You gotta love free!
Below is our archive of all the freely available insiders tips and information we discovered while researching this guide.
First time here?
Before you go anywhere else, to view some of these posts you’ll need to register as a member — free or paid — to get access. Note that all the full text of all the below entries are available to free members.
Highlights (Free to registered members!)
Posted on 29. Dec, 2009 by Mikey Leung in 2. Practical Information, Free Travel Tips
Bangladesh rarely makes any ‘top ten’ lists worldwide, but an often asked question comes more along the following lines: ‘Since I’m in Bangladesh, what are the top ten things I should see?’ Here’s a suggestion list to get you started.
Tourist Information and Tour Operators (Free!)
Posted on 29. Dec, 2009 by Mikey Leung in 2. Practical Information, Free Travel Tips
Travellers might find the services of a tour operator more efficient and helpful in the search for information and guidance while considering a journey to Bangladesh.
Embassies and High Commissions (Free!)
Posted on 29. Dec, 2009 by Mikey Leung in 2. Practical Information, Free Travel Tips
What follows is a list of the all the foreign Embassies and High Commissions in Dhaka, as well as a list of all high commissions/embassies of Bangladesh abroad. We would appreciate notice if this list has changed.
Travelling Positively (Free!)
Posted on 29. Dec, 2009 by Mikey Leung in 2. Practical Information, Free Travel Tips
While traditional tourist thinking keeps people away from supposed disaster zones such as Bangladesh, there’s another way of looking at such disheartening situations. Visits to the country are in fact a real opportunity to do something positive for communities in need, like building houses for cyclone or flood victims, or helping a slum education project to operate more efficiently and save costs.
Spend a Friday on the Sundown River Cruise, hosted by Big Blue
Posted on 09. Dec, 2009 by Mikey Leung in Events, Free Travel Tips
Join us on Friday 18 December for the Sundown River Cruise. We will leave from the BAGHA Club on road 44 in Gulshan at 11:00 in private transport and enjoy an hour’s drive through Dhaka to Demra. There, we will board the boat and begin a relaxing journey down the Shitalakhaya River. After that: food, drink, sunset and the company of good people
Get out of Dhaka on "The Gazipur Retreat", hosted by Big Blue
Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by Mikey Leung in Events, Free Travel Tips
Are you one of those poor souls who has yet to see and breathe the clean air of the countryside just outside of Dhaka??? Then this Friday daytrip is for you.
Hosted by Big Blue Entertainment, this is one of those rare opportunities to get you out of the city and relaxing with some road pops [...]
FAQ Series: Heading to Darjeeling from Dhaka? Here's the cheapest way..
Posted on 26. Jul, 2009 by Mikey Leung in FAQ
Heading to Darjeeling from Dhaka? Here’s some advice:
The bus ride is REALLY long. If you can afford it, fly via Kolkata. But if you want to really see the countryside and are travelling on a budget, we recommend breaking the trip at Rangpur on the way up, otherwise your only choice is an overnight direct [...]
FAQ series: Dhaka's Membership Clubs for Expatriates — the definitive list
Posted on 21. Jul, 2009 by Mikey Leung in FAQ
Stuck wondering where/what all the expatriate clubs are in Dhaka? here’s a quick list with phone numbers to get you going.
Each of the foreign clubs requires club membership, which can be something of a nuisance to pick up depending on your nationality or your connections. Otherwise, knowing a few other friendly foreigners will help you [...]
The FAQ Series: Best Activities in Srimongol
Posted on 07. Apr, 2009 by Mikey Leung in FAQ, Free Travel Tips
More FAQs! We’re giving away some free tips here at Joybangla.info, especially for our most frequently asked questions.
The FAQ Series: Flying to Bangkok from Dhaka and Heading to Srimongol
Posted on 04. Apr, 2009 by Mikey Leung in FAQ
We’re getting a lot of questions these days as more and more people learn about our new guidebook project. We’ll post some FAQs as they come.
Climb Bangladesh's second-highest mountain; visit the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yards
Posted on 29. Mar, 2009 by Mikey Leung in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Events, Free Travel Tips
This April, join Bangladesh travel guru Mikey Leung for an unforgettable
Chittagong Hill Tracts Trek, co-organised with Bangladesh Eco-tours,
the hill tracts’ leading trek operator.
