Nowadays, raveling has become a lifestyle for people, especially, for the young generations. Some people consider going out as a routine work like shopping, and some people take it as a part of a healthy life. Many individuals think that exploring the unseen and discovering the hidden core beauties of nature is more than a leisure activity. Most travelers choose the easiest and most convenient way of reaching their destinations, which is quite expected for the people traveling alone or with friends or have high tolerance. While with kids and families, travelers find the best destinations to reach by bus, train or plane as they have to consider their comfort first in these cases. These types of trips are for people of all ages, a mixture of comfort and fun delivered together. But there are some people who are little more than comfort travelers and choose to hike, trek or ride a bicycle to reach the most out of a journey. They try to gather the memories of rural livelihood, beauties of muddy madness, oxygen of the green, the sound of silence, the calmness of the mountains and the vastness of the ocean.
I travel by bicycle. A bicycle? Why?
I love to ride because I love to explore and enjoy in a laid-back way as well as to the fullest. A bicycle is one of the most convenient vehicles to reach literally anywhere and everywhere. You can explore the rural paths, and muddy roads of the rainy season, and even in the case of emergencies, you can lift the bicycle along with your belongings while passing a canal or river by boat: where no other vehicles can go, bicycles can go over quickly. So, as a nature lover, I always prefer bicycles while travelling. Furthermore, only by this vehicle I can reach closest to nature and enjoy the most.
For the last 8 years, I almost roamed everywhere in Bangladesh with my cycling mates. We went to Borders, Forests, Highways, Hill tracks, Divisions, and even on Islands. Moreover, we covered all these destinations with our beloved and reliable partner, our trusty bicycle. With our bicycle we camped in the wilderness, we stayed on the bank of a lake, we stayed in a boarder-side school and crossed the shallow rivers carrying our bicycles.
Besides the possibility of reaching literally anywhere, a bicycle also makes most of the good impacts on our lives. While riding a bicycle, you are doing good for everyone. Bicycle riding is an excellent form of exercise; when someone is riding a bicycle, one is not burning fuel to reach the destination. Therefore, by riding a bicycle while traveling from place to place, one is, actively, taking part in controlling carbon emissions.
Besides, you are at liberty to stop anywhere you like if you’re traveling by bicycle. The incredible thing about a bicycle trip is that you are not bound to use dusty conventional roads or highways. You can go near nature, enjoy the paths and ride as much as your heart desires so your journey starts with your will and finishes with your will as well. Every year we go for at least one or two long trips of 8 to 10 days along with some more short trips of 2/3 days. Last year, we covered Barisal, the only island division of Bangladesh: in the eyes of the most Bangladeshis, Barisal is the land of rivers and canals.
I, with my mates, started our journey on 15th of December, 2021, from Sylhet as our goal was to explore the hidden beauties of the countryside, and the Lifestyle of the Islanders, moreover, some of us have fewer holidays so in order to utilize our time we decided to carry our bicycles and belongings straight to Bhola (one of the districts of Barisal division). We travelled from Sylhet to Dhaka by bus and from Dhaka to Bhola by launch. After a long journey of a whole night and half of a day, (on December 16, 2021) we reached Elisha Launch Terminal, one of the many local river ports of Bhola, it was the first district we planned to start with. At the beginning, getting ready with our bicycles, we looked forward to a rural off-road for our bicycle ride. After getting down from the launch, we found some curious people gathered surrounding us to see what was happening as we were a big group with bicycles. To the curious local people, cycling is only a transportation method as they use bicycles for commuting. They are very easy-going people, and they never rode a bicycle equipped with so many things (used for traveling and trekking).
However, after setting our bicycles, by being fully prepared, we started going along the shoreline of the Meghna River. As the footprints to our journey with our bicycles, we stopped on the river banks and took photos. We had tea and snacks on our way through Tulatuli and enjoyed a wonderful evening at Tulatuli Riverside, Bhola. As the total area was entirely unknown to all of us, we had a fear of the dark. So we headed to Hotel GM International, a good ambience hotel in Bhola Sadar. By the way, I forgot to introduce my amazing tour-mates, amazing human beings, I rode together with. In our Barisal Division Trip, we were seven. Among our tourmates, the only female was Tajrin Afza. She enjoyed every moment that added meaning and happiness to her memory and is a great photographer. She is working in a multinational company, and somehow, she can manage everything that comes in her way, an outstanding manager as well. Anwarul Islam, A Banker. He is such a person; you can’t resist laughing after talking to him for a little while. He talks in a great way, and the accent of some of his dialect is so different and funny, you may think his words are heavenly jokes. Being with such a guy, we never feel lonely. Mizanur Rahman & Abdullah Al Mamun Sharif, 2 juniors to us who maintain their family businesses, were also with us. Mizan, full of mischievous ghosts inside his mind, is a very helpful guy. He cares about everyone beside him and is a very emotional introvert. Sharif, on the other hand, enjoys to talk. He loves to say whatever he knows and never thinks of what the others can think of him. He is very simple and has the heart of an angel. He is such a helpful and loyal man that you could never be disappointed. Above all, he has great knowledge about bicycle components. With such a man, you will never fail to reach your destinations. Asaduzzaman Noyon, a student of SUST and a social worker, currently living in Canada for higher studies, was one of us as well. In everywhere we went, there was someone known to him. He is a ‘My Dear’ type of guy, enjoys every moment with a smile. He loves eating even if there is a chance of standing only for five minutes. We made jokes about his activities while riding, and he never get vexed by anything. Kamrul Islam, a fantastic youngster, is working in Robi Axiata Ltd. Kamrul had a head full of hairs he loved. He talks less than us but has brilliant thoughts inside his brain. He loves to sleep, but hardly be late for the start. He is so quick that he takes only 5 minutes to get ready for the ride. He is also full of joy and is very helpful. He always takes the most stunning photos.
