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 Old Dhaka.

Old Dhaka
BUDGET
There are numerous hotel on Nawabpur Rd costing no more than a handful of Taka, but they almost universally refuse to accept foreign tourists.

Hotel sugandha: (phone-955 6720, 243-4 Nawabpur Rd s/d Tk 250/450) it’s cheap and it’s one of the very few that will let you stay, but hygiene isn’t a strong point, and female guests aren’t welcome. The double rooms are quite large and have balconies overlooking a grey wall.

MIDRANGE
Hotel Ramna: (phone-956 2279, 45 Bangabandhu Ave, s/d from Tk-500-800) don’t get too excited by the glass-fronted recepation area, the rooms are much more down-to-earth. However , they are kept clean and what you get for the price is excellent. It can be a little difficult to find in the maze of tailor shops.

Hotel Grand palace International: (PHONE-956 1623, 11-12 North south Rd, with/without air-con Tk-800/1250) the small and tidy rooms would be a bet for the bedlam of noise echoing up from the road below, which is certain to make sleep an impossible dream.

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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 full-day tours spins you around both the commercial city and Old Dhaka. Price are virtually identical to those of Guide Tours.
There are several other companies offering city tours and , at this stage in Bangladesh’s foray into tourism, it’s a good idea to give some of the smaller up and coming operators a go.

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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 can use the pool at the Sheraton Hotel for Tk 1200 per day.

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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 closely. On the opposite side of the road is a large and enjoyable park full of loving couples.



BOTANICAL GARDEN
The shady, tranquil Botanical Garden (admission tk-5, 9am-5pm), stretch over 40 hectares and contain over 1000 species of local and foreign plants. It’s a nice respite from the city’s mass of humanity. In the distance you’ll see the Turag River.

These gardens are probably the best place in the city for bird-watching. The quiet early mornings are especially good. Next door to the gardens is a zoo, but it isn’t a pleasant place

The garden are on the northwestern outskirts of Dhaka. To get there take a bus from Gulistan bus station to Mirpur via Begum Rokeya Sarani, then take a rickshaw (Tk-25 to tk-30).

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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. Though the displays might not make for happy holidays, this museum should be a compulsory stop for everyone.

From Topkhana Rd head north up Segun Bagicha Rd, it’s on the second street on the right. Contact the museum to find out about its cultural events.

SAT GUMBAD MOSQUE
Dating from 1680, Sat Gumbad Mosque is a white-washed onion dome mosque, and the finest example of the pure Mughal-style mosque in Dhaka.

Unfortunately, few travellers see Sat Gumbad because of its somewhat remote location. Head north from Dhanmondi on Mirpur Rd, turn left though Asad Gate and go to the end of the road (1.5km). Then begin asking, it’s nearby, towards the river. Women are admitted if appropriately dressed.

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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 on Friday when most of Dhaka will be here and you’ll be as much of an attraction as the ancient relics.

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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, living by the ‘safety in numbers’ motto, set up camp each evening on the pavements outside. A few unsavoury characters mean you should keep your wits about you at night around here.
Northeast of Suhrawardi Park is Ramna park, which is well tended and has a boating lake.

DHAKA UNIVERSITY AND CURZON HALL
Dating from 1921, Dhaka University (DU) has some old buildings. North of the Engineering University campus is the British council library and further north, on Kazi Nazrul Islam Ave, is the Institute of Arts & Crafts which has an art gallery.
On the main campus, south of the old High Court, Curzon Hall is the university’s architectural masterpiece and science faculty. It’s fine example of the European-Mughal style of building erected after the first partition of Bengal in 1905. the red-brick building has eye-catching detail, and an elegant façade.
Two blocks west, on secretariat Rd and just north of the College OF Medicine, is the Central Shaheed Minar built to commemorate the historical Language Movement of 1952.

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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 fort was never completed. However, three architectural monuments within the complex –Diwan (Hall of audience), Mausoleum of Pari Bibi and Quillac Mosque –were finished in 1684.

On the eastern side of the fort, to your far left as you enter, is the residense of the governor containing the Hall of Audience. It’s an elegant two-storey structure. Inside there’s a small museum of Mughal paintings and calligraphy, along with swords and firearms. Beyond the all of Audience, on the western side, a massive arched doorway leads to the central square hammam(bath house).

The middle building, the Mausoleum of Pari Bibi, is the only Bangladeshi building in which blach basalt and white marable (from Bangladesh),and encaustic tiles of various colours have been used to decorate an interior. The inside central chamber, where Pari Bibi is buried is entirely veneered in white marable.
You’ll find Lalbagh Fort near the intersection of Dhakeswari and Azimpur Rds.

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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 you can’t miss it. Bara Katra is located 100m south of the mosque, towards the river. Finding Chota Katra is a little more difficult. From Bara Katra head south and take the first left. Follown this road for a few hundred metres and Chota Katra is along a strret to your left.

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