Bangladesh Trip Report
I live in DOH currently. Leaving and traveling next year all over USA and Africa. Having QFF platinum is a necessity to avoid bag fees as I travel with lots of technical diving kit, I need 3 x 32kgs. Paying for bags isn't really an option when you are planning to take over 20 domestic USA flights!
So needing another 280 QFF SC to make platinum this year, with my anniversary date the end of Nov, I found a UL flight in J DOH > CMB > DAC Dhaka, Bangladesh. I could easily have done this as an over night and seen nothing, but since I was going, it thought why not. Ive always wanted to see ship breaking in action. So I took an extra two days off.
Flight cost was 807USD or 3.95 AUD per SC at the time of purchase. Pretty happy with that.
Departing DOH as a business class passenger, I had access to the QR J lounge. Very good as usual, although the hot food options seemed a little cheaper than last time I was there in May. The whisky tasted as good though! An annoying point of note, QR has now made it so other carriers can't use online checkin from DOH. So they all open 3.5 hrs in advance and you can't get a boarding pass otherwise. Super frustrating change, I suspect only to keep people out of their airport and class only lounges. It changed sometime after end of Jan and before May this year.
Flight was fine, older UL A330 200 with the 2 2 2 J seats, which I dont mind so much, kind of like a beach recliner. No card on the newer A330 300s with 1 2 1 of course, but perfectly acceptable. Especially at that price. Having a free seat next to me helped. Food is never great on UL J, but I dont care, its decent enough for the price. Service is great, drinks free flowing. Waking up in Colombo at 6am as we are landing is great, being left until the last moment to be told to go upright even better (as I was sleeping).
Serenib lounge in CMB is not great. Cramped, noisy, food is chaotic and just alright. I have priority pass, often ill use the lotus lounge if serenib is busy. It had identical, but less options food. Quick breakfast and off again.
A320 this time, again, free seat next to me. Great leg room on these UL birds. But ive found the entertainment to be lacking, ive taken 14 UL flights in last 12 months and im out of movies to watch.
Got to Dhaka early! Visa on arrival is 51USD, you need hotel booking, flight out, and invite letter from tour company. Same price for all nationalities eligible for voa it seems. I entered on my Australian passport.
Met my guide from nijhoom tours and off to old dhaka we go. Not 10 minutes out of the airport and our first beggar/hawker in traffic. I usually just ignore, but my guide could not stop laughing. 'He lady man!' he blurted out. Whilst I have no issue with this, clearly its not acceptable in bangladeshi culture as yet. He said 'they' use it to scare people into giving them money. A unique cultural introduction.
Im not normally a tour guy, ive been to 70 countries and have rarley used a guided tour unless ive had too for something such as Auschwitz where I didnt have a booking slot and had no choice. I had a hard time finding any info for this trip and most who tried it with no guide seemed to have a poor time, barely able to navigate Dhaka. So I paid up...and had a great time.
Old dhaka was confronting AF! Dirty, peole everywhere, traffic, horns, quite insane. Check in nijhooms website for a full itinerary. Maybe skip the boat trip if you dont like offensive smells!
Got dropped at the raintree dhaka that night, immediately went for a swim in the roof top pool. 80usd per night got say a rydges style room, maybe 3 star or low 4 star in Australian terms. Id picked it for proximity for ease of travel and also the pool/restraunt onsite. Long days of traffic and tours both of these features were very useful. Would recommend as long as you find a good deal. Again, higher than I would usually spend, however the middle range of hotels is almost non existent in dhaka, hostels dont exist either. Tourism is in its infancy. Mostly setup for business travelers. I spent 60usd extra, including 19usd for the car to the airport, and three dinners, one from room service at midnight.
Second day, off to dhaka old capital at 8am. Around 50kms away, went to songraman, panam city, markets. Unique but not overly interesting day.
Third day. Up at 530am for a 6am pickup. Off to the airport for a novoair domestic flight to chittagong to see the shipbreaking yards, the highlight of the trip for me. This day alone cost 345usd. Probably a huge rip off. Novoair was on time, efficient and I even got a small hot breakfast thrown at me...omlete, potatoes and something else I cant remember. Tickets were 60usd for two of us one way, included in the 345 above. We got to chittagong and there was an atonov an 124! I made the guide wait so I could watch it take off. Little rare aviation treat.
We then went to the fishing port, very smelly, lots of poverty, plenty of all kinds of seafood for sale and being prepared. Walked along the boats, people washing in dirty puddles etc. Workers here earn 50 or 60usd a month if they are lucky. Whilst I could have done without it, it was interesting nontheless.
Off for a late breakfast at a local place, zanam. Potara and curry, super tasty.
Then a 40 min drive to the small dock for an hour ride in an open lifeboat, now a fishing boat. We cruised up and down behind the ships being broken. It was amazing! Take a telephoo lens and a small pair of binos or a monocular. I saw probably 50 ships in various states of breaking. I saw an entire bow be sliced off and fall into the water and some other huge steel plates dropped as well. They then winch the bits into shore and use an excavator to haul up the beach. The area is seriously contaminated. Take earplugs, shoes, long sleeves and a change of shirt in case you get splashed with oily water. I hear the one hour boat ride cost 2500tk, or 30usd ish, again included. You could probably organise this yourself or thru a driver intermediary. The captains don't speak English.
