NATURAL BEAUTY OF BANGLADESH

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If there is something else that make, me proud of Bangladesh besides the kind hearted people; it is the natural beauty I see. That is why I prefer to stay in my father's hometown (Barguna), which is a relatively mid-sized town, instead of the capital Dhaka.

Since road construction has been quite poor in that part of the country, a trip on an automobile is quite harrowing (at least I heard that it was). My family chooses to make a journey through the rivers (the true Bangladeshi way, in my opinion). We take this ship or riverboat called a launch, which has comfortable cabins. Actually, the cabins are not that many, the rest of the ship has nothing but iron floors, and that is where the bulk of the travelers are. The cabins would be something like first class.

The launch journey is quite long (exactly 24 hours, or even more at times), so it is prone to make some people seasick, but not me. I love the journey. I love it every bit of the way until the last few hours when I am just excited about getting off. At night, just staring out into the vast wide rivers, I am filled with awe, and at times a bit frightened. The rivers are very wide, and I cannot imagine what it would be falling in there. I would not be able to swim to the shore although I know how to swim. Daylight is different, the fright is gone, and there are much prettier things to look at. The entire country looks so damn green, something my eyes see little in Saudi Arabia. Looking at the empty abandoned, beautiful landscapes, one can hardly think why Bangladesh is considered crowded, you wonder, where have all the people gone. In the boat itself, the sky looks so close to you, there are plenty of large clouds that look like you can almost touch them. I become somewhat absorbed in the whole journey.

What is more fascinating is when the boat will stop at certain villages or towns, just watching the people scurry to make it on board, some getting off, peddlers getting on with their 'chai' and 'chanachur' (snacks). It is all just fascinating.

This is the beauty that I am familiar with, lush green land everywhere. However, the things about Bangladesh that most people mention are places I have never visited, and truly yearn to visit. Bangladesh has the largest continuous beach in the world, a good portion of which is a famous area in Chittagong called Cox's Bazaar (I wonder who it's named after). Everyone has been telling me how wonderful that place is, but I have never had the luck to see it. Another great place is Sundarban [Sundar (Shundor) means beautiful and ban (bon) means forest], Bangladesh's premiere forest (more like a Jungle) that has a similar position in Bangladeshi culture as Yellowstone does in USA. It is one of the few places in the world where one can observe Royal Bengal tigers roaming freely. If it is Bangladesh's true natural beauty, you want to see that is the place to visit. It probably has all the different species of plants and trees found elsewhere in Bangladesh, that besides the tons of exotic & beautiful creatures.

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