Enjoy the Buzz in Dhaka, but Keep Clear of the Water Taxis!

Alison Mitchell recalls some memorable times in Bangladesh but also offers a few travel tips ...

- Alison Mitchell

Freedom is a gift we take for granted too often. England’splayers won’t have much choice about where they spend their time between matches and training sessions during their tour of Bangladesh.

If the level of security at their hotel is similar to that which I experienced staying with India and Pakistan prior to their World Cup showdown in Mohali in 2011, there will be armed guards on each corridor, snipers peering down from roof tops outside, armed vehicles parked by the gate and soldiers stationed behind sandbags across the road.

The team X-Box, darts board and table tennis table will be in high demand to keep the cricketers entertained. It could be great for team bonding, but it will also be a severe test of patience.

The security situation is a great shame, because Bangladesh is an exceedingly colourful place to tour if you’re game enough to take on the noise, traffic and crazy bustle of the city streets.

My first visit was to Chittagong for England’s World Cup match in 2011. It didn’t provide the happiest of experiences, as the Test Match Special team got caught up in a mob crowd late at night outside the stadium following Bangladesh’s first win over England.

The crowd, which had congregated in the street, was delirious with the ecstasy of victory; it was as if they were waiting for something to happen and the sight of six English folk suddenly walking out of the stadium as we looked for our minibus seemed to send them over the edge. We were suddenly surrounded as if in a rolling maul on a rugby field. The din of shouting, chanting and drumming was deafening and discombobulating.