dockers pants for about US 3-5. Bargain hard. Start with 1/4 of the asking price. and don't pay anything more than 1/2 the price. If you are not getting it, just walk away and look for other shops. There are very few buyers nowadays, so as long as they make a little profit, they will sell it to you.
Unfortunately, Air Asia has suspended their flight to Dhaka from 1st of July. So plan you travel with other Airlines, but at a higher cost! :)
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