What can you experience around Rajshahi in five days?
A whole lot! After official visits to northern Bangladesh, we booked a guide, minibus and driver with Holger to explore the area around Rajshahi with its historical sights. However, long car journeys were necessary for this. If you consider the streets themselves and the traffic, you can get queasy in advance – but not in this comfortable minibus and a driver who didn‘t risk daring overtaking maneuvers.
Our guide (Mahboob Alam) organized by mobile while driving and always surprised us when even in the most remote places a Bengal with keys in hand was waiting for us to unlock the doors of enchanted old cultural sites. Many of the old palaces are now “lost places” and nature is taking over more and more. These are absolutely delightful photo motifs! Monument protection like in Europe does not exist in Bangladesh. It would be a sensible facility so that future generations can also get an insight into the history of their country. It‘s difficult to say which mosque, which Hindu temple or palace we liked best.
The Sura Masjid, the palace complex of Balihar, the Kusumba Masjid, the palace complex of Natore, the temples and palaces in the small village of Putiha or the mosques and palaces in Gaur, a small town on the border with India. In the midst of mango plantations, we walked through the Takhana Palace and again and again new photo motifs. All historical buildings had their own charm and we were often surprised that well-off Bengali tourists also visited these places and even shops offered their souvenirs.
The Lonesome Traveler has organized these days excellently in and around Rajshahi. The written information was our reading while driving or in the evening and yet the days were often characterized by spontaneous, organizational changes. In Rajshahi, for example, we took a rickshaw for over 30 minutes to the university, a huge campus. However, we felt wrong there because we could only see the buildings from the outside and the hustle and bustle of the students is comparable to ours. And so we owed the organizational talent Mahboob Alam the opportunity to visit a silk factory in Rajshahi – an absolute highlight! You shouldn‘t miss that in Rajshahi and you should plan half a day for it. You experience and inspect the entire process: from the cultivation of the caterpillars to the finished silk product. We would have liked to have rummaged in the adjacent shop and bought something, but unfortunately we had no time for that. The next worthwhile program point was waiting – a boat trip on the Padma into the sunset. Mahboob organized a boat for us alone so we enjoyed the silence on the water and let ourselves drift – in contrast to the fully occupied excursion boat, which only went up and down on the shore. Mahboob also took us to local takeaway restaurants in Rajshahi or to local dining places in markets when we were driving. Restaurant tips from the “Lonely Planet“, which we followed twice, were unfortunately a failure. Here‘s a tip for those staying at the Warisan Hotel in Rajshahi: go to the mosque and keep to the right. There is a snack bar that grills chicken very brown. Super delicious – super friendly owners and friendly service – grilled chicken on flatbread with spicy sauce and lots of nice locals who are looking forward to European guests.
These five days were characterized by many impressions and at the same time a close friendly contact with driver and guide Mahboob. In contrast to the often Bengali mentality – I don‘t come today, I come tomorrow – our two Bengali travel companions were always punctual and reliable. And so we started the return flight to Dhaka quite relaxed without “supervision“. A rickshaw picked us up at the hotel on time and took us to the airport, while the driver and Mahboob, together with our luggage, drove the evening before to Dhaka in the minibus.
If you are considering traveling to Bangladesh, get in touch with Holger. He will give you excellent advice and work out an exciting and varied route. The organization works very well!
Eva (in January 2020)