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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)
Here is the small Austrian department of your group travel. We arrived well in Vienna and rave about the great trip and the wonderful impressions we got from you and your great team every day. Even on the return flight we had pictures from Bangladesh in the head all night! It was a really impressive great trip! Thank you for that! Although – with the image that Bangladesh “enjoys” abroad, it’s certainly not that hard to surprise people positively? What surprised us most was the fact that there are no unfortunate people (apart from the unfortunate ones in the big cities). For us, Bangladesh was above all the land of the many small villages we visited. Nowhere real distress or misery, but radiant faces, toothpaste advertising everywhere and we do not just mean the children. It was a pleasure, especially since we were prepared for the worst by reports, and then that! Thank God we are one of those people who are happy to teach and with this image of Bangladesh we went home and we can now pass this on.
No, we did not have a coffee trip and we did not drive past real life. We are in the middle of it! And even if according to our guide there is the highest concentration of NGOs, this does not mean, conversely, that everyone is necessary, nor that the country would not be able to cope without it. Not at all one should reduce the country to its alleged neediness. In return, of course, we are already asking ourselves what kind of image of Bangladesh is being brought to the world by the many different aid agencies? Are not these NGOs at least partly responsible, for a completely wrong picture of the country abroad? Back to our trip: From Dhaka to Bogra (Mahasthangarh) to Dinajpur, to Jessore, to Bagerhat, to the Ganges delta, to Barishal and by a giant ship back to Old Dhaka. The tour was very relaxed, which means we had time from the beginning, reason for the hurry was never and that was good. We could do more than just take photos everywhere. We got to know and love Bangladeshi. Information became competent and in an unheard-of charming way, Holger knew how to entertain – and that’s what we expect from a journey. Jewel, is more than just a cute little companion and boy for everything. In a way, he already represented the country at a young age and he was Everybody’s Darling in an instant. At no time did we have the feeling here, someone just does his job, there was more, there was heart!
Even the most beautiful and exciting time will pass sometime. But, we will come back. All our thanks go to the LT team, our wonderful guide and to Jewel. Thank you for one of the most beautiful trips we have ever made, and all without grand palaces, golden pagodas or big game safaris. We wish you and your (optional) home dear Lonesome Traveler all the best. We’ll meet Again!
Anita & Rene (in October 2018)
Dear Holger, I would like once again to thank you and your team very much for the really fantastic trip through Bangladesh: Everything was perfectly organized, unforeseen mishaps mastered masterfully (e.g. changing the boat in Sundarbans with the frightening cry for me from Andreas, as I climbed amazingly fearlessly over the railing and he already saw me disappear in the water), that for me really courageous jungle-hiking, if I managed that only thanks to your and Al-Amin’s help, or as another example our roaming Dhaka. Bangladesh is for me a charming, confused, chaotic and yet or therefore endearing land! But above all, the kindness of the people contributed to this: I have never experienced such warmth towards foreigners anywhere in the world! “Selfie alarm”, that’s now in my vocabulary.
Now the two gods have found their place in my home. As I thought, they are a great addition to my collection of Hindu gods, mostly small or medium sized bronze figures. So every day I can rejoice that we have found three gods and goddesses who have been so successfully taking care of each other: they are simply perfect! (That they have just tasted ten Euro, with three more butterflies, is incredible for me! Thank you for that). I also felt in your unvarnished portrayal of the conditions in the country and the work of countless NGO. Just now announced the Deutschlandfunk that the non-governmental organizations will probably lose their status as a charitable in Germany. In general it was very enriching for me what you had critically reported about the situation in Bangladesh and thus not only conveyed the positive developments.
You, your troupe and your protégé Al-Amin (the red Punjabi on the last evening best fit!) all the best and love!
Ute and Andreas (in December 2018)
The local agency The Lonesome Traveler was an excellent choice. The tour guide was one of the best we have ever had on our trips to over 70 countries. Holger Kauschmann knew how to pass on his love for Bangladesh as well as his profound knowledge of the historical and cultural characteristics of the country. He took care of each individual traveler and answered all special requests. According to the respective situation he arranged and used spontaneous encounters with the “Deschi” in order not only to explain the way of life and conditions of the people, but to allow them to experience it. Manzurul Alam provided a perfect organization, which is certainly not always easy in Bangladesh: The program was completed with almost Prussian punctuality and there were always small extra deposits – be it a concert of the villagers, the visit to workshops etc. He was always very helpful, friendly and accommodating. Jewel, always attentive, friendly, helpful will certainly be a good offspring for the agency. The bus driver brought us punctually and safely over the sometimes quite dilapidated roads and through the very habituation-needy traffic.
From Holger, Manzur and Jewel the farewell fell as hard as from friends. This journey gave us an insight into people’s lives than any other before. We were particularly impressed by the friendliness of the “Deschi”, who have retained their dignity even in the most adverse living conditions and encounter foreigners with kindness, open-mindedness and curiosity. Bangladesh, like no other country, is capable of reconsidering its own values. Although there are better preserved cultural monuments elsewhere, not only the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but also the many other palaces and buildings we visited are very interesting, as is the journey as a whole. The silence in the Sundarbans, the noise of the markets, the big rivers, the bumpy roads, the partly chaotic traffic, the countless bicycle rickshaws, the tearooms and breakfast bars, the big cities, the villages, etc., will be remembered for a long time, but above all again and again the people. When one experiences the kindness with which the adults encounter even the hardest work in factories and agriculture as well as in the poorest dwellings, with which cheerfulness the children throughout the country (even in the orphanage) meet, the problems in our own country as well as cultural ones are relativized Differences very much. Gladly we had experienced several encounters with the Bangladeshis, possibly also at the expense of shortening the stay in the Sundarbans. All in all, however, a very balanced journey that deserves to be advertised more – we will definitely recommend it.
Friedolin & Rosemarie (February, 2018)
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