Travelogue | The Daily Star

  • Amazing Amsterdam, The Hague, and Groningen

    We landed on a chilly winter evening at Schipol International Airport, Amsterdam — one of the busiest airports in Europe. The airport formalities were pleasantly efficient and we passed through easily. A mere 20-minute drive brought us to our hotel in the famous Museum District

  • Where the hills rest against the sky

    It was a place I had visited once, but the intense love I felt for it drove me to visit the small Garo village of Achkipara twice. The first time was in summer, my group went as guests to a Garo family.

  • Wakatobi Islands – Acronym like no other

    Indonesia is a country where acronyms abound. If a title is too long, acronym it. In politics, there is Capres (Calon President) – Presidential Candidate and Wapres (Wakil President) – Vice President!

  • Victoria Memorial: A majestic architectural beauty

    If you visit Kolkata, and not visit the Victoria memorial mansion, then you really haven't experienced one of Kolkata's best sites.

  • Victoria Memorial: A majestic architectural beauty

    If you visit Kolkata, and not visit the Victoria memorial mansion, then you really haven't experienced one of Kolkata's best sites.

  • The Haor's of Bangladesh - Birders Paradise

    But a place little known to foreigners are the Haors. Especially the knowledge that during the Bangladesh winter months, when the water levels go down, thousands of water birds come sweeping in to these areas, from as far as Siberia, to feed and rest before they migrate onwards.

  • Ispahani tea estate in Habiganj

    It was the second of November, and our destination Habiganj is about a two-hour drive from Sylhet city centre. Our agenda was to visit a tea factory, specifically the Ispahani Mirzapore tea factory. The manager of the Mirzapore tea garden is a friend of a friend, so we had special privileges.

  • Europe Trotting- Phase 1: Turning the 'Bucket' upside down!

    The most commonly cited bucket list places to visit have never had much meaning to me as I always believed in going places less travelled — always wanted to see the world at my own pace and to see things that people do not normally consider most desirable must sees!

  • Sublime beauty of the Scottish Highlands

    Conventional wisdom has it that the Scottish Highlands tour is a must for the travellers' bucket list because it is as beautiful as one can imagine. The highlands, with an average elevation of 20 metres above sea level, have an eye-catching beauty to behold.

  • Incredible Beijing!

    We reached Beijing from Taipei late at night, after a 2-hour flight. It took an hour to drive from the airport to downtown Beijing, where the hotel was.

  • The waterfall on the Sangu

    Winter leaves us too early every year, and is already bidding adieu this time too, but if you want to catch a touch of it still, head to the hills and valleys in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

  • Banda Islands - birth place of the Nutmeg

    That little brown nut you grate into your meat curry or favorite sweet or drink, and which fills your kitchen with its heady, inviting aroma, is exported to the world out countries like Granada and Sri Lanka. But before it got to these exotic sounding places, the little nutmeg had its own fascinating history.

  • Barishal the unspoilt

    Legends speak of holy men travelling places carried by large fish, turtles, birds, carpets, animals, jinns, and such, but I am yet to hear of anyone travelling on the back of an Ilish.

  • Cambridge: Of arts, architecture and history

    Needless to say, the English county town of Cambridge is much more widely talked about for its academia aspect rather than its enriched culture, arts and architectural beauty.

  • East Timor: The blues in the sky and the sea

    Five of us friends were sat on a suspended balcony over a sizable mountain, with the Timor Sea underneath; an unobstructed view of the sea meeting the horizon and the nearby mountains, with a road snaking through.

  • Delectable Paris

    That was what the late Anthony Bourdain had to say about the Eiffel Tower.

  • Stonehenge - the mysterious World Heritage Site

    As the visit to mountains and sea let us feel and realise their magnificence, the third epitome could be Stonehenge, an English world heritage site.

  • Explore the mystical Uzbekistan

    Uzbekistan is used to hosting tourists from all across the globe, but they have yet to show many Bangladeshis the beauty, diversity and versatility the country has in store.

  • Munlai community tourism done right

    On a more practical note, the road to Munlai is through Chittagong, either a drive or flight, and the rest can be on a chartered jeep. Regardless of the mode, the winding ride through the lush green hills brings joy to the city-weary senses even before you reach the destination—a homestay specialty resort with a community tourism programme involving the Bawm.

  • Nepal calling

    The mystique of towering mountains, some snow-capped, some verdant, interspersed with lush valleys, singing brooks, and rivers rushing between mountains, is what Nepal is to me.

  • Beyond the Île-de-France

    The French Riviera is also no secret, thanks to the annual Festival de Cannes, to iconic films from the likes of Hitchcock and Godard, and more recently, swarms of travel-blogging Instagrammers flocking to Europe each summer.

  • Beyond the Île-de-France

    The French Riviera is also no secret, thanks to the annual Festival de Cannes, to iconic films from the likes of Hitchcock and Godard, and more recently, swarms of travel-blogging Instagrammers flocking to Europe each summer.

  • A trip to Greenwich

    Greenwich being a southeastern town of greater London has lots of things to present for the visitors. The prime meridian line dividing the globe into the eastern and western hemisphere, the royal observatory house, the royal park, the canary wharf view, the museums, Cutty Sark, the river cruise, the O2, the cable car and so on-- things are closely located, thereby making it possible for the visitors to have a good day-trip in Greenwich.

  • Bali: A resort island rich in seaside indulgence

    The island's beach resorts give vacationers another good reason to do 'just nothing' and bask under the sun for hours –in KARDASHIAN or BECKHAM style!

  • Hong Kong: Much more than a competition conundrum

    Living in this great city has made me realise how one's lifestyle can change drastically depending on where they live and how they choose to live.

  • Tracing the historical footsteps in Islam – Madinah

    On the road from Makkah to Madinah, the desert, the rubble filled hills, occasional date trees, and a few camels and sheep caught my eye.

  • Tracing the historical footsteps in Islam

    Hajj pilgrims often remain so wrapped up in the rituals of the pilgrimage that they do not have time to explore the suburbs of the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. But with a little effort, anyone can easily make time to create the scope to do so, and try to walk Islam's history in person.

  • 32 Hours in Fez

    Sometimes you land in a place that takes you back to another place and another time. It could be something from your childhood. Perhaps a place you have left behind in the past. A place that has changed, but you find it existing in the present, thousands of miles away in another continent, not in its entirety, but perhaps the ordinary features we remember.

  • Lisbon – the City of Egg Tarts

    “What made you decide on Lisbon?" our Uber driver asks, as he winds his way through the rolling, narrow cobblestone streets of Bairro Alto.

  • Do you remember seeing the ocean for the first time?

    The joy of going on a family trip is something that unless you have experienced being born and raised within the dynamics of an ever-expanding family, you simply would not understand. I was born into one, where anyone who came within close proximity became attached to the nucleus of our core family, like vines.

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