the tea is fresh in bangladesh

greetings from sunny bangladesh! we have been here at the teatulia tea estate, which is called the kazi & kazi tea estate (KKTE) in bangladesh, for a little over two weeks now. it is 180 degrees different from where we were in india - and i don't just mean because it's that much hotter.

for one thing, this was what walking looked like in makaibari:


maggie, standing up straight. not trick photography, just the himalayas

meanwhile, everywhere here is as flat as can be, for as far as the eye can see.

after a long, grueling trek from makaibari, including a 3km walk uphill (see previous photo), a 1.5-hour shared jeep ride down to the plains, 2 hours of lugging our stuff all over hot, crowded Siliguri trying to find a bus, a 2 hour bus ride, a 20 minute flatbed cycle rickshaw ride, a cup of tea with money exchangers, 20 minutes filling out immigration forms, getting our passports stamped at multiple tables and seth telling the Indian border officials that his favorite movie is City Lights , we made it to the bangladesh border, which we walked across.


maggie on the flatbed cycle rickshaw as we neared the border


how they expect us to quickly drink, let alone hold, a glass filled to the brim with piping hot tea, i don't know. not that i'm complaining, though - try getting some free fresh tea at a currency exchange office in the US!


the border

we were met at the border by two representatives from KKTE, who instantly recognized us. not surprising as we were quite likely the only two white people to walk across that border in a long time. one of the representatives was dhali bha (brother dhali), the division manager at the tea estate, who has been our host since we've been here. he's awesome.


dhali bhai in action, cruisin' through the tea

we've since spent our time soaking up everything we can about organic tea production in bangladesh (this is the only organic tea estate in BD, by the way), and everything else this amazing company is involved in. we've got a ton to say, and you can bet we'll say it, but for now we're finishing up our last couple days here before heading down to dhaka, the capital city of bangladesh, to see the tea's first destination once it leaves the factory. wish us luck!