Come from the Shadows - Bangladesh Travel Story
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Title: Come from the Shadows
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Once by the Ocean …….”From their bodies every drop of blood was drained No time to comprehend and there was little pain…..” Joan C. Baez in these melancholic lyrics sums up the valor of Bangladesh. When we moved to Bangladesh, that’s all the idea I had about the country, little did I know that all journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. What can I say; I should’ve paid more attention to Martin Buber. After 9 months of living in our womb in Dhaka, and occasionally getting lost in the streets of old Dhaka, my husband the forever adventurer said to me one fine day about packing our rucksack and visiting an island. To me it sounded like an angel singing ‘amazing grace’. He’d got it all figured out, like he usually does. Reading the lonely planet informed me that one can go scuba diving as well!!!! I quickly looked up phone numbers on the internet and what followed was a series of phone calls to Cox’s Bazar & St. Martin’s island and finally I got the number for the instructor for the same. There are no shortcuts to a place worth going to so, we took a bus at night from Dhaka till Chittagong and reached Chittagong in the wee hours of morning. From there another bus ride later we were at Cox’s Bazaar by late morning. We checked into Hotel Seagull, which is a hard to miss building close to the beach and the only reason for our stay there. Who cared if the rooms were too small…the sea wasn’t! We were like two kids let out of school! Also I hadn’t been to a beach in my adult life!! But there was my dear hubby, teaching me how to jump on the waves…when to let loose and the works. We spent the whole day on the beach, in the water, riding beach scooters, chasing crabs ( that became one of our favorite activities later) and finally sat and watched the sun set.. The next day a long and winding road surrounded by rolling slopes and coconut tress took us to the ‘smugglers town’ of Teknaf., there we waited for what seemed like forever, to leave on a ferry for St Martin’s island. It was a warm sunny day, but that didn’t bother us much when we saw the hills of Burma. I’d read that as tempting as it would be, it is not advisable to enter Burma illegally. I didn’t realize the soul of these words until I witnessed the river Naf joining the sea and lined by imposing hills of another county. And if that wasn’t enough there were Burmese houseboats where everyone came to the deck to wave out to us people in the ferry. One look exchanged between my mate & I and we both knew our mutual thoughts. That’s the thing with travel; it re-establishes our connection with each other. The warm sun and the sea breeze made us doze off for a bit with our bags tightly wound on our knees. Ideally I should be writing about the entrance to this magical island, but I’d rather not ruin it for you and skip to how were dumped our bags in the hotel room and ran to the ocean. It wasn’t an ideal day for tourists, but for us travelers it was as if the Gods were listening. It was grey and crazy! Our only company was the kids of the village, excited to see people from elsewhere. And after giving them the due attention we turned ourselves to the beckoning waves. There we were hopping and jumping in the water…testing it and going further and further. And before we knew it, it began to pour! We are the only two people I know who’d do such a thing! Until of course the rain drops began to sting and one of my flip flops got washed away in the sea…the tide was high and so were we! We began our sprint back to the hotel room when a little boy came out of the water to give me my flip flops – bless him! Everyday we binged on coconut water and devoured on sea food. The sand seemed like skin to us. During mornings we sat to witness the sun rise and by evening we walked to the other side of the island collecting shells, to witness the sun set. One evening we met our neighbor who was from Korea and loved fishing; he invited us to his fishing spot and gave us his equipment. We sat there until the stars came out. There is no electricity in the island, except in the hotels which is also used sparingly. Lights are out by 10 pm. But exploring doesn’t have to stop for me or my hubby, a designer by profession, with a sharp eye for detail. At night when the fishermen come back home - its is like a carnival, the entire village is there sorting out fishnets, and pulling their country boats ashore. I thought it would make a perfect picture and I began fishing for my camera in my pocket, when I looked up there was my designer fisherman giving the crew a hand in pulling the country boat ashore, who was he in his past life? Sindabad?! I think I fell in love with him all over again that moment. There are no run-of-the-mill happenings in our travels; we accept unusual opportunities from the place were at, believing them to be dancing lessons from God. This place claims to be better for diving & snorkeling than the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, I wouldn’t know about that, except that is surely is economical, Tk 2000 for diving, equipment included. Also the instructor, Kabir, is an ex navy diver and is patient with adults like me who might behave like children when nervous. The color of the ocean here, gives a new meaning to aqua blue…walking on the shore you can see the ocean life…and if you have the snorkeling gear or instructor Kabir by your side, you’re wasting time being outside the water. After a whole day of splashing in the ocean waves and running on the beach and checking what lies beneath, at night after dinner the best things is to sit on the country boats that are anchored ashore and watch the Milky Way. The sky being so crystal that you can spot satellites moving and shooting stars of course. Every now and then we indulge our roving spirit, because the regular has to be lived everyday. It’s the same as- living with our days rigorously planned and nights left open to chance. For the first time in a long while we threw off the bowlines and sailed away from the safe harbor of home. We caught the trade winds in our sails. We went forth to explore, Dream, Discover.