A Useful List: Bangladesh Holidays 2009
Posted on 12. Jan, 2009 by Mikey Leung in Events, FAQ
Thinking about planning your 2009 holidays in Bangladesh? Then the following list might be useful:
21 Feb International Mother Language Day.
10 Mar Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi (Birth of the Prophet).
26 Mar Independence Day.
14 Apr Bangla New Year.
1 May Labour Day.
9 May Buddha Purnima.
7 Aug Shab-e Barat (Ascension of the Prophet).
13 Aug Sri Krishno Jônmashṭomi.
15 Aug Bangabandhu Assasination Day.
18 [...]
Do you know where your shrimp comes from?
Posted on 23. Dec, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Food, Responsible Travel, Sundarbans
If not, maybe you should find out. “White Gold”, as Swedish NGO the Swallows NGO has termed shrimp from Bangladesh, is one of the nation’s most environmentally threatening products.
This is because the shrimp farms require saline water. In a bid to increase production for the lucrative product, producers have forcibly taken land from poor villagers, [...]
Urban Study Group offers new walking tours of Old Dhaka
Posted on 15. Dec, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Events, Free Travel Tips
Homaira and Taimur at it again—this time they’re expanding their tours to include other destinations in Old Dhaka, starting with a walk on 16 December to the historic boro and choto Katras (caravansarai), some of Old Dhaka’s ancient mosques, the Armenian Church, and then the Lalbagh Fort.
Previously, they have featured tours of Shakhari Bazar (also [...]
Guide Tours offers Dolphin and Whale Watching tours in the Bay of Bengal
Posted on 11. Dec, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Best of Bangladesh, Events, Free Travel Tips, Responsible Travel
~courtesy Guide Tours~
50 Kilometers offshore of Dubla Island (Sundarban Reserve Forest), there is an underwater canyon where the depth increases drastically from only 10 meters to over 500meters – the Swatch-of-No-Ground. The change in depth is clearly visible on the surface, dramatically marked by a contrasting color change. The amazing fish abundance supports [...]
Dhaka's top seven value-for-money restaurants
Posted on 09. Dec, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Editorials, Food
~story by Mikey Leung~
Stuck for some restaurant recommendations while living in Dhaka? Here are our top seven recommendations straight from the upcoming guidebook. The following choices were made on ‘value,’ which really means value for money. Price was definitely a consideration but not the deciding factor in this list.
1. Dhaba Hse 100, Rd 11, Block [...]
"Guide to Wildlife" of Bangladesh
Posted on 18. Nov, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Events, Links
Click here for a full-size preview of the cover.
(Nov. 18, 2008, Dhaka) – A new “Guide to Wildlife” book has just been released in Bangladesh.
The 306 page full-colour guide has colour photographs of all the mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians found in the 19 protected areas of Bangladesh. It includes the coverage of almost 400 [...]
"Shushuk Mela" – Introducing Whales and Dolphins of Bangladesh
Posted on 08. Oct, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Events, Free Travel Tips, Responsible Travel
~guest post by Elisabeth Farhni Mansur~
Click image for large size preview.
We are proud to announce the first-ever ‘Shushuk Mela’, an interactive exhibition ‘introducing the Whales & Dolphins of Bangladesh’ at the Bangladesh Shishu Academy, Dhaka, from 9th to 12th October 2008. It is open to all every day from 9.30 am to 8.30 pm.
The exhibition, [...]
Amar Sonar Bangladesh: photo video presentation
Posted on 07. Aug, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Best of Bangladesh, Free Travel Tips, Photography
~photos by Mikey Leung and Belinda Meggitt~
We’ve received some mixed reviews over the above photographic video presentation, which we’ve shown to some members of the Bangladesh tourism industry. Some people love the images and the music, while others have told us some of the images portray a side of Bangladesh that should remain hidden. We [...]
Vedic Village: Luxury escape just over the border at Kolkata
Posted on 02. Aug, 2008 by bmeggitt in Free Travel Tips
~story by Belinda Meggitt~ To see more photos, click here.
My bags bounced around me in the car as we bumped along the rural road. About 20 minutes later after leaving the main highway, I landed in the lap of Vedic Village’s luxury. I’d just survived a near collision with a rickshaw wallah bearing bamboo poles, [...]
