Cox's Bazar, Chittagong

Our First Group Tour

Inani Beach, Cox's Bazar

Today I am going to write about one of my very recent tour. A tour that my friend can never forget. I said, My friend because it's his honeymoon tour. Zakir my school friend and also my colleague. He got married (15th March) with my other friend Trina. Surprisingly they decided to take some of their good friends with them and I am lucky to be one of them. We were seven in total and we planed to go Cox's Bazar. According to our plan we booked hotel in Cox's Bazar. There was a three days holiday including Bangla new year (14th April), an ideal time to start our tour. We started on 11th April night couch and reached in Cox's Bazar next day at noon. Don’t get bored. I will keep our story low and focus on the details of the places we visited.

We went to the beach soon after we had our lunch. We stayed in Hotel Kollol and for dinner / lunch we choose different restaurants. One of them was Pousee Restaurant. I remember it because it's food  was good and cheap. The next day we went to the Inani Beach. We hired a jeep (car) locally known as Chander Gari for our ride. It's about 30 to 40 minutes distance from Cox's Bazar and they will take 1000 tk or more for 3 to 4 hours.

Inani Beach (ইনানি বিচ):
Inani Beach is the real claim to fame. One of the longest and broadest beaches of the world. It's under Ukhia sub-district, Jaliyapalan union. It's famous for its rock and coral boulders. Corals are very sharp. We cut our legs while we were at the beach. Inani is a nice beach but we missed the big and heavy waves of Cox's Bazar.

We returned to Cox's Bazar had our lunch and had a walk in the sea sore in the evening. Next day, I mean 14th April (Bangla Noboborsho) we went to Moheshkhali. From Cox's Bazar, Kastura Ghat we hired a speed boat that took about 40 minutes to reach Moheshkhali. Trawlers also available. They use the Bakkhali river as a transit to enter to the sea. Bakkhali river you will see few sea birds. From Kastura Ghat you have to walk long way over the wooden bridge to reach to the boat. 

1. Hotel   2. Road to Inani Beach   3. Kastura Ghat

Dry Fish

Moheshkhali (মহেশখালী):
One of the attractive islands of Cox's Bazar. It's about 14 km north-west from the Cox's Bazar. It has an area of about 268 square kilometer. Mangrove forest, hills, salt fields, Rakhains village, temples, beach and specially site seeing are the main attractions of this place. Some of the hills are about 300 ft high from the sea level. The Shrine of Adinath is also a very famous place. The opposite of Adinath Temple there is a Buddhist Pagoda. You might consider swimming and hiking as an optional time pass. There is a dry fish market for the Shutki lovers. Shutki is a very famous processed dry fish in Bangladesh. One of our main purpose of going Moheshkhali was to buy dry fish. It's also available in Cox's Bazar. Price and quality varies in different markets.




Adinath Temple

Adinath Temple (আদিনাথ মন্দির): The place (jetty) where the speed boat stops in Moheskhali is called Ghoroghata town. We hired an auto-rickshaw that took us to the Adinath Bazar. Adinath Temple is the principle tourist attraction place here because of the famous Stupa on the top of the Mainak hill. You have to climb maybe 69 steps to reach to the temple. We drink coconut water and eat banana from the Adinath Bazar.

Address: Adinath Temple, New Jetty Road, Adinath Bazar, Chittagong Division, Bangladesh.

We came back in the evening. In Kastura Ghat we had to clamber over the wooden boats tied together to make way to the ghat during the time of low tide. It is risky for the new comers. At night after dinner we started for Dhaka by bus. 

Note: Almost every night we walked on the sea shore. It was an awesome feeling walking at night barefoot into the water, hearing the sound of heavy waves in a cool breeze. I really miss those memories.

Places we visit with ratings: 
1. Cox's Bazar Beach ☆☆☆☆
2. Inani Beach ☆☆☆
3. Moheshkhali ☆☆☆
4. Adinath Temple ☆☆☆

With friends at Kastura Ghat

Cox's Bazar, KFC

Left to right:
Rashadul Islam: One of our senior brother come friend. It's his first journey outside Dhaka.
Sahebul Karim: It's me.
Auvon Haque: One of our newest friend.
Samia Saif Chowdhury and Zakir Hossain: Nothing to say. It's their first honeymoon.
Maruf Hassan Mukim: He was sick during the tour.
Ashik Rahman: He joined us on the second day after 18 hours of bus journey from Dhaka.   

