Srimangal : the saga continues...

So, after our tea and treats and relaxation we had another fun day ahead of us. Walking around the area in the evening, we were able to just look across beautiful fields of rice and almost unbelievably picturesque scenes. Like these:

PHOTOS: Rice fields

We woke up the next day and went to Lawachara rain forest national park which is about twenty minutes from the guesthouse. The big attraction of Lawachara besides the natural beauty, is the MONKEYS! As we walked up the little road that leads to the park entrance, the trees towered above us and the sounds of the jungle rainforest started to overtake us. One sound in particular was the horrendously loud high pitched tone of an insect that lives in the canopy. It is difficult to describe. You might be able to recreate it by setting two transmitters next to each other and creating as high pitch of feedback as possible, then blasting the sound as loud as it will go, then placing your ear directly on whatever is producing the sound. That would get you close. It was crazy, and totally became this stressful tonal nuisance in the background. We noticed it more when it stopped, because our bodies relaxed for a minute before it started back up. Later a couple people told us the name of the bug, but we’ve forgotten it. It is a type of katydid if the internet has lead us in the right direction. Terrible, but seemed only to be in one area, so at least we didn’t have to hear it all day.
PHOTOS: Walking into Lowachara and looking up!

Upon arriving at the park station it was closed. We had gone after breakfast, leaving the cottage at 9am, so it wasn’t particularly early- especially for a place that is for hiking and nature viewing… anyhow, we weren’t surprised because everything in Bangladesh opens at 10am or after it seems so we went on some solo exploring on the little trails.

PHOTOS: Hiking (walking along a path, really) in the jungle

Along here we had our first monkey sighting and came across a sign that described all the different birds in the raiforest. As some of you may know, Atticus likes birds, so he made Jon read him every single word of the pretty large and text intensive four sided sign about birds. It is probably the first time anyone has ever really read the entire sign…

But as much as Atticus loves birds, you may also know, he HATES spiders. Unfortunately, while the rainforest has many (sadly elusive) species of birds, it has some very visible and large spiders, namely the banana spider. They build massive webs between trees (as in 3, 4, 5 feet wide…) and hang around, unafraid, along the path. The spiders themselves are about the size of an adult hand, maybe a little bigger. You can guess how much Atticus liked these. He did great though, and just went kind of widely around them and requested we don’t talk about them (as he kept bringing them up - but you know how fear/fascination work together).

PHOTOS: Jon reading every word to a very attentive Atticus and the spiders…



So after our solo hike we went back to park station and it was open. We decided to get a guide for another hike, and chose the 1 hour hike. The park station was actually pretty annoying though – the guy in charge was pretty unhelpful and they were out of the maps (which is really the only thing they had to offer, other than some old dusty hats, which they kept trying to sell us). There is talk that starting next month they will start charging ticket prices to go into the park (350 taka for foreigners) which will be fine in terms of getting funding, but they are really going to need to work on the park if they expect people to be ok with paying for entry. For one, instead of standing around and being unhelpful, they could send one of the ten million guards out to pick up the litter that was disappointingly ever-present. Anyhow, Mr. Crabbypants calld over a guide for us and we went on our way.

So the whole point of the guided tour was that we wanted to learn the names of things and be able to ask questions. Our guide was of no help, to put it nicely. He proceeded to take off at break neck speed without a word. We followed, as fast as we could. He was looking up at the canopy the whole time, and when we got to a little area and he pointed out some monkeys above us. We took some pictures and then he seemed like he was getting antsy. We moved on.
We could barely take any pictures and certainly questions were not possible. He just led us along, rapidly through the jungle. Here is a picture that captures the pace.

PHOTO: No stopping! Come on! Come on! Come on!

So, in some ways this was a misunderstanding. The guide thought his only role was to take off into the jungle and find monkeys for us to look at. Once we saw the monkeys (pictures below!) he figured the best part was over. We booked it through the trail (which was still nice because they were small enough trails that without a map we wouldn't have gone so deep into the jungle by ourselves with Atticus along). We ended in less than hour (becuase we practically speed-walked the whole trail!) and headed back to the station house to wash the blood off of Jon and Atticus' feet.

PHOTOS: Monkeys!

What's that you say? Bloody feet? Oh yeah, there were leeches along the path. Here are Jon's feet after serving as a buffet for the local leeches.

PHOTO: Jon's feet after the rainforest death march

There is debate over wheter Atticus actually got a leech or if he ust stubbed his toe. Either way, it was treated with bottled water, kleenexes and hand sanitizer courtesy of the medical bag known as Sam's purse.

The funny thing is that once we were back at the station, suddenly our guide was our best friend and wanted his photo with Atticus and said he never had a little brother, etc. etc.. We were nice, but frankly if he was gunning for bakshish it wasn't going to happen. We also got annoyed because Mr. Crabbypants charged us 5 taka for using the bathroom - after the fact. We were overall less than impressed by the services there (and as you all know, we are not jerks and we aren't expecting a lot of special help, but we are really friendly and expect some friendliness back dammit!). Hopefully, improvements will keep happening, because as it is, it seems like a good project that didn't get fully followed up on and is falling into the sadly common 'deshi disrepair.

The final phase of the Srimangal adventure was our visit to Monipur lake. This is a beautful lake in the middle of tea gardens. We went by cng and it was just a beautiful ride. There is just something more fun/beautiful/interesting/meaningful about taking in the scenery from a cng- the wind is in your face, the engine is growling beneath you, and the little green frame around the whole view makes it feel fully South Asian. On the way we saw a monkey just chilling in the rice field munching down on the rice.

At the lake we walked up a little hill and got some beautiful views of the tea estate and the lake. Sadly, it was about 10 or 11 am, and really bright, so the pictures just don't have the depth we would hope fore, but here are a few pretty ones.



Sam really liked the water lilies on the lake and took a lot of pictures of them, and so the nice old guy from the pump station rolled up his pants to his thighs and went out into the lake and picked some for us, which was just sweet. Atticus really liked them, (so did we all) and it was just a nice little morning at the lake.
PHOTOS: Water lilies at the lake and more monkeys




On the way back, we saw that same monkey chomping in the same rice field so we stopped to take pictures. We got out of the cng and our driver was happily pointing them out. It was kind of a nice shareable moment with the dirver, because no matter how old you are, or where you are from, seeing monekys is just fun. We got some more pictures and estimate that all in all, we saw 3 or 4 different types of monkeys (Or maybe 2 or three types of monkeys and 1 type of ape since gibbons are technically not monkeys) on the trip. Fun!

So, that was the trip to Srimangal, in more detail than was really necessary. On the way home we got to really experience the quick stop as we hopped off the train at the airport station which barely came to a stop. We aren’t exaggerating at all- Jon was literally hanging out the door of the train as it pulled to a stop (which you know he LOVED), he quickly hopped off while it was still kind of rolling, and Sam and Atticus jumped off right after. We were in the middle of the tracks and had to cross over and climb up on the platform. It was totally fun!

Now the blog is basically caught up to now. We’ve distributed our special Srimangal tea to our friends here and gotten back into the work routine. Actually, the nice thing about the trip was that by the end of it, coming back to Dhaka really felt like coming “home.” It doesn’t feel quite so much like roughing it once you have hot water again and an electric tea kettle. This has been a busy work week for Sam and back to school week for Atticus (who is now also busy with new social commitments of playdates and 2 new loves at school). All in all, a great trip and we’re delighted to be back home.