Dear Darjeeling

So this year I got my passport and I packed my bag to visit Darjeeling. In fact journey from Shiliguri to Darjeeling was so peaceful for my eyes. We were going up and up for two long hours! It was almost 7000 feet above from sea level. Now it's summer here in Dhaka but in Darjeeling we were freezing. Temperature was around 5/6 degree. This time I have visited with my four cousins. All of them were younger than me but I followed them all the way as I am not brave enough to lead and my middle name is lazy. I was there for four days and three nights but it felt like a wink!

Beautiful Street of Darjeeling.

Next morning we wake up at 3 am to visit Tigerhill. Watching sunrise from Tigerhill is like a ritual here. I thought who would go there in that cold early morning? But I was stunned to see crowd! From here one can enjoy kangchenjunga summit only if he/she is lucky! And we were not lucky enough to see that. :(  But overall it was beautiful experience.

Darjeeling is so colorful! People here wear colorful dresses, colorful flowers bloom everywhere.People here love nature so much that infront of every house I have seen small floral garden.

We have visited rock garden. Anyone can spend whole day here. It's a huge place where you can enjoy natural waterfall.We hired a jeep for one day and we met Sudip who was driver and local guide. He was so friendly like other people! He told us about his love life and family. He made our trip more enjoyable! 

Our Hotel was beside this famous clock tower. My cousin wanted to stay in a hotel room from where she can enjoy natural view. But we ended up in such a room where window view was wall of another building. But we didn't give up. We spent most of the time outside hotel. We loved walking in the mall, new market area. They are always crowded like carnival. We have tried many street foods there too. They are cheap but delicious. Well, I don't want to talk about hygienic issue. I liked momos, chili fries and sweet corn fry. But I am quite disappointed with tea. From tea garden we bought few packs of tea as they are really famous. We also tasted them from garden shop and it was so good! But when I came back home.. I found they are not that good. In Darjeeling weather is so unpredictable. One day I went for a walk on Mall area. I didn't brought any warm cloths as it was a sunny day. Then suddenly temperature fell down and I was freezing. Luckily you can get cheap winter wear from almost anywhere. Next day we faced heavy rainfall too! Without any hits rainfall started and we had to come back hotel.

Japanese temple

We enjoyed rope-way a lot. I have ridden cable car before but this one is different. It was more thrilling and exciting. riding a cable car over tea gardens in fog was like going to unknown place which can exist only in dream.

Behind Mall, we found Mahakaal temple where there is both God Shiva and Lord Buddha. I didn't know people from religion pray in same temple. I liked the way they decorate religious places with colorful flags. I have spun prayer wheels too!

Dear Darjeeling, definitely I will come back to you again someday.

A night of Music

Last year I attended to Bengal classical music fest for the first time. It was wonderful experience for me. I was there for one night with my cousins. So this year I didn't miss it. Listening classical music for whole night under open sky is like meditation to me. It was kind of feeding my soul with pure art. Night was really cold and colorful. We drank a lot of coffee to keep us warm.

Looking forward to enjoy more melodious tune in next musical fest.

Land of two leaves and a bud SYLHET

So, This July I have visited Sylhet. Best thing about Sylhet is- here one can enjoy both hill and water at the same time. I went with bunch of unknown people. But I didn't feel lonely. They were so friendly. At night we started our journey from Sayedabad. Though our bus stopped several times in the middle of road for technical problem and we had to wait for hours but we enjoyed those awkward moments too! 

The resort was totally empty. So it felt more like home. These ducks didnt like me at all! They were scaring me off every now and then. 

After having breakfast in "Pach vai" restaurant, we headed to Jaflong. Roadside view was amazing. Clouds were touching top part of hills. Those hilly area is " Meghalaya" (India) It means home of clouds. This is quite poetic. I wish I could live one of those house for ever! 

This river is known as "Piyain river" in Bangladesh. But in India it is known as "Dauki" We had a peaceful boat journey from here. 

Then we started walking to reach " ShengramPunji Fountain" Touch of chilling water from fountain made me calm and I became a part of nature... 

Usually this place is not as crowded as this picture. But as it was Eid, people were gathered to celebrate. Somehow I liked the crowd. It made the fountain colorful and I saw many happy people in one place ( ahem, that's a lie :P ) 

Next morning we went in a tea garden. Unlike other garden it was not in hill area but flat land. Personally I like tea garden in hilly area most. It's like watching a green sea. 

We also visited to Majar. Hazrat Shah jalal and Hazrat Shah poran Majar.  

Then we went to Ratargul. For me it was the best part in Sylhet tour. Basically we hired small dingi boat and went inside famous swamp forest. It was a bit scary and full of insects and bugs. I thought in any moment, snake will fall from tree to my head. Journey was small but adventurous. 

On the way of Bichanakandi. The view was almost like dream to me. 

Our boat stopped here and we jumped off. 

In only two days, all those unknown faces turned to friends (ahem, not all of them )
Next morning we came back home with sweet memories and with hope to travel again in another new place.

Visiting beautiful Shundarban

Village near Porshu river. 

Silence has it's own language!

Small fishing boats on unknown river.

On the way of Kotka beach

Kotka Beach

Cristal clear greenish water

These are Heritiera fomes (Shundori) tree

Oh dear deer!

Little wild crocodile

Beautiful Sunset on Shela river

In every moment color is changing!

Calm morning on Ovoyaronyo

Way to Padmapukur (Lotus pond)

( Lotus Pond) There is a rumor that it is tiger's favorite place!

Beautiful pathway. It's like half mile long wooden pool. It was fragile and broken in some places. We walked at least 20 minutes on this pool. It was so green, calm and dreamy.

Romeo and Juliet ( crocodile couple) on eco park

Friendy deers in Eco park. This is actually sad! They are so near to Sundarban, but they are not free! 

At the End of Sundarban journey, our boat suddenly stuck on the bank of Mongla

Famous Sixty Gambuz Mosque in Bagherhaat.

These are the pillars of mosque. You can see internal structure of each dome at the top of roof.

Home of Peer khan Jahan Ali. Now all are destroyed and under soil.

This pond is known as "Thakur Dighi"

There was a rumor that- few giant crocodile live in the pond.

So its restricted for general people. People treat this pond water as holy water. 

Kodala Moth
This one is also at Bagerhaat. King Pratap Adityo built this monument

to honor his lady advisor Swarashati.

On the way to Dhaka. At khulna rail station. Rony vai captured this photo.


Finally last December I have visited beautiful Sundarbans. It was lovely experience!  We started our journey from Jatrabari. Then we spent whole night at Maowa ferighat. I met Rony vai there who is passionate photographer, traveler, food lover and overall good person. Next morning we arrived at Mongla. A little houseboat was waiting for us and we started our journey to Sundarbans. We were thirteen tourists in that houseboat and 4/5 boat people ( captain/chef/manager/helper/guard etc). Our boat roamed to many unknown river and places. I remember some of them like Porshu river, Shela river, Katka beach, Harin kata, Harbaria etc. From second day we saw very few tourist boats/ships as they dont go to deeper area. It was so calm and relaxing. Though there are some rumors about dark water pirates and I was little bit tensed but it was also a part of adventure. Boat manager assured that we are totally safe. It was first time in my life that we are moving forward for 6/7 hours without seeing other people or boat. I forgot about my regular life, complexity, trouble everything and it was wonderful to find myself. I loved illusions of nature, nights were so mysterious! Luckily we saw One tigress and two tiger cubs! It was my best tour so far!