Cox's Bazar is the prime beach and tourist town in Bangladesh. It has the longest beach in the world! After landing, everyone enjoyed the mouthwatering delicious Bengali food at Poushi Restaurant and headed to their allotted rooms at Long Beach Hotel.
After resting for some time, everyone headed to enjoy the Sea Beach, the nature and its peace. Everyone was in awe after seeing the spectacular view of the beach. Many members swam in the water and thoroughly enjoyed the waves. Others rested on the beach chairs and enjoyed the view. The evening ended with prayer, dinner and a comedy movie.
Day 2 started with watching the sunrise & a morning walk on the beach. After breakfast, everyone boarded the bus for Inani Beach through the lake drive road. Inani Beach is definitely a beach that everyone should go to when they plan a trip. Tour to Cox’s Bazar will be incomplete without going to the Inani beach. A majority of the group participated in games such as musical chairs, racing with a spoon and lemon in your mouth and passing the pillow. Some watched the games and rested on the chairs near the beach and enjoyed the view of the waves and beach. Inani Beach offered many watersports such as Sea Doo’s and boats. Hawkers were selling coconuts, coffee and other edible items which the Jamat enjoyed; they even purchased some souvenirs like shell jewelry, hats and etc right on the beach. Some members took on the adventure of horseback riding and swimming in the sea and walking along the beach! After a few hours of fun and masti, we headed back to the hotel for lunch. After this, everyone headed to Sayeman Beach to enjoy the beautiful sunset right over the water. Many members enjoyed going in the water just like the first day. The trip could not be complete without shopping! Participants bought handmade items, dry fish and other local popular items. Finally, the day ended with prayer, housie and dinner at Seagull Hotel.
Day 3, the last day of this journey started at 7:15am with packing up, breakfast and then departing from Cox’s Bazar for the next awaited destination: Chittagong. After travelling by bus for 6 hours, we reached Chittagong Club to enjoy Bengali local food for lunch. After this, members had the choice of going to rest or go for some sightseeing to Bayazid Bostami and other local areas of Chittagong.
The trip ended with prayer and then dinner at Chittagong Jamatkhana. We took group pictures of members from both Dhaka and Chittagong Jamatkhanas then boarded the buses for the railway station to return back home by train (Tourna Express). Finally, on the 21st of October at 6:30am all the participants reached Dhaka safely.
Everyone just loved every minute of the trip! It recharged everyone’s mind & body. The objective of this trip was to give senior members of the Jamat a break from their daily life. There were some seniors who had never travelled outside Dhaka or by different modes of transportation. The program was also attended by the President and other members of the Aga Khan National Council. As everyone thoroughly enjoyed, a few participants requested Social Welfare and Women’s Activities Committee under the Aga Khan National Council, who organized the trip, to arrange another one and that too, very soon!
