I was on the Meghna for about 2/3 hours before taking channels to the west to reach the Tetulia. 2 more days of paddling brought me to Barisal where I stayed a couple of nights to relax. After that it was one more days paddle south before I decided not to continue.
My arrival on the Meghna gave me two options. 1) Stay on the much bigger, heavily trafficked but shorter Meghna or 2) Take the quieter but longer Tetulia to the ocean. I settled on the Tetulia, thinking it would be safer. I won’t lie, by this point I genuinely thought I might make it to the ocean. Kuakata in the south was only a 6 day paddle from Chadpur.
I’d been warned about areas around the rivers in the south of Bangladesh, tales of daily river robberies and people being less friendly. However this ‘fear of other’ was something I had experienced on multiple journeys before, it always seemed to be the next town that wasn’t safe, never the one you were in. With this in mind I continued. One day in, a fisherman mimed slitting my throat and just outside Hizla a group of fishing boats held onto my boat and didn’t want to let go. By the time I reached Barisal, I was mentally exhausted.
Luckily for me I made some friends in Barisal. Bells park was a popular night spot and on my first night I was sitting there and met a really friendly group of guys in their early 20’s. They spoke perfect English, I was so happy, especially after the rollercoaster of the previous days. I told them a little about my experiences on this section of river and they explained: ‘There are many sand islands on this river, but every year, with the monsoon rains and storms they shift and change. People continuously lose everything and because of this they have learnt to be more grabby.’ This explanation seemed to fit; the previous 23 days before reaching the Tetulia no one had ever touched the packraft or my belongings and now just a day or two in it had happened a couple of times.
The next morning I apprehensively set off. A few hours in, a fishermen grabbed the boat shouting in Bangla at me. After a minute he let go and I paddled off as fast as I could. Then at about 3pm, just before the tide was due to come in (yes, there were now tides to paddle against too) a group of three fishing boats surrounded me. They made a triangle with their boats around the packraft, with no opening to paddle out of. They seemed to be indicating that they wanted me to go back to land with them, but I didn’t want to, I wanted to carry on paddling. At this point one of them put his hand on the packraft, turned his engine on and that was it, I was, against my will, going back to shore with them.
By the time we made it to land I was in a foul mood. The fishermen watched as I packed up my belongings and headed towards the nearest habitation. They walked besides me, one of them persistently yabbering ‘give me cellphone, give me boat’. Upon entering the village I could almost feel every pair of eyes turn to stare at me, a crowd gathered and a chair was pulled out for me to sit on, the staring continued. I had had enough.
Thirty minutes later and a police officer on a scooter turned up. Jahid had spent 2 years working in South Sudan on behalf of the Bangladeshi government, so spoke good English. I explained what had happened on the river and he told me not to worry, but he also added ‘there are river robberies here, and worse, everyday’. He told me it wasn’t safe to continue. I believed him, if a guy who had worked in South Sudan thought it wasn’t safe then I was going to listen.
So that was it, just 3 days from the ocean and 24 days in, I stopped.
HIGHLIGHTS
Staying the night at a police station in Hizla, with two female officers acting as ‘security’.
Making friends in Barisal! They even came and waved me off on the boat to Dhaka!
Meeting Jahid and getting his perspective on the situation.
Getting the enormous paddle steamer, known as the rocket, back to Dhaka.
LOWLIGHTS
People grabbing the boat, being brought back to land by the fishermen and the man miming slitting my throat.
Paddling against the tide, it was next to useless.
GIVING UP
