Travel Bangladesh with Mother & Sister (3) -Sylhet-

This time, I will introduce ”Nazimgarh Resort” in Sylhet.
It is located 7 km away from Sylhet city, but my mother is interested in the hotel so I booked this.

 
We have stayed in main building, "Garden Resort". 

 This is lobby.

So, let's see the room! 

Mother & sister. Tired??

This is bathroom with Jacuzzi!

However, electric outage happened when I used....so be careful.
 
All the room has balcony.

I was worried if we could be seen/could see neighbors.
However no need to worry, we didn't see any guests in our building.
 
Opposite of the building, there is a restaurant.
Besides, Spa, souvenir shop(though it was closed all the time).e.t.c......
 
And....pool. 

I haven't seen anyone swimming, but I saw a staff cleaning the pool every morning........
 
We had dinner at "Hilltop" restaurant.

 

At first, we ordered soup.
(We needed something which stomach can take a rest....)

Mushroom soup.
Ginger was used for the soup, and it tasted really good.

 Then, tuna macaroni salad.

White fish with mushroom sauce on the mashed potato. 

Chicken!!
Chicken served as chicken figure.
 
Apparently, the amount was too much....but all the food taste very good.
It would be a bit expensive, but if you want to spend relaxing time in a hotel, it's a choice.
 
By the way, breakfast(for garden resort guests) is in this Hilltop restaurant.

 

Except the garden resort, there is accommodation like tents(you may feel going camping) and place for BBQ, e.t.c.....

Regarding service.......ummmm.....I say, "so so" as for this rank of hotel.
But you can take a look if you look for a resort!

＜Nazimgarh Resort＞
Address ：Nazimgarh, Khadimnagar P.S. Kotwali, District, Sylhet
TEL : 01730712600, 01926667444, 01841001201
Webpage : http://www.nazimgarh.com/

Travel Bangladesh with Mother & Sister (2) -Sylhet-

Travel Bangladesh with my mother and sister, part 2.
I will introduce Jaflong, Sari ghat, and Haripur.
I actually took my mother and sister to my land load's home for lunch, and office to introduce to my colleagues on the second day, but will skip this part.

It was difficult choice which place to take them(out of Dhaka).
I have chosen Sylhet because there are flights from Dhaka, and Sri Mangal can be included in an itinerary.

I made a full day tour to 1) Jaflong, 2)Sari ghat, and 3) Haripur.
2) and 3) are on the way to 1), so we went up to the north(Jaflong) at first, and visited 2 places on the way back.

Jaflong
About 55km north from Sylhet, Jaflong is famous for rock quarry.
It is located near the boarder with India, and took nearly 2 hours by local bus.

The work is done by people's hand.

People scooped sand/stone from the bottom of the river.
You can take a boat if you want to.

A picture with big smiles :)

Here is the border with India!

After looking around quarry, we visited nearby tea garden.

Taking van, going through tribe's village.......

There is a beautiful tea garden.

A picture in the tea garden.



 

Even though we started in the morning, it was already afternoon when we finished quarry and tea garden tour.
I looked for clean restaurant....and as I heard, it is the best one in Jaflong.

 

There were flies in the ground floor, but no in the second floor.
(I don't really care.....but for my mother from Japan)

It was the first time for them to eat local curry.
I ordered chicken, fish(koi), vegetable, Bodda and Daar(lentil soup).
It was around 500tk for 3 persons.

＜Picnic Restaurant & Takeaway＞
Address：Bollaghat, Jaflong, Sylhet
TEL：01712-254765

Sari Ghat.
Next destination is this place to see river and ride a boat.

 Engine boat is available for tourists.

Cow and a kid in the river!

Scenery was beautiful.
When engine stopped, it was quiet and peaceful......

You can go to Jaflong by boat from Sari Ghat.
You may be able to bargain, but I heard it cost 1,500tk for one way.

Haripur
10-20 more minutes from Sari Ghat to Sylhet city, the last destination is Haripur.
Natural gas was taken in Haripur before.
Now no enough gas for industry is available, but still coming slightly from ground.
10 minutes way on the main road, and 10 minutes through small path by Rikshaw.