Afterwards we went for a look at the markets, where you can buy any part of the ships, organised by type. Ladders, hatches, plate, pipes, galleys, lights, binnacles etc. I bought a small compass, was almost sure its a knock off. But has a nice poem the road not travelled inside. For 14usd, I wasn't too concerned about its providence. I rarely buy souvineers for myself (I keep currency however).
Then back to zaman for lunch of spicy Bengali biryani, was excellent. Quick visit to war graves cemetery/park. Then 5 hr train ride to dhaka. In a sleeper compartment, with 6 people using the bottom two beds as seats. Was quite uncomfortable. If you do this trip, suggest you ask to fly both ways for 60usd, totally worth it.
Fourth day, off to the airport in an overpriced hotel drop off car (19usd). Usually I dont mind paying the ridiculous price for a measure of safety, as to me this is the most risky time when traveling in the 3rd world, as I have every document, cash and card on me and my backups.
Enter airport. Like CMB airport, you must have a copy of your flight itinerary or you arent getting into the airport. Or access to it on your phone I guess. A few minutes delay waiting for checkin to open at about 2.5 hrs before flight. Then filling my departure card, one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Being asked by a Bangladeshi to fill his departure card as he cant write. Then his three friends. Then a line formed...I cut it off at the original four. All off to Doha for work, most for the first time. I had them form a line and cycle through the guy who could speak english reading out their details. Then time for signatures. Two of them held the pen like a child would and made a mark. As I said. Humbling. Afterwards, big smile from them when they boarded past me.
Off to bakala lounge courtesy of priority pass in search of fabled alcohol. Failed unless i wanted to pay 6usd per can of beer, more for spirits. Food seemed average, lounge a decent size. Headed over to ebl skylounge, courtesy of UL invite, bigger, roomier and better food options imo.
Off to the flight, one last security check. Woman was taking pictures of everyones passport too. Bit odd I thought.
Older UL A320, 2 2 in J. Great leg room, annoying location of monitor, popping out on your left and requiring a head turn to watch. Gnt please! Writing this on take off. Pilot who flew here, sitting in front of me was just called to coughpit. Hmm.. I hope thats innocuous!
Looking forward to the next flight hoepfully still in a new a330 300, with 1 2 1 seating.
I live in DOH currently. Leaving and traveling next year all over USA and Africa. Having QFF platinum is a necessity to avoid bag fees as I travel with lots of technical diving kit, I need 3 x 32kgs. Paying for bags isn't really an option when you are planning to take over 20 domestic USA flights!
So needing another 280 QFF SC to make platinum this year, with my anniversary date the end of Nov, I found a UL flight in J DOH > CMB > DAC Dhaka, Bangladesh. I could easily have done this as an over night and seen nothing, but since I was going, it thought why not. Ive always wanted to see ship breaking in action. So I took an extra two days off.
Flight cost was 807USD or 3.95 AUD per SC at the time of purchase. Pretty happy with that.
Departing DOH as a business class passenger, I had access to the QR J lounge. Very good as usual, although the hot food options seemed a little cheaper than last time I was there in May. The whisky tasted as good though! An annoying point of note, QR has now made it so other carriers can't use online checkin from DOH. So they all open 3.5 hrs in advance and you can't get a boarding pass otherwise. Super frustrating change, I suspect only to keep people out of their airport and class only lounges. It changed sometime after end of Jan and before May this year.
Flight was fine, older UL A330 200 with the 2 2 2 J seats, which I dont mind so much, kind of like a beach recliner. No card on the newer A330 300s with 1 2 1 of course, but perfectly acceptable. Especially at that price. Having a free seat next to me helped. Food is never great on UL J, but I dont care, its decent enough for the price. Service is great, drinks free flowing. Waking up in Colombo at 6am as we are landing is great, being left until the last moment to be told to go upright even better (as I was sleeping).
Serenib lounge in CMB is not great. Cramped, noisy, food is chaotic and just alright. I have priority pass, often ill use the lotus lounge if serenib is busy. It had identical, but less options food. Quick breakfast and off again.
A320 this time, again, free seat next to me. Great leg room on these UL birds. But ive found the entertainment to be lacking, ive taken 14 UL flights in last 12 months and im out of movies to watch.
Got to Dhaka early! Visa on arrival is 51USD, you need hotel booking, flight out, and invite letter from tour company. Same price for all nationalities eligible for voa it seems. I entered on my Australian passport.
Met my guide from nijhoom tours and off to old dhaka we go. Not 10 minutes out of the airport and our first beggar/hawker in traffic. I usually just ignore, but my guide could not stop laughing. 'He lady man!' he blurted out. Whilst I have no issue with this, clearly its not acceptable in bangladeshi culture as yet. He said 'they' use it to scare people into giving them money. A unique cultural introduction.
