Dhaka to Bagerhat to Khulna, Bangladesh

Monday November 17, 2025

We were supposed to have an overnight ferry to reach Khulna, but a new bridge opened, and the ferries aren’t used anymore. We started at 7:00 for the 4-hour drive to Khulna with a stop to tour Bagerhat on the way. 

I took some photos from the window of the van along the way. We went through small and large villages and saw some peaceful protests in large open trucks and of course couldn’t understand what they were saying on the loudspeakers.

Due to the impending court ruling we had a red tourist sign on van driving today so the police would leave us alone. (and possibly protestors)

After a couple of hours of driving we had a comfort stop, and we got some snacks, and some locals helped us when the guy taking our order didn’t understand that we wanted Coke to drink. Back in the vehicle we learned that the verdict had come out and the ICT convicted Hasina and her former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, of crimes against humanity and sentenced them to death. Piku said many businesses closed and many buses and vehicles stayed off the roads just in case there were riots. We never heard that anything major happening, even in Dhaka.

rest stop

our "tourist" sign (at least we hope that's what it said)

Our first stop was Kodla Math, just outside of Bagerhat and really off the beaten path. I think we got a bit lost and then got back on track quickly. This is an ancient old Hindu temple decorated with terracotta tiles arranged in parallel ridges, the temple rises to a tapering point. 

Kodla Math

looking up into the domes

looking straight up

We drove to Bagerhat and stopped at the shrine of Khan Jahan Ali, the saint general of Turkish origin who founded 15th-century Khalifatabad city (and is now a UNESCO World Heritage City known as Bagerhat) and spread Islam in this region. The tomb is a significant pilgrimage site featuring unique terracotta Islamic architecture with a prominent dome and intricate carvings. It sits adjacent to Thakur Dighi, which is a large man-made lake housing sacred crocodiles, believed to have originated from Khan Jahan Ali's riding crocodiles. People come to bathe in it much like Ganges in India.

shrine of Khan Jahan Ali

only view that we could see the tomb, was to look through the gate

As we walked around the village and at the Mosques many locals wanted to touch us and speak to us and have their photos taken with us. One lady grabbed her young son by the arm and handed him to Tom to hold so she could have a photo.

Thakur Dighi Lake (the called it a water tower)

Nine Dome Mosque is close by, and we visited that next. One group of locals here made it hard to get away since they didn’t want to let go of me. They just wanted to touch and rub my skin. Some rubbed my hair. There were quite a few goats with kids nursing and playing. The cutest thing we saw was what looked like a duck and a cat fighting. As we watched them it became clear they were best buddies. They romped and played and neither one of them hurt the other. They even seemed to cuddle.

Nine Dome Mosque

feeding time

looking up at the domes 

cleansing station

feeding time

cat & duck are best friends

now that's pure love

selfie time

Tom & Cathy's turn

We next visited the Sixty Dome Mosque which really has 71 domes. The sixty refers to how many pillars there are, but translation issues made it Dome not Pillar. Here again, we needed scarves since there were men praying in the mosque, but Piku didn’t let us know. He took us in anyway. We normally carry scarves but most of our visits have been to ruins of mosques and they hadn’t been needed.

We continued the walk around the village and stopped at Bibi Begni Mosque.

We also encountered “Poop on a stick”, which is animal dung (cow?) on sticks. We came across a woman smearing it on sticks and then putting them out to dry. How bad do you have to be to get that job? Piku said they are used for cooking as it is cheaper than fuel. Animal dung is mixed with a stick to create fuel sticks.

Sixty Dome Mosque

the women worship behind this curtain

looking up into the domes

Thakur Dighi Lake 

poop on a stick (manure fire sticks)

drying the poop sticks - there were a lot of them lined up along the walk

Bibi Begni Mosque

Bibi Begni Mosque

It was around 2:00 at this point and we had breakfast at 6:30 and there was no place open to have lunch. We ate more snacks and figured we would just wait until dinner when we get to Khulna.

We drove an hour or so to Khulna where we got checked into the Jatra Flagship Hotel. It was an odd place that probably was once a hotel and he had about 4 rooms that were used as a hotel, the rest had become apartments.

sign on ceiling points to Mecca

The shower was in the middle between the sink and toilet all in one big open room which was awkward, but it worked.

We were checked in and shown to our rooms. They were basic but clean. The driver was waiting to take us to a place to have dinner. We went to the City Inn Hotel for their restaurant. Our hotel only had “room service”. The hotel and restaurant looked nice, but it was remodeling and the construction noise was incredible. We all just looked at each other and said, “could this day get any better?” You just had to laugh. The food was OK, but not great.

Piku had left to take the bus to the houseboat to get it ready for us, so the driver waited for us and took us back to our hotel. Here’s where it got humorous.  

The driver brought us back after going down a road that was blocked and he had to turn around in a very tight space with a drop off on one side. Greg guessed it would be a 12-point turn, and the driver made it in 8. The funny part was when we got back to the hotel, and we got in the elevator, and stopped at the floor we thought it was it didn't look the same. We tried every floor and none of them looked right. They all had closed doors and most had lots of shoes outside the door. The door to the office was open when we checked in but was closed on our return. (it was part of the apartment that the manager lived in) We went up and down the elevator several times stopping at each floor. The driver was in the parking garage and must have noticed the elevator going up and down and met us when the door opened at the garage level. He took us to the floor and rang the doorbell, and our rooms were right next door.

Then we decided to go out looking for a cold soda and some ice cream and despite the power outages with streetlights going out, we made our way to the supermarket for 2 cokes and 2 ice cream bars.

We settled in and got ready for our 6:00 am pick up to drive the hour or so to the houseboat where we will have breakfast the next morning.

It was extremely noisy all night long. Besides the usual calls to prayer, there were banging dishes, yelling, music and dogs barking.

Can’t wait to see the houseboat…….

Dhaka to Bagerhat to Khulna https://photos.app.goo.gl/SHMjd9pmSX5GW9YX8