Bangladesh is not a major tourist destination (thank God), therefore finding good accommodation can be an issue. Keep in mind that all the prices mentioned below are the “Ramadan prices“. During this time of the year, people stay with their families and don’t go on vacation. Prices are up to 50% cheaper than regularly.

Dhaka.

Hotel 71.

Out starting point was the capital city, Dhaka. We arrived at around 2pm, so this still a good time to look for a hotel. Yet we recommend to always pre-book the first night just to have a bit of a breather.

We booked ourselves into “Hotel 71” (Address: Kaizuddin Tower, 176, Shaheed Syed Nazrul Islam Sarani, Dhaka). The hotel is not far from the Grand Mosque, with great infrastructure in the area. The rooms are clean, spacious and have excellent Wi-Fi connection (very important for a travel photographer). The reception guys speak good English and help out with any kind of information you need.During our trip, we stayed there three times in total and were happy with our rooms.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 30,00 US$ (with A/C)

Fars Hotels & Resorts Limited.

Nearby, we spotted another nice place called “Fars Hotels & Resorts Limited” (Address: 212, Shahid Syed Nazrul Islam Sharani, Purana Paltan, S S. Nazrul Islam Sharani, Dhaka). We went to check it out for our next visit and it looked really nice as well. Biggest bonus: This place even has a rooftop swimming pool, which can honestly be a life savour at 45° Celsius in the summer!

Both two places are budget friendly with Western standard and if you’re “lucky”, you might even come across another fellow traveller in the lobby…

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$ (with A/C)

Chittagong.

Ambassador Residency.

There is the stretch of hotels right near the train station, but we opted for something more quiet called “Ambassador Residency” (Address: Road No 2, Chittagong). Also because out fellow Bangladeshi friend recommended it. This hotel offers clean & spacious rooms with big bathrooms and very reliable Wi-Fi connection. Overall, we were happy with this place. Don’t expect to meet any other travellers here though, because it’s a bit out of the way.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$ (with A/C)

Ambassador Residency in Chittaong, Bangladesh.

Cox’s Bazar.

Nilima Resort Hotel.

Cox’s Barar war the next place we visited. we checked ourselves into the “Nilima Resort Hotel” (Address: Sughanda Point Rd, Cox’s Bazar). Arriving at Cox’s Bazar was a bit of a disappointment at first, since most of the hotels are not located right on the beach. Only after we drive along the beach for a while, we came across this place. It’s as good as it gets here. There are some others along the beach as well, but the majority of hotels are further inland. But from Nilima Resort Hotel you can start exploring the area and get your evening beach stroll without having to go far. The rooms have small balconies and decent Wi-Fi connection. The owner is very helpful and the price is negotiable. It’s clearly not the poshest place to stay at, but pretty cheap and we didn’t spend much time in the the room anyway.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 20,00 US$ (with A/C)

Nilima Resort Hotel in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Mermaid Eco Resort.

30km further out of the city is a lovely place with bungalow accommodation called “Mermaid Eco Resort” (Address: Marine Drive, Pechardwip, Cox’s Bazar). It’s a nice spot if you want get away from it all, there is no Wi-Fi and you depend on them with everything. We will consider this place for our next visit to Cox’s Bazaar and then we’ll come prepared.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$ (with A/C)

Sreemangal.

Nishorgo Lichibari Ecoresort.

Sreemangal lies in the East of Bangladesh, located near the Indian border. The area is well-known for its tea plantations. We stayed in a little hotel called “Nishorgo Lichibari Ecoresort” (Address: House 13/B, Road 54, Gulshan 1212). It’s a bit outside of Sreemangal, near the tea gardens and in a small village where you can either walk around or rent a bicycle from the hotel. Overall this is a good place to stay at, with bungalow accommodation or rooms (with Wi-Fi) in the main house, an English-speaking owner who will pick you up from the train station when you call him, as well as great food (only available with pre-ordering).

Costs per night per room: Between 15,00 US$ and 30,00 US$

Nishorgo Lichibari Ecoresort in Sreemangal, Bangladesh.

Sylhet.

Hiltown Hotel.

