The Beautiful Bangladesh

[Bilal9]

Beautiful indeed. Specially these tea gardens. Sonar.

Thanks Brother...now you know where your tea comes from.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Thanks Brother...now you know where your tea comes from.

Kenya.

 

[Bilal9]

Kenya.

Good Answer.

Large portion of Bangladesh tea goes to Pakistan though, the Ispahanis still live here. And own tea gardens to boot.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Good Answer.

Large portion of Bangladesh tea goes to Pakistan though, the Ispahanis still live here. And own tea gardens to boot.

We are second largest consumers, so you see.

 

[Michael Corleone]

@Bilal9 bhai, or jole... kotha boilen na
@DalalErMaNodi bhujaite parbe

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Sylhet

Sundarbans

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Purbanchal New Town will be a masterpiece

For those who aren't in the know, purbanchal is the new capital city of Bangladesh that is currently under construction.

From a plat plain into a futuristic city, topped off with a central business district which would at the lease host 42 skyscrapers including the some of the Asia-Pacific's tallest buildings.


At 3:17 you can see the new Bangladesh-China friendship exhibition centre; a convention center so to speak.

You can see the latest update in this video :

 

[Bilal9]

Shariakandi, Rajshahi

Bhashani Novotheatre, Midtown Dhaka

 

[Bilal9]

SadarGhat Launch and Ferry terminal, Dhaka

 

[Bilal9]

Chittagong City area and Sitakunda Travel Guide

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Water lilies being sorted in the village of Satla of Barishal

Water is a part of life in Bangladesh, it gives life, takes it along with all your possessions at times, gives millions a livelihood as well, a mode of travel and also water being water it is a place to washup.

It is a love and hate relationship, between the Bangladeshi and the Water bodies but we'd rather have our water bodies than lose them.

Lauch terminal in Dhaka over the river Buriganga ? (Not sure myself, too many rivers to remember)

This illustrates my point about how we use the river to travel and also a way to generate income for everyone involved in the ferrying business as well as human hauling via launches.

Kashimpur, Moulvibazar, Sylhet Division

Khalukhali, Rajbari

This area is a bil, which I'm not sure how it translates to English, but I believe it is an area which gets inundated and cut off from the rest of the country during the rainy season due to pooling of water (I could be very wrong, I live far away from such places). These are low lying areas. The villages appear to be islands rising from the water that surrounds them from all sides during monsoon.

Anyhow, such places are quite beautiful, all travelling is done via boat because the roads are under water. The people live a simple but hard life, where they compartmentalize their life to get over with all tasks that would need them to leave their village before the rainy season arrives.

To more knowledgeable Bangladeshis are bils and hoars the same thing ?

Chittagong naval area

Not much to say about this, beautiful area, been here multiple times, maintained by the navy I believe, stays very clean, you can sit on the benches, have some fresh fuchkas and watch the ships leave the Chittagong harbour. A popular wind down spot for the population of Chittagong city.

An old Zamindar er Bari (Land owners house) in Narshingdi

Zamindars were a powerful class of landowning people who were the elite of the rural Bangladeshi society during the British era, although they have mostly faded to nothingness now, some of their palaces stand strong in defiance.

The term zamindar is used to describe any landlord now, although it has lost its old age 'class' connotation.


The above information is completely from myself, I could be wrong in many places, and I request all knowledgeable Bangladeshis to feel free to correct me.

 

[Bilal9]

Water lilies being sorted in the village of Satla of Barishal

View attachment 675310

Water is a part of life in Bangladesh, it gives life, takes it along with all your possessions at times, gives millions a livelihood as well, a mode of travel and also water being water it is a place to washup.

It is a love and hate relationship, between the Bangladeshi and the Water bodies but we'd rather have our water bodies than lose them.



View attachment 675312

Lauch terminal in Dhaka over the river Buriganga ? (Not sure myself, too many rivers to remember)

This illustrates my point about how we use the river to travel and also a way to generate income for everyone involved in the ferrying business as well as human hauling via launches.


View attachment 675314

Kashimpur, Moulvibazar, Sylhet Division


View attachment 675316

Khalukhali, Rajbari

This area is a bil, which I'm not sure how it translates to English, but I believe it is an area which gets inundated and cut off from the rest of the country during the rainy season due to pooling of water (I could be very wrong, I live far away from such places). These are low lying areas. The villages appear to be islands rising from the water that surrounds them from all sides during monsoon.

Anyhow, such places are quite beautiful, all travelling is done via boat because the roads are under water. The people live a simple but hard life, where they compartmentalize their life to get over with all tasks that would need them to leave their village before the rainy season arrives.

To more knowledgeable Bangladeshis are bils and hoars the same thing ?


