Category: Odd Photos

Bike-Ride To Australia Friday 30th-December 2011 Faridpur to Dhaka. 58 miles. So much for taking my time getting to Dhaka! It wasn’t as far away as I’d thought! I blame my maps! The map I’d been using to cross India was on a scale of 1:3,000,000. But when I crossed into Bangladesh, I had to change maps, and my new map was on a scale of 1:750,000. I’d got so used to judging distances by just looking, hence why I thought Dhaka was a lot further. I must admit that I did wonder yesterday how I’d come so far!

Last night in the restaurant, I got talking to a group of medical students who were at the table next to mine. They helped me with the menu, as they spoke really good English. I chatted with them on and off throughout the evening as I was busy writing yesterday’s update. Then when it was time for me to leave, I happened to mention that I was going back to my room so I could have a beer. I wish I hadn’t had! They then proceeded to tell me how bad alcohol was! What do doctors know!? Although they are possibly more anti-alcohol because of their religion!

Tough Start

I was worn out before I started today! After carrying my bike back down from the fourth floor! Apparently, there are two ways to Dhaka, but my map only showed one! The one that nobody uses! But as I didn’t have this other road on my map, I decided to stick with the one I could see. It’s hard enough to navigate here at the best of times. None of the signs are in English, which is no surprise, but they also have a completely different script to ours! I can’t make head nor tail of it. It doesn’t match anything on my map! I tend to use my compass as much as anything!

Whether I was on the right road or not, it doesn’t matter. My road today was lovely and quiet! I only saw a handful of trucks and a few cars. I think the other road must be a new one, as it’s not on my map and all traffic must be on that now.

I had to get a ferry today, which came as a bit of a surprise! I knew I had to get a ferry, but I just thought it was to cross the Padma River. It wasn’t. The ferry I caught took me on a two-hour journey to Dhaka! Once in Dhaka, it was a short ride from the ferry terminal to my hotel.

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Bike-Ride To Australia Thursday 29th-December 2011 Jessore to Faridpur. 61 miles. I’ve decided that I’m going to take my time getting to Dhaka. I want to explore a little more on route to Dhaka rather than wait around in Dhaka itself. I’m not meeting Dave, Helen and the girls until Saturday night. And even if I do my usual daily mileage, I’ll still arrive Friday night. It’s a shame I’m not a day earlier. I need to apply for my Chinese visa. Although there might be another fly in the ointment! When’s the Chinese New Year?

I’ve had plenty of tea stops today and drawn a big crowd as usual! So I’ve started to carry my world map in my bar bag! It’s now a lot easier to explain what I’m doing. I just point at the map! Then when I get to a piece of water that I need to cross, or like when I flew from Turkey to India, I do an impersonation of an aeroplane! It’s so much easier. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier!

Before I came to Bangladesh, I was told that getting a beer might be a problem. Touch wood, it’s been okay so far! All I do is ask the room boy, and off he goes, returning half an hour later with a brown paper parcel and inside there’s beer! The local beer is called Hunters, which looks remarkably like Fosters! On my walk tonight, I even found the shop that sells the beer!

My hotel tonight is one of those good ones that let me take my bike into the room. Although it was hard going getting it here, I’m on the fourth floor! And there’s no lift! But I’d take struggling up a few flights of stairs any day! It’s much better than leaving it outside, the front of the hotel! I know they have security guards, but they just sleep!

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Garry McGivern is in Bangladesh, cycling to Australia on Wednesday, the 28th of December 2011. Calcutta, India to Jessore, Bangladesh. 82 miles. This morning, getting out of Calcutta was easy, and there didn’t seem to be too many trucks. That is until I arrived in a town, they were so busy! I’ve been hit about four times today, not bad, but it did cause me to wobble!

I arrived at the Indian border and got directed into a hall, where I had to fill out my departure card. After filling out the card, they stamped my passport, and it was onto the Bangladeshi border. Once there, I had another card to fill in. All standard stuff, asking where I was going and where I’d be staying. I hope they don’t check because I’m not staying where I said. And never really had any intentions of doing so! I’d looked up the name and address of a hotel while in Calcutta and wrote it down for this purpose! The whole process probably took around an hour.

Bangladesh Country Number 11

Once in Bangladesh, my biggest problem has been going to the toilet! There are people everywhere, and their huts come right up to the edge of the road. And crowds of people are a lot quicker forming here when I stop! People seemed to relieve themselves anywhere in India, but they seem a little more reserved here.

I met a pair of American cyclists today, going in the opposite direction to me, thankfully! He was so obnoxious! He didn’t like India or Bangladesh, and when I said I was thinking of going to Indonesia. He just said, why would you want to go to a mosquito-infested place like that! I don’t get people like him, why’s he travelling, he doesn’t appear to enjoy it! The lady was pleasant enough and did say that they weren’t a couple. I could see why!

It’s been warm and humid today, the first time in a while. It did mean that I was extra dirty tonight, after all the dusty roads! The road into Jessore this afternoon was particularly dusty. I had a job seeing some times!

There are many more bikes here, and it feels a lot busier, even more than Calcutta, but I still feel safe. I went for a wander this evening and sampled some of the local food. I don’t know what it was! But whatever, it was nice.

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