Chasing Horizons: Off The Beaten Path

“At that moment, when I finally reached the peak of Keokradong after five hours of tracking, the first thing that came to my mind was that I had been living the life that I always wanted to be in. The mild breeze and the calmness at the peak melted away the hardships of tracking and filled my heart with peace. ” From childhood, I have been an energetic and restless person, who loves to travel and loves to introduce new people. It started back then when I was a little kid when my parents used to visit me in different places, which made me happy from childhood. While growing up I have visited many places in Bangladesh and  started from visiting tourist spots to visiting different cities, historical places, Hills tracks, and so on. Traveling is an ongoing process of life. I always keep a quote in my mind that is, ” You only live once ”.For this reason, I believe that we don't need to live much longer, rather we need to live our lives the way we love to live, and this is my philosophy of life.

Among the places that I have visited, I love to visit two places again and again. One is Saint Martin’s Island, and the other is some places at Chittagong Hill Tracts(CHT) and surroundings.

We can't feel the mesmerizing beauty of our country Bangladesh, until we visit places in hilly tracts areas in Chittagong. The hill tract areas of Bangladesh actually contain the beauty of our country. Also, calm and close to nature feels heavenly. Every trip is full of adventure and thrill, but at the same time, it also helps us boost up our confidence, which is like achieving something in life. The best time to visit hill tracts is from June to September, the time of the rainy season. At that time, the emerging beauty of nature is seen in the monsoon because during that period nature is awakened in vibrant color and the fresh air feels so refreshing. There are many places to visit in CHT such as Keokradong, Sajek Valley, Marayong Tong, Debotakhum, Nafakhum, Chimbuk, Tazindong, and so on. The last places that I have visited are Bogalake and Keokradong in Bandarban. 

Let’s share my travel experiences from my last tour. Begin with, me and my friends reached Bandarban at the time of dawn, and we hired a jeep. Our first destination was Boga Lake. It was a long journey from Bandarban city to Boga Lake. We reached Boga Lake in the afternoon. The last stage of the road entering  Boga Lake is so upright. After a long, hectic journey, we finally reached Bogalake. We took a rest that day because there was no energy left in our body. Our main destination was to reach the peak of Keokradong. We have already hired a travel guide with us from the Ruma market. The next day after dawn, we started our tracking. There is also a direct road that connects Boga Lake to Keokradong, but we want to explore nature while tracking. After 2 hours of tracking, we reached a waterfall named Chingrichora and took some rest there. After taking some rest, we again packed up everything and started tracking again. We were feeling the beauty of hills while moving forward. The roads are narrow and full of ups and downs.  Then, after three hours, finally we reached Keokradong. At that moment, when I finally reached the peak of Keokradong after a total of five hours of tracking, the first thing that came to my mind was that I had been living the life that I always wanted to be in. The mild breeze and the calmness at the peak melted away the hardships of tracking and filled my heart with peace. We enjoyed the moment after the moment of hardships we faced in the last five hours. At that time our legs were hurting very badly, so we took a rest for a while first and enjoyed sightseeing. Also, we could touch the clouds from that altitude. Sightseeing there for one hour, we decided to go back at that time. Otherwise, it would be very risky for us to come back to Bogalake after the evening because of the mountain roads. We returned back to our hotel at Bogalake at dusk. The next day we returned to Bandarban city and took a bus to Dhaka.

Another thing I love to explore is to visit new cities and towns. I have visited around 23 districts of Bangladesh and my aim is to visit all 64 districts of Bangladesh. Besides travel, I love introducing myself to the locals, talking with them, and observing their culture.The last city that I visited Rajshahi is known as The Silk City because of the historic center of silk production. The thing I like the most is that the city is very neat and clean and well organized. I visited places like Rajshahi University, Rajshahi College, T Badh, I Badh, Ruet, and many other places, and talked with a lot of locals.

To conclude, we all have our philosophy of life, which stays in ourselves. We need to find who we are. I believe, knowing ourselves is the toughest job in of our life. Traveling places helps me to know myself who I am now.