Gaud Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Getting to Gaud can take so damn long that you’ll forget how close you are to Rajshahi. From the main bus terminal in Rajshahi, take a bus to Nawabganj (Tk 40, two hours) from where it should be possible to get a bus directly to Gaud (Tk 30) every hour or so. If you get blank looks when you ask for ‘Gaud’, (which you will!) try ‘India’ or ‘border’ instead.

The consolation of all of this messing about is that the scenery on the journey is quite unusual. There are fascinating expanses where village life takes place amid enormous expanses of trees with foot-worn pathways meandering between them. There are mud-brick huts interspersed throughout, mustard fields so bright you almost have to squint, and thousands of stumpy mango trees (May–June is the mango season).

On arrival in Gaud it is a good idea to call on the friendly soldiers at the border post. They can advise you where not to go; the strip of no-man’s-land between the two countries is just as intensively farmed as surrounding areas, so it’s easy to make a mistake.