I have been to the tea estates, but we ended up staying in a hotel in the city. You really need to book ahead to stay at the tea estates.
If you travel off season you can get some really great deals, let the 5 star hotel that picked you up from the airport know you only need one night, as you are on a budget, when you go to check out your first morning, you'll be amazed that they can match the price you found down the road at a 3 star hotel without an open restaurant! and like a free upgrade to business class, it comes with most of the perks - like the entire swimming pool all to yourself! and the swimming pool at the Seagul is very nice indeed!
My best advise for a really enjoyable and relaxing holiday is to go to the village of one of your office staff or someone you've gotten to know locally. We often travel with friends from our Church, and have had the best experiences, you'll get stared at a lot more if you got into the "cente" and if you take a "shower" at the common tube well - it's very possibly that you'll be the first white face some have seen (if you have a white face), but if you are ok with that, you'll manage well enough. We've stayed in places like small NGO school hostels, or similar buildings where a night is something like 180 - 400 at most taka. I've stayed in a World Vision shelter, Church students orphanage/hostel. Sometimes they'll bring you breakfast, and sometimes you'll even have a commode toilet and a warm private shower. Food is provided by the people you stay with, we often buy sweets (mishti), or even buy a chicken or vegetables to thank our hosts. The Hospitality is truly in excess and the people i've stayed with would give you their last mouth full with a smile on their faces and make you sleep in their only bed, while the entire family sleeps on the floor in the kitchen. So we try and give back as much as we get being careful not to offend anyone, which you do need to be careful of - if you factor in the love and kindness you will be shown, what you get back is beyond value. i also find that when i'm in a village home, we are relatively secluded, and i can find a place to just sit and meditate by a river or pond to just enjoy the world around me and find peace and recharge.
Right now, with Eid just over, and Christmas fast approaching, there won't be a place in the country with any commercial interest in tourism that'll offer you a deal, so if you are looking to get away now, a village is your best bet, and with the kids off school, staying in a hostel is quite possible if you know someone who know's someone! The only thing i caution is that you stock up on "safe" water when you can find it, and lots of it! i've had a few times when i've had to travel quite out of my way to get a bottle of safe drinking water because i passed a shop thinking - na, there's gotta be another shop up with bottle water closer to where were going.
hope that's a help.
nosralr wrote:Hi there Kene,
Seems you have been to the Tea Estates in Sylette and have travelled around a little. Just wondering if you know of a few good retreats around the countryside where a person could go for a quiet break. Say, like for 3-5 days. I know where are tons of places that charge a top $, which I have enjoyed from time to time, bust just wondering if you have any addresses/contacts, etc of some places that wouldn't hurt the wallet.
Many thanks.
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