After breakfast, we caught one bus to the bus station, then another to Rangamati, a small town nestling on the edge of a huge man-made lake, to the north east of Chittagong. The journey was easy to sort out – one of the advantages of having travelled in China is that nearly everywhere else is easy in comparison. It was an entirely bearable journey, being only two and a half hours or so. But as we got closer to our destination, it was obvious they regarded the area as sensitive, in terms of security. There were many soldiers about, + we had to report at a police-check post, were told to call immediately at the main police station upon arrival. Just to make sure we did, the bus dropped us off very close. It wasn’t in town, there were no hotels or restaurants about to tempt us with a prior claim, so there was every incentive to get the visit over + done with. It was the simplest of procedures, merely recording that we had arrived, but took, nonetheless, half an hour or so, + 4 officials. We applied at the same time for permission to travel from Rangamati to Kaptai, the only other town on the lake one is allowed to visit, by boat. This caused some discussion, one official telling us we should apply for permission 2 hours before departure, until we pointed out to him that the boat left at 7 am. In the end, another one of the 4 scrawled “He will leave via Kaptai” across the bottom of both our forms (regardless of sex), + handed them back. It seemed slightly inadequate to me, but I had no intention of arguing the point.
That done, we had to find our hotel. As we were stuck in the middle of nowhere, at a more or less deserted crossroads, it was not easy, but we’d received vague directions, so hopped on as passing bus. The conductor + our fellow-passengers showed no welcome signs of recognition when we mentioned the name of the hotel, getting me into my all-too-common condition of nervous hypertension, but I happened to spot the name by chance, so off we hopped. The hotel looked almost closed up – the holiday again – but that was just the restaurant section – the boarding section we were able to prod into some semblance of life. At any rate we were supplied with a room + clean sheets.
Most of the rest of the day we spent on a long walk, far longer than we’d originally intended, in fact; somehow we just kept going. We walked to the Parjatan Motel, the luxury hotel of the area, not that you’d recognise it as such, it being in sore need of some paint, + being, behind the dirt, an ugly building. Our walk took us thro’ a couple of small villages full of friendly people, + we refreshed ourselves with a pot of tea. Then walked back to the first village, from where we caught a taxi. We’d previously discovered the proper price to pay, + it was quite affordable. Surprised to discover none of the others, who’d all planned to come this way today. We couldn’t even see anywhere else they could stay.
In the evening we listened to the football on the radio, West Ham doing well – 2nd, I think.
Good to get away from the city, even if there does not seem to be a lot going on here.
