The journey from Barisal to Chittagong is a full day endeavour. Firstly, I caught a launch from the ghat to Moju Chowdhury Hat, which takes about 5 hours. I personally love boat trips, and the launches in Bangladesh are a real highlight of travelling there. They are comfortable, you can buy tea and food, there's always something interesting going on, and the scenery is beautiful. As usual, I took lots of pictures of boats.
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| Fishermen |
Leaving the launch is an experience. Moju Chowdhury Hat is a major transit hub, so it's really busy and you kind of have to fight your way from the launch up the gangplank and onto dry land. Luckily, I was adopted for the day by Prince, a super friendly Bangladeshi guy who is in the army in Dhaka. It is inconceivable for most Bangladeshis that a foreigner can travel alone in Bangladesh and survive. He made me promise to call him when I got to Chittagong safely, and made sure to call and message me every few days to make sure I was fine.
'Any problems, massage me.' Excerpt from a text message from Prince.
From Moju Chowdhury Hat, I caught this bus to Chittagong, which I think took another 5 or so hours. I just said 'Chittagong' and was pointed in the right direction.
Luckily for everybody concerned, there were plenty of long cracks in the windscreen, which radiated outwards from head shaped clusters of smaller cracks, only a few people vomited and we stopped for lunch too. When we arrived in Chittagong, the bus driver made a special stop to drop me off as close to Station Road as possible, the Bus Wallah negotiated a CNG for me, and various passengers said goodbye and wished me a safe trip. Typical lovely Bangladeshis!
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| Chittagong |
I checked in at Hotel Golden Inn. There were three English language movie channels available on the tv in my room, and the reception was great. I hadn't watched a movie in ages, and I love film, so for me evenings in Chittagong were movie bliss. The films I watched included Friday the 13th, that Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen film where she's a con woman, and I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. It was pretty hilarious seeing what the Bangladeshi censors censored, and what was allowed. Apparently you can't smoke marijuana, but it's perfectly acceptable to watch a young couple have premarital sex and then be chased naked through the woods by a masked physcopath wielding a machete. Some swear words are out, and some are ok. 'But'' is censored, but 'arse' is no problem.
Chittagong harbour and the ship building yards:
The next morning I took a walk through Chittagong, went down to the harbour, and caught a small public motorboat across the Karnaphuli river.
The harbour is fascinating. There's a massive assortment of ships of various sizes, and in various states of repair, and weaving between them on a small wooden motorboat is a pretty surreal experience.
On the opposite bank there is a ship making yard where they build and repair ships. The workers and guards were really friendly, and were more than happy to let me walk around and look.
On the opposite bank there is a ship making yard where they build and repair ships. The workers and guards were really friendly, and were more than happy to let me walk around and look.
Source: https://joeliscurious.wordpress.com/tag/joel-vinsen/
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