Pretty good bus journey out of Dhaka, escorted to our bus by an exceedingly friendly ticketman which was a help as there were 100s of buses there, with only Bengali script. We'd paid a little more for our seats, I think that this was because it was warm A/C. Co driver handed out water and small bags for anyone if they felt unwell - a nice touch we thought, and obviously one born out of experience because almost as the driver had turned on the ignition, then the young bloke opposite was makking use of his bag, we hadnt even gotten out of the bus station. Seeing this, the co-driver took out some lemon air freshener aerosol, again, nice touch we thought, except he pretty much aimed it directly at the man from point blank range.
Srimangal is bloody marvelous, managed to get a wonderful room at the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute, 2 pound a night each, supper 1.50, and b/fast 1 pound m- still no toast though. The room boy has the hots for Ell so we get good service. This is a quite magical place, not particularly hilly, but enough to make rice growing too difficult, so tea has developed. Very much a British legacy, people/'coolies' brought here from all over India to work the plantations. So, there are many hindus here as well as muslims. The scenery is incredibly beautiful and for the first time since arriving in Bangladesh, we have a bit of space. Have rented bikes and we take ourselves off around the estates, stopping for pictures and snacks and of course tea, including the 'world famous' 5 coloured tea. 5 flavours in 1 glass, sounds horrible? actually its very very good - the top has milk & cinnamon, then you come across, ginger, lemon and black tea, not sure about the 5th. We have visited a couple of tribal villages that are receiving U.S eco tourism aid, which helps them preserve their excellent traditional weaving skills.
I am pleased we didnt employ an over keen local 'guide' to show us around, his english was ok, but I think he had learnt it from TV so it was quite strange. He did though pull brilliant faces when he spoke a - little like Dick Emery's vicar character. We would probably have employed him if he hadnt knocked on our door at night to tell us that he was missing us, whilst trying to run his hand down my chest... I am not sure what TV he head been watching.
Srimangal is bloody marvelous, managed to get a wonderful room at the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute, 2 pound a night each, supper 1.50, and b/fast 1 pound m- still no toast though. The room boy has the hots for Ell so we get good service. This is a quite magical place, not particularly hilly, but enough to make rice growing too difficult, so tea has developed. Very much a British legacy, people/'coolies' brought here from all over India to work the plantations. So, there are many hindus here as well as muslims. The scenery is incredibly beautiful and for the first time since arriving in Bangladesh, we have a bit of space. Have rented bikes and we take ourselves off around the estates, stopping for pictures and snacks and of course tea, including the 'world famous' 5 coloured tea. 5 flavours in 1 glass, sounds horrible? actually its very very good - the top has milk & cinnamon, then you come across, ginger, lemon and black tea, not sure about the 5th. We have visited a couple of tribal villages that are receiving U.S eco tourism aid, which helps them preserve their excellent traditional weaving skills.
I am pleased we didnt employ an over keen local 'guide' to show us around, his english was ok, but I think he had learnt it from TV so it was quite strange. He did though pull brilliant faces when he spoke a - little like Dick Emery's vicar character. We would probably have employed him if he hadnt knocked on our door at night to tell us that he was missing us, whilst trying to run his hand down my chest... I am not sure what TV he head been watching.
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