Bangladesh - worth to go?
 

Hi mates!

Me and my girlfriend are riding a.t.w. in our third year.
Right now we are in Indonesia and we do some brainstorming about possible routes back home to Germany.
Originally we intended to fly with the bikes from Bangkok to Nepal and go on from there.
But we just got the idea to fly to Dhaka (Bangladesh) and ride up to Nepal instead.
Good idea or better to save the time and spent it in Nepal/India/west of it?
Any advice? Who did it recently?
Is Bangladesh nice?
Traffic like India or a bit more relaxed?
How about visa? From my understanding you need a invitation or a hotel booking. How did you do it?

Thanks for any info!

Cheers

Panny

Check the regs for Bangladesh carefully, we were considering it but I was reading about a special super high deposit they were charging recently. We didn't go but we did ride in Assam, Sikkim, Darjeeling & Meghalaya. Cherrapunji with the amazing root bridges is just north of Dhaka in Meghalaya. Got the rec. on HU, fantastic area. Sikkim is wonderful riding too, pretty mountains & tons of flowers. If you do head north from Dhaka make sure your visas are in order. If so I heard here the border is ok.

Thanks for the advice.
Charrapunji was allready on my "radar". I added Sikkim, too! Sounds good, especilly since Simone loves flowers!

Greetings from Malaysia

Panny

Hi does anyone have any info about the deposit? We planned to enter Bangladesh by car from India and then ship to Malaysia. With the deposit it seems impossible. Thanks.

I went in 2008. Had a carnet and no deposit was required at the border. You had to pay some kind of fee to exit about Tk 500, but it was for me rather than the car.

Is it worth it?? Absolutely. Really friendly people, very little of the hassle you get in India. Traffic is manic of course but it would be a shame to miss out on Dhaka - it makes Calcutta look like a sprawling village.

Try to check out the Chittagong Hill Tracts and St Martin's Island.

Daniel

Hallo Panny, Simone,

Hope everyghing is going well.

My info on Bangladesh is 25 years out of date but for what its worth I remember it as one of the friendliest countries I have ever visited. People were gorgous and really welcoming - even if the beaucracy made India's seem organised.. Going back there is definately on my bucket list. Hope you can make it there.

All the best

Also looking to check out Bangladesh soon. I have a valid Carnet on a UK registed bike, US passport, will be crossing from India. I'm getting conflicting info as well. Anyone done a land border crossing recently.