Travel uncertainties and other Bangladesh Transportation Tips

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: Travel uncertainties reach high levels here. Bring a book, postcards and bank on a schedule that helps you to accommodate changes and delays and cancellations.
If your bus got cancelled from Chittagong to Comilla, you can have another evening meal of lobster curry!
But all this said, I have had very few troubles with getting around Bangladesh or getting what I wanted, and my experience has been very positive.
Trains are sometimes delayed due to troubles near the Chittagong Hill Tracts/Agartala area near India, and the occasional bomb on the railway track (you can see the remnants of derailed trains as you pass this area). Buses get held up by traffic accidents that cause monstrous traffic jams, especially in towards Dhaka. I once travelled on a bus from Chittagong to Dhaka that caught fire mid-way and had to be abandoned.
Cars may get held up by countryside dacoits (robbers) at night. Planes may be cancelled because the prime minister decided to travel today and wants your plane. And so on. But in Bangladesh, in the form of a friendly soul, help is always near.

Leave a Comment

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Bangladesh may not be your final destination, but to get a nearly-free visit to the country, you may organise a few days' transit stop here on the way out of your home country.
Good transit routes would be via Dhaka to Kathmandu, Rangoon, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Colombo, various places in India and the Middle East and London.
It is less convenient on your way home, as your suitcase is probably already full and heavy and you may be tired of travelling. That's definitely not the time and occasion to visit Bangladesh...
Thai Airways probably has an Orchid package in B'desh, too, but for the most part you will have to carve out your transit days by yourself.
Last I checked, Biman as well as GMG, the upstart private airlines also have vacation packages. In fact, the GMG packages out of Bangladesh seemd to be good value as they include flights.

Leave a Comment

Website: Be creative and search for Biman and GMG

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Ship/Boat
Getting TO/AROUND: From Cox's Bazaar harbour you can catch a boat up toward Chittagong along the inner channel, or out to Maheskhali or the other islands north of there.
A great way to travel and a good, but slow alternative to road travel. But if you want to see the delta islands, this is the way to do it.

Leave a Comment

Other Contact: Go down to the harbour and ask

'Mode': TO
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: It seems very tempting to cross into Tripura and the other eastern areas of India across the Agartala border crossing point.
For locals this crossing can be undertaken, but for most tourists with other nationalities it is apparently not possible. What a pity, because this must be some of the most interesting points in India. When the Indian border is thus closed, it generally indicates unrest, riots, violence and guerilla activities. Good guess in this case, I believe.
When you travel by rail you travel right along the border between Akhaura and Comilla, the check post facilities and border markings and Indian guard posts are clearly visible. So near yet so distant!

Leave a Comment

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: On the main routes between cities in Bangladesh there are good private buses running. There is space for your luggage and legs aboard, there is climate control and some companies even supply snacks and bottled drinking water. If you are prepared to pay a little more, you can travel in style in Bangladesh.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.greenlineparibahan.com/route_map.html
Other Contact: http://iguide.travel/Bangladesh/

'Mode': TO,AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: May be not travel-related, but certainly communications-related: The Bangladeshi postal system works very well and you can send postcards and letters around and in and out of Bangladesh with great confidence and good success rate.
It is probably one of the key government structures and services of the country that keeps the place together more than anything else. The remittance economy (workers sending money home from overseas) is crucial for Bangladesh, and the post is essential for this system.
What is a bit hopeless at times is to manage to reach to the counter - and the correct one! -and order and actually get what you want of stamps and other things. Try patience and persistance as medicines.

Leave a Comment

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: I found travelling by train in Bangladesh delightful. But you have to look at is as entertainment, not purely transportation from a to b. And you have to be well prepared. Get somebody to organize tickets, seat reservation etc, bring some food for the journey unless you travel in a train with a restaurant car, a good book, a map. lean back and enjoy!
The travel between Dhaka and Chittagong is especially good: scenic, variations, good trains (choose 1st class) and the travel is suitably long to call it a journey.
On Seat 61 I found the train table, see web site.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.seat61.com/Bangladesh.htm#Dhaka - Chittagong by train

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Bangladesh is a huge country in terms of population, but less so in terms of business and industry. There is almost no tourism. Many of the flights thus reflect migrant workers travel patterns and links to neighbouring countries. Cheap flights often include many stops and a long travel in terms of time, or not-so-good airlines. I have flown Biman, Gulf and Indian Airlines into Bangladesh. Good ones that fly there include Thai (expensive), Jet (from India), Emirates and Qatar. I have good experiences with Qatar and would probably consider them next time. BA used to fly there but no more.

Here you find some very useful links:
http://www.ticketstobangladesh.co.uk/
http://www.qatarairways.com/global/en/homepage.html

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.flightstats.com/go/Airport/airportDetails.do?airportCode=DAC
Other Contact: http://www.airlinequality.com/Ai

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Some times it helps to catch a plane to "get it over with" if you are tired and don't want to negotiate crowded trains and buses, not to say streets.
Bangladesh Biman, the national flag carrier flies to three destinations within Bangladesh: Cox' Bazaar, Chittagong and Sylhet.
GMGairlines flies to Chittagong, Cox' Bazaar and Jessore.
Some fly-by-night airlines come and go.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.gmgairlines.com/contact_us_dhaka.html