Love in Bangladesh

Vacation in Bangladesh? you're kidding, right? The name is synonymous with every kind of disaster, from fatal floods and endemic disease to violent strikes, crushing poverty and�an extra recent thrill�rebels who kidnap foreigners for ransom. A local writer once said Bangladesh was a place where no one should ever have lived. He was only half joking. This is not a destination for relaxation, pampering or guided tours of picture-perfect settings. Leave that for Bali or the Bahamas. The country used to sell itself with the rather telling slogan: "Come to Bangladesh before the tourists." This is a land to make you think. Until it hurts.
First impressions, it's true, are unlikely to be promising. The capital Dhaka is pure pandemonium, the sweating, heaving epicenter of the most crowded nation on earth. (With 129 million inhabitants packed into an area the size of Iowa, Bangladesh is three times more densely populated than neighboring India and seven times more jammed than China.) Don't be surprised if an enthusiastic Bangladeshi befriends you in the street and invites you home for tea and a meal. He will invariably ask for your address as a start to what he hopes will be an overseas friendship and, eventually, a ticket out. Many visitors soon discover Dhaka is a place they too want to escape. If that's the case, head for Kamalpur train station for a six- or seven-hour train trip to Chittagong and the south coast ($8 first class). Or take the bus and scare yourself silly with the number of wrecks that litter the roadside on the way.
Once you're en route, however, the country's charms begin revealing themselves. Lower the window and watch as the rickshaws and pollution give way to rice paddies and simple villages. Crossing countless bridges, you're soon deep into a virtual marshland. Ferries ply the many canals and waterways in a constant cycle of to and fro, back and forth. At the mouth of the Karnaphuli river lies Bangladesh's main port. The country's second city, Chittagong has been a center of trade and transport for 2,000 years. Porters lean almost prone as they haul carts piled 4 m high along the quay. Stroll the boulevards of decaying colonial storefronts and the pungent waterfront in the old city to trace the port's Portuguese and British history. For a bed, try the Hotel Agrabad, the city's best at around $100 a double. Call (880-31) 500-111. Eating well and cheaply is one of Chittagong's stronger points: fill yourself for less than $1 on the kebabs in Jubilee Road or try the restaurant at the Meridian Hotel, which serves excellent Bengali and Chinese food.
Chittagong is a good base for traveling into the precipitous jungle hills bordering Burma to visit indigenous tribes (see Detour). But check on security: it was here insurgents took two Danes and a Briton hostage in February. (Soldiers freed them a month later.) You can also take a 20-minute motorcycle-taxi ride north to Sitakunda, one of the great graveyards of the sea. At first glance, it seems like just another coastal town on the way to somewhere else. But behind the row of one- and two-story homes is a stunning beachscape. The setting sun silhouettes scores of ships run aground, groaning as their rusting hulls shift on the sand. Look closer and you'll see thousands of workers moving like hermit crabs across the oil-slicked beach, dismantling the vessels sheet by metal sheet. They chant and smile while they carry the monstrous slabs of tonnage for as little as 13 an hour. "Singing makes us forget the pain," says a young laborer, his tanned body smeared with grease.
When you've seen all there is to see around Chittagong, hop on a bus south to Cox's Bazar. Five hours later, the scent of salt water lets you know you've arrived at the longest beach in the world, a jungle-lined stretch of white sand that runs unbroken for 120 km. Women can forget about soaking up the rays in skimpy swimsuits unless they want to attract a whirling crowd of oglers. In Bangladesh, ladies take the surf in full sari. Muslim beach etiquette aside, Cox's Bazar has all the potential of a serene seaside getaway: take a rickshaw around the dusty lanes and absorb the Burmese influences on Bengali culture. Local cigars and handloom products of the Rakhyne tribal families are good buys, as are multicolored sarongs and handwoven scarves. Hotel Sayeman is a pleasant, clean place to stay ($4 to $22 for a double) and serves good breakfasts and dinners. For reservations call (880-341) 3900. Besides typical Bangladeshi fare of curry cooked in mustard oil, dal and rice, the town is famous for its large prawns and offers plenty of other good seafood. If you crave a burger and fries, try the restaurant in the Shaipal Hotel, which overlooks a nine-hole golf course.
When you've had enough, it's simple to exit. Fly with national carrier Biman from Cox's Bazar to Dhaka ($35) and home from there. It's not a holiday in hell. And anyway, heaven was never this interesting.