Bangladesh is one of our neighbor country situated in the Eastern Border of India . It is bordered with five indian states West bengal , Meghalaya , Assam , Tripura and Mizoram . Almost every state has 3-4 land border crossing point to reach to Bangladesh from India . I reached bangladesh via this Petrapole Benapole border . Bangladesh was formed in 1971 , devided from the Pakistan on the basis of Bengali speaking population . At that time of independence it was one of the poorest country but now one of the fastest growing country in South Asia . It has all total 8 division , 64 districts , 495 sub district and population of 17-18 crore . That makes Bangladesh one of the most densely populated country in the world . Agriculture , Fishing and Garment industry are the major employment generator . People are very polite and hospitable in Bangladesh .
Bangladesh has three UNESCO World Heritage Site , those are Sompura Boudha Vihar in the Rajshahi Division , Sixty Dome Mosque in the Bagerhat District of Khulna Division and the Sundarban in the Khulna Division . You can say khulna division is one of the major tourist hub in Bangladesh . Rather than those UNESCO sites in Sylhet division there is beautiful mountains and tea Garden and in Rangamati district of Chattogram division there is Kaptai Lake and beautiful mountains and in Cox Bazar district there is sea beach . In the chattogram division you can find different Tribal groups like Chakma , Marma , Pankha , Tripuri and Rakhin . This tribal people and mostly Buddhist and lives in the Indo – Bangladesh Border . In Bangladesh , Cox Bazar has the world’s largest uninterrupted continuous beach of length 129 km . Rather than that one of the most important part of Bangladesh is the Dhaka division which constitutes the capital city Dhaka . You can taste different variety of food in Dhaka and century old tradition .
VISA :
Bangladesh issue free visa for Indian citizen . You have to apply to Embassy or Consulate situated in different city of India but in West Bengal you have to apply it through Bangladesh visa application center which is a private entity . This institution charge some 800 + INR for visa application as service charge . In kolkata this Institution is situated in sector V near to the RS software more . They require 15 -20 days time for your sticker visa to be ready . The validity and stay of the visa is given according to the Bangladesh govt’s decision .
Border Crossing :
I don’t know why , but the border crossing is very tedious work for Indian . Afthough you have the valid visa and passport still they will ask you lots of question and specifically documents to enter Bangladesh for Indian . The documents , necessary to enter Bangladesh are
- Passport with valid Visa
- Any other ID card issued by GOI like Voter ID , Aadhar Card , Ration Card ect .
- Covid Vaccination Certificate
- Address proof of Bangladesh .
This are the nominal documents they ask for everybody . Now if you are the first time visitor to Bangladesh they will sent you to a special room with some higher graded officer . Now if you born after 1990 they are asking also your parents Voter Card’s Xerox to proof that they were Indian . They will ask you lots of question . After all the valid documents , still they may reject your visa . I pass through the petrapole Benapole border . I don’t know what is the situation in other border crossing but here the situation is really pathetic . I enter there in 9:30 AM and left the border crossing at 2 PM , really disgusting . In my mind in the railway journey immigration is little easy but not easy as Colombo ,Sri Lanka .
Currency Exchange :
Bangladesh currency is called ‘Taka’. There are 1000 , 500 , 200 , 100 , 50 , 20 , 10 , 5 ,2 denominations of taka as printed currency and 5 , 2 , 1 taka coin . 1000 taka being the biggest note and in most of the time from ATM only 1000 , 500 taka notes disbursed .
You can make currency exchange in both side of the Border . Even , when you just get down in Bangaon station and going to the border they will insist you for currency exchange but my suggestion is don’t exchange money until you cross the immigration and go inside the other country for unnecessary harassment .
In the line of immigration there was lots of people who are the first time visitors to Bangladesh , they don’t given the entry . At that time you have to re exchange to INR . In that process you will loose money .
In the immigration some police ask me for bribe . As I don’t have Bangladeshi money so I avoid it by saying that I don’t have Bangladeshi taka .
