Sajek, an emerging gem among tourist destinations, has captivated travelers with its breathtaking landscapes over the last decade. Nestled in the Baghaichari Upazilla of Rangamati, this charming village has lured visitors with its mesmerizing cloud vistas, exquisitely crafted wooden resorts, and the thrilling journey along the Khagrachori to Sajek hilly roads. For me, embarking on a Sajek trip had been a long-anticipated dream, but my vision was to make it an extraordinary experience – a motorcycle expedition to Sajek. However, due to security reasons, the Bangladesh Military prohibited bicycle trips to Sajek, prompting us to opt for the thrilling alternative – motorbikes.
Accompanied by my adventurous friends – Jewel, Bappy, and Sancha, we set out from Dhaka at noon. Riding my trusty Aprilia SR150 Scooter, famed for conquering the hills of India, I was prepared for the challenging terrains of Bangladesh’s hilly regions. Bappy, astride his Yamaha Enticer 125, a suitable companion for this journey, led the way as we embarked on our unforgettable adventure.
The initial leg of our journey was smooth as we crossed Cumilla, where we paused at the renowned Chandu Hotel for its delectable beef curry. Reenergized, we resumed our ride, but the skies had other plans, as dark clouds gathered, and the rain forced us to seek refuge in an abandoned house. An hour later, with the rain subsided, we pushed on, reaching the point known as Barioydhala by 5 pm.
Leaving behind the smooth Dhaka-Chittagong highway, we faced the challenging road to Khagrachori, characterized by hilly and narrow paths with minimal traffic. Making a brief stop at Ramgar around 8 pm, we finally found our way to Khagrachori, marking an emotional moment for me as we reached the 63rd district of Bangladesh, leaving only Meherpur unexplored.
At 10 pm, we arrived at the FnF restaurant, where a warm meal awaited us. Upon learning about our daring journey, the restaurant owner, Bijoy, extended a gracious invitation for dinner. After indulging in a hearty meal, we spent the night at a hotel, eagerly anticipating the next phase of our expedition.
The following morning, we gathered at Baghaichori Bazar to join a Military escort, the gateway to our dream ride through the hilly terrains of Sajek. The journey from Bagaichari to Sajek spanned approximately 55 kilometers, encompassing sharp turns every hundred meters. Prioritizing safety over speed, we cruised along, relishing the lush green hills and the refreshing breeze that accompanied us through the ups and downs of the landscape.
Approaching the Sajek hilltop, we faced a challenging five-kilometer stretch that demanded our full determination. With sheer perseverance, we triumphed, reaching the 1,800 feet high Sajek top. Overwhelmed with joy, we rushed to the Krishnochura tree, commemorating the moment with a celebratory photograph.
Our excitement slightly quelled, we set out to find the “Sangrai Hill Resort” for accommodation. The ingenious design of the resort by owner Shaheen Kamal offered an infinity view of Mizoram, India, from its elevated position over the hill. With connecting cottages and a spacious balcony in our room, I knew I could spend hours gazing at the captivating scenery if the rain intervened.
After savoring a simple yet delightful lunch at the resort’s balcony, we explored the enchanting surroundings of Sajek. Bamboo tea and a visit to the Sajek Helipad were followed by a trek to Koglak Para, leading to the highest point in the area. Although the clouds denied us a sunset view, the charm of Konglak village left an indelible impression, making us promise to return and stay there on our next visit.
For dinner, we indulged in bamboo chicken at Montana Restaurant, capping off the day with a return to our beautiful resort that now appeared even more magical in the moonlit night. We spent most of the night on the balcony, cherishing the sight of clouds and the full moon.
As morning broke, we hoped to witness the layers of clouds from the balcony, but instead, rain and strong winds washed away the clouds, revealing a clear view of Mizo. Nevertheless, our return to Dhaka was accompanied by a delightful surprise when Bijoy from Sajek shared a video of the roads veiled in clouds.