 *Me, negotiating with Rikshaw in crowd (photo by my mother)

* Me, keep negotiating with Rikshaw, and my sister surprised with people gathering. (photo by my mother)

Anyway, I could manage a Rikshaw to the gas place.
As we arrived at the place, boy came and lit a match.

Can you see fire?
This is a machine to take gas.

Natural gas comes from water, too.
So, you can make fire on the water.

The machine isn't used anymore.
Instead, chili is dried on the place....yes, the country of chili, Bangladesh!

There is a big pond nearby.
You can see fire there, too.

Quite interesting.
Please give boys small amount of tip for match!

We needed whole day to visit these 3 places.
Getting on/off local bus, walking under sun.......it was hard.
However, my mother and sister said they enjoyed the intensive tour.

Sylhet can be one of your choices if you are going out of Dhaka.

Travel Bangladesh with Mother & Sister -Dhaka-

It was in the end of April that my mother and sister visited me in Bangladesh.
From the end of April to the beginning of May, there is a long holiday called "Golden Week" in Japan.
So, let me start stories of our trip.
 
On the first day, I went to the airport to pick up them.
I booked "summer Palace Hotel", and requested a car.
 
After waiting for a while, my phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hello. Have you arrived? Passed custom?"
"Well.....arrived, but in Chittagong."
 
Chittagong is south part of Bangladesh.
What's wrong.
 
In deed, a plane couldn't land because of weather in Dhaka, and landed in Chittagong instead.
However, my sister and mother couldn't catch announce.
Though they prepared to get out from the plane, no one seemed preparing.
Then, they realized something was wrong.
Yes, something was apparently wrong!!
 
・・・・・・・・・
 
Anyway, they could arrive at Dhaka in the day.
They were too tired to have heartfelt greetings with me..
We hurried to the hotel.
 
Summer Palace Hotel is in Baridhara.
Regardless late night, welcome drink was served as we arrived.
Papaya juice was nice....
 
This is the room.

Clean and well maintained.
However, extra bed was too soft....
 
This is bathroom.
Crab?

 

Yes, crab.....for some reasons.

 

Breakfast is buffet.

vegetables, meat, curry and egg.......
I ordered "normal omelet" which of course includes chili.
My mother and sister were surprised chili is used even to omelet!
But it is already too normal to mention for me...
I was happy for fresh juice.

So now on, they explore some parts of Bangladesh.
Continued.

Summer Palace Hotel
Address:35, Suhrawardy Avenue, Baridhara, Dhaka-1212
TEL:+880-2-8816722,9892007
Budget: $90～

Baro Bazaar

The last part of this trip is to Baro Bazaar which is located near Jossore.
There are many old mosques in Baro Bazaar.
Taking bus from Jossore (palbari), you need 30 minutes.
From Jossore, it's quite easy access.

It is convenient for you to reserve a van because each mosque stands in distance.
Riding van under sun (around noon it was), I visited mosques.

The first one.

Wall is beautiful.

Then, the second one.

Third.

Each mosques is not really big.
However, roaming in villages by van, watching scenery.....and when an old mosque appeared, it impressed me.

How peaceful?

Field, sky, trees, and horse......

and pond.

The city reminded me Bagerhat, but easier access.
If you have chance to go to Jossore, it is one of the places you can visit.

I will introduce one another place near Baro Bazaar.
The place called Kaliganj is famous for Banyan tree.

It is only 10 minutes bus ride from Baro Bazaar.....
However, 5 minutes Rikshaw ride from bus station to another local vehicle(Tempu) station.
Then, 25 minutes tempu ride.

This is a place Banyan trees grow. (but not so big place)
If you take a picture,

A Bengali guy stands in front of your camera.
OK, one more picture without him ....

I haven't looked Banyan tree carefully, but it is very interesting.
Can you see in the picture a branch grew went down to ground, became tree?

This is a small place with trees and a snack store.
I have stayed in short time thinking of time I needed to come.....but the place itself is lovely.
If you have enough time (and energy, of course), you can visit with Baro Bazaar.