Journey of discovery in a land full of natural treasures
Some of the most fascinating places in Bangladesh can be found in the south
ON THE MAP, Bangladesh is a crouching Bengal tiger, whose tail curls around the eastern periphery of the Bay of Bengal. It is along this tail that some of the nation's most fascinating locales are found: the teeming port city of Chittagong, the world's longest beach at Cox's Bazaar, and hill tracts abutting the Indian and Burmese borders with some of the most unspoilt landscapes in South Asia.
The crowded streets of Chittagong are a tumult of people in all kinds of transport, from leaning buses to overladen bull-nosed trucks. Rickshaws swarm and bicycles weave through streets humming with workaday energy. Water buffalo haul huge carts heaped with produce from the countryside.
With a population of 3.5million, Chittagong is the second-largest city in Bangladesh and the nation's main port. The city was built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, which meets the sea nearby, and besides being a business traveller's destination is usually a stopover for travellers heading to Cox's Bazaar.
Its main attraction is the famed long beach, but Chittagong Port, with its hard commerce and manufacturing, is also a good place to get a handle on what makes Bangladesh tick. Thankfully, the city is cooler than sweltering Dhaka, although it rains more.
I'm here on the cusp of the 35th anniversary of independence of a nation whose officials are upbeat about the blossoming tourist sector, which saw 207,662 visitors last year.
On the coach trip down from the capital Dhaka, we stop for a meal at a midway cafe, where the chicken curry is popular. Calamansi (a distinctively sour citrus fruit) is squeezed over the spicy chicken with its sprinkling of shallots and cucumber slices on the side. A pile of purata (flat bread) is served with the meal, which ends with cups of sweet condensed milk tea.
On entering Chittagong, the coach skirts Agrabad, the modern commercial part of the city with its smart hotels, banks and corporate headquarters.
Opposite the main railway station is the Hotel Golden Inn -
a welcome sight at the end of the journey.
Chittagong was a thriving port as long ago as 200AD. There has been a recorded history of different people taking over the city in its almost two millennia. Following a confrontation between the Burmese and the British in the early 1800s, Chittagong was taken out of the hands of the Burmese, and from then on the city followed the same destiny as Dhaka and the rest of Bangladesh.
The Hotel Golden Inn is central to the city and at the eastern end, on Jubilee Road, is New Market Building, where travellers can buy just about anything. Jubilee Road continues south, crossing Station Road onto Sadarghat Road by the Karnaphuli. This is the Old Chittagong district.
The most impressive old colonial building is the Chittagong Circuit House - now the Zia Memorial Museum, which commemorates former president Ziaur Rahman who was assassinated in 1981.
Cox's Bazaar is the main town at the southern end of Bangladesh where Bengali culture and Islam meet and mingle with the Theravadin Buddhist culture and animism of Southeast Asia. The border with Myanmar is proximate, as is that of eastern India's Mizoram district.
The Burmese influence here is palpable, from the stupa on the hill and sharper features of the many hill-tribe locals who wander in from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, to the monks in orange robes.
The windswept beach of Cox's Bazaar is a haven for middle-class beach bums who lie on wooden benches enjoying the salty breeze.
The scale of the beach that disappears into the hazy horizon is seemingly without limits. The distance takes the breath away - but not the heat.
The writer is a frequent visitor to Bangladesh, where he is involved with community work in the district of Khulna and other areas of the country
Bangladesh
Population 144,319,628
Capital city Dhaka
Ethnic groups Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims 2%
Religions
Muslim 88%
Hindu 10%
Other 2%
Languages
Bangla (official, also known as Bengali),English
Natural resources
Rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, bananas, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit, beef, milk, poultry
Key trading partners
United States, India, Germany, China, Britain, Singapore, Kuwait, Japan, France, Italy, Hong Kong
GDP $299.9 billion (2005 est.)
Major industries
Cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar
Head of government Begum Khaleda Zia (Prime Minister)
Head of state Iajuddin Ahmed (President)
Climate: tropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October)
