Buses, beaches and Burmese beer

I know it was a while ago, but I thought you might like to see some photos of my new year's trip with Sarah, Rich and Shelley, to St Martin's Island (the famous Bangladeshi tourist island at the bottom of Bangladesh, next to Burma); Cox's Bazaar (home to the longest beach in the world and great Burmese markets); and Chittagong (the location of the largest shipbreaking industry in the world)!
(yes, this is the bus we caught down - 12 hours of luxury....)

So... here goes!






A Buddhist temple in Cox's Bazaar

From Cox's Bazaar we went to a little island just off the coast called Moshkali. Getting there was an interesting experience - we walked along a rickety jetty over the mud, then on a path made of series of small boats laid over the mud...









Moshkali is where they make the famous regional dried fish (definitely an aquired taste!) and grow beetel.












Its a really mixed community, so we went to a buddhist temple, a hindu temple (below),


and went to see the indigenous people making traditional fabrics...

We also went to the beach and met some gorgeous kids, who work to collect firewood and mud from the beach...
















St Martin's Island is in the channel between Bangladesh and Burma, so on the boat down, we could see Bangadesh on one side (above) and Burma on the other (below)! It was probably as close as I'm going to get to Burma for a while, so it was pretty exciting!

St Martin's Island - a prime tourist destination for Bangladeshis is a pretty interesting experience for Bideshis! There was lots of staring, lots of small children shouting hello and not much tourist infrastructure... we were 4 of 6 bideshis on the island, which was crowded with Bangladeshi people on their Eid holidays. Not quite a north Queensland tropical paradise, but it was pretty fun anyway!


Avioding the stares - Racks of Arabia...




and some small children on the beach











Rich and Sarah at the beach...

We did manage to fit in a swim at the island - though not quite as you might imagine! Even in salwar kamezes (minus ornas so that we didn't drown!) we got major stares....














The advantage of being near Burma was the great Burmese beer that 'floated' across the channel...
It made for a pretty fun new year's eve!


Rich dancing with the locals at a 'beach party' on new years... and 2007 in Bangladesh....













Back at Cox's Bazaar, for sunset over the longest beach in the world....




Next.... to Chittagong!