Saturday November 15, 2025
After a great breakfast at the hotel, we had a day tour 2 hours from Dhaka to visit the old capital Sonargaon & the abandoned city of Panam Nagar.
Our first stop was at the medieval pre-Mughal period Goaldi Mosque. The Sultanate period mosque was built during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah in 925 A.H./1519 AD. It is one of the few surviving medieval monuments in Sonargaon Upazila.
As we were leaving this school kids came running over to talk to us and get photos with us. One of the things we noticed throughout our visit to Bangladesh was that all the kids we encountered all had the same perfect English with no accent. Our guide spoke English but had a Bangladeshi accent. These kids were clean and precise. (like a mid-west accent) Hello, how are you? We respond and they all giggled like crazy as they walked away.
We then drove to Boro Sardar Bari (also known as the Boro Sardar Palace and sometimes Bara Sardar Bari). It is an impressive architectural structure that showcases a blend of Mughal and British architectural styles. The palace is characterized by its spacious courtyards, grand halls, intricately designed wooden ceilings, and beautiful terracotta carvings on its facade.
After exploring the mansion and its various exhibits we walked to the Shilpacharya Zainul Folk Art & Crafts Museum, which show-cases the region’s rich textile heritage. The 10 galleries display wood carvings, crafts, paintings and masks, tribal life-based artifacts, rural folk life environment, folk musical instruments and terracotta artifacts, copper-cast-brass artifacts, iron-made artifacts, folk ornaments, and more. I think it contained three floors of very nice exhibits. We then walked through a park to get back to the van. The park was nice with a small playground with a wooden Ferris wheel that they turned by hand. (didn't get a great photo)
We then drove to Panam Nagar which is an abandoned city where wealthy Hindu cotton merchants from the early 19th century turned the medieval Bengali capital into a thriving textile trading hub. Fire destroyed the town and only 52 of the city's original buildings are still standing. What's left has been left derelict for decades, and locals have nicknamed it "Ghost City" and "City of the Dead."
It was lunch time, and we tried the national dish of beef and rice which had great flavor but was a tad spicy. The chicken & rice was very good. Piku wasn’t overly helpful in telling us about the menu.
Next, we took a scenic boat ride on the Meghna River to visit a Char (sandbank island) to experience the traditional life of the farmers.
After that we drove back to Dhaka. We first went in search of a mini-market and didn't find one. It was quite a challenge crossing the street. We'll ask the guide to stop at one tomorrow. Since we have lifetime elite status with Marriott, we went upstairs to the lounge and had dinner and drinks. It isn't really "dinner" but more like bar food, but it's always local food like Chinese in China or Japanese in Japan etc. Wine, soft drinks and beer are free. Wine and beer are usually local, so they vary as to what they offer. Bangladesh isn't exactly known for their wine, so it wasn't great. There were hot dishes and then dips, cheeses, little sandwiches, crackers, pita and desserts. We have always been happy to make it a meal.
Tomorrow, we have a full day tour of Dhaka City.
Sonargaon & Panam City - Dhaka, Bangladesh https://photos.app.goo.gl/p1kinPi6ZCBiWxWi9