Our Second Group Tour

Cox's Bazar Sea Beach

The best part of a group tour is we can know our friends more deeply. It makes our friendship strong and helps to flow our feelings smoothly. 
 
Traveling with friends is always thrilling to me, particularly with my best friends in a long journey. Last week I went to Cox's Bazar with my friends and passed some great days with them. This is our 2nd group tour. I have another article where I wrote about our 1st group tour and the beautiful Cox's Bazar. This time I am not focusing Cox’s Bazar. I am writing this article to describe my journey, my feelings and specially my friends.

True HAppiness :) 
Walking along the beach water at the full moon night with friends in bare foot at the same time listen some good songs in headphone will give you an awesome feeling. Every day we used to walk along the beach in the evening and at night. I wish I can walk along the beach in a rainy day.

The idea of group tour comes from the married couple Zakir and Trina – as it is their 1^st anniversary. Another fun fact is after getting married when they went to Cox’s Bazar for the 1^st time they also took us with them. This time our feelings are different. Because 1^st tour I had traveled with some new faces like Auvon, Ashik, Mukim and Rashed bhai. After that they become my good friends and now I am traveling with them again. Though Mukim missed the tour but his position was covered by Shamol. Later Shahabuddin joined us from Sylhet.

     

We started at Friday night and returned on Tuesday morning. So we get almost 3 full days to enjoy ourselves. But good times not last for a long. The time of our return everyone wanted to stay long but most of us have to catch office next day. We had no option. Three days is not enough for a tour like this. Every body feel it during our return. 

Friday at 10.30 pm we started from Dhaka. One of our friend (Auvon) missed the bus and later catch it from the next stop. For the time being we thought we have to cancel our trip if she misses the bus. Another interesting part of our journey was the bus tire bust on the way but it didn’t cause any harm to anyone but we lost 2 hours in the road. That time we came down from the bus and took tea in a nearby break field.

Next challenge we face was to arrange accommodation for us. We thought its little odd time for vacation and we didn’t book any hotel for us. When we reached there we find all the hotels were booked and we wasted 3 hour to find a hotel in a high cost. Last time we stayed in Hotel Kollol but this time it was full and we manage in Hotel Media International just beside Kollal. Though it was a pick hour but I don't like the hospitality of that hotel. Most of the time we eat in Poushi restaurant. Poushi is very famous in Cox’s Bazar and most of the time you have to stand in line to get a seat. If you late you will miss some of the special foods of that restaurant. Most of the time we eat Churi Shutki Vorta, Loitta Fry, Koral Macher Vorta, Rupchada Fry, Alu Votra, Begun Vorta etc in lunch and dinner.  

Generally we take bath at the beach morning / afternoon, walk around the beach in the evening and night, shopping, play card at night (some of us can't play but still it's fun), gossip and take lot's of photographs. 

In the middle from left to right : Eyar Mohammad (Shamol), Sahebul Karim (Me), Ashik Rahman, Samia Saif Chowdhury (Trina), Md. Zakir Hossain Chowdhury and Auvon Haque. 

Before we return we do some shopping. We buy dry fish, different kinds of pickles and few necessary things. Dry fish of Chittagong is very famous in our country.  

We also faced few problems during our return. Last day we had to change the hotel again and we moved to an apartment for some hour. We rest there, get fresh and pack our luggage. 

Another problem was all the buses were full. Somehow we managed one non ac bus but the seats were in the last row. Our journey was very painful and we didn’t sleep at all. Whole night we passed jumping in our seats. After a sleepless night I had attend my office in the next morning.

Despite of some negative sides it was a great journey. We take thousands of photographs and the credit goes to Auvon Haque. After coming back I am passing my days watching those photographs, videos and recalling the memories of those days. I really miss my friends. 

This is a video of a cute little girl, she joined with us while we are playing with sand. This video captured by a professional camera man.

Times fly's and our memory feds. I try to keep them alive in my blog.  

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Everybody needs a hobby. It shows how creative you are and separates you from others. I tried a few and fail to continue them for long. Unless I find myself comfortable in Photography, traveling and blogging.  I always wanted to share my travel experiences with my friends, family and others. I took lots of images while traveling. I am not a professional photographer. So I capture everything I feel good. I also like to edit them. I share a few videos in my blog as well  and I assure you they are all my own property. That’s how it becomes my hobby. I feel good inside me when I see it and when others appreciates my work. I try to provide real informations on all the articles. I studied a lot before writing every post. Still if you find any incorrect information feel free to inform me. Keep in touch. Life is wonderful. ♡♡