~story by Mikey Leung~

The German Club (House No. 24, Road. No. 104) is hosting an exhibition of brass sculptures on May 1st and 2nd, 09:30am - 19:30pm. The sculptures were produced by the Banik family of the Dhamrai Metal Works and the designs are splendidly intricate and detailed. Sukanta Banik has long been fighting to preserve this art, which he says has been in his family for generations.

You can see more pictures from my visit to Dhamrai here.

The exhibition is being held because Sukanta says he needs to raise funds and save his historic house, the same venue where the sculptures are produced. He writes:

Many of you have been here – visited it, seen a demonstration or two, walked though hallways, browsed in our shop, had a cold drink or a cup of my mother’s lemon tea. In a short time, our family might lose this place.

Show me more… »

Tags: Art,Bangladesh,Culture,Dhamrai Metal Works,Sukanta Banik
Categories: Events
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~story by Mikey Leung~

A number of people have e-mailed us noting the recent news that a Lonely Planet author admitted to not even travelling to some of the destinations he wrote about, to which Lonely Planet has already written a factually-based retort on its website.

The offending author, Thomas Kohnstamm, claims that he didn’t get paid enough, and actually, it is true that very few people in the industry make enough to make a living. Considering he’s just published a book called “Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?” it makes sense for him to pull a kind of publicity stunt in order to drive sales of that book, considering that under Lonely Planet’s system, he won’t be collecting royalties on those book sales.

For our end of things at the Joybangla.Info, we can tell you that fact-checking and reviewing places is a utterly painstaking process. We are also accountable to you, our readers, because we will get paid when you purchase our book via royalties. My name will be attached to the work and, right on its cover. Therefore, I want it to be top notch. It’s not worth doing it otherwise!!

Tags: Bangladesh,Controversy,Lonely Planet,Thomas Kohnstamm
Categories: Editorials
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Homaira and Taimur of Dhaka’s Urban Study Group have started offering guided explorations of Old Dhaka, on both the weekends and weekdays, in an effort to see some of the older buildings preserved and restored. Here’s a quote from their recent mailings regarding the preservation work they’re attempting to do:

While our documentation of the other mohallahs of Ward 72 are going on, we have started documenting the Sutrapur and Farashganj area also . At present we are trying to start actual restoration work on few small-scale projects in Shakhari Bazaar and Tati Bazaar which we hope will have a snowball effect; we’ll soon send out detailed information on the projects.

Today’s update is about another heritage building at risk. A grand mansion is being demolished in Farashganj for redevelopment by the owners. USG has already documented the building and trying to negotiate with the owners with conservation proposal with the half that is still standing and is also trying to persuade the goverment officials regarding the possible modification of the current building construction rules to facilitate conservation while protecting the economic interest of the owners/developers.

Want to find out more information? Send an e-mail to friendsofsb [AT] gmail.com.

Tags: Bangladesh,History,Old Dhaka,Shankharia Bazaar,Tours
Categories: Destinations
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~story by Mikey Leung~

With three new airlines starting up in just the last year, the flight prices in Bangladesh should start falling from the sky like manna from heaven.

The newest airlines are:

• Best Air (aka Best Aviation)
• United Airways Bangladesh
• Royal Bengal Airlines

In our opinion, United Airways is the one to watch—they are coming with the newest routes and services, and also have the most steeply discounted fares at the current time. United Airways and Best Air have recently been given approval to begin international operations—competition really means the consumers will benefit, especially in a market that has yet to be tapped.

The country’s other operators, GMG Airlines and Biman Bangladesh, have been around for awhile, and have had no incentive to make their operations more efficient, until now. The government announced it would sell 49 percent of its stake in Biman, a move which has raised some questions among analysts.

From the consumer point of view, everybody in Bangladesh knows that flight prices are rather obscene if you want to get out of the country—tickets to BKK are well over $400 USD and even China Eastern charges $450 for a round trip to Kunming. Flights to Delhi are almost $500 USD. Competition needs to change this market, and it appears we are on the verge of that now. Exciting times to be involved in the Bangladesh tourism industry…

Tags: Airlines,Bangladesh,Competition,Flights,Prices
Categories: Travel, Uncategorized
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Tigers are in the news again, but finally we’re hearing from the conservationist side of the story. As Adam Barlow writes:

I hope, for the sake of the tigers, that there will be no further unbalanced attacks the media that are at best divisive and at worse damage tiger conservation. It is much easier to criticize other people’s efforts to save the tiger than to create solutions or come to work in the forest to help save tigers.

While we debate tiger darting in the newspapers for example, more cows and dogs have been killed in Chandpai where we were trying to collar a problem tiger. The same tiger has killed over 60 domestic animals and one person. Livestock depredation by tigers is common in the eastern Sundarbans and man-eating is rampant in the West. Surely these kinds of issues deserve more attention in the newspapers.

