So, after a night in the nature, early morning we were ready to climb more mountains. We've already done a six hour walk, so how hard can a two-hour climb to Keokradong be?Or so I thought. We had our requisite boiled egg and stale buns (not the type of buns I'd normally like to chew upon anyways), we started toward the "highest peak of Bangladesh". Now some background on the peak. In the geography books, it's named as the highest peak at 4035ft. Wikipedia, however, contests that this is in fact just another peak, and the actual peak is in the Myanmar border, yet unnamed. Regardless, it's high, let's just leave it at that.
Paul did try to knock some sense into me about 30 minute into the trek once the hills became steeper and steeper. I should've listened. We climbed through waterfalls, creeks, slabs that looked like taken from Indiana Jones and the last crusade.
One bad part of pacing ourselves, the 12 others reached the peak, took pictures, and then climbed down after an hour and met us while we were still trying to climb up. I lied down on the grass and tried to take pictures of the foliage, especially Kash, one of my favorite flowers. There were times, I felt like it'd have been easier to be stuck in the ship of Amistad than climb up one more slope.
But we persevered, and I screamed out all the obscenities I could muster throughout the way, and finally we were on the last 10 feet of Keokaradong. There we discovered these steep steps leading to the top of the mountain. No shortcut. And the most disappointing of all, an ugly looking concrete construction with a flag on top was there to greet us.
So anyways, here some pictures to prove that we were there. This was the easy part. now we KNEW how long it'll take us to get down. And after loading up on three packs of Energy Biscuit (dry cookies) and two cups of tea from Darjilingpara, the last stop before Keokradong, we started our climb back.
The guides said that the steep path we came through was a shortcut, but the longer path was more curvy, and therefore, we'd have to climb less. And it'll only take an extra half hour. There has never been a lie as cruel as this one. Ok, maybe the one in Dangerous Liaisons/Cruel Intentions.We climbed up and down, up and down, along a dusty road with "only less interesting scenic view" according to Paul. And it was more steep and harder than the shortcut. And worse, we had nothing to look forward to, no joy of accomplishment, no good food nor the spa-like vacation we were expecting.
At one point, I walked into a village, and told our guide that he could go back, but "And I'm telling you, I'm not going, I'm staying, I'm staying, right here." (imagine a brown male Jennifer Hudson wannabe belting out the tune in an F-word laden spittles, and you're about there). I lied under some guy's house, admired the architecture of the way bamboo was used to create innovative windows, and cooled down, and got back up after about 20 minutes.
After 7 hours, and burn marks on my nose, my arms and my neck, and trailing others by 2 hours, we finally made it home at 3.30pm. I directly walked into the dining place, gulped down the food (don't remember the menu), and then went back into the hut and promised myself that I would never ever again set foot in Bandarban again in this lifetime.
The total trip took 7 hours. If you plan to go climb Keokradong, and if anyone tells you that it takes less time, feel free to shoot them.
I'll post your bail.
