This is the continuation from the Day-3 of our 5 days of Baklai(বাকলাই) trekking at Bandarban(বান্দরবান).
Like any other busy days of our trekking, we have waked up early at the morning. Had a quick breakfast using the leftovers from last nights. So it was a very light breakfast. Before leaving the house, we have cleared all the bills. It was quite unusual as everything at Bandarban(বান্দরবান) got commercialized now a days. Even we had to pay for the water and the chopped wood this time(1200 taka only for those).
During the morning, it is always a chilling weather inside the hilly areas regardless the season. It always makes me lazy and instigate me to sleep a bit. We were leaving the Baklai(বাকলাই) behind. It was returning, means packing the tour. Most of us were grasped by a sad emotion. It was just before 8:00 at morning.
While leaving the village, first half an hour was quite tough. Last night had a slight rain. Also, lot of Goyal(গয়াল), and cows use to pass through the path. So it was completely turned into a thick muddy curd. I don’t know how many times I have lost my sandal inside those muddy things.
Day before yesterday, we saw a small waterfall while entering the village. I had a plan to have a shower at that fall. But i was daunted by the cold weather and the reluctant attitude from my other trekking mates. So had to say a bye to that mini falls sadly.
Once again, we were on a mission to cross the capital hill. This hill is famous for the leeches. I don’t know why this is called capital hill, but to me, it is truly the capital of leeches. Last two days I was feeling tired, but today I was feeling fresh. I think my body was habituated by the first few days of hard work.
Amid of our way, we had a break together. It was not a comfortable place for break. Lot of leeches were crawling around us. But still, we had the break amid of those thirsty carnivorous creatures. Half of the members decided to have more breaks, so rest of us left them on the trek.
Next one hour was really annoying for me. I don’t know why, but lot of leeches had attacked me that time. I was bleeding from 7/8 places from my feet. Even still few other leeches were sucking bloods from my feet. I could feel those, but had nothing to do. I was just waiting for a suitable place for stay a while and remove those stinky things.
It was a relief when we have crossed the capital hill. We took a short break and started removing the leeches from the feet. Most of those were hiding under the stripes of my sandal and also hiding inside between fingers. It was futile to try stopping bleeding from leech’s bites. So ignoring those bleeding, we have started trekking again.
This time I have ran through the trek most of the times. I was feeling like an 18 years lad while doing that. We have put an end to my exuberance when we reached at the main trek of Thaikhong Para(থাইখং পারা). Among four of us, Hasnat(হাসনাত) and Muntasir(মুনতাসির) had a hurry. They wanted to return back to Chittagong by today. So they left us on there, but me and Rashed(রাশেদ ) were waiting on the trek for the members who were behind us.
I had a good enough nap amid of the wide path. But still had no sign for the members behind. So we have started trekking, but at a slow pace. We had a slight rain on our trekking, but otherwise it was bright and sunny always. I had lot of guavas on my bag. Both of us enjoyed those frequently.
At other day, we found lot of trekkers on our way. But today it was completely empty. Didn’t see any trekkers on our way. In fact we rarely have seen the villagers. When we have reached near to a residential school, we put another long break. We had guava, marfa(মারফা), etc to enjoy the break. Again we didn’t see any sign from the members behind us. So started moving again.
We were walking and walking, sometimes upwards, and sometimes downwards, but the road was never going to have an end. Even no other people on the way, except me and Rashed(রাশেদ). But suddenly we found a trekking group was trekking in front of us. We were surprised to see them. It was almost impossible to be any team ahead of us as we left very early at morning, and also we didn’t see any team crossed us.
Later we have discovered that we have passed the turn of Jadipai(জাদিপাই) waterfall, and we were so tired that we didn’t notice that. Basically those guys were returning from the Jadipai(জাদিপাই) Waterfall. After passing a short chitchat with them, we moved again. And after that it had a rain, a heavy one. We had to struggle to climb up to passing para for the slippery roads.
At passing para, we had a break at the balcony of a tribal house. It basically previously was a shop. But recently the owner stopped selling goods here. It was 1:00 pm of the day. Initially me and Rashed(রাশেদ) had an hour of break at there. Later Rashed(রাশেদ) leaved me there and moved to Keokaradong(কেওকারাডং) for lunch. But I have passed another one hour there by sharing my experience to that tribal, and learning his experience from him. It was an awesome moments for me.
Passing para is always a beautiful one. You’ll always see the playing of clouds there. When the rain stopped, the clouds were changing it’s shape. I saw how a totally cloud covered village got cleared slowly within those two hours, including rain.
Possibly it was 3:30, when my other lagging teammates have joined me there. They were tired and exhausted. In fact, they caught by rain on the way and struggled throughout the whole path. With them, I have started moving again. This time our destination was Boga lake(বগা লেক). Though initially we have planned for Boga Mukh para(বগা মুখ পারা) for staying at night.
We have skipped our lunch as we already made a late. We had a break at Darjiling Para(দার্জিলিং পারা). For your information, still two of us were behind the trek, and I didn’t see them till then. I was reluctant to trek on night today. Cause last four days we had to trek on night, so not today again. So I was moving faster.
A mid of the trek, a shelter was established by the authorities. Dirty minded tourists had messed the area by throwing crumbs and packs around. I have taken a break there. But alas! we saw Zahid(জাহিদ) was coming slowly. He was very slow today, also struggling for knee problem, and Tushar(তুষার) and I could not leave him like that behind. So we were accompanying him, and by then I knew we had to trek on darkness, again!
We were moving very slowly. It was basically a 40 minutes of path to reach at Boga lake from there. But unfortunately we required almost 2 hours to complete this. I was feeling angry inside, but couldn’t express it as its a rule to respect every teammates. One by one all other trekkers have crossed us on the way. But we were moving like a turtle!
This path usually does not have any leeches. But during night, leeches do not count on path. So once again I had to grant few drops of my blood for the leeches. When we have reached on the cottage of Paloi(পালই) at Boga Lake(বগা লেক), it was almost 8:00 at night.
Yet, still two of us were missing. We were worried for them, but we knew that they would come back soon. It was 9:30 at night when those two have returned. They were dog tired, didn’t have any torch light on hand. Even one of them, Shuvo(শুভো) was bitten by a poisonous spider. Luckily It just only made his arm swollen a bit.
It was a market like place at Boga Lake. Outnumbers of tourists were available on that night as it was during the Eid vacation. Even it was difficult to find a spot on the Boga Lake(বগা লেক) for a shower at night. We went to the bed after having a dinner at night.
During the night it had a heavy rain. Possibly it was after 11:00 at night. Everywhere were silent. The chaotic tourist were in deep sleep and snoring on the bed. It was only the heavy drops of rain on the tinned roof. I have enjoyed that heavy rain sound and slept well. It was a bonus for me.
Day-5, also the last day of trekking is available at here. You’ll find how we have returned to Dhaka.
