The main roads in Bangladesh are a dream following the Indian offerings. Chittagong was reached within 3 days.

Like the rest of Bangladesh and its people, Chittagong was a joy. Most port towns possess an aura of natural purpose: Chittagong is no exception.

Once again, Lady Luck dealt a decent hand. A visit to one international shipping company gave the contact (and personal introduction) to another agent who was the most professional outfit in town. Within a few hours of starting the ball rolling, the solution to the shipping obstacle was visible. If you are in Chittagong to organise anything involving shipping, give Homebound a ring.

Following a Service of Remembrance at the Comilla CWG cemetery, it was time to tackle the customs formalities for the truck. Enter stage left, the Chittagong Customs House...

The Chittagong Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. Peace and tranquility. A tribute to those fallen, and to its caretakers of today.

A building dating back before the days of the gas lamp, it is a shrine to antique paperwork, surface routed cabling, cobwebs and dust. Ever since Marco Polo noticed the sea, customs papers have been stockpiled here. In triplicate. All on shelves which have been added to the walls in line with the prevailing storage necessity of the day. One set of shelves, positioned over some windows and above a row of desks, had already lost four of their comrades to gravity, leaving gaping holes in the walls where the bolts once lived. A symposium of a thousand lavatory brushes would have finally recommended to either remove the remaining shelves, or relocate the desks. Not here.

Lashed and ready to load. 40-foot flatrack containers are relatively scarce animals anyway, so in a country with relatively little use for such a piece of kit, it's testimony to Homebound that they located, and then obtained one.

Careful not cause a vibration, the customs formalities were completed. The truck was loaded on the only 40-foot flatrack container in town, and, hopefully, next time I report in, we'll be in Singapore.