The Serenity of Kuakata

The best part of Kuakata beach is its serenity. Unlike Cox’s Bazaar, where roads get caught up in traffic snarlups just like in the capital, Kuakata is a land of tranquility and peace. The place still has a lot to offer to those who prefer enjoying the seashore on their own, away from the hustle and bustle of cities. If one can visit Kuakata during the off-season, or the rainy season, the serenity and beauty they would be able to experience is unparralled. Driven by that thought, me and four of my friends made a sudden short trip to Kuakata a few days ago. For the uninitiated, one word of  advice: don’t ever think that you will get into a bus and can reach Kuakata without facing trouble on the road. This was my fourth time visiting Kuakata and every time something happened on the way to make my journey a tough one. Either the bus fell into a ditch, or the bus became dysfunctional, or one of the seven ferries from Patualhali to Kuakata became unavailable. I have faced all these problems. This time, it was the ferry. After enduring a 10 hour bus ride, we found that the last two ferries were not available as a public service warning signal number 2 was hoisted at the river port and signal 4 was hoisted at the sea port as well as at Kuakata beach. As a result, we crossed the rivers in trawlers, made our way via a van, a bike and finally a “Nosimon” ride to cross a little more than 32kms. When we reached the small town of Kuakata, it was about 10:30am. We started our bus journey at around 9pm the night before. So, you can only imagine how long it took us to reach Kuakata. Once we reached, we learned that their was a power cut for over two days, as a result of public storm signal 4 warning being hoisted over the sea. Moreover, there was intermittent rain and storm too. In fact, a sudden storm welcomed us as soon as we set foot on Kuakata town. The good part was that the hotels were cheap. Because of the off-season timing and the power cut, a 40% discount was offered at every hotel and resort. We brought it down to 50% initially, but soon enough, we succeeded in bring that further down to 60%, thanks to my friend’s negotiation skills. I have to say that the experience we gained during that short trip was amazing. First of all, finding the second most popular sea beach of the country devoid of people really, was a unique experience. Also, experiencing it amid the storm and rain is something so beautiful that words have failed me. The two days spent there were rather gloomy. We barely saw the sunlight. It was raining or about to rain every now and then. With the public storm warning signal number 4 raised over the beach, there was no way we could have swum in the sea. However, we had decent hotel rooms with balconies facing the sea. Just by sitting there with friends and sharing an old school “adda” was such an experience that it can only be termed as “ethereal.” During the second night, as the weather improved, we had a barbecue party at our resort’s lawn. There were no other guests in that resort so it was only us friends, with no one to break our party spirit. During our two days there, we spent most of our time at the hotel room, enjoying the sea from our hotel balcony, not bothering to visit any of Kuakata’s tourist attractions. Despite it all, I can easily say that it was one of the truest vacations that I ever have had and the serenity and relaxation that I experienced was out-of-this-world.Trivia for the Kuakata bound travelerThe name Kuakata was created from the word “Kua,” the Bengali word for “well,” which was dug into the seashore by the early Rakhine settlers. They dug these wells to collect drinking water, landing on Kuakata coast in the eighteenth century after, being disqualified from the Arakan lands by the Mughols. Afterwards, Rakhaine tribes followed suit. Kuakata has several tourist attractions which include: The crab beach, where thousand of red crabs run free The Gangamoti reserve forest The Buddhist temple and the 200 year old well nearby The “shutki polli” and fishing village nearby is a good place for shutki connoisseurs.How to go to Kuakata:Direct bus service: ‘Sakura’ from Shaymoli. Launch service to Patuakhali and then a bus service from Patuakhali to Kuakata.