If you still convert before border crossing must take a conversion slip otherwise you may unnecessary fall into police trap .
You can also withdrawal Bangladeshi taka from the ATM but use HDFC Bank international Card and don’t use SBI Global . SBI charge lots of money for ATM withdrawal in Bangladesh . HDFC give you very good rate . I have only this two ATM Card so I can’t comment on others . Both time I withdrawal from Islamia Bank ATM . There is lots of other Bank ATM also in Bangladesh .
Mobile SIM :
Banglalink , gramernphone , airtel , robi and tele talk are the mobile company that provide network connection in Bangladesh . Just crossing this border you will find lots of shops for mobile SIM card but don’t take SIM from those shops as they are more expensive . Just walk five minutes and you will get lots more better rate for the same service . Mobile data connection is pretty cheap in Bangladesh like India .
I take a Banglalink sim and it cost just 250 taka for the new SIM Card and 129 Taka for 7 day 12 gb . In most of the area you will get 4 G connection but speed is little low than India . All total in Bangladesh you will get good connection , only in the hill area of Rangamati I don’t get proper connection .
Transport :
Bangladesh has lots of different modes of transport system like Bus , Train , Ferry , CNG , Battery car , Taxi and Rishka . For city commute best mode is CNG and Rishka as in Bangladesh roads are very heavy congested . Bangladesh is such a populas country that even walking in the bigger city like Dhaka and Chattogram is difficult . In the road you will see the convoy of Rishka . When they are stuck in a Traffic they were stick to one another such a way that crossing in between them is also very difficult . In the 3-4 road crossing , it became next level cawas . There is no rule in the middle of the crossing . Rishkas are traveling in their will . There is lots of collision of the rishka in the Road and very often you will see that in the heavy traffic two buses rubbed each outher side by side . Lots of time one buses looking glass was broken by the other bus intentionally . In the city the transport is totally crazy .
In my mind most of the safe mode of transport in Bangladesh is Ferry and Train . Almost all the major cities are connected by train and this is cheap and more comfortable . Train may come Late but best mode of transport for long distance in Bangladesh . Ferry is another good way of transport . As Bangladesh has lots of river , so commuting by ferry is a good way of transport .They transport passengers in very long journey , sometimes for a whole day . This Ferry have 3-4 floor with cabin room also for the rich passengers .
Food :
Food in Bangladesh are really cheap . Non veg food , naan , tandoori roti , different types of snacks , Sweets and Biriyani are common in Bangladesh . Bangladeshi people are specially fond of Fish items but veg food are rare in Bangladesh . Rather than morning breakfast it is very difficult to find a veg lunch or dinner in Bangladesh . You have to just eat rice with lentils and different types of Bharta (mashing of any vegetables and adding different spices ). Western food are limited and more expensive . You can taste different types of Fishes in Bangladesh as quality of fish is very good in Bangladesh . In Dhaka city specially near to the Dhaka University you have large variety of foods . In that place in tea shop you will get different flavour of tea . Condensed milk is very much used to make tea in Bangladesh .
Sleep:
There is plenty of hotels to stay in any city of Bangladesh but might be the facility is little downside . Here hotels are called “Abasik”. There is good hotels which are available in online booking but more expensive . If you have to find cheaper hotel then contact a Cycle Rishka and they can show you much cheaper hotel But in Bangladesh you will not found any Hostels or Dormitory like facility .
Summary :
In Bangladesh most of the people only knows Bengali Language so language is a barrier but people will help you as much as they know english and Hindi . Here in Bangladesh train coach no to cars No plate , everything is written in Bengali . Being the country of lots of river Bangladesh has very good water navigation system which is not present in India . People of Bangladesh are very soft and polite and respect you as a foreigner . Sundarban(Mangrove Forest) being one of the Natural wonders in Bangladesh . Bangladeshi are foodie people and there is plenty of variation of Food here . Fish being one of the favorite food for Bangladeshi people . There is heavy traffic jam in any big city and plenty of rishka inside the city . Foods are mind blowing and people are very sweet .
