Riding through a constant cacophony

Arriving in Mouvli Bazar are (from the left) Denise Ketteringham, Phil Buckley, Kash Ashraf, Marful Ali, Arif Mohid, Nicola Ketteringham and Helen Atkinson-Smith

CHRONICLE business correspondent Martyn Torr reports on a visit to Bangladesh, which involves an arduous charity cycle ride

Dateline: Mouvli Bazar, Bangladesh

CYCLING through any large town in Bangladesh is like being in a video game.

You have to negotiate hazards, random goats, chickens, dogs, rickshaws, tom-toms and tuk-tuks, motorcycles, cars, buses and heavy wagons.

And of course the people. Every place is teeming with a bustling, busy population all hurrying somewhere...

And all the time there is noise, from the tinkle of the rickshaw bells, to the electric sounds of the tom-toms and the horns of the cars, buses and wagons. It’s a constant cacophony, the background to life in this crazy, beautiful country.

Day three of our Tour de Sylhet was also local election day, so the klaxons and loudspeaker announcements doubled in intensity, fighting for attention against the five-times-a-day, dawn-to-dusk calls to prayer at the many, many mosques.

The ride itself was through stunning countryside, topped by a stop at the Finlay Tea Plantation in Srimongol, where a random cow sauntered by and tried to muscle in on the photo opportunity...

The ride through Mouvli Bazar to the hotel was stupendously chaotic. The streets thronged with people and vehicles and no one would give way - not even to the sirens of our outriders and the lead vehicle.

The last few miles were recorded for Channel S, the British-based Bangla Channel (Sky 814, folks), and outside the Rest Inn Hotel interviews were conducted in front of huge crowds, with Shaiek Ahmed, a Channel S presenter from London who has ridden the tour with the Oldham group.

Did I say video game? Make that a pantomime...