Im not normally a tour guy, ive been to 70 countries and have rarley used a guided tour unless ive had too for something such as Auschwitz where I didnt have a booking slot and had no choice. I had a hard time finding any info for this trip and most who tried it with no guide seemed to have a poor time, barely able to navigate Dhaka. So I paid up...and had a great time.
Old dhaka was confronting AF! Dirty, peole everywhere, traffic, horns, quite insane. Check in nijhooms website for a full itinerary. Maybe skip the boat trip if you dont like offensive smells!
Got dropped at the raintree dhaka that night, immediately went for a swim in the roof top pool. 80usd per night got say a rydges style room, maybe 3 star or low 4 star in Australian terms. Id picked it for proximity for ease of travel and also the pool/restraunt onsite. Long days of traffic and tours both of these features were very useful. Would recommend as long as you find a good deal. Again, higher than I would usually spend, however the middle range of hotels is almost non existent in dhaka, hostels dont exist either. Tourism is in its infancy. Mostly setup for business travelers. I spent 60usd extra, including 19usd for the car to the airport, and three dinners, one from room service at midnight.
Second day, off to dhaka old capital at 8am. Around 50kms away, went to songraman, panam city, markets. Unique but not overly interesting day.
Third day. Up at 530am for a 6am pickup. Off to the airport for a novoair domestic flight to chittagong to see the shipbreaking yards, the highlight of the trip for me. This day alone cost 345usd. Probably a huge rip off. Novoair was on time, efficient and I even got a small hot breakfast thrown at me...omlete, potatoes and something else I cant remember. Tickets were 60usd for two of us one way, included in the 345 above. We got to chittagong and there was an atonov an 124! I made the guide wait so I could watch it take off. Little rare aviation treat.
We then went to the fishing port, very smelly, lots of poverty, plenty of all kinds of seafood for sale and being prepared. Walked along the boats, people washing in dirty puddles etc. Workers here earn 50 or 60usd a month if they are lucky. Whilst I could have done without it, it was interesting nontheless.
Off for a late breakfast at a local place, zanam. Potara and curry, super tasty.
Then a 40 min drive to the small dock for an hour ride in an open lifeboat, now a fishing boat. We cruised up and down behind the ships being broken. It was amazing! Take a telephoo lens and a small pair of binos or a monocular. I saw probably 50 ships in various states of breaking. I saw an entire bow be sliced off and fall into the water and some other huge steel plates dropped as well. They then winch the bits into shore and use an excavator to haul up the beach. The area is seriously contaminated. Take earplugs, shoes, long sleeves and a change of shirt in case you get splashed with oily water. I hear the one hour boat ride cost 2500tk, or 30usd ish, again included. You could probably organise this yourself or thru a driver intermediary. The captains don't speak English.
Afterwards we went for a look at the markets, where you can buy any part of the ships, organised by type. Ladders, hatches, plate, pipes, galleys, lights, binnacles etc. I bought a small compass, was almost sure its a knock off. But has a nice poem the road not travelled inside. For 14usd, I wasn't too concerned about its providence. I rarely buy souvineers for myself (I keep currency however).
Then back to zaman for lunch of spicy Bengali biryani, was excellent. Quick visit to war graves cemetery/park. Then 5 hr train ride to dhaka. In a sleeper compartment, with 6 people using the bottom two beds as seats. Was quite uncomfortable. If you do this trip, suggest you ask to fly both ways for 60usd, totally worth it.
Fourth day, off to the airport in an overpriced hotel drop off car (19usd). Usually I dont mind paying the ridiculous price for a measure of safety, as to me this is the most risky time when traveling in the 3rd world, as I have every document, cash and card on me and my backups.
Enter airport. Like CMB airport, you must have a copy of your flight itinerary or you arent getting into the airport. Or access to it on your phone I guess. A few minutes delay waiting for checkin to open at about 2.5 hrs before flight. Then filling my departure card, one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Being asked by a Bangladeshi to fill his departure card as he cant write. Then his three friends. Then a line formed...I cut it off at the original four. All off to Doha for work, most for the first time. I had them form a line and cycle through the guy who could speak english reading out their details. Then time for signatures. Two of them held the pen like a child would and made a mark. As I said. Humbling. Afterwards, big smile from them when they boarded past me.
Off to bakala lounge courtesy of priority pass in search of fabled alcohol. Failed unless i wanted to pay 6usd per can of beer, more for spirits. Food seemed average, lounge a decent size. Headed over to ebl skylounge, courtesy of UL invite, bigger, roomier and better food options imo.
Off to the flight, one last security check. Woman was taking pictures of everyones passport too. Bit odd I thought.
Older UL A320, 2 2 in J. Great leg room, annoying location of monitor, popping out on your left and requiring a head turn to watch. Gnt please! Writing this on take off. Pilot who flew here, sitting in front of me was just called to coughpit. Hmm.. I hope thats innocuous!
Looking forward to the next flight hoepfully still in a new a330 300, with 1 2 1 seating.