View attachment 675318

Chittagong naval area

Not much to say about this, beautiful area, been here multiple times, maintained by the navy I believe, stays very clean, you can sit on the benches, have some fresh fuchkas and watch the ships leave the Chittagong harbour. A popular wind down spot for the population of Chittagong city.


View attachment 675319

An old Zamindar er Bari (Land owners house) in Narshingdi

Zamindars were a powerful class of landowning people who were the elite of the rural Bangladeshi society during the British era, although they have mostly faded to nothingness now, some of their palaces stand strong in defiance.

The term zamindar is used to describe any landlord now, although it has lost its old age 'class' connotation.


The above information is completely from myself, I could be wrong in many places, and I request all knowledgeable Bangladeshis to feel free to correct me.

Great post. Very picturesque and informative.

Lauch terminal in Dhaka over the river Buriganga ? (Not sure myself, too many rivers to remember)

This is on the river Buriganga, the place is called the Sadarghat Launch Terminal. Some of the launches lately have gotten extremely large and carry more than say 2000 passengers on the Dhaka Barisal route.

Needless to say, all equipment is locally sourced, except engines and marine electronics. Lately safety regimes aided by the latter (radar and GPS, as well as depth finding equipment) have reduced mishaps.

For people of limited means, this is the only way they can get to places like Chandpur, Bhola and Barisal in Southern Bangladesh.

This is the MV Crystal Cruise, a medium sized launch.

On the other end of the size spectrum are smaller and more luxurious exclusive launches which have interiors to rival aircraft first class seating and cabins that resemble three star hotels.

To more knowledgeable Bangladeshis are bils and hoars the same thing ?

Here are the definitions of Beel and Haor (as well as Baor) from Banglapedia. These are all wetlands of various types which Bangladesh is famous for.


Beel a large surface waterbody that accumulates surface runoff water through internal drainage channels; these depressions are mostly topographic lows produced by erosions and are seen all over Bangladesh. The term beel is synonymous to baor, and familiar in greater comilla, faridpur, dhaka and pabna districts. Beels are small saucer-like depressions of a marshy character. Many of the beels dry up in the winter but during the rains expand into broad and shallow sheets of water, which may be described as fresh water lagoons.

Beels can be formed due to many causes. In some cases a string of them is found along a line of drainage, suggesting that they are the remains of some great river, which centuries ago deserted its channel in favour of a new one somewhere else. In other cases, they are probably due to the action of rivers, which by centuries of silt deposits have raised their beds and marginal banks so high that they flow above the level of the surrounding area. The land between a pair of parallel rivers thus forms a kind of trough in between. The rivers, on the other hand, cannot overflow their banks into these depressions as they themselves are locked within their channels by high levees.

In the active floodplains of the Surma-Meghna, the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, and the Ganges-Padma river systems, there are several large and small beels. In Bangladesh, there are thousands of beels of different sizes. Some of the most common names are chalan beel, gopalganj-khulna beel and arial beel. Most of these large beels have shrunk quite considerably in recent decades. For instance, in the early 19th century Chalan Beel used to cover an area of about 1,085 sq km but it was reduced to 368 sq km in 1909, of which only 85 sq km remains underwater throughout the year. It has since shrunk to only 26 sq km.

In the deeper beels nothing is to be seen but water, often dotted with chars or enclosed by high lands with villages and trees on them. Many of the villages are completely isolated during the monsoon, when the only mode of transport is a boat. Not surprisingly, these beels form a serious obstacle to transport by land as roads can be constructed across them only at a great expense. The roads again have to be strong enough to withstand the pressure of water, which may be as much as 3.05m in depth.

Beels are mainly fed by surface runoff water. A few larger ones are fed by floodwater during the wet season from the parent river channel. Regionwise, in the northwest some beels of considerable sizes are Bara Beel at pirganj, Tagrai Beel at kurigram, Lunipukur at rangpur, Bara Mirzapur Beel at narail and Keshpathar at bogra. The old river course of atrai is marked by some beels, viz Chakchaki, Sabul, Ghugri, Kanchan, Manda, Utrail, Hilna, Kumar and Shona. In the southern region, important beels are Boyra, Dakatia, Bara, Kola, Patla, Chatal and Srirampur. In the central part, Katla, Chatal, Nagarkanda, and Chanda are important beels. In eastern areas, such beels are small in size. In the northeast, beels of Haor Basin (Sylhet Basin) area merge together in the wet season appearing like vast bodies of water. Normally, beels remain deeply flooded for most of the wet season and the rims are primarily used for either boro cultivation or deepwater rice. Like baors, beels are also important wetlands and regarded as valuable fish and wildlife habitat. [Mohd Shamsul Alam and Md Sazzad Hossain]

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Haor bowl-shaped large tectonic depression. It receives surface runoff water by rivers and khals, and consequently, a haor becomes very extensive water body in the monsoon and dries up mostly in the post-monsoon period. In Bangladesh haors are found mainly in greater Sylhet and greater Mymensingh regions. During monsoon a haor is a vast stretch of turbulent water. The word haor is a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word Sagar (sea). In Sylhet and northeast Mymensingh, the people pronounce the Bangla letter 'm' (sa) as 'n' (ha), and some times 'M' (ga) as 'n' (ha). Thus sagar is sounded haor.


