Ridin' the Rocket

The paddlesteamer was a grand old maid of the river. We were some of the few people travelling first class, so we got a double AC cabin and meals served to us up the front; the rest of the passengers had natural AC and slept on the floor of the two decks in the centre of the boat. It was really relaxing chugging along the river at a cruisy pace, watching the world go by. We spent a night on the boat and a majority of the next day getting to Morogonj, which gave us plenty of time to relax, read books, chat, and play cards. For me, it went fairly quickly; but for poor Ange, who was sick for much of the trip, it would have seemed like forever. Poor bugger! While I was up on the roof of the boat, at the invitation of the captain, she was down below getting acquainted with the toilet.

The scenery of the river is really interesting, even over many hours. It doesn’t change much but there’s always lots to see. The river meandered through a countryside of rice padis and farms, past passenger ferries and fishing canoes, and small riverside towns where the steamer docked and picked up/let off passengers. The river dolphins that glided by from time to time were also a highlight.

We finally made it to Morogonj where our task was then to find our way to Mongla. Destination: Sunderbans! We wanted to take a boat cruise in the largest mangrove forest in the world, and Mongla was the closest city to it. After a few initial hassles of organising how we were going to get there (carrying our big packs on the back of motorbikes wasn’t looking like a good concept), we jumped on a bus and then a pan and then a cab, and finally ended up where we wanted to go. Our taxi ride was kinda interesting, particularly given the soundtrack: Shania Twain… Man, I felt like a woman that afternoon!