Website:
Once by the Ocean …….”From their bodies every drop of blood was drained No time to comprehend and there was little pain…..” Joan C. Baez in these melancholic lyrics sums up the valor of Bangladesh. When we moved to Bangladesh, that’s all the idea I had about the country, little did I know that all journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. What can I say; I should’ve paid more attention to Martin Buber. After 9 months of living in our womb in Dhaka, and occasionally getting lost in the streets of old Dhaka, my husband the forever adventurer said to me one fine day about packing our rucksack and visiting an island. To me it sounded like an angel singing ‘amazing grace’. He’d got it all figured out, like he usually does. Reading the lonely planet informed me that one can go scuba diving as well!!!! I quickly looked up phone numbers on the internet and what followed was a series of phone calls to Cox’s Bazar & St. Martin’s island and finally I got the number for the instructor for the same. There are no shortcuts to a place worth going to so, we took a bus at night from Dhaka till Chittagong and reached Chittagong in the wee hours of morning. From there another bus ride later we were at Cox’s Bazaar by late morning. We checked into Hotel Seagull, which is a hard to miss building close to the beach and the only reason for our stay there. Who cared if the rooms were too small…the sea wasn’t! We were like two kids let out of school! Also I hadn’t been to a beach in my adult life!! But there was my dear hubby, teaching me how to jump on the waves…when to let loose and the works. We spent the whole day on the beach, in the water, riding beach scooters, chasing crabs ( that became one of our favorite activities later) and finally sat and watched the sun set.. The next day a long and winding road surrounded by rolling slopes and coconut tress took us to the ‘smugglers town’ of Teknaf., there we waited for what seemed like forever, to leave on a ferry for St Martin’s island. It was a warm sunny day, but that didn’t bother us much when we saw the hills of Burma. I’d read that as tempting as it would be, it is not advisable to enter Burma illegally. I didn’t realize the soul of these words until I witnessed the river Naf joining the sea and lined by imposing hills of another county. And if that wasn’t enough there were Burmese houseboats where everyone came to the deck to wave out to us people in the ferry. One look exchanged between my mate & I and we both knew our mutual thoughts. That’s the thing with travel; it re-establishes our connection with each other. The warm sun and the sea breeze made us doze off for a bit with our bags tightly wound on our knees. Ideally I should be writing about the entrance to this magical island, but I’d rather not ruin it for you and skip to how were dumped our bags in the hotel room and ran to the ocean. It wasn’t an ideal day for tourists, but for us travelers it was as if the Gods were listening. It was grey and crazy! Our only company was the kids of the village, excited to see people from elsewhere. And after giving them the due attention we turned ourselves to the beckoning waves. There we were hopping and jumping in the water…testing it and going further and further. And before we knew it, it began to pour! We are the only two people I know who’d do such a thing! Until of course the rain drops began to sting and one of my flip flops got washed away in the sea…the tide was high and so were we! We began our sprint back to the hotel room when a little boy came out of the water to give me my flip flops – bless him! Everyday we binged on coconut water and devoured on sea food. The sand seemed like skin to us. During mornings we sat to witness the sun rise and by evening we walked to the other side of the island collecting shells, to witness the sun set. One evening we met our neighbor who was from Korea and loved fishing; he invited us to his fishing spot and gave us his equipment. We sat there until the stars came out. There is no electricity in the island, except in the hotels which is also used sparingly. Lights are out by 10 pm. But exploring doesn’t have to stop for me or my hubby, a designer by profession, with a sharp eye for detail. At night when the fishermen come back home - its is like a carnival, the entire village is there sorting out fishnets, and pulling their country boats ashore. I thought it would make a perfect picture and I began fishing for my camera in my pocket, when I looked up there was my designer fisherman giving the crew a hand in pulling the country boat ashore, who was he in his past life? Sindabad?! I think I fell in love with him all over again that moment. There are no run-of-the-mill happenings in our travels; we accept unusual opportunities from the place were at, believing them to be dancing lessons from God. This place claims to be better for diving & snorkeling than the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, I wouldn’t know about that, except that is surely is economical, Tk 2000 for diving, equipment included. Also the instructor, Kabir, is an ex navy diver and is patient with adults like me who might behave like children when nervous. The color of the ocean here, gives a new meaning to aqua blue…walking on the shore you can see the ocean life…and if you have the snorkeling gear or instructor Kabir by your side, you’re wasting time being outside the water. After a whole day of splashing in the ocean waves and running on the beach and checking what lies beneath, at night after dinner the best things is to sit on the country boats that are anchored ashore and watch the Milky Way. The sky being so crystal that you can spot satellites moving and shooting stars of course. Every now and then we indulge our roving spirit, because the regular has to be lived everyday. It’s the same as- living with our days rigorously planned and nights left open to chance. For the first time in a long while we threw off the bowlines and sailed away from the safe harbor of home. We caught the trade winds in our sails. We went forth to explore, Dream, Discover.
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