From the train station we headed straight to “Hiltown Hotel” (Address: VIP Road, Telihaor, Sylhet). As we had only one day in Sylhet and didn’t stay overnight, we had our lunch here and were really impressed. We came across a modern, cool and air-conditioned restaurant with amazing food, good Wi-Fi and very friendly staff. We almost felt under-dressed because we simply didn’t expect such a restaurant in Sylhet. Afterwards we had a look at the newly refurbished rooms. Definitely a fantastic place to spend the night, which we unfortunately were not able to due to our overnight train to Dhaka.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$

So as said, we wanted to see the facilities in Chittagong for ourselves. Of course we were warned that access will most probably not be possible, yet nothing could keep us from going. After some asking around and checking out the area, we simply decided to just go on a field trip and have a look. We came across and autorikshaw driver who was eager to bring us to the area where ship breaking takes place.

How did it all start?

• Research through the internet taught us, that the beginning of the ship breaking industry in Bangladesh came by “accident”. After a severe cyclone in 1960, a Greek ship was stranded on the beach of Chittagong and could not be re-floated for some years. Then it was scrapped and this was the birth of the Bangladesh ship breaking industry – which is the second largest in the world.

From Chittagong you have to head North. It’s quite a dusty trip because the road is under construction, so we were already exhausted when arriving in Fauzdharat. Anyway, the autorikshaw driver knew where we wanted to go and after some asking he turned left into a little path towards the beach. At the end was a big wall and that was it … so we got out and told him to wait. We walked a while and came to a river mouth where many lifesaving boats were “anchored” – obviously an interim storage place. The river mouth turned out to be the perfect way to get closer to the ships and the action.

But getting close to the ships was not as easy as expected … it was all very slippery, with deep mud. We only tried to protect our cameras, everything else looked very dirty after the first five minutes walking towards the beach anyway. Right and left were huge tankers ashore, which were already partly dismantled and you could hear the noise of cutting wheels. We walked further towards the beach – always checking the ground because we didn’t want to stumble into a mud hole (it happened anyway, but not too bad). All over sudden we were spotted by a bunch of children who came running towards us, jumping up and down in front of our cameras. They loved it and so we forgot a bit about our plan to check out the ships for a little while.

The way down the waters edge turned out to be pretty far. We walked for about half an hour while being accompanied by screaming children. An adult fisherman came along and tried to get the kids under control but he had no chance. So we made the best out of it and took lots of photos with them and the ships.

In between all the ship breaking yard were little villages where the workers live. Their kids already grow up near the ships and start working there either as fishermen or steel workers. The entire ship breaking yard area is so extensive that it’s no wonder the workers started settling near by.

The fascinating thing is that everything is being recycled. There are tons of second-hand dealers along the main road, where you’ll find anything that was ever used on a ship: water tanks, washing machines, toilets, compasses, telephones, life vests … you name it, you will find it in one of these scrap shops. It would be the perfect place to furnish an apartment, office or restaurant. We were tempted on buying a Russian wall clock but decided against it in the end. It was simply to heavy and we still had five weeks more of travelling ahead.

The Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard, is the world’s second-largest ship breaking area (after the Alang ship breaking yard).

Yet the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard is the world’s largest ship-breaking industry, employs over 200.000 Bangladeshis and accounts for half of all the steel in Bangladesh.

Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially steel, to be recycled. Equipment on board the vessel can also be reused.

Ships are typically disassembled on gently sloping sandy beaches, where vessels to be broken are beached, usually deliberately, although the sizable ship breaking industry of Bangladesh traces its origin to a ship beached accidentally there during a cyclone.

Manoeuvring a large ship onto a beach at high speed takes skill and daring, and is not always successful.

Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair become uneconomical.

The Ship Breaking Yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

At one stage the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard was a tourist attraction, but outsiders are no longer welcome due to its poor safety record; a local watchdog group claims that one worker dies a week on average.

In recent years, ship breaking has become an issue of environmental concern beyond the health of the yard workers. Many ship breaking yards operate in developing nations with lax or no environmental law, enabling large quantities of highly toxic materials to escape into the general environment and causing serious health problems among ship breakers.

Kids playing football between the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard.

The shops in Chittagong are full of recycled cruise materials.

Protective equipment is sometimes absent or inadequate. Dangerous vapors and fumes from burning materials can be inhaled, and dusty asbestos-laden areas are commonplace.