Dhaka to Calcutta (& a hartal in Chittagong)

Happy Valentines Day from Calcutta!

FEB 12. I arrived in Chittagong in the morning after taking a night train from Dhaka. In Chittagong, I had planned to visit the Hill Tract area or the beach on the Bay of Bengal (or maybe both). However, when I arrived I was informed that there was a hartal (labor strike) and so no buses were operating today or the following day and possibly more after that! So it was impossible to visit the hill tract area. I still went to the north bus station to try (being the persistent guy that I am) but it was to no avail. No buses. So I walked around Chittagong and had fun watching local life there. I came across a restaurant there called "Kentucky." :) I didn't eat there but I did take some photos. I saw some interesting mosques (one almost looked like St. Basil's in Moscow). I also finally found a post office that was open in Bangladesh - on Thursday I was travelling in the countryside, on Friday it is the Muslim holy day so everything is closed, and Saturday was a holiday. So the first day I could mail post cards was on a Sunday. Afterwards, I went to Patenga Beach on the Bay of Bengal (just south of Chittagong). At night, I took a night bus back to Dhaka. I would have liked to have spent more time in Chittagong and southeast Bangladesh, but I have only one week to make it to Deli to catch my flight back to China!

FEB 13. I arrived in Dhaka at 5am and got out of the bus on the side of the road and started walking using my map. I got back to the hotel where I had stayed on the night of the 10th and picked up my backpack and then found a bus to go the bus station. There I took a bus to Jessore. I fell asleep because I did not sleep so well on the night bus. All of a sudden, the bus stopped and everyone picked up all of their bags and got off. So I followed them. We walked down a dirt path and then got on a boat to cross the river. There is no bridge so this is how we travel in Bangladesh! After a 25 minute ride downstream, we got off the boat, walked up another dirt path and to another bus which took me to Jessore. I got to the border around 3:30pm and crossed over. A man (on the Indian side) there kept picking up my bag (I fought him for it and he would not let go) and grabbing my passport and giving it to the officials. Then he told me I had to pay him a tip! No, sorry. I got a 4 mile bike rickshaw ride for 20 rupees (0.50) to the train station and then a 2.5 hour train ride to Calcutta for 16 rupees. It felt good to be back in India. When I was in India before, I really missed China a lot. This time I appreiciate India more -- less staring, cleaner, more modern. Still a developing country - but improvement over Bangladesh. Train came into Sealdah train station and I walked to a hotel near Sutter Street - Hotel Palace.