Intrepid Travel comes to Bangladesh
Posted on 11. May, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Events, Free Travel Tips, Responsible Travel
~story by Mikey Leung~
Award-winning Australian tour operator Intrepid Travel is coming to Bangladesh (click here to see the new itinerary).
This is big news, considering that Intrepid is one of the world’s leading Responsible Travel (RT) operators, having won the ‘Best Overall Tour Operator’ award from the UK’s Responsible Tourism awards in 2006.
Some words from [...]
Tour operators of Sundarban: the Joybangla.info review
Posted on 04. May, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Editorials, FAQ, Sundarbans
~story by Mikey Leung~
You’re considering a journey to Sundarban, one of the world’s most pristine wildernesses and certainly a highlight of the subcontinent. Who do you turn to for more information?
In the course of our research we’ve managed to try out a few operators—but perhaps you know others. Feel free to let us know via [...]
It's a dogfight: airline competition heats up in Bangladesh
Posted on 03. Apr, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Free Travel Tips
~story by Mikey Leung~
With three new airlines starting up in just the last year, the flight prices in Bangladesh should start falling from the sky like manna from heaven.
The newest airlines are:
Best Air (aka Best Aviation)
United Airways Bangladesh
Royal Bengal Airlines
In our opinion, United Airways is the one to watch—they are coming with the newest routes [...]
The Rocket: a misnomer of sloth-sized proportion
Posted on 28. Mar, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Best of Bangladesh, Free Travel Tips, Sundarbans
When the Rocket steamer service first commenced its service in 1956, the vessels may have been some of the fastest water-borne vessels of their time. Eighty years and one refurbishment later, the four Rocket is still “hammering around the Delta,” as travel writer Jack Barker put it, and fortunately only one of the six original [...]
Landing Permit at Zia Airport, use at your own risk
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Free Travel Tips, Visas
~story by Mikey Leung~
As of 22 March 2008, it is possible to obtain a “Landing Permit on Arrival” if you arrive in Dhaka with no visa. With $50 USD, you can simply buy this landing permit when you arrive at Zia International Airport, and you should be granted a 15-day stay.
However, please note that this [...]
Kolkata – Dhaka train to begin from 14 April 2008
Posted on 16. Mar, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Free Travel Tips
After many delays, interruptions, disagreements and a fence, the train ride between Kolkata and Dhaka will begin running again on 14 April.
The ride will no doubt become one of the great journeys you can take connecting the two countries, one that we will definitely be taking in the coming months.
From India’s Business Standard magazine:
Maitree Express [...]
Security advice for Dhaka, especially for women
Posted on 09. Mar, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Free Travel Tips
~story by Mikey Leung~
Dhaka is a safe place, when you know how to play by its rules.
Nonetheless, there have been a incidences of muggings and robberies, and bag snatching among the expatriate community, particularly in the Gulshan and Mohammadpur areas.
I hate to sound patronizing, but single females, moving around at night (usually but not always [...]
Things you should know about Bandarban, before you go
Posted on 27. Feb, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Best of Bangladesh, Chittagong Hill Tracts, FAQ
~story by Mikey Leung~
At the Guide Tours’ Hillside Resort, you awake to a stunning view of hills poking out from the clouds. See more photos of Bandarban here.
It’s absolutely outrageous to say this, but be prepared to be followed by the police where ever you go while visiting one of Bangladesh’s most attractive destinations, second [...]
Travellers Clinic Opens at ICDDR,B
Posted on 20. Feb, 2008 by Mikey Leung in Free Travel Tips
~story by Mikey Leung~
Are you down with a terrible case of the “Chitta Shittas?” Then you might want to consider a visit to the new ICDDRB Travellers’ Clinic.
The ground reality is that only the hardiest of tummies manage to escape Bangladesh without experiencing a bout of travellers’ diarrheoa, and for those who live in Bangladesh [...]
Getting on the internet with Grameen's EDGE service
Posted on 10. Feb, 2008 by Mikey Leung in FAQ
~story by Mikey Leung~
After reading Kirsty’s recent post about her upcoming visit to Bangladesh, there is one thing that most flashpackers like herself don’t know about this “underdeveloped” nation.
Bangladesh has one of the best internet connectivity services I’ve experienced in the entire world. Although there are mixed reviews on that subject.
From my point of view, [...]