The haors are of tectonic origin and possibly connected with the rise of madhupur tract. beels do not subside but haor basins do. In its original form, the haor basin comprising the floodplains of the meghna tributaries would have consisted of a rich mosaic of permanent and seasonal lakes and ponds with abundant aquatic vegetation. But through gradual sedimentation, the basin becomes shallower leading to the formation of reeds and sedges. This resulted in providing enough food and shelter for fish and other aquatic, fauna and attracted the migratory birds which, in their turn, added to the fertility of the waterbodies by their excreta promoting rich growth of phytoplankton and macrophytes thus partly contributing to the process of eutrophication.

The haor basin is bounded by the hill ranges of Meghalaya (India) on the north, the hills of Tripura and Mizoram (India) on the south, and the highlands of Manipur (India) on the east. The basin includes about 47 major haors and some 6,300 beels of varying size, out of which about 3,500 are permanent and 2,800 are seasonal. Numerous rivers rising in the hills of India provide an abundant supply of water to the plains and cause extensive flooding during the monsoon upto a depth of 6m. Small permanent water bodies within the haors are called beels, which occupy the lowest part of the depressions. During the dry season, most of the water drains out leaving one or more shallow beels which become mostly overgrown with aquatic vegetation or completely dry out by the end of dry season exposing rich alluvial soils extensively cultivated for rice.

The surma and kushiyara in association with other minor hilly streams like manu, khowai, Jadhukata, piyain, Mogra and Mahadao form the dense drainage network of the haors. The rivers are primarily responsible for providing inputs - rainwater and sediment load to the plains including haors. The plains remain flooded for about 7 to 8 months. During the rainy season, the haors turn into a vast inland sea within which the villages appear as islands. Occasional high winds during July to September generate large waves in the haor, which may cause considerable damage to homesteads.


Tanguar Haor, Sunamganj
The entire Sunamganj district, major portion of Habiganj district, some parts of Sylhet Sadar upazila and Maulvi Bazar district are covered by many haors. In greater Sylhet the most prominent haors are Saneer haor, Hail haor, Hakaluki haor, Dekar haor, Maker haor, Chayer haor, tanguar haor, and Kawadighi haor.

The haors are considered the most productive wetland resources of Bangladesh. The basin supports a large variety of wetland bio-diversity and works as natural reservoir as it plays a key role in basin water resources by regulating water flows of the Meghna river system. Also, the haors are noted sanctuaries of both permanent and migratory birds. With the recession of floodwater, a large variety of small fishes, oysters, water snails and bivalves, and pasture spread over the surface attracting a large number of migratory birds. These birds use the haor as temporary resting and roosting ground before moving elsewhere. The swamp forests, which were once dominant with the flood tolerant tree species like hijal (Barringtonia acutangula) and Koroch (Pongamia pinnata), have been reduced to a few small patches. The haors are also important fishing grounds of the country. In the past century or so, when the population pressure was less, most of the rim-lands of the haors remained as cultivable wasteland and was used for extensive grazing in the dry season. As population increased, boro cultivation expanded onto these marginal lands leading to a large area being drained. Thus, the very existences of these wetlands are now threatened. [Mohd Shamsul Alam and Md Sazzad Hossain]

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Baor is a dead arm of a river in the Moribund Delta as in the case of the Ganges; also called oxbow lake. It appears as a saucer shaped depression. The term baor is synonymous to beel, familiar in the southwestern part of Bangladesh. The notable baors of the country are Sagarkhali, Jaleshwar, Khedapara, Rampur, Pathanpara, Kathgara, Jogini Bhagini, Ichamati, Joydia, Marjat, Harina and Arial. They range in size from half a square kilometre to 13 sq km. Baors are more stagnant than beels and generally have water throughout the year. The most common view regarding its origin is that when a river changes its course some of its sections at the supply source get silted-up, cuts off the arms, and develops an oxbow lake called baor. Baors receive water only when the parent river is in high flood. Usually, during the wet season a baor receives local rainwater. At times, the accumulated water may spill over from the adjacent floodplain and may cause local flooding. Baors are considered to be very important wetlands of Bangladesh and support a wide range of aquatic lives (flora and fauna). Relatively higher peripheral land along the baors are used for cultivating paddy and for grazing livestock. [Mohd Shamsul Alam]

 

[SpaceMan18]

Water lilies being sorted in the village of Satla of Barishal

View attachment 675310

Water is a part of life in Bangladesh, it gives life, takes it along with all your possessions at times, gives millions a livelihood as well, a mode of travel and also water being water it is a place to washup.