Coming back to the story, after having a good sleep at night, we woke up early in the morning of 17th December 2021. It was very cold outside. However, we had to start our ride early because we had only 10 days for the whole trip. After getting our bicycle oiled and well prepared, we said goodbye to Hotel GM International. The staffs and the people around the hotel were so wonderful. They awarded us with the maximum concession they could. Even some of them knew about Dr. Orakatul Jannat, a cyclist and one of the Admins of Sylhet Cycling and Runners Community, Sylhet.
Our Next Destination was Char Manpura, a well-known island in Bangladesh. Straight from the hotel, we once again headed to the river bank. On the way, we stopped and looked at a nice Mosque, Nizam- Hasina Foundation Mosque. Riding through the river banks about 65 kilometres or more, we reached Tazmuddin Launch Ghat. As we were going to an Island, we had to go by Launch or some kind of Boat. At Tazmuddin Launch Ghat, we boarded for Manpura and reached at the dusk. The UNO of Manopura was such a nice man; he managed our accommodation in Manpura Dak Banglaw. The second night of our bicycle trip was amazingly awesome.
On 18th December 2021, we moved out with our bicycle, rode the whole Island, and saw the Islanders’ lifestyle. After having breakfast, we started for our next destination, Char Kukri Mukri, another beautiful island full of wildlife. Char Kukri Mukri is very far from Manpura Island. We had to board the Launch/Boat several times and also had to ride 60+ kilometers as well. There were difficulties and uncertainties of missing boats. If we could not reach one Boat Station in time, we could have missed the whole day. From Hajirhat Launch Ghat, Manpura, we started for Charfasson Sadar. After a total of 5 hours of boat and bicycle ride, we reached Jakob tower, the tallest structure in this area. After having lunch, we started again for Char Kachhapia, it was the boat station from where we had to board a boat for Char Kukri Mukri. All these were very challenging. We had to be on the boat by 4 pm. We were on the way when it was 4.15 pm. We reached Kachhapia boat station at 4.27, but fortunately for the late loading, the boat was about to leave the station. We boarded and the boat started going to our destination. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset while going to char Kukri Mukri. One of the travel writers, Farukh Ahmed, helped us to manage the hotel there, which Chairman Hashim owned. We stayed 2 nights there as we wished to explore some other islands there.
The very next day, we decided to go to the nearest local Islands by boat and on foot. We roamed around the Char Kukri Mukri beach and headed towards Tarua, a new Island with a few inhabitants. Char Tarua is a beautiful beach and almost unspoiled by civilization. We became speechless seeing such a stunning place. We stayed there the whole afternoon and returned in the evening. It is also known as Dhal Char to locals.
After two days of great exploring, we started on a long boat journey the very next day. Kalaiya Launch Terminal was our next initial destination. It was almost a six hours boat journey. From Kalaiya we cycled towards Kuakata, Potuakhali. We rode the whole night that day. That was the longest ride of this trip. To save our time, we needed to do so. Though this ride was long and tiring, after seeing the sandy beach of Kuakata. The beach was really nice, and we went directly to see the sunrise. This was the starting of 21st December 2021. We slept the whole morning and afternoon, waiting for the stunning Sunset. 22nd December was the day of crossing rivers. As we headed to Mathbaria of Pirojpur district via Barguna, we touched Nizampur Kheyaghat, Pyra river, Nishanbaria ferry, and then Pathargata Launch ghat. After riding the whole day, we reached Mathbaria at 9.20 pm. Our host that night was Mathbaria Dak bunglow authority. For the limitation of time, we decided not to stay in Barguna district.
On 23rd December, 2021, we started for Jhalokathi, the last district of our trip, right before Barisal. Reaching near Jhalokati Bus Terminal, we discovered Barisal Circuit House was only about 20 kilometres away. We decided instantly to head towards Barisal and stay there one more night extra. This time we were not lucky enough to stay in circuit house or Dak bunglow. We found a good quality but budget hotel for us and booked 2 rooms for 2 nights. Staying in Barisal, we met local Cyclists, went to Baitul Aman Masjid, Durga Sagar, BM College, Barisal University and many more places. We started for Dhaka by launch the following night. Though the last part of the journey was a bit rushed, we enjoyed it a lot. We returned to our home on 25th December 2021. Thus, this Bicycle trip came to an end. We made many memories to share. We rode more than 700+ KM on that tour. That’s one of my cycling tour assertions. One can unleash every bit of nature and enjoy every moment in a cycling tour. Moreover, it gives me immense mental and physical relaxation.
A cycling tour is not as easy as we think. One needs mental and physical balance to be a cyclist. We must wear safety guards like helmets, hand gloves, etc., every time we ride. There are signs for us to guide other cyclists to ride in single a row with disciplines. We do not overtake other cyclists without prior indications. Generally, considering the road conditions of our country, the mountain bike is the preferable type of bike for a long tour. To prepare for any tour, I always check my cycle first and all the equipment and tools for my safe ride. To avoid unavoidable circumstances like tyre leakage, tyre low air pressure or any issues, these tool kits help me to solve the problem in the quickest time. Though there is no solid evidence of the number of cyclists in Bangladesh, it has been estimated that it is between 2-3 million. The government should encourage cycling to minimize fuel consumption and traffic pressure, especially in city areas. For this vast number of cyclists, a separate cycling lane should be developed for a smooth cycling experience and safety. Let’s ride and save the green.
“Travel the most possible simplest way, you will enjoy the incredible”.
