Dhaka to Darjeling

This is fun. It is not the normal path that most of the westerners or tourist take to visit Darjeling. But generally the Bangladeshis travel this way and it is a common during the high season in Darjeling. Now there is only one bus that goes from Dhaka (Bangladesh) to Siliguri (India). It is run by the trusted bus company Shyamoli Transports. The package includes an A/C Coach in a 2 X 2, forty seats coach, you have to book the seat in advance as it sells out at least 3-4 days before the scheduled departure, a packaged food and drink and assistance at the customs for border crossing. The ticket was Taka 1300, but may change from time to time. It is a computerized system and need not to worry. Shyamoli Services are professional.

The bus leaves about 10 PM from Dhaka. But you will need to be at the Ticket Office by 8 PM. There are quite a number of Shyamoli Ticket counters in Dhaka. So they will pool all the passengers to one Mini Bus before dropping you off at the changing counter at the outskirts of Dhaka. Bags will be tagged and you will be given a coupon. So need not to worry. Once you leave in the A/C coach, you will be given a bottled water and a pack of food (Snacks).



The bus then will stop at a Highway Cafe about 11-11.30 PM. Remember like any other stopover cafes, this place is expensive, but will be your last stop till the next morning.

The bus will arrive at Burimari, the border village of Bangladesh (North West of Bangladesh) around 6 AM the next day. The fun part begins! The Bangladesh Customs will only open it's doors around 8.30 AM. So you will have some time to wash up and walk around the village. Shyamoli Counter offers some basic rest areas with toilet. The whole customs and border crossing process will take approximately 5 hours. The bus assistant will collect all the passports and do the necessary. If you are a foreigner, please ensure you have done all the checking and have no issues on Visa for India. From the bus stop to the border gate is about 200 meters. They will arrange a rickshaw for this distance and your bags will be transported by default. Expect to pay a Taka 10 for the ride. Next, the customs officers will call the names one by one, and you can from there walk another 100 meters to the other side of the gate. Not yet, this is still Bangladesh soil. Once you reach the other gate, this is where they will stamp the passport and let you go.

Cross the gate and there will be sign - India. Yes! There is a small hut after the gate on the Indian side. First the gate officers will check your passports. Next the customs officers will go through, stamp the passports and you are ready to go. Again, please ensure all your documents are right. There will be another Shyamoliy Bus waiting to pick up the same passengers. A different bus on the Indian side. The bus will approximately leave at 11 AM and reach Siliguri at 1 pm. Indian time is 1/2 hour earlier than Bangladesh timing.

    

The bus will stop at a Hotel, a little far from the bus/jeep stand to Darjeling at Siliguri. From here, take a rickshaw to the Siliguri Junction. RS 20. There will be plenty of jeeps waiting for turns to go up. It is a 4 hour ride and please ensure to arrive in Darjeling before 9 PM. After that the whole town goes to sleep unless you have an earlier booking for a hotel. The shared jeep costs RS 100 per person. Try to get the front seat next to the driver for a more comfortable ride. Happy journey!

Bangladeshi Farmers at the Burimari Border

Mumbai-Se Jalti Karo!

Mumbai - A city that never sleeps. There are action on every angle of the metropolitan. A fast growing, congested, super polluted environment. But nothing stops from the people moving around. From dawn to dusk, you will see thousand of people walking in and out.

The railway network is one of the largest in Asia with more than 6 million people using it's services daily. You may not want to try this during the rush hour as you basically will not have any space to move around. Can also be a victim of pick pocketing and abuse. People will push you and you may push them, but don't worry you will not offend anyone. It is the norm for traveling on the Mumbai Transit.

There is a big gap between the rich and poor and you can clearly see the difference in the quality of the people life. Just imagine this, a person taking his bath out of his small hut, just a meter away you see a baby defaces, within a feat or two a housewife is preparing the lunch in an open stove and so on. But you will be surprised that when you turn the other side, there is a Rolls Royce waiting at the junction. Maybe you won't see that many foreign high end cars even in Singapore. Slums are aplenty. One of the places which you should add in to your itinerary. You can get in touch with Realty Tours. They have the facilities and experience to do the most sought after "Dharavi" Slum Tour. But please take the half day tour and not the full day tour. It costs more but a few extra minutes strolling in the Red Light Area "Kamathi Puram" and a glimpse of the Dobby Ghat is not worth it. You can actually do those two parts on your own. Just remember, some places you are better off without a camera.

Keep your eyes wide open in Dharavi. You will see lots of very friendly people and kids. It is very safe and you have nothing to worry about. Just remember, some people may not like cameras, so be invisible. You will walk through the small allies and back streets of the houses. Some even will be as tiny as 1-2 feet. The whole slum is full of small and medium level factories. About 90% people who are staying in Dharavi work within and most of them are from elsewhere and not Mumbai-tizens.More than half of the population sleeps in the half baked homes of slums. No proper pipelines means no clean water supply. No proper sewage. At times, during the wet season the place can get so flooded resulting in many people dying not because they drown, but due to the disease it carries. But again, don't ever miss the Dharavi if you happen to visit Mumbai.

You will enjoy visiting other major attractions in Mumbai including the Gateway of India. Catch a Hindi or English movie which cost about RS 250-300 nowadays. Tamil movies runs at Arora Theatre near Matunga. There are quite a huge Tamil community living in Dadar and Matunga area. You also can get good South Indian Meals there.  I felt like being in a part of Chennai. Fortunately I had the opportunity to witness the opening show (First Show) of Tamil movie Mappillai starring Dhanush in Matunga. It was an awesome experience! Also don't forget the Briyanis! Mumbai is one of the best place to try all kind of briyanis. So check out the medium range restaurants and who will enjoy a thrilling briyani experience at a very reasonable price. Generally Mumbai is a bit more expensive than other cities in India. You may only get a Motel range for a USD 30-50 or RM 100-150. A decent hotel would cost you a minimum of RM 200-250, and would be quickly gone before you knew it. So plan your travel well ahead. Some of the hotels have direct online booking and may be cheeper than Agoda or similar websites.

I have visited almost 70% of Indian cities and from my experience, if you plan well ahead you may be able to reduce cost to the max and get the best hotels and transportations. Air travel is cheep in India. So you also have option of flying or taking the trains within. But no matter what is said and done, I have fallen in love with India a decade ago, the only country that I feel has everything from snow mountains to the sunny beaches.

Alright, have a pleasant journey!