Bogra

December 1, 2010

over the Jamuna Rver

Doy for breakfast! I mentioned that Mamun bought a large earthenware tub of it last night - it never got finished. It's a different flavour to the usual; one which I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe there's a hint of cinnamon or something and it's a light chocolate colour. It makes a great start to the day.

Now when I turn on my laptop there are a bunch of pop-ups including the thief's yahoo ID and I ponder giving this info to the police, but know that they're not really interested in crime prevention as much as damage limitation and bad publicity. I could pop in to the station, but think why bother.

More tea! We sit at a small place across the road from Mamun's house along with his young son and other customers greet us before Mamun trails me as I ride my Brodie into Gopalpur. He's sat on another flat-bed rickshaw, just like last night.

The sky is bluer than the previous days and we stop at a tea place near what would be classed as the centre and then dine a few minutes' ride away. It's 10:00 and time for me to be making tracks.

I get bought some tiny oranges and escorted to the edge of town, to a bridge over a river where we say our goodbyes. From here the road is divine - narrow and devoid of motor vehicles - and trees line a lot of it.

Like a prostrate haystack laying before me, there's straw covering long stretches of the winding route and after cleaning my bike's gear cogs yesterday, I don't want them all clogged up again. I take it steady.

Once at Bhuapur, I find the straight road west-ish towards the wide Jamuna River. It's very rural, with the odd, simple dwelling dotted along the route.

There should be boats sailing across, hopefully, because cycling over the four- kilometre-long bridge is out, with only motor vehicles allowed. You wouldn't want to ride across it anyway - it's too narrow and like an Indy 500 track, but straightened out, with zero shoulder each side.

People direct me in various ways and some say there are no boats.

I reach the army camp where I eat a nice sweet at a cafe before riding around in circles with the bridge in view and the buses and truck's horns blaring away within earshot. What a pain.

The only boats are ones belonging to a resort and it's a kilometer or so to their mooring spot, but I ride there to find one guy sat under on a shaded chair looking bored out of his tree.

After explaining that I want to get to Serajganj across the water, he quotes me a hefty price of 2,000 taka, then soon after comes down to 500 taka for some other deal, which I don't fully grasp. He gestures for me to wait when I go to ride off, so I sit and gaze out at the water and soon a boat chugs up, one similar to the ride I took from Birisiri that only cost 100 taka for almost nine hours of sailing.

The same figures are given me as quoted before: 'You must be joking' I say, then they tell me to wait some more and around 10 minutes later an English speaker arrives to confirm the prices. Bye.

I knew I should've gone due west to Pingna or somewhere and explored the sandy banks, then got a craft with the locals who must sail across all the time for next to nothing.

At the bridge a guard stops me as I knew he would and I'm led to the admin building where they say they'll get me lift in a truck because they don't have a vehicle available to take me across.

It's about 3:00 now. A day more or less gone and little progress made.

A posse of guards stops a trucks with a bunch of guys sat in the back of the open six-wheeler and my stuff gets lifted on to go next to their packed-up whatever it is stacked against the low metal sides. I sit on the steel bottom and the wind whistles over our heads as the view of the wide wide river goes by and by and I share the tiny oranges with the guys who can't really speak any English.

They could drop me in Serajganj, but I might as well take this truck to Bogra, some 70 km away as that's where it's going and this will kind of make up for my lost day yesterday. Besides, this main road isn't one that appeals and is similar to the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway. Once is enough.

I'd rather be on small lanes by the river if possible. My guess is there're some around here somewhere.

Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,216 km (755 miles)

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