SLEEPING

Accommodation is more expansive in Dhaka than elsewhere in Bangladesh, but it’s still cheap by international standards. Almost all midrange and top-end hostel offer large, year round discount rates (up to 50% off) and most of the time this will be volunteered before you’ve had a chance to ask. However if you’re booking online or by phone, you’re less likely to be offered a discount. Fortunately, it’s rare that Dhaka hotels are full, so you can safely just turn up and find something to suit. The highest concentration of budget and midrange hotels in the area extending from Inner Circular Rd down to Old Dhaka. There aren’t any top-end hostel in...

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TOURS INFORMATION

Guide Tours (TEL,988 6983; www.guidetours.com 1st fl, Darpan Complex, Dit ll circle, Ghulshan), the company with best reputation, offers half-and full-day tours in and around Dhaka. Half-day tours cover sadarghat, Lalbagh Fort, the Liberation War Museum and other sights, and cost Tk 1500 per person. Full-day tours include Savar of Sonargaon and cost Tk 2300 per person (minimum four people). Guide Tours also runs day trips to a pottery village near Savar and overnight stays in a village. Bengal Tours (Tel-883 4716, www.bengaltours.com, Block A, Banani) offers half and full day city tours. The half-day tours focus on Old Dhaka while the...

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ACTIVITES

Rickshaw Rides One of the best ways to see the sights of Dhaka is by rickshaw. The going rate is about Tk-100 per hour. Rickshaw-wallahs who speak English can generally be found outside five star hotel,but charge more and expect a tip. You can also approach a tour company to organise a sightseeing on a rickshaw. River Trips There are several companies offering trips on the rivers encircling Dhaka. Contic (881 4851; mail@contic.com; House 183, Rd 69 Gulshan ll), a rive-cruice specialist with an elegant boat, the Fleche D’or, cruises along the Turag river(west of the city) down to the Buriganga River. Contic cruises get excellent reviews Swimming Non-guests...

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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

In 1963 the Pakistanis commissioned Louis Khan, a world-renowned American architect, to design a regional capital for East Pakistan. Due to the liberation movement and ensuing war, the National Assembly building wasn’t completed until 1982. the building often feature in books on modern architecture, and is regarded as among kahn’s finest works. It’s huge assembly of concrete cylinders and rectangular boxes, sliced open with bold, multi-storey circular and triangular apertures instead of windows, and is probably only considered attractive by fans of grim’70s architecture. It is not usually possible to approach dome building too...

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LIBARATION WAR MUSEUM

This museum (phone: 9559091, 5 segun Bagicha Rd, adnission Tk 3, 10am-5pm, Mon-Sat), chronicling one of the 20th century’s more deadly wars, is spread out over two floors and has been put together with enormous pride and respect. The display on the 1971 war of the Independence is arranged chronologically, with English and Bengali newspaper reports, photographs and various memorabilia. The displays start off time enough but gradually become more graphic before culminating in a room full of personal item, a large pile of human skulls and bones, and some very disturbing photos of rotting corpses with bound hands being eaten by dogs and vultures....

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NATIONAL MUSEUM

A visited to the National museum (Kazi Nazrul Islam Ave, admission Tk-10, 9.30am-4pm Sat-Wed, 3-7pm Fri) is a good way of downloading information about Bangladesh. Sprawling over several floors it begins at the beginning with the geological formation of Bangladesh, whisks you through a rundown of the nation’s flora and fauna, saunters through a Buddhist and Hindu past, and rings you bang up to date with the War of Liberation and the creation of the modern state. Some of the exhibits are a little stale the stuffed birds with every passing year, and it’s amazing how badly lit, displayed and labelled everything is. It’s good idea to avoid visiting...

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BAITUL MUKARRAM MOSQUE

West of Mosque on Topkhana Rd, the modern Baitul Mukarram Mosque is designed in the style of the holy ka’ba of Mecca. Non-Muslims can normally enter out side of prayer time. The boisterous market in the surrounding streets is interesting. SUHRAWARDI AND RAMNA PARKS Beginning near the old High court and stretching all the way to the National Museum, Suhrawardi Park(6am-10pm) covers an enormous area. This was once a racecourse, where both the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence and the surrender of Pakistani occupation forces took place in 1971. At night the park turns into an open-air market and also attracts hundreds of homeless who,...

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LALBAGH FORT

Along with Sadarghat. Lalbagh Fort (Admission Tk 10;10am-5pm Mon-Sat, 2.30-5.30pm Fri Nov-Mar, 10.30am-5.30pm Mon-Sat, 3-6pm Fri Apr-Oct, closed holidays) is one of the big hitters of old Dhaka. Unlike the waterfront,which is full of raw energy, the fort is a slightly melancholy step back in the misty Mughal past of emperors and princess. It’s particularly atmospheric in the early morning light. Construction of the fort began in 1677 under the auspices of prince Mohammed Azam, third son of Aurangzeb, who handed it to shaista Khan for completion. The death of Khan’s daughter, Pari Bibi (Fair Lady),was considered such a a bad women that the...

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BARA KATRA AND CHOTA KATRA

These dilapidated Mughal-are about the oldest building in Dhaka. Bara Katra, once a palace of monumental dimensions, was built in 1644 and now has a street running though its arched entrance. While only a small portion of the original structure remains standing, the building is still occupied and has a small prayer room on top. Chota Katra , which dates from 1663,was a caravanserai for visiting merchants. It was similar in design to Bara Katra , but there’s not much left. To find Bara Katra head west along Water Works Rd (the continuation of Islampur Rd), to the landmark Chowk Bazar Shahid Mosque, which has a very tall red-brick tower...

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