Aminul's dispatch

“Home keeping youths are always homely/They are always just like the frogs in a well” is an oft-quoted adage. I along with some of my university friends went on a domestic expedition in hilly district Rangamati, tourism town Cox’s Bazar and St Martin’s, the southernmost tip of Bangladesh, in December 2010.

We started our trip towards Kaptai Lake, a darling child of nature, in Rangamati. We also visited Shuvalong spring there. The culinary delights of the local delicacies attracted us. The next day, we left the district for Cox’s Bazar, a tourism town teeming with tourists. We walked along the water’s edge of the world’s largest sea beach.

We then headed for Moheskhali, the only mountain island in Bangladesh, by speedboat. My nature freak friends added colours to the journey. Adinath monastery and a Buddhist shrine are among the hilltop places worth visiting.

Our next port of call was Himchhari. The natural fountain of Himchhari deserved a special mention. Some of my buddies were avid climbers as well. We left Cox’s Bazar for Teknaf. Boarded on sea truck “Keari Sindbad”, we started our exotic ‘oceanic’ life from the mouth of the Naaf amidst a blending of spine-chilling fear and wanderlust. We discovered us in the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal. We reached St Martin’s island after a journey of two hours and a half.

My heart swelled with ceaseless joy to visit the beauty of the ‘corrals’ of the island. The retreat of small oysters into their respective shells touched my heart with an emotional bang. The marvel of the beautiful coastline was stunning. St Martin’s island overflew with holidaymakers during that time of the year.

Our last destination was Chhera Dip. We picked up some corals and also bought some cast-off shells of oysters, snail and other striking maritime keepsakes. We escaped from the peaks and troughs of Eliotic ‘Unreal City’ to the cloistered life for contemplating Hawthornian way, visiting places of historical interests and archaeological sites.