Our departure from Sajek, led by the Military escort at 10:30 am, aimed to reach Dhaka within the day. However, a puncture in Bagaichari disrupted our journey, causing an hour-long delay for the necessary repairs. Once back on track, we halted for lunch at Khagrachori before embarking on the final leg of our 720-kilometer epic ride.
Reaching Dhaka at 9 pm, we concluded this awe-inspiring expedition that allowed us to explore the enchanting beauty of Sajek, its picturesque landscapes, and the warmth of the hospitality we encountered along the way. It was an adventure that left an indelible mark on our hearts, beckoning us to embark on further journeys of exploration and discovery.
Sajek has become one of the most popular tourist spots within the last ten years. Once a tiny village in the Baghaichari Upazilla of Rangamati, Sajek started to gain popularity for its breathtaking view of clouds, beautifully built wooden resorts and Khagrachori to Sajke hilly roads. I have been planning the Sajek trip for a long time. But unlike others, I planned to do something extraordinary, maybe a bicycle ride to Sajek. Unfortunately, Bangladesh Military does not allow anyone to go to Sajek with a bicycle for security reasons.
So, I chose the other option of going there by motorbike. Usually, tourists go to Khagrachori by overnight bus and, on the following morning, go to Sajek using four wheels drive SUVs known as “Chander Gari (Vehicle of Moon!)”. When planning to go, I found only three friends to join me, Jewel, Bappy and Sancha, my longtime friends, for camping and other outdoor adventures.
We started at noon with motorbikes from Dhaka. I ride an Aprilia SR150 Scooter, which is hard enough to ride in the hilly areas of Bangladesh. This scooter is famous for riding through the hills of India. Bappy was riding his Yamaha Enticer 125, which is also a pretty good motorcycle for this ride. Considering the highway experience, Bappy took the lead in our adventure.
It was a smooth ride till we crossed Cumilla. We stopped at the Chandu Hotel of Cumilla, famous for its beef curry. A friend from Cumilla joined us for lunch, and we started again after a fantastic lunch there. Soon the clouds gathered in the sky and forced us to stop as it started to rain heavily. We took shelter in an abandoned house and waited an hour to stop the rain. It was about 5 pm when we reached the place called Barioydhala.
We needed to take a sub road from that point onward to Khagrachori, and the smooth Dhaka-Chittagong highway was over. From Baroiyadhala, the road to Kahgarachori was not smooth. Mostly hilly and narrow roads but with less vehicular traffic. We took another break in Ramgar at 8 pm before finally finding the road to Khagrachori. It was an emotional moment for me as I reached the 63rd district of Bangladesh, leaving only Meherpur to cover.
We arrived at FnF restaurant at 10 pm, and our food was ready to serve. Restaurant owner Bijoy came to know about our journey and invited us for dinner. After having a heavy dinner, we stayed overnight at a hotel. The following morning, we ate breakfast and arrived at Baghaichori Bazar to join the Military escort. We had to wait an hour before we finally started for the dream part of our trip to Sajek through the hilly roads.
Bagaichari to Sajek is around 55 kilometers over the hills, with sharp turns almost every hundred meters. I focused on safe driving rather than speeding up and enjoying the lush green hills around me. A cold breeze from the hills smoothed our ride through the uphill and downhill. For me riding uphill was much easier than downhill, especially where there is a sharp turn. We finally reached beneath the Sajek hilltop leaving only five kilometres distance.
The widely used Sajek Valley term is absolutely wrong, as Sajek is a hilltop rather than a valley. In the mountain world, a valley refers to a plain land between two mountains. It looks like nobody cares about using the correct term for this destination. From the Sajek’s lap, I wondered whether we could reach the top with our motorbikes as it looked like steep uphill roads. I knew that the last five kilometers was the main challenge to reach the top in one go. We started full force, but when we were very close to the top, another steeper part was there.