It is a love and hate relationship, between the Bangladeshi and the Water bodies but we'd rather have our water bodies than lose them.



View attachment 675312

Lauch terminal in Dhaka over the river Buriganga ? (Not sure myself, too many rivers to remember)

This illustrates my point about how we use the river to travel and also a way to generate income for everyone involved in the ferrying business as well as human hauling via launches.


View attachment 675314

Kashimpur, Moulvibazar, Sylhet Division


View attachment 675316

Khalukhali, Rajbari

This area is a bil, which I'm not sure how it translates to English, but I believe it is an area which gets inundated and cut off from the rest of the country during the rainy season due to pooling of water (I could be very wrong, I live far away from such places). These are low lying areas. The villages appear to be islands rising from the water that surrounds them from all sides during monsoon.

Anyhow, such places are quite beautiful, all travelling is done via boat because the roads are under water. The people live a simple but hard life, where they compartmentalize their life to get over with all tasks that would need them to leave their village before the rainy season arrives.

To more knowledgeable Bangladeshis are bils and hoars the same thing ?


View attachment 675318

Chittagong naval area

Not much to say about this, beautiful area, been here multiple times, maintained by the navy I believe, stays very clean, you can sit on the benches, have some fresh fuchkas and watch the ships leave the Chittagong harbour. A popular wind down spot for the population of Chittagong city.


View attachment 675319

An old Zamindar er Bari (Land owners house) in Narshingdi

Zamindars were a powerful class of landowning people who were the elite of the rural Bangladeshi society during the British era, although they have mostly faded to nothingness now, some of their palaces stand strong in defiance.

The term zamindar is used to describe any landlord now, although it has lost its old age 'class' connotation.


The above information is completely from myself, I could be wrong in many places, and I request all knowledgeable Bangladeshis to feel free to correct me.

I wish we had a city full with Mugal era buildings like Europe having older buildings til this day as houses and even shops.

It would make our culture shine unlike those tall tasteless skyscrapers

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Tanguar Haor, Tahirpur, Shunamganj


Believe it or not but there actual roads underneath all the water, but as this a hoar area, low lying land, the water pools during the monsoon, inundating most of the land and giving the place a picturesque glow.

The electrical transmission pylons are built especially higher in these areas and they are largely unaffected by the water as they stand some 4/5 meters above the water level.

Just a nice picture, of two old men, friends perhaps, catching up with each other.

One photo, Dozens of lives, Dozens of stories, Dozens of struggles.

The Bengali people are very resilient, Nature is cruel to our nation, Although we are cursed with poverty and overpopulation, there is no shortage of people with values of integrity, respect for hard working and resilience in our people.

Our people are our greatest asset.

Zamindar's house, somewhere in Tangail

Be more Human, Humbler than you were yesterday, for else what is the difference between you and a rabid immoral animal ?

A good deed is one action but it can impact someone's life positively and change their outlook on life.

Brahmanbaria

Ratargul Swamp Forest, Sylhet


If I wasn't from Chittagong, I'd love to be from Sylhet, only in the context of beautiful landscapes of course, Sylhet has some of the most beautiful sights in Bangladesh.

CRB Hill in Chittagong

A popular destination for both the younger folk and the family types alike for relaxing over the weekend.

A very large area with nice paved roads (only for walking no cars allowed), trees upon trees and the sounds of birds chirping, you can almost get lost here.

My personal wind down spot

Beautiful little courtyard with a few adjoining houses in Tarash, surrounded by water on all sides.

Chandranath Hill, Sitakundu, Chittagong

There is a Hindu Temple atop this hill, that is actually the namesake for this hill; Chandranath Temple, but to get there you must climb 899 steps.

The temple is a Shakthi Peeth, which in my limited knowledge of the Hindu faith, is some sort of important temple of religious significance.

Hindus from all over Bangladesh come here to make pilgrimage, alongside their fellow pilgrims from India and Nepal.

A resort in Rangamati, Chittagong

Rising waters have left these chickens stranded on a char (island) of their own in Panchagar, but flightless birds though remain unaware and unfazed of their predicament.

Rains bring out the best of Bangladesh sometimes.

I believe these are jute stems being drenched in water inorder to make the separation of the fibres easier.

Keyatpara Baor, Jenaidahah