As recorded by the BBC news regarding Sirajul’s article “According to Raghu Chundawat, a Delhi-based wildlife scientist who is not connected to the project, any long-term suspension of the radio-collar programme would be a “disaster” for the Sundarbans, and doubts about the safety of the drugs are “absolute nonsense”.” What does it achieve to attack people’s efforts to conserve tigers in the press? I think that the Forest Department’s efforts to save the Sundarbans tigers should be highly commended. The tigers’ only hope is that people can work together in a constructive way and I ask the Bangladesh people to unite behind tiger conservation before it is too late.

For more info:

• See www.sundarbanstigerproject.info.
• The original offending article.

Tags: Bangladesh,Media,Sundarbans Tiger Project,Tigers
Categories: Editorials, Sundarbans
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When the Rocket steamer service first commenced its service in 1956, the vessels may have been some of the fastest water-borne vessels of their time. Eighty years and one refurbishment later, the four Rocket is still “hammering around the Delta,” as travel writer Jack Barker put it, and fortunately only one of the six original vessels is on the bottom of the Buriganga and four remain in operation to this very day. It is Bangladesh’s most well-known journey, and its sloth-like speed is actually quite a pleasure to enjoy.

Some lovely words from travel writer Nick Redmayne:

Take a rocket back to Dhaka and experience a PR opportunity that Richard Branson has inexplicably missed. Bangladesh has pioneered scheduled rocket travel since the 1920s and despite the propensity of other vessels to double as submarines, ‘Rocket’ paddle steamers offer a ride priced within reach of the common man and a safety record that beats the space shuttle hands down.

While I try not to plagiarize Nick’s words for my book, please enjoy this video tour of the ancient paddlewheel vessel, hosted by yours truly:

Some PS additions:

• There’s a paddle-wheel satellite now in operation, which probably did require a real rocket to get it there…
• Quoting from former diplomat Bobbie Bergesen, one realizes little has changed since she took the journey in 1976: Bangladesh can offer no more pleasant experience than that of being a Rocket passenger, watching the water curl endlessly out of the carved fretwork while being borne securely along to the steady throb of the paddles strongly churning (apologies to Walt Whitman).
• Want to book a ticket? If you’re in Motijheel you can go straight to the BIWTC office and get it yourself, a few days in advance is recommended. Otherwise if you’re based in Gulshan, Guide Tours can purchase the tickets for you, and with a small service charge you don’t have to worry about getting down to the BIWTC office. The BIWTC’s office is one block east of Dilkusha Circle I: 955 9779 or 891 4771. Guide Tours is located on Gulshan 2 Circle.
• Want to see some other videos? Click here.

Tags: Bangladesh,Destinations,Paddle Steamers,rivers,Rocket
Categories: Destinations, Sundarbans, Travel
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~story by Mikey Leung~

As of 22 March 2008, it is possible to obtain a “Landing Permit on Arrival” if you arrive in Dhaka with no visa. With $50 USD, you can simply buy this landing permit when you arrive at Zia International Airport, and you should be granted a 15-day stay.

However, please note that this could change at any time and without warning—such are the vagaries of the Bangladesh immigration system. The rules surrounding this landing permit are not published anywhere that we know of. We have only heard anecdotally that obtaining a landing permit has been done, and we have called the Airport Immigration to confirm this is the case. The Airport Immigration Phone Number at Zia Airport is +88 (02) 891 4226.

Searches on the internet show that the old rules used to claim that if you came from a country without a Bangladeshi mission, you would be able to obtain the landing permit. But there have been changes in the visa process under the caretaker government.

Whether or not you use the Landing Permit on Arrival system depends on whether or not you are the traveller who is willing to accept some degree of risk while you travel. Naturally, the safest option is to obtain a visa in your home country first, but if, for some circumstance of time and/or money you don’t get the visa, and you don’t need to stay in Bangladesh for longer than 15 days, a landing permit would certainly be easier than other potential bureaucratic speedbumps you could encounter at a Bangladeshi High Commission or Embassy.

From the Lonely Planet’s travel advice:

Please take care when choosing to buy the visa-on-arrival at the Dhaka airport. Except for being quite expensive ($50 for 15 days) the surrounding countries don’t accept this visa as it’s just a landing permit. You won’t be able to get a visa for India for instance because they say you don’t have a valid visa for Bangladesh. You can probably get one by extending your visa at the Immigration office for about $50 because then you should get an official visa. Should, because maybe it’s a renewal of the landing permit. But then it’s still the question whether you’re able to get a road permit to cross into India overland. So it could be wise to arrange your visa for Bangladesh beforehand, even if Biman Bangladesh Airlines says it’s not necessary.

If you do use it, it would be best to have your return ticket ready and proof that you are carrying enough cash for your visit to Bangladesh.

Then, please let us know if you have any difficulties. Also, do be aware that when you check in for your flight, you may need to explain to the airline representatives that you are getting a visa on arrival at Zia and you know that it is possible.

Good Luck! Please bear in mind that the rules in Bangladesh change all the time.

Tags: Bangladesh,Immigration Rules,Landing Permit,Visas,Zia International Airport
Categories: Travel, Visas
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