Our speed reduced to 10 KM/hour like we were walking to the top. At that moment, I thought we would never make it and stopping on the steep road would cause a fall. Luckily, we reached the top at this slow speed, a flat road around two kilometers. A moment of joy for the team to reach the 1,800 feet high Sajek top. We rushed to the Krishnochura tree, where a milestone said “Sajek 0 Kilometer”, to take the celebration photo.
After a few moments, when our excitement was de-scaled, we went out to find the “Sangrai Hill Resort” for accommodation. The owner Shaheen Kamal is a genius resort builder and always comes up with surprises in his new establishments, and Sangrai was no exception. The resort was built over the hill with an infinity view of Mizoram state of India. Five cottages of the Sangrai were connected through a wooden bridge. What I liked most about the room we checked in was the spacious balcony. I would spend the whole day and night there if the rain prevented us from leaving it.
By the time our ordered food from Montana restaurant came and we sat on the balcony for lunch. The food was simple, but the taste was great with country chicken, potato smash, lentils, fresh vegetables and salad. After resting for an hour, we explored Sajek’s surroundings. We had bamboo tea and visited Sajek Helipad. We also visited Koglak Para, a straightforward trek of 20 minutes to reach the highest point in that area. We went there to see the sunset, but the clouds did not allow us. But I liked the Konglak village and decided that if we came next time, we would stay in this clean village.
For dinner, we chose Montana Restaurant and ordered bamboo chicken. After dinner, we came back to our beautiful resort. It looked even more spectacular at night. We spent most of the night on the balcony to see the clouds and full moon. We woke up early in the morning, hoping to see the clouds’ layers from the balcony. But rain and strong wind blew away all clouds leaving a clean view of Mizo in the morning. You have to be very lucky to see the outstanding cloud scene. However, when we returned to Dhaka, Bijoy from the Sajek sent us a video where the roads were covered with clouds.
We started again for Dhaka with the Military escort at 10:30 am from Sajek. The target was to reach Dhaka within that day. Our journey was disrupted when the other bike had a puncture in Bagaichari. We had to wait around an hour to repair that wheel to start again. After reaching Khagrachori, we had lunch and started our return journey to Dhaka. By the grace of the Almighty, we returned to Dhaka at 9 pm after completing this epic ride of 720 kilometers over three days.
Muhammad Hossain Shobuj
Founder of travel-related website www.vromonguru.com
Sajek has become one of the most popular tourist spots in the last ten years. Once a tiny village in the Baghaichari Upazilla of Rangamati, Sajek started to gain popularity for its breathtaking view of clouds, beautifully built wooden resorts, and Khagrachori to Sajke hilly roads. I have been planning the Sajek trip for a long time. But unlike others, I planned to do something extraordinary, maybe a bicycle ride to Sajek. Unfortunately, the Bangladesh Military does not allow anyone to go to Sajek with a bicycle for security reasons.
So, I chose the other option of going there by motorcycle. Usually, tourists go to Khagrachori by overnight bus and, on the following morning, go to Sajek using four-wheel-drive SUVs known as “Chander Gari (Vehicle of the Moon!)”. When planning to go, I found only three friends to join me: Jewel, Bappy, and Sancha, my longtime friends, for camping and other outdoor adventures.
We started at noon with motorbikes from Dhaka. I ride an Aprilia SR150 Scooter, which is hard enough to ride in the hilly areas of Bangladesh. This scooter is famous for riding through the hills of India. Bappy was riding his Yamaha Enticer 125, which is also a pretty good motorcycle for this ride. Considering the highway experience, Bappy took the lead in our adventure.
It was a smooth ride until we crossed Cumilla. We stopped at the Chandu Hotel in Cumilla, famous for its beef curry. A friend from Cumilla joined us for lunch, and we started again after a fantastic lunch there. Soon the clouds gathered in the sky and forced us to stop as it started to rain heavily. We took shelter in an abandoned house and waited an hour for the rain to stop. It was about 5 p.m. when we reached the place called Barioydhala.
