Huh? Whereto? To Bangladesh?

We, my husband and I are absolute fans of individual trips to SE Asia. Since we are a bit more “mature” and the kids are already out of the house, we were able to travel to (almost) all Southeast Asian countries. It was last year, the planning for 2016, but where? Bangladesh was not an option for us. We do not even mind thought. During my research for new destinations, I happened to read a small travelogue with a 2 day stay in Dhaka. That was exciting and captivated me. Our interest to discover Bangladesh was awakened. Now I was interested in whether there is ever a travel agent for Bangladesh. And I began to browse the Internet and finally found The Lonesome Traveler – here in the form of Mr. Holger Kauschmann. The contact was great from the beginning. Straightforward, no sale of fixed travel modules. We felt already in common “work out” our abundant 3 week tour comfortable and well cared.

We were pretty sure nothing would blow as fast us, because we are experienced (or so we thought at least). Holger indicated earlier on that we could since fooled a little… And then came the moment when we left the airport: noisy, fidgety and stuffy and people, people, people. We were totally flashed! But after we had recovered a few hours of arrival, we jumped with Holger into the full life of Dhaka. And from this point Bangladesh had us under control. We will never forget the many moments and experiences that were both exciting, loud, colorful, happy, sad, poignant, heartwarming, bizarre and unforgettable in any case. Enumerate all, would completely beyond the scope. Holger and The Lonesome Traveler have done everything possible to show us “their” Bangladesh and bring us closer. Without this perfect accompaniment, preparation, support and organization, you can forget it, really getting to know Bangladesh in my view. Backpacker in Southeast Asia? Nothing easier than that. In Bangladesh, but that already looks quite different. After, also emotionally, exhausting days that were mostly associated with a lot of sweat and dust, we were glad to get into a hotel or resort that was clean and well maintained. If it had a pool, in where you let your mind wander and was prevented emotionally a little break, it was not bad. But such accommodation must precisely know. A star award says (almost) nothing. And in many places you have to simply know about, because there are no hotels that can be found in any booking portals.

But we also had the pleasure to be on the way one night and the next half a day with a bizarre and especially historic ship – a so-called Rocket – the “P.S. Masud”. The observations, we were able to during the intermediate stations, without words… You can’t just go to bed, even though it was there after midnight. Of course, we would went to sleep in our cabin after dinner (around 10:30) – how do you even know what you missed at night? Here (and also felt at 1,000,000 other moment) we have had by Holger experiences that we would of course have missed without an insider like him.

Bangladesh is a third world country. Undeniably one sees happening at almost all locations. And we wanted to give a tiny part of the population (especially the children) a little pleasure. This can be very good, spontaneous, simple and fast. How? We bought as 100kg apples. One cannot imagine what caused a single apple on a bright child’s face is. Incomprehensible! We also distributed tons balloons, pens and toothbrushes and things that have friends and work colleagues (mainly toys) given us. There was no money for the children. Also purchased at street stalls snacks were in high demand with the kids. Often we bought a Coke or Fanta, then saw the child’s eyes and a drink was quickly then purchased for each child. And again a little child happiness! But the problem was always, when we gave something came so many children that we were not able to satisfy everyone. And just give a part a little and the rest get nothing that is not gonna work well. So we had to work strategically. But we did pretty good job. Oh, a means to bring joy to the children, was the purchase of cricket bats and balls. There were actually cheering. Also shirts were highly sought after, bought at the local markets. Small donations were especially evident disadvantaged of Bangladeshi society. Small donations were especially evident disadvantaged of Bangladeshi society (but not the beggar, who had made it their business - although, sometimes…). But not that a wrong impression: we are talking about amounts to ten Taka – those are about 11 Cents!

One tip I have: I had for us, for the stay in Dhaka – each for the beginning and end of our trip – a very well-rated five-star hotel booked. In between, we slept in a guest room of Holger. The result was that the last nights were canceled at the hotel and we have stayed with Holger. The apartment is in a great location, very tasteful, clean anyway and Holger is a very attentive host.

We have had an exciting time, won many (incredibly many) new impressions and have decided to go back again next year. Onek Donnobat, dear Holger, Onek Donnobat dear LT team. Without you our trip would not have been possible!
You dear reader, find soon on my Facebook page an album with a selection of our photos. With questions, comments etc. of course you can contact me.

Heike & Frank (in April, 2016)