Chittagong Hill Tracts to Coxs Bazaar

Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
From Kathmandu to Chittagong was an easy trip, but then you hit traffic. Traffic and air pollution are the main issues in many regional large cities like Dhaka, New Delhi, Kathmandu, and Chittagong. They are all congested with traffic woes and surrounded by brick kilns. We were on an official meeting trip with lots of interesting people to meet and places to go.
Chittagong traffic
There are an estimated 8,000 brick kilns in Bangladesh emitting 10 million tons of CO2. Everywhere you drive you cannot miss seeing the smokestacks.
Arriving at Kaptai Lake we feel a bit more at peace. However, the lake is not without controversy - it was created for hydropower but it also covered thousands of homes and hectares of agricultural land belonging to the Tripura people. They now are landless and living in settlements. For Kaptai pollution issues stemming from fertilizers, pesticides and huge amounts of human waste is a bigger concern presently since fish are an important resource of the lake.

We were welcomed by people in their traditional clothes. They gave everyone a lovely piece of cloth.

Our lunch was served on a moving boat with entertainment. 

Life on the lake takes place via boats that run to all corners of the lake.
From the lunch boat, we boarded smaller boats and took a trip across part of the lake to a village where we were introduced to a project that was looking after children and maternal health issues.
 Again we were greeted by the villagers with flowers and lots of curious children.
The children gave a short performance with some songs then we walked around the small island housing area to see the women and their handicraft work.
Shawls were woven at almost every home in the village. They had so many colors it was hard to choose one to buy.
Leaving the village we went back across the lake to our hotel and an early morning departure to the hills.
Sunset was lovely over the lake. The morning was interesting with the women police giving a demonstration of their gun handling and marching skills.
We headed to Bandarban guest house for an elaborate breakfast/tea break.
Wow, it was an amazing table setting and food display - followed by another gun and marching exercise by the armed police.
At Sairu Hill Resort we were again greeted but this time with music and dance. This was an amazing resort - very classy with excellent food. The hill tribe communities are trying to attract tourism and this is an excellent place to stay.

 View from the hills and the resort.

 On to the Beach - Cox's Bazar and St. Martin's Island
Red crabs and small Spoon-billed Sand Pipers were out early in the morning.

Sampan boats decorated with flags were back from fishing.

We boarded a fast boat to go to the Southernmost point in Bangladesh, closely followed by one of the larger boats that carry mostly Bangladeshi tourists to St Martin Island. 
Local transport on the island - even though it is very small in size many people prefer to go by bike rickshaw to their lunches and hotels.
As they leave everyone buys dried fish to take home. The boat trip back must be very strong smelling.
A local fisherman fishing unraveling his floats and nets. 
This is the lunch that everyone comes to enjoy.
Dried fish is sold in huge amounts to the local markets in Cox's Bazar. I just wonder about all those small fish, maybe they should leave them to grow.
Coconut water anyone?
Children carrying something on their heads but can't tell what, looks like mud?
A small girl outside the mosque.
Dog day afternoon, all sleeping and time to head back before the dogs get up.
A view of Myanmar on the return trip. Across is the border with Myanmar; the middle of the Naf River marks the border.
Pulling back into the boat docks at sunset a fisherman also returns.
Last day at Cox's Bazar and one more fish haul.
 Bringing in the nets.
 Boats are lined with recycled foam and bamboo to keep them afloat.
Sunset at the beach and last light. 
 Good bye Cox's Bazar.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sundarbans to Bandarban Bangladesh

Image
Bangladesh - Sundarban to Bandarban By Road from Dhaka to Khulna In Dhaka, I joked that we were in the land of 3G - gritty air, gridlock traffic, and greatly over-populated. Bangladesh is typically not high on the tourist list for a holiday, yet when the opportunity to visit came up we decided that the best sights were the famous mangrove forests of the Sundarbans and the highland area of Bandarban. The car that picked us up was so dilapidated that the boot would not close. The driver had to stop on the road, hunt for some wire, and tie it down. Only the front passenger seat belt worked. The traffic was so chaotic - we needed those seat belts. We tried to negotiate for another car and gave up deciding to commit to the misadventure. The ferry looked like a relic from WWII. On the ferry, the car was sandwiched like a pickle between massive meaty trucks. We were luckily one of the last cars put on the ferry along with buses, lorries, motorbikes, baby taxis, and petrol tankers. The a
Read more

Stilwell Road to Pangsau Pass Festival

Image
Pangsau Pass is on the border between Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar. Since 2016 there  has been an annual festival celebrating the tribal groups that straddle the border. To get there one travels on the Stilwell Road to Nampong. The Stilwell or Ledo Road was a WWII project that began in December 1942 and ended in May 1945. It was built to connected British India to China in the fight against the Japanese. General Joseph Stilwell was the name of the American in charge of the project. The road was built to transport supplies to China from Ledo in Assam overland to Kunming in China via Pangsau Pass (elevation 1,136m). The pass was the first big obstacle encountered by the engineers in charge of the road. The pass was nicknamed "Hell's Pass" due to frequent landslides.  Pangsau is the name of the village on the Myanmar side of the pass and Nampong is on the Indian side of the pass. Nampong is where we went for the Pangsau Pass Festival on January 20th, 2020. Stilwell
Read more

Limbuwan, Cardamon and Pathibhara Devi Mandir

Image
Kathmandu to Taplejung At the start of our trip, we waited four hours for a thick haze covering Kathmandu to lift so that our long-overdue flight could take off. It was so thick that many flights were canceled that day. From Bhadrapur we drove on to Ilam. It was a hazy day that ended with a dry polluted looking sunset. The next morning, after an early departure from Ilam, we drove north toward Taplejung. Many beautiful Limbu houses line the road. Limbu people are the most common ethnic group in the eastern region. They call it Limbuwan. We passed over the Tamor River on the way to Taplejung. The Tamor's source begins near Kanchenjunga, meets the Arun River then Sun Khosi and on to the Gangetic plain. A hilltop view of Taplejung. It is surprisingly large but feels like a small village. Blue corrugated tin roofs were on almost every house. This cheap building material has been very commonly used since the earthquake in 2015. After visiting Taplejung we walked 3 hour
Read more