I was keen to cycle in the Chittagong Hill Tracts a hilly area that has had an insurgency problem for many years but is now quiet. A permit is required and after what I had read online, after much searching found the DC (district collector) office concerned. There I was told that now it is an online process and can take 2-3 days. I am not waiting so forget it.
Not feeling so well I went back to Barisal the same way I came by bus and the pleasant 5 hour launch.
I am headed back to India- hoorah!
Enough is enough and when I am in the mood I will spill my complaints.

I didn’t intend to have such a long ride but when I saw 80 kms. to go I thought I can do that.
I was certainly looking forward to having some beer. It being unavailable the last few days.
Last night in Lakshmipur I stayed in the worst hotel ever. It was an oven and twice during the night the electricity went off and sleep was impossible. It was only 500 taka.

As you can see, an unexpected single track through some villages.
Here is a video of the ferry ride-

Rickshaws are nicely painted here

I have always loved sitting down in the evening and planning the next day’s route. These recent days have been the most challenging because of there being no one to ask and there being a multitude of possibilities.
I do not want to go the most obvious direct routes but neither do I want to go very far each day because of the heat and my still painful leg. I also have to find a hopefully ac hotel.
The multitude of rivers and ferries can be confusing and timings of course non existent. So far I have been lucky.
That said, I do like the ferries and intend to take the maximum.
I am trying to take the most southerly route possible, eventually to Cox’s Bazaar. It should take me through Noakhali, infamous for the communal riots in early 1940’s.
For all of this I am a true disciple of Google Maps. I love using it and supplement it with a couple of other excellent apps, mapy.cz, pocket earth, and maps.me
A couple of random photos from ferry-

So I rode along the most southerly road I could find and headed east through a very rural Bangladesh of fish farms involving huge expances of water (mostly too saline for rice).  This was very pleasant cycling. And eventually a ferry across a huge river.  I arrived in the town of Mithbaria.
Room tonight is 1500rs. nice and with AC. Last night room was not so great at 1000.  Did have AC.

Tonight unable to find any alcohol .  Last night had to take a ferry to find the bar, dark and seedy like in India.

1. In Despite the huge crowd crossing the border I was escorted through the Indian side then the Bangladesh side where they gave me a visa no problem.  They are very particular about one having a hotel reservation for some reason which I had done the night before.
   A SIM card and money exchange and I was on my way to Jashore (old name Jessore) about 40-50 kms. away.
   I was very much an object of curiosity immediately with the first question always “where are you from?”.

Road was good and somewhat less traffic than on the West Bengal side.
I have found so far along the way that some people (guys of course) speak Hindi and when I have asked them where they learned it they said from Hindi movies.  It is always a relief because English is not very common.

Last night, in Jashore I was able to buy 2 small cans of Hunter beer and tonight one of those cans would have cost me 800 taka or about 600 r/s.  I declined.