We needed to take a subroad from that point onward to Khagrachori, and the smooth Dhaka-Chittagong highway was over. From Baroiyadhala, the road to Kahgarachori was not smooth. Mostly hilly and narrow roads, but with less vehicular traffic. We took another break in Ramgar at 8 p.m. before finally finding the road to Khagrachori. It was an emotional moment for me as I reached the 63rd district of Bangladesh, leaving only Meherpur to cover.
We arrived at FnF restaurant at 10 p.m., and our food was ready to serve. Restaurant owner Bijoy heard about our journey and invited us for dinner. After having a heavy dinner, we stayed overnight at a hotel. The following morning, we ate breakfast and arrived at Baghaichori Bazar to join the Military escort. We had to wait an hour before we finally started the dream part of our trip to Sajek through the hilly roads.
Bagaichari to Sajek is around 55 kilometers over the hills, with sharp turns almost every hundred meters. I focused on safe driving rather than speeding up and enjoying the lush green hills around me. A cold breeze from the hills smoothed our ride through the ups and downs. For me, riding uphill was much easier than downhill, especially where there was a sharp turn. We finally reached beneath the Sajek hilltop, leaving only five kilometers of distance.
The widely used Sajek Valley term is absolutely wrong, as Sajek is a hilltop rather than a valley. In the mountain world, a valley refers to a plain land between two mountains. It looks like nobody cares about using the correct term for this destination. From Sajek’s lap, I wondered whether we could reach the top with our motorbikes, as it looked like steep uphill roads. I knew that the last five kilometers were the main challenge to reaching the top in one go. We started full force, but when we were very close to the top, another steeper part was there.
We slowed to 10 kilometers per hour, as if we were walking to the top. At that moment, I thought we would never make it, and stopping on the steep road would cause a fall. Luckily, we reached the top at this slow speed on a flat road around two kilometers long. It was a moment of joy for the team to reach the 1,800-foot-high Sajek top. We rushed to the Krishnochura tree, where a milestone said “Sajek 0 Kilometer”, to take the celebration photo.
After a few moments, when our excitement was de-scaled, we went out to find the “Sangrai Hill Resort” for accommodation. The owner, Shaheen Kamal, is a genius resort builder and always comes up with surprises in his new establishments, and Sangrai was no exception. The resort was built over the hill with an infinity view of the Mizoram state of India. Five cottages of the Sangrai were connected through a wooden bridge. What I liked most about the room we checked into was the spacious balcony. I would spend the whole day and night there if the rain prevented us from leaving.
By the time our food from Montana Restaurant came, we had sat on the balcony for lunch. The food was simple, but the taste was great, with country chicken, potato smash, lentils, fresh vegetables, and salad. After resting for an hour, we explored Sajek’s surroundings. We had bamboo tea and visited Sajek Helipad. We also visited Koglak Para, a straightforward trek of 20 minutes to reach the highest point in that area. We went there to see the sunset, but the clouds did not allow us. But I liked the Konglak village and decided that if we came next time, we would stay in this clean village.
For dinner, we chose Montana Restaurant and ordered bamboo chicken. After dinner, we came back to our beautiful resort. It looked even more spectacular at night. We spent most of the night on the balcony to see the clouds and full moon. We woke up early in the morning, hoping to see the clouds’ layers from the balcony. But rain and a strong wind blew away all clouds, leaving a clean view of Mizo in the morning. You have to be very lucky to see this outstanding cloud scene. However, when we returned to Dhaka, Bijoy from the Sajek sent us a video where the roads were covered with clouds.
We started again for Dhaka with the Military escort at 10:30 a.m. from Sajek. The target was to reach Dhaka that day. Our journey was disrupted when the other bike had a puncture in Bagaichari. We had to wait around an hour for that wheel to start again. After reaching Khagrachori, we had lunch and started our return journey to Dhaka. By the grace of the Almighty, we returned to Dhaka at 9 p.m. after completing this epic ride of 720 kilometers over three days.
