November 10, 2010
North to Rangamati
an up-&-downer
One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday's bus ride - a young man sitting right next to me on the back seat could speak good English, but didn't pepper me with the usual questions about nationality and destinations. He did, however, patiently answer my queries and at the end, as he got off at his town mid-way, turned to me and said 'Thank you for visiting Bangladesh'.
I know this might sound trite, but it was the way it was said - not the meaningless 'have a nice day' platitude, but words delivered with heartfelt appreciation and humbleness that betrayed how important it is to Bangladeshis to have foreigners come here. Never in all the countries I've visited has such a simple sentence impacted me like that one did. It stayed with and was in my mind when I woke this morning at just before seven.
It's now almost eight and breakfast of omlette and mixed vegetables with a couple of rotis (Or were they?) that were brought to my room have been demolished and my lips are smarting from their spiciness. Super! The coffee was so strong it's stained my teeth.
Last night, the hotel owner gave me news that it's fine to ride north and outside the sky is blue again. Great! I'm on my way.
Who said Bangladesh was flat? They don't call this neck of the woods the Hill Tracts for nothing - up and down for 85km with some inclines of 20%.
The road north leaves Bandaban via a bridge and once over that it becomes obvious this is a quiet route with few vehicles, just a few an occasional bus and car that are spaced far enough apart to make it a relaxing ride.
The only problem is knowing where I am and how far it is to go. Various people give me wildly differing distances and at one point in the day, towards the end, I get told Rangamati was 20 km away, then a kilometer down the road a guy said it's only six. Who knows.
I have to sign in at a couple of police checkpoints - one of them wanted a photocopy of my permit, which entailed riding a kilometer or so back to get one made.
Again it's people along the way that really make it special. They may give a suspicious look, but once I get the camera out and snap a photo of something, they become interested and it's not long before I'm doing portraits of everyone around. They love it.
There are places to eat and get drinks dotted along the roadside and I stopped a few times to cool off with my fave drink being fresh mango juice that comes in an almost pint-sized bottle that costs something like 60 US cents.
At one small place mid-morning I get one and the guy serving asks if I want breakfast. I say yes and he hands me a blue packet, which stated Energy Plus bicsuits - the British version of cookies.
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I now have a decent room in the Green Castle Hotel - about US$15 - which has AC and I'm very tempted to stay another night so I can explore the town and its attractions. We'll see how I fell in the morning.
Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 339 km (211 miles)
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