Sylet Tea Resort

On Friday Jerry, Ethel, Patrick, Carolyn, and I boarded a first-class train to a tea resort in Sylet, the most northeast district in Bangladesh. Traveling by first class train for six hours is definitely the most enjoyable method of transportation that I've experienced so far in this country. You are able to see the country, but the country can't see you. We were driven by CNG through the tea gardens to the resort. When we got to the resort, the office was closed - it was a Friday. So we wandered around for an hour with all our luggage up and down large hills looking for our rooms. (Customer service?) Finally after talking to dozens of people, we found a helpful person and he showed us to the VIP suite right beside the pool and the tennis courts. One room for one night costs twice what Patrick's rent costs for his room in Mymensingh. Staying with us were other foreigners and rich Bengalis. It is somewhat less enjoyable to stay at such luxurious accommodations, when so much poverty is all around you.

Saturday we rented a van and headed for a lake that was mentioned in the Lonely Planet tour book. We were completely at the mercy of our driver, as we could not have ever found the lake in its far-off hidden location. We were a bit concerned when we sped by a sign that said all foreigners needed to register in order to pass through the jungle. The countryside was beautiful and we observed village life quite closely. The land here is hilly and the roads are curvy and our driver drove like a Bangladeshi, which made me feel a little carsick. We somehow managed to find the lake, and just as we were leaving two charter buses full of rich Bangladeshis arrived. Next we visited a nearby tea factory and had a tour of the factory. We observed the tea-making process from the women in the field picking the tea to the packaging of the tea. The smell in the tea factory made me a bit nauseous. On our return trip to the resort we managed to get out of the area restricted from foreigners. When Patrick spotted a monkey in the jungle, we stopped the van along the road and watched it swing from tree to tree. It didn’t like being watched and photographed, and it tried to pooh on Carolyn. Back at the resort I spent the rest of the day in bed with a headache and stomach ache. After vomiting and a night’s sleep I felt better.

Today we took rickshaws to a village and found some handicraft stores. We all made purchases and had a chance to practice our bargaining skills. I think I got the most taka knocked off my orna, but only because I was the last purchase of the group. Then two boys who we met took us to two Hindu temples. They didn’t want money from us – they were just being friendly! How many foreigners have been where we were today? We rickshawed to town and with the help of the boy’s directions managed to find a restaurant serving Bengali fare to a lot of men and a few women in a screened compartment. After wandering and asking a dozen people for directions we managed to find this cyber café.