WE were booked in "Holy Side Hotel", just a 5 minutes walking distance from the "Shah Jalal Mosque" and facing the open field used for congregations, thus the name "Holy Side Hotel". But since Sylhet is the city of Saints, you will notice that there are lots of establishments here were "Holy" is attached to their establishment's name. The hotel is fine for people who aren't that much picky about amenities. It's quite old but it served its purpose, and that is for sleeping and bathing purposes only. As we were the only guests at that time, and it's eid holiday, food choices are limited. Breakfast was paratha, bajee and omelette only, the other choices are not available.
We are lucky that we have friends who are based in Sylhet, and their place is also a walking distance from our hotel, a good 20-30 minutes walk depending how fast you are. They were our host for this trip. They toured us around the city and also in nearby towns. And we celebrated the Qurbani Eid at their place also. This is my 2nd time to participate/celebrate qurbani eid.
On our official first day in Sylhet, we woke up early so that we have enough time to go and visit the "Shah Jalal Mosque" before our hosts will pick us up for the tour. Since, i'm the only one in our group who knows where Shah Jalal is, I'm the navigator and even convinced them to take the other side route on the way back to the hotel instead of going to the same route we took in going to the mosque. It's easy to memorize and navigate since the places are just around the same blocks.
Along the roads, you will see lots of tea gardens. The scenery is awesome, tea shrubs along the mountainside or the hill side creates a visual of greenery feast. I'm not that impress though as I see countryside scenery whenever I go home to our province also, but the view makes you feel and think, in that very moment, you were not in Bangladesh at all. Maybe, seeing the tea plantation at different seasons will give you a different beauty each time.
On the way to Jaflong, we passed by
Tamabil, the Sylhet-
Shillong border crossing between Bangladesh and India which is open between 6am - 5pm, it's 55km north from Sylhet town proper. It is primarily used for importing coal from India, thus the nearby vacant lots are full of coal business establisment.
Tamabil and Jaflong are both situated beside the outskirts of
Meghalaya India. From here, you can see the mountain ranges of
Meghalaya India and a glimpse of the waterfalls in the mountain. It's my first time to stand or even go near a border of two countries, and it feels weird.
Jaflong is one of the tourist spots in Sylhet.It is situated beside the Mari river in the lap of the Hill Khasia. The Mari river is coming from the great Himalayas of India, which brings tons of stone boulders with its tide. Thus, one industry along the river is the Stone collection/crashing/quarrying. But even with the scorching heat of the sun, the water in the river remains cold all the time. Jaflong is a hilly area with a vast greenery, it is the place of the
Khasi Tribe and you can still see there
lifestyle and culture here. We have to cross the river via a small boat going to the other side to see one of the oldest tea garden, betel leaf plantation and orange/lime orchard and to see the
Khasi Tribe.
We rode the "moon bike" in going around the area. The small road entering the area is covered in a canopy of bamboo trees, betel nut trees and other tall trees. The breeze was chilly and a respite from the scorching heat of the sun.
The houses here are elevated or on stilts, mostly are made of wood & ply while there are some few houses that are made of concrete & cement. I wasn't able to take a picture of the house of the tribe's king, it's not a grand palace but it's bigger than the other's houses. After the tour, our licensed tourist guide who is just a little boy was so cunning. Prior to hiring his service, we already agreed on the rate, but after the tour, he demanded more money and keep on pestering us before we can ride on our van.
Another place that we checked was the
Haripur Gas Field. Around 24 Km. east, just off the highway to sylhet jaflong is the haripur oil field. Spreaded over 10 km. length and 5 km. breadth, Horipure oil field is supposed to be 50000 feet deep. Nearby it , situated an abandoned gas field is still a sight, people come to see the burning of the gases.It was discovered in December 1986.
